Despite the Pain


Psalm 113
1Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!
2Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore!
3From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!
4The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens!
5Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high,
6who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?
7He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.
9He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!

Here in the United States this week, we have watched in sorrow and pain as the city of Houston was ravaged by floods. Now the rain has moved further east along the southern coast and more cities are being taken out by the damaging waters. The world is a mess and it’s hard to know if God really cares.

But those thoughts don’t really pan out because we also see that God’s people move in His name throughout the disasters. The people of this nation have poured out their hearts, their time, their energies, and their wallets to help any way that they can. The news and social media are filled with pictures of people exhausting their own personal resources and strength to help carry others to safety. You can say that this is just people being nice, but I know that it is God who inspires those actions. It is God’s love that motivates a man to spend three days without sleep carrying the sick and old into shelters and a safe place. It is in their faces that we see the love of a holy God who deserves our praise.

This prayer of praise is about those actions of our God. He is both far above us and very near to us. Although he is lofty in power and majesty, he uses that power to help his people. I know that I tread some dangerous ground here, for the whole debate about God being able to stop a disaster and allowing it instead barges into the conversation. And I won’t deny that He does indeed allow terrible things to happen. But “the whole earth groans” (Romans 8:22) under the burden of the sin that Adam and Eve brought into God’s creation. The floods in Texas are a result of that sin in the world. But the actions of God’s people in the face of those troubles are proof of His love for us and His ability to care for us. We are still in the hands of the God who is praised in this psalm.

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