Keep On Keeping On

Written by Hugo Neufeld

“KEEP ON KEEPING ON”

PSALM 21, JAN 23, 2011

 

Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

 Just over one month ago, Christmas Eve, 2010, Doreen and I were spending a quiet relaxing evening together after the service at church.  (The night before we had celebrated Christmas in our home, with several folk who have few friends and family, and on Christmas day the first of 7 grandchildren and 6 parents would be arriving to spend a week with us)

 We had an invitation out for Christmas Eve, but decided we needed peace and quietness, and indeed that is what we found – “Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm, all is bright” was our sentiment and mood. Is this not the way God intends our world to be – comfortable, peaceful, secure, “all is well with my soul”.

 Then just before going to bed, I quickly checked the e-mail: “Doreen there’s another Christmas letter, (we enjoy them so much) – a letter from Caleb and Mary.  But the letter was not quite what we expected from our seminary African friends of 20 years ago, who had then returned to their home country to practice the “peace on earth and good will to all” that they had discovered. 

Here’s some of what they wrote:

 

“Our dear friends, Do pray for us. It is the night of Christmas Eve, about 1.22 am and things are tight. 12 persons in our city were killed yesterday with a bomb-like explosive.” (We read later in the Newspaper that the very next day 23 people were killed)  

Continuing the e-mail:

 “I am staying with our security that only God can give. We had received rumours that our neighbours planned to disrupt our Christmas celebrations. The young people are agitated. We are just telling every body to keep calm.  It is so cold out here and I have to preach this morning. Christmas morning is just a few hours from now, and there is understandably a lot of fear. Many will not come to Church for fear of being attacked.  

Thankfully the moon is so bright tonight.  What a gift from our good Lord. Mary just made a big pot of tea for all of us outside.  May we who know the Prince of Peace and seek peace by working for peace.  Pray for Mary and me. We are so concerned that the crisis will escalate.

(In capital letters) OUR HEARTS ARE STAYED ON THE GOD OF PEACE. PSALM 27 GIVES US STRENGTH. AS WE CELEBRATE LOVE. MAY WE FIND TRUE LOVE TO SHARE WITH THOSE WHO HATE LOVE.

As you sit and eat with your families, say a pray of protection and grace for us to keep on keeping on.

In the strength He gives day by day,
Caleb and Mary”

How does someone who has embraced the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “keep on keeping on” in a context of violence?  How do Caleb and Mary boldly hold a prayer vigil, standing between 2 warring factions, arm in arm with a small circle of other Christians, knowing that a number of people already have lost their lives, how do they “keep on keeping on”?

 The answer – they give it themselves – is claiming Psalm 27 in their lives – The Lord is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear?  How did the Psalm writer who found himself surrounded (Verse 2) by evil doers and adversaries and foes - an army encamped against him, How did he “keep on keeping on”?

 For us the question on a quiet Christmas Eve, as well as today was, How do we “keep on keeping on” when we live so comfortably? - a lot of material resources, good protection from our police, good houses, lots of food, and lots of resources that take so much of our time and sometimes push God right out of the picture?

 Let’s look at some answers to these questions from Psalm 27:

  1. Notice first of all how the Psalm begins.

The first words give us a clear focused pronouncement, or we could say, the Psalm writer puts forth a foundational statement that is at the core of his beliefs. Right in the beginning, he wants us to pay attention to this Announcement;

 The Lord is my light and salvation. The Lord is the Stronghold of my life.

 In spite of all the troubles this poet is in, he still boldly proclaims, right at the outset, that “God is present in my life” – “I know that my redeemer lives” and that is why he can persevere!

 And that is why Caleb and Mary are able to carry on. In their e-mail they unfalteringly announce that: “Our hearts are stayed on the God of Peace, who gives us strength”, and they grab on to Psalm 27, and make it their very own.

