Jacq On .. 

Psalms and Lockdown
 
In May 2020 when the Prime Minister said we were in lockdown, I decided to read and study the psalms. As there are 150 of them, I knew it would be of some duration. My aim was to read and evaluate one psalm each day. Psalm 119 with its 176 verses had to be read over three or four sessions. It was amazing!
 
It is surprising how many psalms reflect our experiences and feelings of today. They are full of praise as well, even the ones in which David despairs. He praises God for his past and future blessings. How quickly we have forgotten lockdown and the many blessings received.
 
Once again God rescued us from a pandemic, almost certainly started by human error. I was born during the last war and friends of my age were likening the pandemic to the last war, but without depravations and food rationing. We prayed every night at six for a solution. It came in the fastest-ever vaccine produced and adapted to give us immunity from the deadly virus. Yet we seem to have forgotten our merciful God’s intervention as striking and discontent now seems everywhere. We face an even bigger challenge with the environment through global warming.
 
My thoughts go to a quote from the study of the psalms - 0pening our eyes, session three from the ‘Cover to Cover’ series.
‘In almost all the psalms, hope and trust in the Lord is expressed. In spite of everything God is still good! And getting all the pain out of our system, allows us to see that afresh. Everything may appear to be wrong, but God’s LOVE and goodness continues to ungird his creation. He remains our fortress, our refuge and our hope. He has heard our cry for mercy, even if we don’t think so.’
 
Let us like David praise God for our past and future protection, love and mercy. Let us most of all praise God for his son our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.