Oh boy - all this deep thinking gives me a headache. When I start thinking about my problems and the sufferings in the world - life often doesn't seem fair does it? When you look at the Beckhams of this world, or maybe even just your neighbours, and they seem to have so much money and possessions yet care so little about God, or the needs of others, and then I think about my lot in life - ouch time! That's what the writer of Psalm 73 said (in The Message version). 'What’s going on here? Is God out to lunch? Nobody’s tending the store.The wicked get by with everything; they have it made, piling up riches. I’ve been stupid to play by the rules; what has it gotten me? Still, when I tried to figure it out, all I got was a splitting headache…'.
Do you feel that way sometimes? Oh maybe not today but you know what I mean, what the Psalm writer meant. What's the answer to this life induced pressure on the mind? Well, it's not to deny the reality of how hard life can be. Nearly two thirds of the whole of the book of Psalms is made up by what is called 'lament' - a kind of religious poem or song designed to describe how bad things are. No denial there then. Yet, in many of these very honest declarations there are also found statements that turn back our faith and confidence towards God. Like here in Psalm 73. The very next line to the one quoted above says this: 'Until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I saw the whole picture: The slippery road you’ve put them on, with a final crash in a ditch of delusions.' So what we see today is not the end of the story. The writer went in to the place of prayer 'the sanctuary of God' he or she calls it, and was granted there a revelation of the end of all humanity without Christ. Suddenly the eyes of their heart were opened, and they understood the bigger picture.
This world is not all there is. In fact, the Bible describes what we have today as being as brief as the falling of a leaf, like a tale that is told or a breath that is breathed momentarily and then is gone forever. None of the trinkets that society might envy as the signs of success really matter to God. At the end of the day He reads the thoughts and intentions of every heart - and holds our allotted number of breaths like a loan ready to be called.
There's only one cure to that kind of headache. It's trust in Christ as saviour and Lord. Only in truly following Him can we be ready for the day when that most vital of all loans is recalled. 'Because He lives, I shall live also' is a great reminder that our values need to reflect eternity if they are to be properly balanced on earth. Any other approach is fertile headache country.
