46 How long, O Lord?
Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember [ad]what my span of life is;
For what vanity [ae]You have created all the sons of men!
48 What man can live and not see death?
Can he deliver his soul from the [af]power of [ag]Sheol? Selah.49 Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord,
Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
50 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants;
[ah]How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,
51 With which Your enemies have reproached, O Lord,
With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed.52 Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
Oh the questions we ask God… “Will you hide Yourself forever?” Probably not. “Will Your wrath burn like fire?” Sure, but again, not forever. What’s the point? The psalmist is essentially saying, “Hey God, ummm, I know we messed up. But I only have so many years on this earth, and I’d really love to see the side of you that David did. You know, sometime in my lifetime. No rush though! But really, hurry up please.”
In the midst of our troubles, we are apt to say similar things. We get impatient, after all, we’re no different than the psalmist. We only have so many days on this earth too. And sometimes, it seems like God has forgotten, because He’s taking a really, really long time to rescue us. What is He waiting for?
Then verse 52 comes in, and the psalmist, after begging and pleading with God, after bemoaning the hardships and heartaches of his people, says, “Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.” After all of that, he still blesses God? And what’s with this “Amen and Amen.” Amen means (roughly) “so be it!” or “let it be so”. Or put in the words of Jesus, “Not my will, but yours.”
Woah, not my will? And not just once, but twice “not my will”? That’s a hard pill to swallow once, let alone two times. And yet too often, that’s the whole problem. We want things fixed, but we don’t want to change. Just change our circumstances please God, and we’ll go on our merry way! God’s not interested in your merry way, He wants you to walk with Him instead.
To be clear, I’m not saying that’s where the psalmist was, but his fellow Israelites might have been. No matter what happens, and no matter where we are, God has a plan, a path for us to walk. Are we willing to stop what we’re doing and look for it? And even more, when we find it, and it doesn’t look very nice, or maybe it looks too much like a hard climb up a mountain, will we take it? Or would we rather wallow down here in the mud a while longer? God has something so much better in store for us, if we are willing to make the hard choice and make the sacrifice to get there. Will you take it? Will I?