God will bring victory, human help is worthless

Oct. 4 – Psalm 60

 To the leader: according to the Lily of the Covenant. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;
    you have been angry; now restore us!
2 You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open;
    repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.
3 You have made your people suffer hard things;
    you have given us wine to drink that made us reel.

4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
    to rally to it out of bowshot. Selah
5 Give victory with your right hand, and answer us,
    so that those whom you love may be rescued.

6 God has promised in his sanctuary:
    “With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

9 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies.

11 O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless.
12 With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

The back story to this psalm is to be found in 2 Samuel 10.

 The nation of Israel was under attack and things (as described in the psalm) looked quite desperate. So the nation – in the person of King David – cried out to God for help.

If we think of COVID and not warfare – vs. 2 and 3 describe well the present moment – the land quakes, there are cracks, society is tottering, the people suffer hard times.

 But then hope rises – hope in God who will give a victory (vs. 5). Vs. 6-8, highlight the destruction of the enemy (hurling the shoe on Edom is an insult, to throw one’s shoe at a leader was a sign of disrespect). The first wave of threat has been survived.

 Then vs. 9 and 10 raise a second threat. It feels like God has abandoned the people, they are alone against the opponent (army, COVID, any other threat).

 In a flash, David realizes the truth of the matter. “Human help is worthless” – all the scheming, planning, hard work accomplish nothing. Only with God’s help is it possible to survive the threat. “With God” – are the operative words. So much of the present debate around COVID is about human plans, and debating what is the best way to go. In the face of now the 4th wave – David would invite us to turn to the only true source of help – God. All human attempts will ultimately succeed or fail solely on whether God made the effort effective or not.

 PRAYER:

Victorious God, you will bring all the powers of destruction and violence to their knees. You will do that by your own ability and strength. Even as we say, “human help is worthless”, we are trying to scheme and plan our way to victory. Teach us to trust you, and not our human plans. In Jesus’ name. Amen.