Sometimes you have to go slower. Here we are in a tropical downpour in the Amazon Basin.
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Some Troubles End When We Wake Up
This week I had a dream.
I was driving into what felt like a garage or a closed ferry-loading area. There was plenty of room ahead of me, so I eased forward.
Beside me was a large, beat-up old van.
I realized the van had slowly started creeping in front of me. We were too close. I stopped and backed up slightly.
Then the driver jumped out. He claimed I had hit his van. He began pointing at dents and demanding money. I wasn’t even sure I had touched him. Then other people appeared. They were all his friends.
The whole thing began to feel like a scam.
I was surrounded, outnumbered, trapped in somebody else’s story, with no idea how I was going to get out.
Then I woke up.
The relief was immediate.
No van. No angry driver. No crowd. No problem to solve.
I had been completely overpowered. And then, in an instant, I was free.
Unfortunately, some things we cannot wake up from.
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When It Isn’t a Dream
Two days earlier, Deanna passed out at the top of the stairs in our home.
She fell down sixteen steps.
When I reached her at the bottom, her eyes were open, but she wasn’t there.
As I prayed, she gradually began responding again.
We are deeply grateful.
But this was not a dream.
And real trouble does not disappear when we open our eyes.
The trip to Brazil held many beautiful moments—people we love, meaningful conversations, much to be grateful for.
But toward the end, Deanna’s health increasingly consumed our attention.
It still does.
There are moments when life simply becomes bigger than we are.
We cannot think our way out of it.
We cannot work harder until it disappears.
We cannot find the right words, organize the right people, or somehow pray the story toward the ending we want.
We are not in control.
Perhaps that is why Psalm 34 has been getting inside me.
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“This Wretched Man Cried Out”
The heading of Psalm 34 points back to one of the strangest episodes in David’s life.
He was a fugitive in enemy territory. He became afraid for his life and escaped by pretending to be insane.
Whatever we make of the way David escaped, when he later tells the story, he doesn’t boast about how clever he was.
He says:
I sought the LORD, and He answered me, And rescued me from all my fears.
Then:
This wretched man cried out, and the LORD heard him And saved him out of all his troubles.
David knew what it was to be outmatched and afraid. And he got out. But his conclusion was not: Look what I managed to do.
It was:
My soul will make its boast in the LORD.
Then something beautiful happens in the Psalm.
David begins with: I sought the LORD. A few verses later it becomes: Those who seek the LORD.
His personal testimony opens outward. This happened to me. This is what God is like. Come and discover Him for yourself.
And that leads to one of the great invitations of Scripture:
Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good.
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Taste and See
Not merely:
Think about God.
Study God.
Explain God.
Taste.
David is speaking from experience.
I have been afraid.
I have cried out.
I have been overwhelmed.
And I have discovered something about God. Come and discover it too.
But Psalm 34 immediately guards us against a dangerous misunderstanding.
“Taste and see that the LORD is good” does not mean: Taste and see that nothing painful will happen to you.
Quite the opposite.
David says:
The young lions do without and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD will not lack any good thing.
Even strength at its prime is not self-sufficient.
And then, near the end of the Psalm, David says something even more startling:
Many are the afflictions of the righteous.
Many.
Apparently God’s goodness cannot be measured by the absence of trouble.
The people who fear God still become brokenhearted.
Their spirits can still be crushed.
They still experience affliction.
They still need rescuing.
Psalm 34 is not a song about becoming powerful enough that life can never overpower us.
It is a song about discovering who God is when it does.
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The difficult days also held many gifts. For example, blackberries are in season.
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“Come, Children. Let Me Teach You.”
Then David changes tone.
Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
After everything David has experienced, I might expect some mysterious spiritual secret.
Instead, his teaching becomes remarkably practical.
Keep your tongue from evil
And your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it.
The fear of the LORD becomes visible in how we speak and how we live.
When life becomes uncontrollable, one of our great temptations is to begin grasping for control somewhere else.
We can make ourselves bigger. Exaggerate. Blame. Attack. Recruit allies. Say things we later regret.
Or we can become smaller. Withdraw. Go quiet. Almost disappear.
Or spend enormous energy trying to control things that were never ours to control.
But David points toward another kind of strength.
