Thursday 01 November 2018

Background

On All Saints Day, our psalm is one of rejoicing with delight in God’s goodness. The threat and terror of previous events have been resolved at God’s intervention and there is no excuse to be moping around and complaining. There is much complaining in the psalms, but not here. Here, we celebrate the goodness of God and give him loud praises as well as declaring the salvation of God. Notice how this psalm moves on from desperation and into praises as the situation is dealt with. Instead of berating God for ‘almost’ letting him be killed, the author (King David) celebrates safety and God’s goodness. In celebration, the psalmist uses many phrases that we recognise and love, “taste and see that the Lord is good” (v. 8) being perhaps the most well known. Last night may have felt dark with the popular focus on skeletons and ghosts; a creeping preoccupation with death. The tradition from the USA of ‘trick or treating’ can range from cute to threatening. Each knock on the door and the request for sweeties can be seen as a search for light and goodness in the enveloping dark. There is certainly more opportunity to put a better interpretation on it than on the old English tradition of ‘Mischief Night’ on 4 November, which, it seems to me, was a blatant excuse for vandalism and generally scaring people.

The acknowledgment of fear often coming under the cover of darkness is tempered by the reminder from the psalmist that “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them” (v. 7). The fear we have of danger, threat and struggle (or spiders, heights or confined spaces) is different to the “fear of the Lord”, which is an overwhelming sense of awe and profound respect. It acknowledges the vast power of the Lord and especially here in verse 7 where the power of the Lord’s presence is all around.

God’s goodness is to be found and celebrated in the redemption he brings. Whether David’s assertion in verse 1 is a commitment or an exhalation of relief, it is something that we are reminded of – that whether the situation goes on or there is relief, God is still good and his praise should “ever be on our lips”.

To Ponder

• “This mess is of my own making and it’s my responsibility to deal with it.” Does that sound familiar? How do you limit God by your self-sufficiency?
• How might, as people who have the light of Christ, we point the way to “taste and see” the goodness of God for those who are still struggling through a time of fear? In this, we must be careful to guard against being trite and making it seem easy.
• Do you tend to brood on how a bad thing was or to focus on how good God is and how he loves you? Why do you think this is? What simple thing could you begin to do that would shift your attitude to being one that is focused on God’s goodness and deliverance?