Cornerstone

Psa 74:10-11

Today’s local news is no different that yesterday’s news. It was no different last week, last month, or last year. It is depressing. An Independence, MO second grade teacher is accused of smoking marijuana at the school where he is employed. A gunman robs a bank. A man is shot while sitting at a stop light waiting for his turn to go about his business. Police find a young father dead on the streets of Kansas City, MO. It seems never to change, never to let up. The news has no intention to turn from its evil way.

Laying the newspaper aside the heartache becomes more acute. Questions flood the mind. “Lord, how long?” “Lord, don’t you care?” “Lord, where were you when the little girl was raped?” “Lord, did you turn your head when the elderly lady was beaten and then locked in her room by her grandson?” “Lord, why won’t you do anything?” “Lord, the mountains around may abound with your chariots but are we really on the losing side?”

Auschwitz cries from the past, “God, where were you?” Warsaw moans out of the pages of holocaust history, “God, we need your help. Why don’t you answer?”

Local police raid, Qilin Mountain Villa in the suburb of Uramqi City, Xijiang Autonomous Region, where some Christians are having a Bible training program held by a Korean pastor from America. The pastor is dragged away to prison. A muslin sheikh converts to Christianity and then is placed in an Egyptian jail charged with “insulting Islam.” China sentences a crippled house church leader to two years in prison on charges of “illegal business practices” after he prints and distributes Bibles for other Christians “free of charge”. Eritrean security police torture two Christians to death, two days after arresting them for holding a religious service in a private home south of Asmara. “That’s what is in the news, Lord. Where were you when all of this was taking place?”

The Psalmist cried out in anguish, “O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?” (Psalm 74:10) One calamity steps on the heels of that which just preceded it. Trouble trips over trials in its eagerness to bring us to despair. The Psalmist continues, “Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.” (Psalm 74:11) “Lord, you have a reputation to preserve. People of the past have said that you arm is mighty to deliver. Why do you stand half-turned as if you are uninterested in our trouble? Why do you stand with your arms crossed as if you don’t want to get involved?”

There are times when we feel helpless, hopeless, and hapless. It may seem that God has gone on a vacation and has not left a phone number where He can be reached. It seems, at times as if He has moved and has not left a forwarding address.

The same Psalmist who wrote during the dark night of his soul saw the other side of the picture on another occasion. He writes to encourage us in Psalm 37 when he says, “1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” We are told to Trust (3), Delight (4), Commit our way (5), and Rest in the Lord (7), knowing that His arms are not folded in disinterest. He is at work in our behalf! The Psalmist assures us that he knows from experience that even when the night is the darkest the Lord is there. Even when the clatter of the enemy’s armor can be heard on every side, God is at our side. In the end, we can be sure that all has not been done in vain. “17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.
18 The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.” (Selected portions from Psalm 37)

by Dr. Gayle Woods

The name of God in the Hebrew has no pronunciation. It is a word of all consonants. Without vowels it can not be pronounced. It is also made up of all the forms for being: was, is and will be. 

For the Jew, a name represented the essence of the person. It spoke of the history and the reputation of what it represented. Similarly we speak of a person’s reputation as his “good name.” God revealed this to Moses who trembled as he spoke to a burning bush. Moses wanted to be able to tell the Egyptians who had sent him. “What is your name?”, actually meant who are you, what are you like and what have you done? God said, “When they ask who sent you, tell them I Am, that I AM sent you.” In other words, God responded by saying an I am the God of eternity. This is also what the Hebrew writer was referring to when he said, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday , and to day, and for ever.” (Heb 13:8)

The ironic thing about the name of God is that it speaks of infinite potential for change. This seems paradoxical since it also seems to indicate stability. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday , and to day, and for ever.” How can He be always the same and have infinite potential for change? The answer to this question seems to lie in the fact that His character and His essence are solid in their absolutely, unshakeable stability. His creativity on the other hand has the elastic quality of continual possibilities. That God will never change does not mean that He has run out of ideas or that His infinite mind has crystallized. Our God can be counted on to never alter in the absolutes of His character from which we derive our value system. Our God can also be counted on to continue to act in creative ways as He assists us with the difficulties of our lives.

by Dr. Gayle Woods