When I Needed You, You Were There

Something is different in this psalm: the psalmist’s enemies have turned tail and run. They stumble and perish before you! (verse 3). The psalmist is jubilant, foot-on-chest winner jubilation.

Woohoo, we cry: finally, God, you have crushed the enemies! But are we allowed to be so jubilant when another is trampled, even if that other is our enemy who has trampled us? Are we allowed to blast our own triumphal horn so blatantly?

There is a mid-air collision in this psalm between human reality and God’s sovereignty - the psalmist gets this. Although the triumphalism is raw human emotion expressed with the relief from enemy attacks, this psalm is primarily grateful that God was there, taking charge (verse 4). God, you acted.

Embedded in this collision are deeper questions: why does God allow such evil to go on for so long before he seems to act? Why do the nations dig pits and hide traps? Why do the needy feel forgotten? Why are the wicked busy building snares to trap the powerless? Even though the psalmist tells us that God will never forget the needy, it doesn’t remove the pain or threat of those snares.

So once again, the psalmist boldly shakes his fist at God, demanding that he wake up and strike these people with terror. "Let them know, God, that they are only mortal." Don’t we long for God to do that? I do. But Jesus leads us into a radical new way to live: we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. (Matt 5:44)

The psalmist is right in reminding us that God is our safe-house when battered, our sanctuary during bad times, not sheltering us from our real world, but being there as a solid, safe-house for us.

Respond in Prayer

Father, how I long for the day when evil will be no more - if it were me, I’d do it tomorrow... but then I might just be the one destroyed. Help me to rest in your time zones and not rush ahead of your sovereignty in all things cosmic. In the name of Jesus, who carved the path to your safe-house. Amen.

Elaine Pountney

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®).