As I write, Melbourne is in lockdown again. Since this pandemic began, Melbourne has endured 144 days of lockdown. This current lockdown began as a seven day ‘circuit breaker.’ That was ten days ago.
As Christians, we are to ‘to rejoice always’ and ‘to give thanks in all circumstances’, right? (See 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.) As a good Christian woman, I was determined to look at the positive aspects of our current predicament with as much joy and thanksgiving as I could muster.
Last week I was part of a little retreat group which focused on ‘praying in colour’ for an hour or so. Our group members are all safe at home or in the homes of family members. None of us are about to go hungry or be kicked out due to loss of income brought about by lockdown. We all have good internet, so we didn’t even miss out on this anticipated half day of retreat, though gathering face-to-face would have been nicer. We all have work that we can more-or-less do from home.
Yes, life is good for the members of our little group compared to, say, people in places like India and Nepal. The pandemic has made life very tough for many people there.
Praying in colour
“Just start with a shape,” the retreat group member leading the activity instructed us. “Pick colours and doodle as you pray for the person or place that shape represents. See what emerges. You might like to meditate on verses of Scripture or attributes of God later too.”
The people of India and Nepal have been heavy on my heart lately, so it was obvious where to start. I quickly realised how hazy my geography of that area is, but I was determined not to be distracted by getting online to check the details.
I prayed long and hard for people I know, people I don’t know, organisations I know and trust, governments and authorities and more. As I prayed and doodled, the rose on my desk dropped its petals.
Perhaps it was chance that the colours and even shape of my prayerful doodle kind of matched the colours of the rose. Perhaps I chose these colours sub-consciously. Perhaps it was a divine prompt. Whatever, it was, the fallen rose petals and the imminent end of the rose reminded me of a verse of Scripture: “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”
Where is that verse from? I allowed myself a quick check online to access my concordance. There it was – Psalm 116:15 – “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”
Off to Psalm 116 I went for some more meditative doodling.
“I believed, therefore I said….”
How would you expect this sentence to end? ‘I believe, therefore I said only positive things about everything’? ‘I believe, therefore I said only words which built others up, and myself as well’? ‘I believe, therefore I said only words that highlighted the silver lining of any storm cloud’?
Psalm 116 contains a number of beautiful verses, some of which I have memorised and meditated on in the past.
I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
Psalm 116:1
he heard my cry for mercy.
The LORD is gracious and righteous;
Psalm 116:5
our God is full of compassion….
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Psalm 116:15
We are right to memorise and meditate on precious promises like these. Context is everything, though, and Psalm 116 contains plenty of less pleasant verses too. The one that jumped out at me as I prayed about India and Nepal was not one I had memorised in the past. It was this:
I believed, therefore I said,
Psalm 116:10
“I am greatly afflicted.”
Be real
The Psalmist wrote this ‘Psalm of Thanksgiving’ after he had been rescued from a dreadful ordeal, the details of which we are not sure. What is clear is that the writer did not gloss over the difficulties. No, precisely because of their belief in a gracious, righteous, compassionate, just LORD, they were able to pour out their heart to him.
Life isn’t always a bed of roses. And to mix analogies, even roses lose their petals with time. Rose bushes prick people with their thorns. As for the particular rose which dropped petals on my desk, it also harboured a tiny spider and a green aphid which fell onto the desk too … eeek.
I believe, therefore I say….
Melbourne has been in lockdown for 144 days since this pandemic began and we have a while to go yet. Lockdown stinks. I hate with a passion the isolation that the most vulnerable in our communities endure as a result of lockdown. Personally I am doing okay but am well aware that many in my community are not.
What should a good Christian woman think and say in times like these? As Christians, we are to ‘rejoice always’ and ‘give thanks in all circumstances’, right?
This Psalm reminded me that if I truly believe in God, then I can be real. Beautiful roses drop petals. Saints die. Pandemics cause chaos.
I believe in an all-knowing, compassionate, just, powerful God. Therefore I say, “I am greatly afflicted.”
The point of this post
It’s true that my ‘affliction’ is nothing compared to what some others experience. Let me also point out that I don’t blame our authorities for imposing lockdown. They are doing what public health experts advise is best overall for our community.
The point of this blog post is not to say, ‘Woe is me’ or even to say ‘Woe are those who are far worse off than Melburnians when it comes to lockdown.’
The point of this blog post is this: it’s right and appropriate for Christians to lament. We need not pretend to be positive and chirpy when life is hard.
In a society that is obsessed with comfort and obliterating pain, even Christians can lose sight of the validity of ‘lament’. Did you know that about 1/3 of the Psalms are actually ‘Psalms of Lament’? If we believe in a God who knows our hearts, then let’s be real before God. Sometimes life is tough.
And as for that nice New Testament Scripture quoted earlier in this blog post about ‘rejoice always’ and ‘give thanks in all circumstances,’ you may have noticed that I missed the central admonition.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Pray continually. And as another New Testament writer put it, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”(1 Peter 5:7).
I believe, therefore I say … lockdown sucks; pandemics stink; pain and suffering is blinking awful. Come soon, Lord Jesus, and deliver us.