Psalm 102 is one of my favorites. Somewhere deep in very dark times, the writer of this Psalm seeks hope. The Psalm dances back and forth between the psalmist's trouble and the character and power of God. Nothing is resolved, but in the struggle, the psalmist looks forward to what God is expected to do and backward to God's work in laying the foundation of the earth and heavens.
That seems to provide the hope needed to travel through the darkness. Frederick Buechner says, "The Psalmists doesn't try to explain evil. He doesn't try to minimize evil. He simply says he will not fear evil." This psalmist, in fact, assumes the trouble experienced is under the power of almighty God.
How different from the conversation today where we spin our wheels trying to find the cause of evil, pointing fingers in blame, assuming evil can be eliminated if we do the right things or have the right leaders. Instead, the psalmist cries out to God in distress and then places hope in God's power instead of his own.
I wonder what life would be like if we quietly worked for justice and mercy without the blame and the fear and the insane assumption that we, our fully human selves, can remove all trouble from our lives? If we were fully grounded in hope in God's power, would the light cut through the darkness more quickly? Would we, then, live secure, our offspring established in God's presence?
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