 For us not only when we end up facing a crisis in our lives, such as a health issue, but also as we go about our relatively comfortable lives, we need to pause and issue the proclamation to ourselves and to others, and of course to God, that, The lord is our Light and Salvation

 An exercise for us this coming week might be to live with this phrase.  (I sometimes do this – I read a chapter and then try to pick out some words that jump out at me, and I try to carry these with me through the day). So choose this phrase - “The Lord is my Light and Salvation.” Recite it, say it out loud. Allow that phrase, that proclamation, to pop up in your minds at the coffee shop, in the arena, at school, at the shopping centre, in the office – wherever you go.

Before you leave the house turn off the scripture blocker that so automatically wants to kick in when we go about our daily tasks.  And let that proclamation, that mission statement, saturate and permeate your heart and minds.            

  1. Secondly, we want to take note of how the Psalmist connects his prayers very specifically to his circumstances – and that’s a second reason why he can keep on keeping on.

    (It’s not a prayer for out there, for the bye and bye, but a prayer for right now and right here)

 There are 2 sections in the chapter that tell us a lot about the Psalmists situation, one, near the beginning, in verses 2&3. Here he talks about his enemies that want to “devour his flesh”, and about an army that has set up their camp next to him, and is ready to strike at any time.

 Then later in verses 11 & 12 he talks about “adversaries and false witnesses who are breathing violence”. (Quite powerful images of his enemies). Clearly, the Psalm writer is in danger, like Caleb and Mary were. What both the Psalmist and Caleb and Mary do is they name the problem and state it to God and to the Faith Community. Whenever we have concerns and difficulties in our lives this Psalm encourages us to name them and bring them to God and to trusted friends.

 In the Psalm writer’s prayers we see him almost demanding (certainly being assertive) that God will do something about his situation. In verses 9 & 12 there are 5 passionate “do not” pleas: 

  1. do not hide your face
  2. do not turn your servant away
  3. do not cast me off
  4. do not forsake me
  5. and do not give me up to the will of my adversaries

 

What we have here are the desperate cries of a troubled man and they don’t come out very diplomatically or politely. They seem kind of self-centred.

 However, God in his love, accepts those emotional pleas no matter how we blurt them out. Didn’t Jesus himself, in anguish on the cross scream out, “My God My God why hast thou forsaken me?” (actually quoting Psalm 22:1)

 Scripture, here and in a variety of other places gives us permission to scream out our deepest concerns to God!

 I like the song in our Hymnal that talks about our “jabberings” and our “fragmentary” prayers and then how God’s Spirit “makes our prayers complete”. (#347).

 But the psalmist also has another kind of prayer that precedes this outburst: (verse 4) “One thing I ask of the lord” – so what’s this man, who is in trouble, going to ask? - His “One” prayer request is really 3 things:

  1. “to live in the house of the Lord all the days of his life” – it really means to have this close home-like family relationship with God.
  2.  “to behold the beauty of the Lord” - (interesting) – to be able to see God’s goodness - God’s creation and everything that God stands for.
  3.  “to enquire in his temple” – to study, to learn more about God in the place of study and worship

 

And so the prayer of the Psalmist is both - one of pouring out his desperate emotions, his pleading with God to not abandon him, just get rid of my enemies, and on the other hand it’s a little more humble prayer, asking for a growing closer relationship with God where he can take in God’s creative beauty. God receives and blesses such honest and bold prayers, where we hold nothing back from God.

So the psalm writer is, first of all, able to keep on keeping on because he boldly proclaims his mission statement, that God is his light and salvation,

Secondly he’s able to persevere because his prayer is a genuine prayer and it relates specifically to his situation and thirdly he’s able to keep on keeping on because, verse 13; “He believes he will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”

 The Psalmist BELIEVES!  He has FAITH THAT GOD WILL ACT, not only in some distant future, but today in the “Land of the Living”

 I think it’s a gift to be able to be able to get up in the morning and know that God is very present, sitting at the breakfast table with you.

 Not only is God present, but maybe he’s asking you to “pass the cereal”, “pour me a cup of that freshly brewed coffee”, “I want to be in conversation with you all day”.

 We truly believe in God “in the land of the living”, when we just know that God is there beside us at every juncture, at every twist and turn of our lives.

 We have a niece, active in the church, economically successful, family doing well, who found her peaceful life-style shattered with bad news.

