This video makes it even more powerful, with the song set to images from The Passion.

He had been betrayed by one of his closest friends, falsely accused, abandoned by another friend, denied justice by the authorities and executed to pacify an angry mob. For his disciples, it didn’t make any sense. They believed Jesus was the Messiah who was going to bring God’s rule on earth. They had great expectations, but their hopes had been dashed. It was now all over.

I imagine they were confused. Upset. Wondering if Jesus really was all they thought he was. Thinking he was just another false prophet. Perhaps angry they’d given up their lives to follow him for nothing.

Fast forward to 2010, and we know what happens in the next episode. We know that God’s plan wasn’t finished. But the disciples had to wait a couple of days to find out that God really was in control.

How often are we in that situation? Its so easy to focus on the immediate, thinking that its all over, and nothing good can possibly come from what’s happened. But the Easter story gives us hope in the midst of despair. We may have to wait longer than a couple of days to find out what happens next, but grief is not the ending.

Jesus dying on the cross didn’t make any sense. Riggwelter tweeted this morning that “Only in God’s economy could the events we mark today be called ‘good’. Thank God we’re in his economy then.”

As Augustine of Hippo said: “We are an Easter people and alleluia is our song!” Its only because we experience sadness that we appreciate joy. Its only because we despair that there is hope. Its only because of Jesus’ death that we can celebrate his resurrection.

Image from Christ We Share

• “Nazi” Bishop arrested in language confusion (h/t Steve Fouch)
• Labour’s election strategy: bring on no-nonsense hard man Gordon Brown
• EU to begin regulating Bibles
• Ferrets key to bridging the digital divide between cities and rural areas

And the BBC also has a feature of 10 stories that could be April Fools…but aren’t.

Have you been caught out by an April Fool?

Image credit:  Incurable Hippie

h/t Phil Ritchie

The question is will it work? Various calculations on the Facebook group suggest it might. At the very least there’s a good chance of getting into the Top 10, and all profits will be donated to the CompassionArt project, raising money for a very good cause, irrespective of chart position.

Delirious have of course ventured into the charts before (I remember making a special trip to Our Price back in the mid 90s to buy White Ribbon Day) yet despite a handful of singles reaching Top 40 positions, Radio 1 still refused to add them to their playlist. Delirious’ tongue-in-cheek response was to call an album “Audio Lessonover” (an anagram of “Radio One Loves Us”.) Dave Walker reminisces about other Christian ventures into mainstream charts.

The biggest advantage this time round though is the rise of social media. Not only did Facebook make it easy to start a fan-led, grass roots initiative, it also helped add momentum by letting followers track how many thousands of people were supporting the campaign. Downloadable music also takes the effort out of buying the track. Clicking a few buttons on the computer make impulse buys much easier, rather than having to remember to stop off at a music shop somewhere.

My biggest question is what impact will this initiative have longer term? Are people likely to become Christians as a result of an (albeit fantastic) song getting into the Charts? Without wanting to limit God in anyway, that’s probably unlikely. Is it going to give Christians an opportunity to talk to friends, and engage people in discussion? Yes, definitely. Those conversations could be about why Easter is so important to Christians, what are the lyrics about, or why is it so unusual to have Christian music in the charts?

There’s also the possibility for a relatively little-known band to have a high new entry into the charts with very little marketing, and that’s something that is bound to be of interest to media gurus irrespective of their religious or musical persuasions! And that could be a little bit of history in the making.

Well, this last week, Esther had her 12 week ultrasound scan. So in case you haven’t heard the news yet, there will be a new addition to the Cook clan arriving in late August/early September!

We were surprised at how much the technology has developed in the 4 years since Kaity was born. We were in with the sonographer for a good 90 minutes, whilst she checked absolutely everything you could think of checking on a 12-week old fetus. I think what amazed me the most was when baby turned, and you could see the spine and vertebrae.

I thought of Psalm 139:

you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

Psalm 73

Introduction & Background

Before we look at the text of the Psalm itself, I wanted to explore a little bit of the background of this Psalm.

Who was Asaph?

Along with Heman and Ethan, he was one of 3 men David put in charge of music. (1 Chron 6). Their job, as we’re told in 1 Chron was to “minister with music before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting…they performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them.” These three guys were the first appointed worship leaders. If you like, they were the Redman, Hughes & Layzell of their day!

We can assume that part of their job description, like a lot of worship leaders today, was song writing, and Asaph is credited as having written a number of Psalms, particularly Psalm 50, then 73 through to 83.

Psalm 73 in relation to the book of Psalms

The Book of Psalms is divided into five books, and Psalm 73 is the start of Book III. So it is a linkage between Books II and III, but also between the two halves of the Psalms, being practically the midpoint of the book.

What is interesting with Psalm 73 is that it follows the same typical pattern within itself, as the Psalms do in the order with which they appear in the book. Let me explain…

Psalm 1: If we do what God wants, He will be good to us and bless us.

Books I & II: That’s too simple. Life doesn’t work like that. But also a sense that despite that, God will be good to his people

Final Psalms: These give a climax of praise and worship: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” is the end verse of the final Psalm.

Compare this to the overall structure of Psalm 73:

Verse 1:                  God is good to the pure in heart.

Verses 2-12:         “Painful candour” (Brueggemann). God isn’t good to the pure in heart. His people suffer, and the wicked prosper.

Verses 13-17:         This is where things now become to be seen from God’s perspective

Verses 18-26:         Grateful hope

Verses 26-28:         “It is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign LORD my refuge”

Psalm 73 is often referred to as a “wisdom psalm” – one that almost belongs with the proverbs. It gives teaching or instruction. There’s a parallel to Proverbs 23:17-18:

“Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you and your hope will not be cut off.”

