Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-177 Sunday 08 Sep 2002

Reading: Psalm 124 – DESPAIR AND SALVATION

‘Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.'(Ps 124:8, NRSV)

Sometimes the situation seems utterly hopeless; there is nowhere to turn. I have just met a young man from a Muslim family; in a Muslim country, who became a Christian. Thrown out and beaten up by his family, to whom can he turn? Tomorrow I shall visit a lady who has given herself on the mission field; widowed for twelve years; crippled with arthritis; to whom does she turn? And what about the single mum struggling with a drug habit; the street children, rejected by society and living on their wits; the asylum seekers; the young man from the minority group who has been rejected at a stream of job interviews? The list seems endless.

The psalmist is clear. In situations such as this, only the Lord will do. When all hope has gone; he remains secure. This is not glib optimism. It is the faith which shines through even in the face of the possible failure of God (Dan 3:16-18; Job13:15), which is content to trust, whatever the outcome. Whatever the situation behind these verses, it is not one where God has prevented it happening. The enemy has been real, the trap has been sprung and it is only at the last minute that help comes. If God had not … the outcome is almost too painful to contemplate. But God has come and the only response is to praise him as the Deliverer.

The reality that God has come and has demonstrated that he is for his people does not give us carte blanche to assume that God is on our side whatever cause we adopt or methods we use. It does reassure us that when we pass through the valley of the shadow (Ps 23:4) he is with us.

Where is the torrent, the snare, in your life or in the lives of those you love? Turn this psalm into a prayer.

– John Grayston

Copyright Scripture Union, 2002

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