the 13th at 31

Occasionally one needs reminding that there are more important things than what we readily see in this world. While there are so many reasons to be filled with worry and fear when we scan the headlines or listen to our televisions, there are many more reasons to be filled with hope when our eyes our opened to the Spirit which surrounds us. Not the simplistic hope of the modern mind which seeks no more than its own self-gratification, but the hope which recognizes the direction and director of the world.

Reflecting on Psalm 13, I am struck with the two natures which collide in one piece of poetry. It begins with lament, for the situation of this psalmist is difficult to take - so much so that it is as though God has left his side. And without having God's presence, there is no remaining hope. Days are filled with sorrow, and the enemies' rise pushes the believer to the brink of disaster.

And too often my life has been focused on sentiments such as the first half of this psalm, seeing all of the wrongs and not admitting in my heart that there are reasons to hope in the future which God has prepared. I don't want this to be a futuristic pie-in-the-sky approach to the world, which does not recognize legitimate hurt and pain and evil in the world. But neither am I willing to let such realism define my life.

Now that I have moved from the eternal optimism of youth, through the disillusionment of real-life, I now seek for a faith which can accept hurt and pain but which is elevated to a higher existence by the power of God's Spirit. Getting caught up in frivolous debate, theologies based upon rantings, and ministries seeking personal aggrandizement will no longer work. For, like the psalmist of the thirteenth, the sorrow of this world will not have the last word over my trust in his unfailing love.