David Bahn – Reflections

O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,
    nor discipline me in your wrath.
² Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
    heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.
³ My soul also is greatly troubled.
    But you, O LORD—how long?

⁴ Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;
    save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of you;
    in Sheol who will give you praise?

⁶ I am weary with my moaning;
    every night I flood my bed with tears;
    I drench my couch with my weeping.
⁷ My eye wastes away because of grief;
    it grows weak because of all my foes.

⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
    for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
⁹ The LORD has heard my plea;
    the LORD accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
    they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

I had visited a woman in a nursing home many years ago. She was near death. Her son was in the room, and while I was there, he provoked me to the point that I lost my temper and turned and walked out of the room. I was going down the very long hall, made a turn to the left to walk down another very long hallway, and realized that I needed to go back and apologize to him. In fact he had provoked me. His insinuations and cryptic criticisms and accusations were just enough below the surface of his comments that he could have claimed that he had not been unfair or unkind. But he had been both. His sting had hurt. And I had chosen to leave.

But I felt that I should be the more honorable person in that situation and decided to return and offer a palm branch. “John,” I said, “I’m sorry. I should not have left as I did just now. Please forgive me.”

I had anticipated that he might forgive me and offer me an apology as well. But he did not. He got up out of his chair, came around his mother’s bed, took my hand and led me out into the hall. Thinking this was a gesture of reconciliation, I went with him.

“Well,” he said, “some people are just not cut out to be pastors.” No I forgive you. No I’m sorry too. Just further accusation and insult. Criticism and disparagement. It really hurt.

That’s one of the reasons I so love James 1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. I love the verse not only because it promises that God will give us wisdom when we ask of him, he also will not criticize us when we ask him for it.

A psalm of lament includes a call for help. Thankfully when we call on God for help, he will not denigrate  us for needing his help. There are times when we really do need a rock higher than I (Psalm 61:2). We don’t have enough strength to sustain ourselves. When we call out to God he hears and answers.

The answer to our prayer for help may come by way of divine intervention. When it does, we rightly praise God. Sometimes it arrives as a helper, a fellow traveler along the pathway of life. And sometimes it takes the shape of strength of the Holy Spirit who helps us grow in our faith through the struggles we face. As James also says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

God hears us when we call. He will help us. We can pray confidently, “Help, O Lord! In Jesus’ name. Amen.”