One of my favorite movies of all time is “The Sound of Music” with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. And one of my favorite scenes is toward the end when Mother Superior is talking to Maria and quotes Psalm 121 as Maria is hiding with her new family from the Nazis. If you recall, the Nazis had just taken over Austria and were trying to force Maria’s husband, Capt. Von Trapp, to serve in the German navy. The family was trying to escape into Switzerland because Capt. Von Trapp wanted nothing to do with the Third Reich.
I suppose there is always a time in our daily lives and routines when we are trying to escape from something. You probably remember the old Calgon bath oil commercials in which the woman was just about overwhelmed with household chores, phones ringing, kids screaming and running about, dogs barking, and errands that still needed to be done. The woman would finally get to the end of her rope and shout, “CALGON, TAKE ME AWAY!!”, and then she would run off to soak in a hot bubble bath.
Or consider the young family now being hit from all sides by rising energy, food, and college tuition prices as well as the potential job loss which may be just around the corner. Or even the retired folks living on fixed incomes trying to make ends meet with rising medicine prices IN ADDITION to the other costs which keep going up … up … up.
Some folks turn to their congressman or shake their fist at the president, even we Christians. Things are hard and we are more than a little shaken by not knowing exactly what may be just around the bend. We don’t like things in our lives being so completely out of control, but we also know that these problems as well as many others are beyond our control. When we talk about a WORLD economy, we know it’s getting pretty big and will only get bigger. Who can stick their finger in the dike and plug the hole like the little Dutch boy, and how much good will it do??
When we reach the end of our rope, however, it is then when we should pray for … what? Pray for an economic miracle? Pray that Congress will be able to do something about it all? Pray that any MAN may have the answer to all our problems?
No, my dear friends, we do not. We pray for faith; just faith, especially when we are afraid because fear itself can be evidence of a faith that is lacking. It is faith that will help us turn to the Scripture in good times AND bad to find such soothing words as this Psalm to calm our fears. I also have to say that even though I don’t typically refer to the KJV, this particular Psalm will not work any other way. There is a poetic flow that speaks of a sense of peace and serenity that can only be useful to us if it is Heaven-sent. Such words of poetry and beauty remind us of a divine love so incomprehensible that sometimes there are no words … just peace. And it is this peace which is the “help” we so desperately need.
The Lord is the One willing and able to give us what we truly need. We will deal with life as it comes to us and do the best we can with His grace and strength, but it will always be His grace and strength that will calm our nerves and remind us that we are never alone when we are with and in Him through Christ. It is the Good News of the Gospel of Christ, and it is Peace in this life and Hope in the Life that is to come. Amen.
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