Writing What I Know

“I am afflicted and in pain;
let Your salvation, O God, set me on high!

I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.

When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy
and does not despise His own people who are prisoners.“

-Psalm 69:29-33

That last verse holds more weight for me than it ever has.

But, more than that, as I read this passage this morning, I realized how appropriate and applicable it is for the current landscape of our national state of emergency and the worldwide pandemic called the coronavirus.

So many words have been spilled on this topic and I don’t presume to add any additional wisdom to those of medical professionals, trusted church leaders, or those with greater insight than I into what is going on. I don’t know any of that.

What I do know is that which I am compelled (and commanded) to say. So here I stand (sit), joining my voice with thousands of others by proclaiming what we pray and believe is more pleasing to the Lord than a sacrifice of ox or bulls, and that is this:

God has not left the throne.
He has not and will not ever abdicate.
He faithfully remains in sovereign control over every molecule in this universe.

Therefore, we have every reason to praise our God with a song and magnify Him with thanksgiving. We should let our hearts revive by commanding them to bless the Lord and forget not all His benefits (Psalm 103) because He hears the needy (spoiler: that’s us all the time, not just in a global crisis).

He does not despise his people who are prisoners—whether imprisoned in a jail cell or in isolation or by physical ailments wracking their body. He does not despise His own people. Period. End of story. Christ’s blood is too precious for God to waste by despising those purchased and covered by it.

Therefore:

“Let heaven and earth praise Him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.”
-Psalm 69:34