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Psalm 30 1 I will exalt you, O Lord, because you have lifted me up 2 O Lord my God, I cried out to you, 3 You brought me up, O Lord, from the dead; 4 Sing to the Lord, you servants of his; 5 For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, 6 Weeping may spend the night, 7 While I felt secure, I said, “I shall never be disturbed. 8 Then you hid your face, and I was filled with fear. 9 I cried to you, O Lord; 10 “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit? 11 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me; 12 You have turned my wailing into dancing; 13 Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing; This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We’ll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen. |
Okay
If a quote were to be attributed to John Lennon, Oscar Wilde, Paul Coelho, and Patel, the hotel manager in the movie “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” you might think it’s worth considering. Here’s the quote:
“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”
What do you think? Worth considering?
No need to quarrel over authorship because the fact of the matter is that these wise sources may all have been reading Psalm 30, included above. Perhaps you heard it in church yesterday. That psalm makes the point in a variety of ways that life is a mix of things that are okay and things that are not okay.
It speaks of God restoring life on the way to the grave. It speaks of weeping in the night followed by joy in the morning. It speaks of short-lived wrath and eternal favor. Wailing is turned into dancing. Sackcloth becomes a garment of joy. You get the idea. It reflects the truth of our lives which are a mix, only navigable because of the ancient promise of Julian of Norwich: All shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.
We face all kinds of reasons why Julian’s hope is not yet realized. Biblical scholars have indicated that our lives unfold in the midst of the not yet and the already. It’s why hope is such an important virtue in the Christian faith. There’s no denying that life can be hard. But as people of faith we are encouraged to believe that the challenges are not the last word.
The challenges are not only external circumstances we face. They can be observed in ourselves. We are not yet all that we should be. A friend of mine, really smart guy, spent most of his life as an atheist/agnostic. A serious student of philosophy, religious faith made no sense. We talked a fair amount about his questions, doubts, concerns. But in his thirties, he came to make a commitment to the Christian faith. One day in our conversations, he shared his creed. He said that he had figured out what the gospel is. He said it sounds like this: I’m not okay. You’re not okay. And that’s okay. His affirmation that it’s all okay was an expression of confidence in the mercy of God, the confidence that grace bats last.
It’s a variation on what Psalm 30 had to tell us, perhaps captured in the bumper sticker that hung on my office wall: PBPGINFWMY (Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet.)
As we’ve noted previously, the psalmist asks us to recognize that a lot of life is about waiting. What are practices you have developed that help you do that? Maybe this week you’re dealing with circumstances that are not okay, that are not well. Maybe it’s difficult to see how it could all work out. (Don’t even get me started on the news!) Our prayer as I write this is that we can move through these circumstances in confidence that they are not the final word. They do not have final say, thanks be to God
-Jay Sidebotham
