There is a need for the bible to contain prayers that arise from great distress and extreme circumstances. The people of God have always attracted fierce opposition and continue to do so. We need examples of how to bring our laments to God even when the situation has arisen through rebellion against him as in Psalm 74. If we find ourselves in a position where we can worship freely and live our faith without opposition then we are blessed to be able to empathize and support those who cannot do so. There are many countries today where it is dangerous to be a Christian or to convert to Christianity either because of government policy or due to violent sections of society whose desire is to eradicate or suppress Christianity.
Open Doors, a charity dedicated to supporting persecuted Christians world-wide, says there are over 260 million Christians worldwide spread across 50 countries that experience extreme, very high or high levels of persecution. You can view a world map at the link above. (https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/)
The UK government Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) team has launched a ‘Declaration of Humanity’. This is in recognition, “that women and girls from religious minorities often suffer. Why? Because of their gender, or indeed their faith.” As Christians we can not only pray we can advocate for the needs of those suffering for their faith.
Psalm 74 is written arising from a comparable experience, the conquering of Judah, the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the taking of many into captivity in Babylon. What is different is that this was a consequence of Israel’s repeated sequence of disobedience and idolatry over a prolonged period from the death of Solomon. It provides an insight into what it feels like to be in the middle of devastation that is completely beyond our control. It also provides an example of how we might pray in such a circumstance.
If you are having a crisis of faith right now, take heart you are far from the first and there is a way through it. Of course, what you mean by a crisis of faith may be different from what I mean. They often arise from a question we are internally struggling with. If you think you have a unique question, you are probably wrong and there will be fellow believers who have struggled with the same issues. Particularly these questions, in our modern western highly individualized society, often bear upon our sense of fairness and an experience that we consider to be unjust. “Where is God in that?” we ask.
The Psalmist confesses his sense of injustice nearly caused his faith to fail. ‘But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.’ c2 What is the point in trusting in God and being obedient to his commands when arrogant, sinful, God deniers prosper? They appear to be living untouched, rich, comfortable lives and the faithful do not share in the same prosperity?
His concerns are readily apparent in modern life. Verses 3b to 12 paint a vivid picture. Many of the rich and powerful are wicked and seem to go through life protected by their wealth and influence. They buy the best health care v4 and their wealth overcomes problems others would collapse under. v5 Their character is full of pride and if necessary they force their will on the less fortunate. v6 They indulge in hedonistic behaviour. v7 They bully others remorselessly, ‘They scoff and speak malice; loftily they threaten oppression’ v8 They boast of their evil ways and claim them to be good. ‘They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore, his people turn back to them and find no fault in them.’ vv9-10 They believe there are no negative consequences to their behaviour because they deny the efficacy of God. v11
We can all readily recognize all these attributes amongst many in political power, professional bodies, business and financial leadership. Wealth however is relative, it is easy to consider the rich are those richer than ourselves without being aware that others may consider us rich. Wealth and power are seductive, the impact of peers is significant and those in the church itself are not beyond such temptation.
It is not surprising then that someone should question the point of their faith. Added to the psalmist’s troubles is the sense that he cannot make known his true feelings for the sake of others. He feels he has been wasting his life by being obedient to God. ‘All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.’ v14 However his conscience says if he voices his true feeling he will damage, even destroy the faith of others. ‘If I had said, I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.’ v15 This is a common feeling when someone is going through a spiritual crisis and so they bottle up their internal conflict. They are made tired, even exhausted by the process. v16 At, this point, in the psalm when all seems lost comes the pivotal second half of a sentence: ‘until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.’ v17
The sanctuary was where people met with God. In those times it was the temple and prior to that the tent of meeting. Now it is not a specific building although many treat a church as such, it is wherever we meet God in prayer and bible study. Spending time in honest reflection with a trusted spiritual partner is very beneficial but what is essential is time in honest confession and listening with God. That is achieved through prayer and bible reflections confessing one’s sin and need. Asking him for the gift of understanding and faith. Both knowledge and faith are spiritual gifts and can only be received through the Holy Spirit.
It was after that experience that the psalmist understood the vanity of the arrogant rich vv 18-20 and also the state of his own heart. ‘When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.’ vv 21-22 He then received the underserved grace of God that turned his anguish to love for God. ‘You hold out your right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.’ V24
The psalmist has gained God’s perspective and his own eternal security. Having gone through the experience and then had his soul restored he bookends the account with the assertion that God is good to those pure in heart and that for him it is good to be near to God. He is now ready to tell of the works of God because God had done a work in his life.
Whatever the form of a crisis of faith the appropriate reaction is to spend time in God’s presence, confessing the truth of our heart and learning from him.
Are we honest with God as to the state of our faith?
We are midway through John’s gospel and already the account is deep into Jesus’ last week prior to his execution. John takes a step back and observes with incredulity, ‘Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.’ John 12.37 How can that be? He then goes on to record how Isaiah foresaw this some 700 years previously. Isaiah 53.1 and 6.1-4 It was because of spiritually blind eyes and hardened hearts. Isaiah spoke as a man who had a very clear and transforming vision of the Lord. ‘In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple.’ Isaiah 6.1 For Isaiah, John and Paul the spiritual blindness and hardness of heart was a matter of great sadness and grieving and their desire and prayer was that people would see and understand who Jesus is.