This is where Psalm 34 has been pressing on me:
When I cannot control what is happening around me, the fear of the LORD calls me to take responsibility for what still belongs to me: my words, my choices, and my pursuit of peace.
I cannot control everything.
But I can tell the truth.
I can refuse deceit.
I can turn from evil.
I can do good.
I can seek peace.
And I can do more than merely hope peace wanders in my direction. I can pursue it.
Being overpowered does not remove responsibility for who we become. We may lose control of our circumstances without surrendering responsibility for our response.
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The God Who Comes Near
Then comes perhaps the most tender sentence in the Psalm:
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Notice what David does not say.
The brokenhearted have failed. The crushed in spirit lack faith. The righteous should never feel overwhelmed.
He says God is near.
Sometimes deliverance changes the circumstances. Sometimes the door opens. Sometimes the danger passes.
But sometimes nothing has changed yet. We can see only the next step—or no step at all.
But before anything changes, Psalm 34 tells us something about God Himself.
He is near.
God’s presence is not a consolation prize while we wait for “real” deliverance. His nearness is part of the goodness David invites us to taste.
And then comes the tension Psalm 34 refuses to resolve:
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD rescues him from them all.
Many afflictions. And rescue. Broken hearts. And God’s nearness. Crushed spirits. And redemption.
All are true.
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Taking Refuge Before We Know the Ending
Psalm 34 ends with another word that has been following us through the nearby Psalms:
Refuge.
The LORD redeems the souls of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will suffer for their guilt.
The final Hebrew line seems to reach beyond our English word “guilt.” Its force here is that those who make the LORD their refuge will not finally be handed over to ruin.
That does not mean nothing painful happens. The Psalm has already told us otherwise.
It means our troubles do not get the final word.
A line from Psalm 31 stays with me:
My times are in Your hand.
Perhaps Psalm 34 is teaching me how to live when I really believe that.
Cry out. Seek Him. Taste His goodness. Guard my words. Do good. Pursue peace. Take refuge.
And trust the God who comes near before I know how the story will end.
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“Taste and see that the LORD is good.” Valdinho is one of the first men I met in the Xingu Region more than thirty years ago. He remains a passionate evangelist and church planter, traveling with Clenildo into communities beyond the reach of most city churches. He has known deep affliction—including losing his first wife, Lene, to cancer, and once being dragged into the water by a jacaré that clamped onto his leg. He tells that story with a broad smile as he shows the scars.
Many afflictions. Still radiant.
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Three Truths to Carry Into the Week
1. Circumstances may not belong to us. Our words, our choices, and our response still do.
The fear of the LORD becomes visible in how we respond.
2. Do not measure God’s goodness by the absence of trouble.
The righteous have many afflictions. God’s goodness is not proved by an untroubled life. It is discovered in the God who comes near when hearts break.
3. Take refuge before we know the ending.
Refuge is not something we do after everything works out. It is where we go while we are still surrounded. While questions remain. While the outcome is uncertain. While we are still learning to say:
My times are in Your hand.
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Deanna has willing healing-helpers.
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A Personal Update
We are back in Canada now, and Deanna is mostly resting and slowly regaining strength.
The doctor thinks her fainting episode—syncope—was related to the stress and exhaustion of the previous weeks, culminating in the long journey from Belém to Abbotsford.
She is recovering from some serious bruises, but remarkably, she has no broken bones.
Deanna continues to see doctors for follow-up after a year of cancer treatment. Every test continues to come back clear.
Cancer-free.
We are learning that recovery from a year of cancer treatment has its own timetable.
Thank you. Your prayers mean more to us than you know.
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A Prayer
Lord Jesus,
When life becomes bigger than us, Teach us to cry out.
When we cannot control the outcome, Keep us from grasping for control.
Teach us the fear of the LORD.
Guard our tongues from evil And our lips from deceit.
Give us courage to turn from evil, Strength to do good, And patience to seek peace And pursue it.
When our own strength fails, Keep us from despair.
When our hearts are broken, Come near.
When our spirits are crushed, Hold us.
Teach us to taste Your goodness Without pretending our troubles are small.
Our afflictions may be many.
Our times are still in Your hands.
Teach us to take refuge in You Before we know how the story ends.
And make our faces radiant Because we have learned Where to look.
Amen.
With gratitude, Rick and Deanna
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Scripture quotations are from the NASB 2020 unless otherwise noted.
