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By: Michael Kornelis You may listen to this devotion in audio form via podcast here.
The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care,
and their inheritance will endure forever.
In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
-Psalm 37:18-19
When I was younger I think I had a more naive view of suffering. I expected that suffering would always be diffuse with meaning and religious epiphanies. Then, through experience, I came to realize that sometimes hard times are just that, hard. The Psalmist seems to have realized this as evidenced in the Psalms of Lament. For instance, although he in faith praises and trusts in the name of Yahweh without fail, his heart still truly feels “like wax melted within him.” (Ps. 22) Again, that is to say that sometimes hard times are just hard.
And yet, our days are spent under the Lord’s care. Though we experience loss, the inheritance He gives endures forever. Though disaster falls on us, the soul does not wither but often grows stronger. Though famines come, we have infinite bounty.
This last truth is what I want to meditate on for a moment: in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. Because what else I have learned about suffering is that it manifests a person’s wealth. You see there are many currencies, many of which are much more valuable, more precious, than monetary currency. The greatest perhaps is the currency of love and affection. And when famine comes, suffering, it inevitably manifests the inventory of the love and affection in one’s life. In our own local church community we are all witness to tragedies and sufferings. And we are all witness to the wealth of love and affection that those tragedies and sufferings reveal. Again, this is not to trivialize the pain and hardship of suffering. The pain is just painful and the hardship just hard. But at the very least, let us revel in the ocean of love and affection that we now see is without shore. In the famine we have plenty. This is the work of Christ. This is a glorification of his body, the Church. Jesus works wonders. He turns thorns into laurel crowns. He turns the Roman cross into a tree of life. He turns the grave, the most barren of wombs, into the place where truest life gestates and is born anew undying. He turns our famines into plenty.
Here is a beautiful prayer that comes down to us from the Puritans:
Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty,
Thy glory in my valley.
Amen.