When the Psalms Promise Too Much
In times of crisis, God’s people have always turned to the Psalter, the biblical collection of laments and hymns, wisdom and worship. As we aIn times of crisis, God’s people have always turned to the Psalter, the biblical collection of laments and hymns, wisdom and worship. As we are temporarily “online only” as a church (out of appropriate deference to civil authorities but even more out of a desire to love our neighbors well), we have been teaching an online adult education class on the Psalms. The power of their poetry moves our hearts, not just our minds, and we find space to appreciate the holy as their images of God’s care wash over us. Nonetheless, as we read the Psalms during a rapidly escalating pandemic, this niggling thought starts to appear: do they promise too much? Do their words of comfort turn out to be hollow?
Words of Comfort
The psalms give us comfort precisely because of the sweeping nature of their promises. They paint a vision of a God intimately involved in our world and near to defend his people. Psalm 46 begins:
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
Psalm 46:1–3 (ESV)
The psalmist promises that God is not far off, but a present help when things descend into chaos. Though a sinkhole opens up and sucks us under the earth, though a landslide drops whole mountains into the sea, though that sea comes crashing into land – in these terrible natural disasters, the poet says, God is our refuge and our strength.