Even as there seems to be some relief on the horizon, we can still be in a battle. Often in life when we get some relief, it isn’t complete relief. Very few people have no problems at all. We all seem to have some struggles. And as the old saying goes, “When it rains, it pours.” Often troubles seem to compound, one after the other. When one strikes, others seem to follow. Some even counts bad things in threes. I personally think they happen in sets of fours, but who’s counting!
Even as the writer of our Psalm has been worshiping and rejoicing in the deliverance that he has already experienced, he is still struggling with some current troubles. From his words, it seems as though he is pretty low. He feels like he is scraping the bottom of the barrel. He says that he needs to be lifted up from the gates of death. That is a pretty low place. He is so low that he feels he needs to be lifted in order to reach a place where he can render praise.
I get the picture of a trapped coal miner. No matter how loud he shouts, “I’m alive,” the words won’t seem real until he reaches the surface and is greeted by his family. He must rise from the depths before his message can be heard.
So it is with our writer. Until he is lifted from this final persecution he won’t be able to deliver the message of praise that he wants to deliver. Even while he declares the fate of his enemies, falling into their own traps, he declares that the LORD won’t forget him and all who trust in Him. What a powerful faith, one that sees what isn’t yet a reality as if it were the reality. The fate of nations that stay in rebellion against the LORD is sealed. They will fall. They will be defeated, never to rise again. The schemes they devised to trap others will become their downfall. The very things they developed in order to defeat their enemies will become the very things that will defeat them. That is because the LORD is the One who is in charge of justice. He stands on the side of those who stand alone in this world. He stands with those without a voice. Whose side are you on?
You see, the LORD isn’t bound by time. He has no drop dead date. His end will never come. We, on the other hand, had an expiration date. Our mortal bodies will give up the breath of life. Our hearts will stop beating. Our brainwaves will become silent. And at that moment we will enter eternity, heaven or hell, the presence of the LORD or eternal separation. But the LORD isn’t mortal. Nothing stops Him. As long as time ticks, and beyond time, the LORD will still be.
So even as our writer struggles with some current difficulties, he knows that they are but temporary. The final outcome is in the LORD’s hands. It isn’t unknown or uncertain. As permanent as the LORD’s presence is, so the outcome is. The LORD will bring justice.
The Arnold Journey 