Can we look beyond our challenges?
You have rejected us, O God, and broken our defenses. … You have shaken our land and split it open.
Psalm 60:1-2
When the Lord sends challenges, they can make us feel split open and shaken.
Seal the cracks, for the land trembles.
Psalm 60:2
Our response is often to pray for the devastation to be reversed.
You have been very hard on us, making us drink wine that sent us reeling.
Psalm 60:3
When the Lord puts a cup in our hand though we may, like Jesus, ask for it to be taken from us, it is usually to be received with faith and courage. With the Lord we can face the troubles and drink what he has presented with, fellowshipping with Jesus in his sufferings. Phil 3:10
But you have raised a banner for those who fear you— a rallying point in the face of attack.
Psalm 60:4
The rallying banner the Lord raises for us is Jesus raised up on the cross. Whatever we are going through, Jesus went through worse, and as Hebrews says –
… who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2
Whether the cup is dealing with a need for perspective, or some past failings, or some current development, they are a prelude to joy in the Lord’s presence. Let us receive with hope, and faith that the Lord is sufficient to carry us through.