Joyful Sadness
This is a Psalm I have read at many a funeral. It is fitting for those occasions as it speaks to us about the fragility and brevity of life. So, it is a sad Psalm. In it, we are reminded that our suffering is generally a consequence of sin and God’s anger and wrath toward it. Moses, the author of this Psalm, puts life in perspective. He says what most people come to realize when they cross that line into the days we call being a senior adult: “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength, eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone and we fly away.” To put it more simply, life is short.
There is a surprising twist in this Psalm. After all those lines about sin, suffering, and the brevity of life, Moses prays, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands.”
Moses is not beaten down into unrelenting depression by the realities of life in a world under the curse of sin. There is a way to experience joy, gladness, and satisfaction in this life. The path Moses lays out for us to is find satisfaction in the steadfast love of God, to find gladness in seeing each day as a gift from God, and to live life in harmony with the work of God, where our work and His work are united together in one purpose.
Recently, Monica and I met our oldest son and his family in Fort Worth for a weekend get-together. While there we spent some time in the Stockyard area. There is a John Wayne Museum and gift shop. The shop had items with John Wayne sayings on them. Monica pointed out one of the shirts that had “Life is hard. It is harder if you are stupid,” printed on it. That’s funny. Moses would want us to say, “Life is hard, but it can be joy-filled if you live centered on the steadfast love of God as found in Jesus Christ.
