Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

In Psalm 60, the warrior-poet experienced desperate times. He says,
    Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us
      and no longer go out with our armies?
    Give us aid against the enemy,
      for human help is worthless.

The poet was accustomed to God giving his army victory, but unexpectedly his army started losing. This surprised  and shocked the poet. He was offended that God stopped helping his army. So he prayed: “God, do things the old way! You are supposed to make our army winners. Losing is no fun. Start helping us again.” 

Has God ever caught  you by surprise like that? Perhaps he’s always given you good health, and suddenly the doctor delivers a scary diagnosis. Or unexpectedly, your comfortable finances are exploded by unemployment and a pile of bills? Or your children who have done well in the past are now throwing your life into chaos. 

Today, the coronavirus pandemic has created desperate times for entire nations. A third of the planet is on coronavirus lockdown, millions are unemployed, health systems are overwhelmed, business are at risk, and governments are mortgaging the future to flatten the curve. Do you, like the poet, ask God what this is all about? Do you say to him, “Why don’t you look after us better?” Do you wonder if maybe he is judging the sins of civilization? 

Author N. T. Wright titled a recent article Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed To. He says. “Rationalists . . . want explanations; Romantics . . . want a sigh of relief. But perhaps what we need more than either is to recover the biblical tradition of lament. Lament is what happens when people ask, ‘Why?’ and don’t get an answer.”  (N.T. Wright article at Time.Com: Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed To (Time.com, 29 Mar 2020). https://time.com/5808495/coronavirus-christianity/)

Let’s use Psalm 60 to pray a lament over the pandemic.

Our father, 
   You have shaken the land and torn it open;
      mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
  You have shown your people desperate times;
      you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
  But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
      to be unfurled against the bow.
  Save us and help us with your right hand,
      so that those you love may be delivered (vv. 2-5). 

O God, look at our society as it staggers under the pandemic. Look at the charts where the death toll goes steeply up and the stock market steeply down. Look at the body bags coming out of New York hospitals straight into refrigerator trucks. Look at us keeping social distance, being isolated, tempted to fear and anxiety. Lord, our whole world groans. What can we do but cry out to you? 

In Psalm 60 you proclaim your victory over the poet’s enemies. You say:
  Moab is my washbasin,
      over Edom I toss out my sandal
      over Philistia I shout in triumph (v. 8).

O God, we wait in hope for you to bring healing to our broken world. . 
    Who but you will bring us to a time of health?
      Who but you will lead us through the valley?
    Give us aid against our enemy
        for human help is worthless (vv. 9,11, paraphrased). 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

In Psalm 59, the poet describes his enemies this way:
  They return at evening
      snarling like dogs,
      and prowl about the city,
  they wander around looking for food
      and howl if not satisfied (v. 15). 

In contrast the poet says of himself,
    I will sing of God’s strength,
      in the morning I will sing of his love (v. 16). 

The word pictures of howling dogs and a singing poet highlight the story of Psalm 59. It begins with the poet’s enemies roaming the city like vicious dogs, snarling and howling over the garbage, threatening anyone who gets in their way. The poet says he has done nothing to deserve their violence. He describes himself as honorable and righteous, saying:
      Fierce men conspire against me
      for no offence or sin of mine, Lord.
    I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me (vv. 3-4).  

The poet urges God to act on the basis of the covenant he made with Israel. Listen to his outspoken appeal to get God’s attention. 
    Get off your couch, God,
        Look at my plight.
    Rouse yourself from your lethargy,
        Punish the nations (v. 4-5). 

The relationship between God and his people is like the traditional marriage covenant: “for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.” The poet feels he is keeping his side of the bargain, but God is sleeping on the job. The poet reminds God that things are getting bad down here. He is sick with worry and poor in resources. If God is truly committed to a “better or worse” relationship, now would be a good time for him to act. 

If God does this, the poet’s “worse” will turn to “better”, his dog-like enemies will stop howling, and he will sing his praise to God. 

Let’s pray. 

    Deliver us from our enemies, O God;
        be our fortress against those who attack us.
    Rescue us from evildoers
        and save us from those who are after our blood (vv. 1-2).

O God, as the Coronavirus ravages the world, we turn to you. Do you see what’s happening down here? Do you care? 

We remember other pandemics. In the 12th century, the Bubonic plague killed a third of the people in Europe.  In 1918 the Spanish flu killed 50 million people. And now the Coronavirus is pandemic, fueling the media with news and the people with fear and the economy with uncertainty. Lord, look upon your world as we fight this enemy of disease. 

With the poet, we shift our focus from our strong enemies to you.
  We will sing of your strength,
      in the morning we will sing of your love,
  for you are our fortress,
      our refuge in times of trouble (v. 16).
 
Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

As the Coronavirus pandemic escalates in Europe and North America, I turn to Psalm 91.  Here’s what it offers me. 

As a psalm of trust in God, it opens with powerful images:
  The one who lives in the shelter of the Most High,
      will rest at night under his shadow (v. 1). *
   Say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
      my God in whom I trust.”
  Surely he will save you from the hunter’s snare
      and from the deadly pandemic (vv. 2-3). 

The psalm continues with these pictures of God’s protection:
    He will cover you with his feathers,
      and under his wings you will find refuge;
      His faithfulness will be your shield (v. 4).

In World War II, when my father was a medic in the Philippines, a wasting disease ran through the troops. My father took these verses from Psalm 91 for his comfort and protection:
    I will not fear the terror of night,
      nor the arrow that flies by day,
    nor the disease that stalks in the darkness
      nor the epidemic that destroys at noon.
    A thousand may die at your side,
      ten thousand at your right hand,
      but it will not come near you (vv. 5-7). 

God kept my father from the disease and protected his life in the war. Twenty years later, mid-way through his fifties, he got cancer and turned to Psalm 91 again, this time to God’s promise:
    You will call on me and I will answer;
        I will be with you in trouble,
        I will deliver you and honor you.
    With long life will I satisfy you
        and show you my salvation (vv. 15-16). 

After a cancer operation and radiation my father lived the rest of his life cancer-free. When he died at age 78, with tears in my eyes I read Psalm 91 at his funeral from his worn King James Bible.

Today, in the Coronavirus pandemic, I turn to Psalm 91 because it brings me home to my father’s faith and to my own. God was with my father in his times of trouble–the Great Depression in the 1930’s, World War in the 1940’s, and cancer in the 1960’s. God is my refuge too. He will see me through the plunging stock market, the raging pandemic, the social distancing, and the changed world that emerges. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we pray parts of Psalm 91.
    We live in your shelter
      and spend our nights in your shadow.
    In times of trouble we run to you for refuge,
      we trust you with our lives. 

    Save us from the hunter’s snare,
      from the deadly pandemic.
    Cover us with your feathers,
      Protect us under your wings, so that
    we will not fear the terrors of night,
      nor the arrow that flies by day,
    nor the disease that stalks in the darkness
      nor the plague that strikes at noon. 

Thank you for your promise to us:
      Because we love you, you will rescue us.
          You will protect us because we acknowledge your name.

You say to us:
      Call on me and I will answer you
          I will be with you in trouble,
          I will deliver you and honor you.
      With long life will I satisfy you
          and show you my salvation. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

• See Alter, Robert. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. 91:1) for translating verse 1b as a night image.