Psalm 33:18-19
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
Yesterday we reflected on the way that we often find
ourselves putting our confidence and hope in things that are not God. Yet none of those things can save us. 'But' says v.18, there is one who can deliver us. There is one who does live up to the hope we put in him.
The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him. It's an echo of v.13 - God watches us from heaven. Not, as we said then, like
someone slumped, bored, in front of the TV or a security guard waiting for us to step out of line. Here we see what God's watching IS like ... it's the close attention of the poolside lifeguard who never takes their eyes off the swimmers, ready to jump in and rescue them the moment they are in danger.
God delivers us from death. Yet, we know, each one of us
will one day die. How can the psalmist promise that God's people will be kept alive in famine, when around the world we see so many - including Christians - who do die of starvation? Again, we need to remember that the psalmist is writing under the terms of the Old Covenant, where material prosperity was used as a picture of God's blessings. Under that covenant, material suffering - illness, famine, war etc. – was the consequence
facing those who turned away from God. So I think that 'keeping them alive in famine' is a way of saying that God's people won't suffer the same judgement that awaits God's enemies. Those who put their hope in God are delivered from the curse and punishment which they deserved for their sins and instead get to
enjoy God's blessings, because of his mercy and unfailing love.
Living under the New Covenant, our blessings are primarily
spiritual. So, we will one day die, but we will be delivered through death into eternal life with God. We may even physically starve in this life, but we will never be without Jesus - the bread of life - who sustains us spiritually now and with whom we will feast forever in the new creation.
None of the 'God-substitutes' that we thought about yesterday
can do that. God alone can preserve us in this life until the day he decides to take us to be with him. God alone can deliver us through death into eternal life. He is the only one who is truly worth hoping in.
Let's praise him for delivering us from death, through the
death of Jesus in our place. And let's ask for his help to keep us trusting and hoping in him alone, whether we live in times of plenty, or times of famine, or anything in between.
