Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
1Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.
11For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
12they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Exodus 5:10-23
10Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. 11Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’ ” 12So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. 13The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” 14And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?” 15Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? 16Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
17Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”
19The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” 20When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, 21and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” 22Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”
Acts 7:30-34
30“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. 33“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’
Meditation:
On May 10, 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister. When he met his Cabinet on May 13 he told them that “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” He repeated that phrase later in the day when he asked the House of Commons for a vote of confidence in his new all-party government. The response of the Labor Party was heart-warming; the Conservative reaction was lukewarm. They still really wanted Neville Chamberlain. For the first time, the people had hope but Churchill commented to General Ismay: “Poor people, poor people. They trust me, and I can give them nothing but disaster for quite a long time.”
“…nothing but disaster for quite a long time.” That’s the predicament that the Israelites found themselves in shortly after Moses came back into their lives. They were expecting to be set free, but were in fact in greater misery at the hands of their slave masters. They were becoming disillusioned to the point of being bitter. Even Moses was at risk of losing the plot. He too, felt betrayed by God (Cf. Ex. 5:22-23).
Obviously, things turned around eventually, and Israel was set free from their captors but even then, they found themselves in the wilderness whereupon they faced even more hardship in the way of a lack of food and water, not to mention threats from roving bands of hostile dessert tribes. It was a tough time for the Israelites to say the least. What sense can we make this episode in the history of our redemption story? How do engage with the ramifications of God’s sovereignty in our lives when He does things we have difficulty comprehending or accepting?
As I think things through in this regard, I’m put in mind of something I learned several years ago. I was involved in the stone-fruit business here in the valley, in the days before I got into the ministry. I was reading about the various old-school ways fruit farmers attempted to increase the productivity of their orchards. Without getting into the details and science of genetic improvements and fertilizers, let me just focus on one rather crude technique that did in fact increase productivity: striking limbs with flails. In the spring, while sap was beginning to run and bees were finishing up their assigned tasks, farmers would take sawed off broom sticks with sections of old hoses attached to the ends and walk through their orchards striking branches. In essence, they were purposely injuring the tree. Hitting branches with sticks bruised those branches, which triggered the healing process, which in turn increased the size and quality of the fruit at harvest time. Years later, when I returned to the valley, I asked one of the fruit farmers in my congregation about this old-school practice of beating branches with flails and to my surprise he said that in his younger days that’s exactly what they did with his dad’s orchard. They beat tree branches. They injured the tree to trigger a process leading to a better harvest.
I think it may be the same way with us. The hard things in our life, the pain and suffering, which is real and cannot be dismissed or trivialized, has the capacity to spur spiritual growth and maturity in the long run. It also helps us cling to the truth of Psalm 91. 1Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”…9If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, 10no harm will overtake you…” Indeed. Note that the text doesn’t say “no harm will come your way”. It says it won’t “over-take” you. Why? Because, in the end, we can trust our Father in heaven with our lives and our ultimate destiny. Small comfort you might say in the near term. Nevertheless, it remains true. It’s through the difficult times of life that we are most likely to grow the most in term of our spiritual maturity. The illustration of the beating of branches helps me make sense of though times in my life. Perhaps this will help you make sense of whatever it is you or someone you care about deeply is going through right now.
Pray to that end and be in awe of God’s sovereignty and providence. Consider Psalm 91:14-16 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.15He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.16With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”