Friday 26th June

PSALM 33:13-22
From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; 14 from his dwelling-place he watches  all who live on earth  15 he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. 16 No king is saved by the size of his army;
 no warrior escapes by his great strength. 17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. 18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, 19 to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. 20 We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. 21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. 22 May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you.
 
We sometimes hear people say “might is right” not usually in a positive sense but meaning that the mighty abuse their power to suit themselves and make themselves the judge of their own behaviour. Not many of us are aware that “Might is Right” was the title of a book published in 1896 which denied the existence of such things as natural or human rights and argued instead that physical power and strength alone could set moral and ethical standards. Dictators down through history have followed that creed as have kings of old. Psalm 33 reminds us that this is codswallop. Any power that exists, exists only in the overall purpose of God and with his permission.  The warning of the psalm is that God sees all people equally, he is an eye witness to every deed, and God’s weighs every motive and action. Dictators beware!

The other side of the coin is that no king or nation is secure in and of themselves. “No king is saved by the size of his army”. Our ability to control circumstances is limited. We have discovered that in the past 6 months as the world in its most developed state in history, both technically and economically has been devastated by a virus that no-one reckoned on or saw coming. Generally governments and people have forgotten what the psalmist realised thousands of years ago when he wrote “We wait in hope for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.”

Gimme 5 is going to take a break for the summer months but as we sign off remember the two lines with which this psalm concludes “May your unfailing love be with us Lord, even as we put our hope in you.” Make that your prayer. Continue to pray for one another, for the church, our community and nation. Ask that a cure and a vaccine for this pandemic might be found soon and that when it is remember to whom we prayed and ask that we will not forget the lessons of this time.

Listen (This is a belter!)