The first casualties of upheaval can be love, kindness, and patience. But crisis is also a moment when love for God & one another can spring up. For 150 days, starting on 17th March 2020, I will write 300 words based on one of the 150 psalms in the bible. How can I find and give love in the midst of coronavirus?
There is a story, probably apocryphal, about a woman who came to faith in God in a smart area of west London. She found her way to a church in Kensington and sat down for the service – which turned out to be dignified and quiet. Part way through one of the readings she got so excited that she shouted out “Hallelujah”. A very respectable churchwarden walked over to her pew and whispered, “I’m sorry madam, but we don’t do that here”. She replied, “But I’m so excited, I’ve found religion!”. The warden politely responded with “You may have done so madam, but you didn’t find it here.”
However, having read Psalm 149 – I think the lady had good grounds for her enthusiastic shout of praise:
1 Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people. 2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. 3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. 4 For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. 5 Let his faithful people rejoice in this honour and sing for joy on their beds.
- Sing
- Praise
- Rejoice
- Be glad
- Dancing
- Make music
- Tambourine & harp
It sounds fairly enthusiastic to me. And so it should be. A relationship with God doesn’t have to be noisy – but it should touch our hearts. And as such, it should change us. It should stir us. It is not a polite bit of religion or spirituality. It is a life-giving relationship with the creator of the universe – and as such, we should be at least a little bit excited.
This psalm is a game of 2 halves – in that the second half deosn’t seem on the same theme as the first (but it is).
6 May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, 8 to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, 9 to carry out the sentence written against them – this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord.
The idea of going into battle praising God is not one I like – and I shouldn’t. The image of priests blessing soldiers before they went into the trenches during WW1 to kill and be killed – not good.
But, and it’s a big but, Christians now are called to fight against sin and the devil – not against people (who we are meant to love) – read Ephesians 6 in the New Testament. And our praise of God really helps in this. It empowers and encourages us, and it makes our enemy afraid.
So today – choose to praise Him, let his love stir your heart – you can even sing to him on your bed (verse 5). But let’s not be so polite, that we never let it out – Psalm 149 suggests that we both can and should.
Love, Matt