Psalm 43 - Exile

Psalm 43:1-5 NIV

Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. 

Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked. 

You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? 

Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? 

Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; 

let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 

Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. 

I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. 

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? 

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Its independence day here in the USA! We are celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence from the tyranny of Great Britain.

It's funny, over 200 years later, to look at where our country is now. Some of our critics call us the tyrants. Perhaps we are.

I don't know where you are in relationship to your country, but I know I have seen changes in my country that disturb me. Not unlike the generation before me, they were disturbed by what my generation did. Like the psalmist in Psalm 43, some days I feel like I'm in exile.

Today's music is not my music. Today's dark and uncomfortable comedy is not funny to me. The proliferation of obscenity everywhere in our society is saddening. I'm sure you have your own list. I feel alienated at times because the America I knew growing up is no longer.

Isn't that the way of things? All things must pass. Healthy people learn to accept the ever shifting sands of time as part of life. But acceptance of change means, at some level, grieving what was lost.

Psalm 43 gives voice to my feelings of alienation. I feel like a stranger in a strange land. I feel like I've been dragged off into exile. And I long for American society to learn to live in liberty with righteousness and equity. Embrace the golden rule! Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Ensure that everyone in this country is treated fairly. Stop looking out for number one, yourself, and start looking out for each other.

And so like the psalmist, I look to God for help. I pray for my country. I work at helping the church be the church of Jesus Christ and not a reflection of class or party politics. I long to return to former days that felt right. Truth is, my memories are childish. Life in the 70's was far from right or pure. But to a child's happy memories happen anywhere anytime.

I celebrate today my country, and the freedom and plenty we enjoy. And I also grieve.

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.