I don’t know what was going through your mind as Julie read this psalm but you might have been reminded of the Book of Job.  One commentator has described Psalm 73 as “the book of Job in a nutshell.”

There’s three words that I’d like to focus on this evening: Faith. Justice. Hope.

Faith

Verse 1 of the Psalm is a bit like a rhetorical question. Its like the Psalmist is saying “I know its true really, but I’m just checking.” We then get all the reasons for his questions and doubts. He talks about experiences he’s had…what he’s seen. And he’s finding it hard to make a correlation between his experiences and what he knows to be true. Ultimately, he’s saying “its not fair!”

How many of us think like that? Who’s thought to themselves at some point “how do they get away with it?” or “why do they always land on their feet?” We may even have directed anger at God. Lord, how can you bless them? How come they have so much when I want what they’ve got?”

On a bigger scale we can ask questions about suffering. Why did God let the earthquake in Haiti happen? Why are so many children in the world starving?

The psalmist had the same doubts and questions. It’s not that his faith was slipping into unbelief. “Doubt is something only a believer can experience, for you can only doubt what you believe. Doubt is to unbelief what temptation is to sing. A test, but not yet a surrender.

We will all experience doubts and questions about our faith. The challenge for us is in how we respond.

We live in a world of tension where we things go wrong, and there are so many hurting people. Yet we believe in a God who loves us, who cares for us and who wants to bring healing, who wants to make us strong.  God allows us to come close to him in prayer. He is our rock, and our solid foundation.

We experience uncertainty in our lives too. There may be uncertainty over jobs, finances, relationships.  Yet still He’s our solid rock and our foundation.  We can put our trust in him.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Philip Yancey: “Faith means believing in advance what only makes sense in reverse.”

But sometimes things just don’t happen in the way we want. We’ve prayed for healing for people and they’re not healed. We don’t know why. We don’t know the mind of our creator.

Jesus speaks against the idea that bad things only happen to bad people in Luke 13. The Romans killed some Galileans while they were offering sacrifices, and people were telling Jesus about what had happened.

Lk 13:2-3 “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners because they suffered this way? I tell you no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Jesus doesn’t say why these people died. But what He does say is that everyone is a sinner, and anyone who doesn’t repent faces a fearful end.  The psalmist realises this too in verses 18-20:

“Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.”

Justice

What changes the psalmists view? As he entered into worship in the sanctuary he understood. The penny dropped. He realises that despite the perceived success of the wicked people, at the end of the day, God is their judge. And what He has to offer is much better than any thing we can experience on earth.

The psalmist recognises that those who turn to God will be taken into glory. That God will never leave them. (v23-24).

The wicked in this psalm are those who do not accept God’s authority over their lives – v11 “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”

James 4:12 says “There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.” And its here we come back to faith. Because God has promised that He will save those who turn to Jesus. (Jn 3:16)

The standards by which God judges are so different to the world’s view. Having money, possessions, good health, isn’t necessarily a sign of God’s blessing. Yes, of course we can ask God to provide for us. We can ask him to heal the sick.  But that might not be God’s plan. In the bigger picture outside of time and space, that might not be what is best.

In the same way that Jesus said those Galileans didn’t suffer because they were the worst sinners, the reverse is also true – just because some people seem to have a great life doesn’t mean God’s ok with what they’re doing!

Its impossible to achieve the perfection that God demands. No one can do it. As the psalmist writes in verse 26 “My flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever”

Imagine that everything we’ve ever done could be written on an index card in God’s heavenly filing system. And when we become a Christian, when we give our life to Him, it like Jesus signs the back of our card. He’s the one taking responsibility for us. So when we get to heaven, and standing at the gates, St Peter pulls out our card, he might read the front and see all the stuff we’ve done, and say there’s no way we can get in to heaven. And we’re standing there thinking turn it over, read the back…

Eph 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”

It makes absolutely no sense from where we are today. And that’s why it takes faith. Again “faith means believing in advance what only makes sense in reverse.”

Hope

God is a God of justice, and that means he will honour his promises. When we doubt, when we can’t understand why certain things happen, when we can’t get our minds around it, the faith which God gives us to trust in his justice means we can have hope for the future.

The psalmist ends by summarising probably what he already knew at the beginning. Verses 27-28:

“Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.”

Our hope comes from having God as our refuge. From having him as our place of safety. If we put our hope in material things, or even in our health, or our friends or family, those things may go wrong. There is no guarantee that they will stay around forever.

1 Tim 6:17: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

Faith. Justice. Hope.

Whatever point you’re at tonight, if you’re doubting, if you’re questioning then that’s fine. God’s ok with that. He knows what we don’t know. For the psalmist, it was when he worshipped, when he entered into God’s presence with God’s people that his eyes were opened, and his questions were answered.

If you’re having trouble understanding God’s justice, if you’re saying “its not fair”, why is that happening, remember that God sees the bigger picture. We cannot know the mind of our creator.

And if you’re feeling like everything’s been taken away from you, and you don’t know where to turn, then one thing to can know that we can put our hope in God. He wants the best for us, and even if we can’t see it at the time, He will use our situations to bring him glory.

About half-way through the journey, the guard came through and commented about how heaving it was on the train. I’d been completely unaware of this, and had no idea what the rest of the train was like.

This made me think about how churches can seem like that 1st class compartment, shut off from the rest of the world. Its so easy for us to sit in our own comfortable surroundings, doors closed and completely ignorant to what’s going on outside of our own little bubble.

Image by gwaar