(Listen online here)
Several weeks ago, Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It came as a surprise to many people, not least the American President himself, because, quite frankly, nobody is really sure what Obama has done yet to bring about greater world peace. War still rages in Iraq; extra British and American troops have only just been sent into Afghanistan; and the US-Russia relationship is still tense.
Perhaps, the words of this morning’s Psalm come to mind:
“3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save… [but]
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
But, is the God of Jacob, the Maker of heaven and earth, worthy of a Nobel Prize himself? I’m not convinced that the Psalmist has got his facts right:
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
Well, I’m not sure about that! 15 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda are starving as I speak because of a near total failure of the Long Rains on which they depend. If God feeds the hungry, why is he not feeding them?
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the Psalmist proclaims with confidence.
Well, I’m not sure about that! According to the World Health Organisation, 37 million people are totally blind, with hundreds of millions more suffering visual impairments. Where’s their sight?
But the Psalmist continues:
9 The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
Well, I’m not sure about that either! The wicked seem to do quite well, from what I can tell, and having spent time in orphanages in India, I’m not sure that the Lord does sustain the fatherless as well as we might hope.
Clearly then, the Psalmist has made a mistake: either the Lord doesn’t reign forever, or, if he does, he’s not quite the benevolent deity the Psalmist claims he is. So what do we make of this? Why should we put our faith in God when there is such widespread suffering? How can we command our souls to praise God when life can be so cruel?
The answer, I believe, is hope.
I don’t know why God allows such suffering. I don’t know why God heals some people and not others. I don’t know why injustice prevails. I don’t know why, and I want to scream at God sometimes.
But, somehow and somewhere, behind the chaos and mess of everyday life, I see a God who is drawing the threads of our lives together into a great tapestry. I see a God whose love flows freely into our lives despite pain and troubles. I see a God who has been faithful to his people despite our disobedience and sin.
I see God on a cross… and I see an empty tomb.
There is hope, for the God of Jacob is a God with scarred hands and bloodied feet.
There is hope, for the Maker of heaven and earth cannot be confined to a tomb or controlled by the powers of darkness.
There is always hope of resurrection. There is always hope of a new heaven and a new earth.
There is always hope for when God will, in the words of John in the book of Revelation, “wipe every tear from their eyes” because there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Rev. 21:4). The old order of things will pass away.
It is for this that I can join with the Psalmist and sing: “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!”
For it is the Lord, not Baal or Buddha or Mohammed who can achieve this.
It is the Lord, not Obama who will bring about true peace.
It is the Lord, not the free market system that will satisfy all hunger.
It is the Lord, not the church that will bring about perfect justice.
It is the Lord who calls us to work with him, not us who calls God to work with us.
It is the Lord, and for that we join with the angels around the throne and the redeemed from every generation, land and tongue in singing those marvellous words:
“Happy are those whose hopes rely
On Israel’s God! He made the sky,
And earth and sea, with all their train:
His truth for ever stands secure;
He saves the oppressed, he feeds the poor,
And none shall find his promise vain.”
(Isaac Watts, based on Ps. 146)
Amen.