We’re tempted to trust in measurables in adversity. When we look across the metaphorical battlefield and see an army bigger than ours or an enemy stronger than us, it could be the cultural war on morality, the business competitor flooding the market with their product, or the sin that so easily snares us. We measure our strength and capacity compared to others and are found wanting. Then, we fret, worry, and stew (to quote Bill Heard).
Rick’s sermon ends a study this summer of many Psalms of lament. I’m grateful we covered psalms like this for a few reasons: 1) it gave us biblical answers and hope; 2) it gave us categories for times when life doesn’t make sense; 3) it shows that we’re a congregation that doesn’t want to ignore hard things in God’s word. Each teacher this summer did a wonderful job of laying out truths from God’s word that we hard to hear. But those hard-to-hear things were from hard-to-hear inspired texts from God that are good for our souls.
What struck me was how ‘real’ our sermon series in the Psalms had been to them and us. I have noticed a remarkable theme through our summer psalms: hardships and trials that seem to come without rhyme or reason. We are left with asking the Lord to alleviate the pain, and we’re left with, ‘How long, O Lord?’
These last two weeks have found our family in Ferndale, Washington, for a baseball trip with a 14U Babe Ruth team and at our church campout at Bastendorff on the Oregon Coast. It was a full two weeks with tons of memories made. It was nice to get away, and it was needed.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS OUT ON THE FELLOWSHIP.