“The
Lord lifts up all who are falling
and
raises up all who are bowed down.”
We
may question why God allows us to suffer,
why
he allows “bad things to happen to good people.”
We
may ask, as the early believers probably
did,
“Why
is it necessary
to undergo such hardships
to
enter the kingdom of God?”
Scripture
tells us that afflictions are to be
expected
in our walk with the Lord. We may not
understand
what God is up to, but we can be sure
that
our faith will be strengthened if we stand fast
in
the face of suffering. We will become better
witnesses
for Christ if we are humbled;
we become
better
servants if we bear up with our difficulties
and
trust in the Lord. As our psalmist tells us,
“The
Lord is trustworthy
in every word, and
faithful
in every work.”
Endurance
is a Godly quality
and will help us
to
get 'yoked'
to Jesus. Having
done that,
like
our psalmist David, we join with the faithful
and
speak of the glory of God's reign and bless
His
name.
The
book of Wisdom tells us that God loves all
things
He has created, and loathes nothing He
has
made. (Wisdom 11:24) David says it this way,
“The Lord is good
to all and compassionate
toward all His works.” This
verse is fulfilled in
Sunday's Gospel – Zacchaeus
could just as well
sing this psalm, “I
will praise your name forever,
my king and my God.” (See
also Luke 19:1-10)
When
we reflect on what God has done for us,
we
remember that we live our lives amidst an
unending
stream of divine love. God has always
done
good things for us. That is God's nature –
as
the Psalm says, “The Lord is gracious and
merciful and
of great kindness.”
And
so we pray this psalm to bless, praise,
and exalt the
heavenly Father in His perfection
and in His works.
“Great
is the Lord and highly to be praised.”
Amen
Discussion Questions for Reflection
1. Our psalmist asks us (His faithful ones) to speak of God's might and discourse
1. Our psalmist asks us (His faithful ones) to speak of God's might and discourse
of the glory of God's kingdom. Give an example of how you have complied with our
psalmist's
appeals.
2. We are assured by the Psalm that the Lord lifts up all who are falling and raises up
2. We are assured by the Psalm that the Lord lifts up all who are falling and raises up
all who are bowed down. Share how your faith has been strengthened by any hardships
you may have undergone.
It is a Psalm of praise to God for His mighty, righteous, and gracious government of all men, and of His humble and suffering people in particular.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we praise God by talking so much that our words become hollow. Other times, we praise God as our heavenly Santa Claus who gives gifts we want. We also treat God as a street vendor with whom we can bargain: "I'll give you praise if you will do (fill-in-the-blank)..." As the bargainer, we may even decide to keep shopping until something better comes along. Praise is cheap and at times we cheapen our praise to God.
Therefore we need to engage ourselves to praising God: to give Glory to God's greatness, his goodness, his kingdom of providence, and of grace.
The individual, the community, and the whole creation is to praise God for God's goodness and God's greatness. Amen
It is reassuring knowing that our Lord is always there for us, listening and willing to answer our prayers. Looking back a couple years ago my son had suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts. It was a very difficult time for us as parents and for his twin brother. We were walking on egg shells as we didn't want to upset our son as he was already distraught and unhappy. We had family praying for him everyday. After several months of therapy things were still very unsteady, we decided to have him medicated. After about two years of dealing with this hardship, there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. Our prayers were being answered and our son was healing. He still had issues from time to time, but he was on the mend. Now, three years later he is happy and loving again, Thank you Jesus for bringing my son back to life.
ReplyDeleteWe may have to deal with hardship and suffering for some time before we find answers, but trusting and lifting it up to the Lord is the only way.
We now pray for our other son who has been battling mild depression, we know that our Lord will heal him as well. It is through these hardships that my faith is strengthened as I turn to our Lord more in prayer.