It took me four days to write this post. After attending public worship at Evangelical Covenant Church of Manila (ECCM) last Sunday, I thought I could find time in the afternoon to write this article. However, I enjoyed my Christmas break by watching the two seasons of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
As usual, the theme of this post is the message delivered by the ECCM pastor. His text is based on Psalm 31 verses 1 to 34.
Family Conversations
After worship, we went to the Subway restaurant on United Nations Avenue, Manila. My wife and I ordered six inches of parmesan-oregano spicy Italian sandwich, while our two sons ordered a footlong honey oat chicken teriyaki sandwich. While eating, I asked my wife and my two sons about the central idea of the message. Both my wife and @kopiko-blanca got it right. It's about the idea of God as His people's fortress. @axietrashgame wanted to hear my opinion first before expressing his own, but after I shared my idea, he said that I just copied it from him. This youngest son of mine is funny. Perhaps he would be successful if he explored a career as a comedian. 😂
Kopiko is even more contemporary and relevant. He said that the idea of God as a refuge and a strong fortress is better translated today as security. I think he is right, and this message is very timely these days, especially in the context of government overreach and psychological therapy.
I wonder why most preachers today don't touch the idea of government omnipotence and the therapeutic age in their preaching. Maybe these are "sacred cows" in our days, and touching them would be too sensitive and would invite the hostility of many.
Finding Security and Comfort in God's Love and Mercy
The pastor announced his theme as growing in our trust in the Lord in times of despair. Kopiko's theme is related, but the phrasing is different. He preferred the theme of "security in times of insecurity."
As I divided the chapter, I came up with four points. The first part, verses 1 to 8, introduces the theme. Here we see the Psalmist kept mentioning the words "refuge," "rock," and "fortress." I found verse 7 very comforting:
I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.
Amid affliction, rejoicing in the love of God is the farthest thing in most minds. The Psalmist was different; he found comfort in it. When we are suffering, particularly the emotional kind caused by a broken relationship, we think we are unloved and abandoned. I find this insight striking: God loves me still despite the pain that I have been experiencing.
The second part verses 9 to 13, is an appeal to God's mercy in times of distress. Here we see that distress affects not only our mindset but our physical body as well. The Psalmist describes his "eyes" growing weak with sorrow, his "soul" and "body" with grief. He even describes his life and his years as consumed by anguish and groaning. Furthermore, affliction sapped his strength and made his bones weak.
Modern Challenges
Reading biblical text like this, its message is easy to dismiss in an era dominated by the brain sciences. Medically speaking, the words of the Psalmist are considered inaccurate. How did he know that a poor condition of the soul can affect one's eyes, body, and bones?
In our time, we have this tendency to either take for granted or overestimate the findings in the medical field when it comes to depression. We don't even believe that the "soul" exists. Everything is material now, as if all sickness can be blamed on the malfunction of the brain. If everything is material, I don't know how we can account for the human capacity for thinking, consciousness, creativity, and other related activities of the brain, which in the past were ascribed as activities of the soul.
On the other hand, those who ignore the usefulness of medical science are also guilty of misdiagnosis by ascribing a spiritual problem to a physical one. We tend to mistake sin for sickness and vice versa. We err by mistaking spiritual problems for physical, or physical problems for spiritual. If the problem is spiritual, no amount of medication can recover a person. What he needs is repentance. On the other hand, if the problem is physical, what the person needs is medication and not burden his conscience with additional guilt.
In our time, when people suffer depression, pastors included, instead of running to God to find the solution, we run to psychologists and psychiatrists. This is the unavoidable outcome in an era that doesn't recognize the existence of the soul.
I still have much to say about this, but this piece extends beyond my expectations. I think I have to conclude at this point. If God allows, I will pick up on the theme of government overreach when it comes to providing people security before I conclude with the last two parts of the passage together with the concluding applications given by the ECCM pastor.