Let me read to you some of her e-mail on May 20, 2009:

 “OK, I had a CT scan on March 31 because I had headaches around Christmas time, the thing is, they left. I really did not want a CT scan and asked God that they lose the request if I wasn’t suppose to have it.  I kind of went like a kid kicking and screaming and dragging my feet.

 They told me it would take 10 days to get to the doctor. Then 2 days later there was a message on my answer phone asking me to come to discuss the results. I did get scared but in no way did I think my life would change. I went alone (what was I thinking) and the doctor came in very serious. He said there was no easy way to say this but it’s bad, very bad. You have a brain tumour.

 Out of left field our life changed. I looked at him but did not really hear him after that. I thought “He has just signed my death warrant” … Nights were a battle with God and Satan trying to get the best of my mind. Many nights I lay awake.

 I spent the mornings in private agony on my knees trying to find peace and trust. It made me question my faith and the very foundations of what I believed. God gave me some good verses after a time, from 2 Chronicles 20:3-17 especially v 15 and 17.”

 V 17 reads “This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still and see the victory of the Lord … do not fear or be dismayed”  (these are the words of the Levite Jahaziel to the people of Judea who were fearing the approaching enemy) And then she says: “I clung to those verses with raw hope and with the tip of my fingernails”

 This is what it means to believe that God will act, “to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” to keep on keeping on in the midst of adversity.  We cling to the promises of God with raw hope and with the tip of our fingernails

 For our niece, the journey to surgery and the surgery itself was tough, but she has recovered and the surgery is considered successful. Thankfully, at this point, the tumour has not come back. In a recent e-mail she writes: “I thought I would take you on a trip with me to the cancer lodge in Vancouver.

 I just came back from there and am feeling very subdued yet thankful. That place is a place of hope and optimism on the one hand and death on the other. People are facing the worst fear of their lives and yet can laugh.

 I wonder if hardship makes you enjoy the moments? Everyone "gets" each other. The fear is the same and the wondering is the same.

 In the midst of this we ended up having a "singing." A lady was playing guitar and wanting people to sing with her but we didn't know the songs. So finally she stopped and said "what songs do you all know?" One lady started to sing "I come to the garden alone" and a few of us joined in and before you know it we sang several Christian songs, right there in the place where life and death are struggling to win.

 I had a “hippie” room mate and we had some interesting talks. Who knows where God's light will penetrate??? ? It brought back the reality of our situation and there was definitely fear as I waited for the MRI and meeting with the neurosurgeon. I got a clean bill of health for another year. Thank God!

 I had talked to three people there that had brain tumors. Two were dealing with a reoccurrence. You make friends very quickly and deeply. There isn't time for surface stuff. You also get into conversations about God easily as well. I figure even if I am put there once a year for a few years, I can spread God's light and encourage others and they me. In a way I wish you all could experience it but not really. You get cheered on when you get a good report and you hold and cry with people that get a bad report.

 Thanks for your prayers over the last 17 months. If you think of it could you keep on praying? We all need each other as Christians for support and prayer. In His love.”

 The Lord is our Light and Salvation! – Live with this Foundational Statement, recall it throughout the day this coming week.

 A man once observed a young boy flying a kite out in a field. He noticed that there was something odd about the way the boy was standing and holding on to the string.  He walked up to the boy and discovered that he was blind. He said: “Do you like flying kites?”

 The boy said, “I sure do.”

 This peaked the man’s curiosity and he asked, “How is it that when you can’t see it?”

 The boy answered, “I may not be able to see it but I can feel it tugging.”

 No matter what happens, what we do, where we are, God’s love continues to tug at us with God’s connection of having created us in God’s image. 

In a crisis we may feel like giving up or, in a season of being comfortable, we may give up on God by simply allowing that mode to become the default position. 

Caleb and Mary and our niece, and the Psalmist, and do doubt, some of your own experiences, remind us today, that the Lord is our light and salvation.  They remind us to keep on keeping on!

And if you find it difficult to persevere in trusting and believing in God, be very honest with our Creator and at the same time, embrace the words of our niece:

Cling on to the promises of God with raw hope and with the tip of your fingernails.

Amen.                              

Hugo Neufeld