Psalm 42: 10 My bones suffer mortal
agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long,” Where is your God?"
They say that life is full of hidden surprises and
this morning that turned out to be true. One of the contractors dug through a
hidden gas main at the church, causing an emergency. Within minutes, fire
engines and utility trucks swarmed into our parking lot. Local businesses were
all shut down and for about an hour everything was intense. An explosion could
have occurred at any time, but thankfully the professionals managed to cap the
pipe and quickly repair it.
This all happened because the pipe was not where it
was supposed to be. A painted yellow line was meant to indicate where the pipe
actually was, but it turns out that the gas pipe was twelve feet away from the
line. Someone somewhere had made a serious miscalculation, which could have
resulted in a fatal explosion. If the pipe had been properly located, this
mistake would not have occurred. Knowing where the pipe actually rests is
crucial to our church building expansion.
The writer of Psalm 42 must have been deeply troubled
and tormented. His painful experience causes those around him to question
whether or not God actually existed. The inevitable question of ‘where is God
when it hurts?’ must have crossed his mind, so he dug deep into his soul to find
an answer. And that’s where he found God, right at the heart of his suffering,
right in the midst of his pain.
We each go through ‘dark nights of the soul’ and faith
crises. In the midst of heartbreak, illness, and sorrow, it’s very easy to lose
our hold of God, But, as one of my Hebrew professors used to say, “It’s not our
grasp of God that is important, but that God still has a grasp of us.” In other
words, knowing where God is located is not as crucial as God knowing where we
are.
Prayer: Lord God, life is full of hidden surprises and
we seek Your presence every day. It helps us to know that You are with us, no
matter what we experience or endure. Reveal to us of Your whereabouts this day
and remind us that Your knowledge of us is far more important than our knowledge
of You. In Christ’s Name, we pray. Amen.
John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church
in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please
send John an email to
pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.
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