15 The Lord treated with scorn
The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:15.
all the mighty men within my walls;
he marshalled rank on rank against me
to crush my young warriors.
The Lord trod down, like grapes in the winepress,
the virgin daughter of Judah.
I’m meditating on these verses, intending to write one meditation per day, though I haven’t been keeping up. It can seem like the elements of just staying alive are “marshalled rank on rank against me.” If it’s not one thing, it’s another!
Now in the historical context of this book at this verse, this is about the people suffering conquest and exile, and that by cruel conquerors. I want to emphasize that a key reason for this book being in the Bible, in my opinion, is to let people know it’s OK, and even healthy to acknowledge difficulties. Running around pretending things are fine when they aren’t isn’t healthy, and it isn’t productive. You can’t fix what you don’t recognize.
But in meditating I started to think about the way we talk about troubles in our lives. I’m talking especially about those of us who are in some kind of ministry work. What do we say when obstacles are put in our way?
Well, I’ve noted quite a variety, depending on who is talking and their attitude at the time.
- I must be doing something right for the Lord, because the devil’s after me!
- I must have missed God’s calling or instructions, because I can’t get through these barriers.
- I need more people to pray for me, because prayer is powerful, so more prayer is more powerful!
- I must keep my faith face on so nobody knows the trouble I’m seeing. (With apologies to the hymn!)
- I must be very open and honest about this so other people realize that they’re not alone in having troubles.
How do you know just how to react?
How do you know, for example, whether the devil’s after you, or whether you’re encountering hardship because you have lost your way?
You don’t. But that doesn’t really matter that much, because what you have to do is hold on to the one who does know. You’re probably going to be off the best path very frequently. It’s going to feel like the world is coming at you “rank on rank.”
What do you do? I can give you all the advice: pray more, listen for the Holy Spirit, use your God-given brain, seek and accept help from others, be willing to correct your program.
That’s good. I like to attempt those things. But most importantly, as the song says, “Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the waters.” He’s the one who can handle the problems that are coming at you rank-on-rank. Panic will get you nowhere. He will.
(Featured image generated by Adobe Firefly Image 5, from a prompt generated by Google Gemini.)