Paul identified the same situation to the Corinthian church as John witnessed in Jerusalem. ‘And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.’ 2 Corinthians 4.3-4 Paul’s reaction was to, ‘proclaim not ourselves, but Jesus as Lord with ourselves as servants for Jesus sake.’ 2 Corinthians 4.5 Paul saw that as how light shines out of darkness and brings knowledge of the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 4.6
It is easy at times to think that we are alone in our understanding of Christ and become downcast. However, this has never been the case. We need to take heart and be encouraged by one another. At the same time pray earnestly that God will open the eyes and soften the hearts of those who cannot see whilst we the church lovingly and openly continue to present the good news of Jesus. As Paul said, ‘God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness”, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.’ 2 Corinthians 4.6
Mingled in the crowd were leaders of the Jews who secretly believed in Jesus. They were afraid to speak up because they feared the rest of the leadership more than they feared God. John 12.42-43 Knowing this, what was Jesus’ response? He cried out, raising his voice, it was as if he was calling them to open their blind eyes and see. He declared that if they saw him then they were seeing the one who sent him, God the Father. He was saying come out of your darkness and into the light, you don’t belong there. ‘The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.’ John 12.45-46
Who do you know with blind eyes and a hardened heart?
Who could you pray for and who could you share the good news of Jesus with?
Impending darkness takes many forms. With November comes markedly shortening days. Those leaving for work in the morning do so in the dark and as they leave darkness has closed around them again. There are fewer hours to seize to pack in the things we need to do outside, exercise, errands or jobs. Those who fear the onset of the winter and suffer from SAD become acutely aware of the impact on their feeling of well-being. This year, perhaps more than other years, we feel the darkness closing in and making the lock down imposition even more restrictive. The front door closes earlier in the evening and we know that it is well more than 12 hours before it opens again. If we are alone it is harder to face. If we feel trapped in the home we have longer to worry, more opportunities for being trapped into a circle of negative thought.
In the last week of his life Jesus could easily have been overcome with spiritual darkness. How did he manage both the spiritual and emotional threat? He found himself spiritually alone in a crowd. No one else truly understood him or his calling, even the closest of his followers were about to become confused and only make sense of things following his resurrection and ascension. Two things drove Jesus on, his loving obedience to God the Father and his love for his followers causing him to prepare them for what was to come. We see his love for his Father despite his troubles as he addresses God the Father in the presence of the Passover crowd. ‘Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!’ John 12.27
Oh, the heart of Jesus. Here we see his immeasurable, unstoppable love for the Father and the crowd whom he had come to save. Because of his love for us and the gift of the Holy Spirit when we face our darkest hours we can pray with Jesus, because he helps us in our prayers, glorify your name. He provides the light for us to live and walk in.
Jesus had built a relationship with the crowd who wanted to know more, some of whom were Greeks. They had just heard the voice of God replying to Jesus that he would indeed glorify his name. They had heard Jesus say that in some way he was to be lifted up. They had still not actually grasped that Jesus was the eternal son of man prophesied in Isaiah 9.7 and Ezekiel 37.25 but they had hunger in their souls.
Jesus then gave advice to them that stands today for all threatened by spiritual darkness. ‘Walk in the light while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you.’ John 12.35 To the crowd at the time they literally were going to have Jesus with them for a day of two before his crucifixion and darkness was going to overtake them. Darkness brings with it a loss of direction, light brings a surer way forward. So, Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.’ John 12.35-36
John picked up on these words of Jesus when he wrote to the churches decades later. He called them to walk in the light of Jesus because in that light we have a relationship with God and each other and we do so, purified of our sin. It is a wholesome beautiful fellowship. Belief in Jesus brings that light because he is the light of the world. John 8.12 ‘If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.’ 1 John 1.6-7
Do you feel the darkness closing in, walk in the light.
Leadership often comes in one of two forms. There is the one who leads from the front. They set the agenda, break new ground, call others to come after them and believe in them whatever they say. They are the not so much glory hunters as the glory grabbers. They win awards, have an adoring public, love the limelight and are stand out different. Then there are the crowd pleasers. They do what the masses want, banking on the principle that if you give them what they want then they will follow you. They need the crowd to reassure and affirm them. Two ways to try to keep on leading and winning. Then there is Jesus’ way.
When Andrew and Philip came to Jesus saying there were some Greeks who wanted to meet him, Jesus took the opportunity announce a third way to glory. Using his usual opening phrase when he wanted to emphasise something as particularly important, he said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you.’ This is always a sign that what he is about to say needs one to pause and think deeply, what are the consequences of his next utterance? Once again, Jesus cuts across the normal way of thinking. Jesus had just been heralded as the King of Israel by the fervent crowd. They would be expecting a grand gesture, a display of power, another miracle, a rallying cry. The last thing they would have expected is teaching about dying. Yet Jesus takes this moment to explain what true obedience and discipleship is about by explaining why it is that he is to die. But more than that it is the way his disciples must go.
He uses, as so often was the case, a simile from nature. ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ John 12.24 Jesus died to his own will when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ Luke22.42 Jesus, just like a grain of wheat, was to die, be placed in the ground, and rise with new life, bringing countless more to life.
But Jesus was not just talking about himself. He was saying if you want your life to be fruitful in an eternal way then death to yourself is the only way. ‘Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honour him.’ John12.25-26 Josh Moody expresses it like this, “we cannot want what we want selfishly, for ourselves – and expect that way of life to give us true life … We must die to ourselves to live to Christ and to find real life in him.”
The challenge is applying this in practical terms to each aspect of our life. This is not a miserable sullen obedience, grudgingly offered to God. It is a joyful loving sharing in the Jesus way. If it is good enough for Christ it is good enough for me. 1 Samuel 2.30 captures God’s heart when he declares to Eli the High Priest following the despicable behaviour of his sons, ‘Far be it from me! Those who honour me I will honour, but those who despise me will be disdained.’
Have we contemplated how through the death of Jesus, God the Father has brought about such a rich harvest of righteousness?
Are we prepared to live his way so that the Lord is honoured?
