Friends For The Journey

I am meditating on Psalm 66 this morning and verses 8 through 12 caught my attention.

8-12 Bless our God, O peoples!
Give him a thunderous welcome!
Didn’t he set us on the road to life?
Didn’t he keep us out of the ditch?
He trained us first,
passed us like silver through refining fires,
Brought us into hardscrabble country,
pushed us to our very limit,
Road-tested us inside and out,
took us to hell and back;
Finally he brought us
to this well-watered place.

I think I have shared already that I have been feeling much better over most of the last month. Oddly enough, it has made it a little harder to write with inspiration about depression. Also, it seems that we have transitioned out of most of the depressing Psalms into a series of Psalms that seem to be much more optimistic … post-depression if you will.

The passage in Psalm 66 begins in verse 8 with a call to bless God and to express our appreciation for his help. He has set us back on the road to life, he got us out of the ditch.

I find it fascinating that he “trained us first” … passing us through the refining fire like silver, pushing us to our very limit. Eugene Peterson’s prose is always so forcefully poetic – God “road-tested us inside and out, took us on a road trip to hell and back”

That’s how the last nine months feel to me … indeed, the last three years … a road trip to hell and back. He has pushed me to the edge, and over the edge and tested me on the inside … like silver in the fire.

This reminds me of 1 Peter 1:7 … our faith is more precious than gold … and he tests our faith in order refine and strengthen it. Faith is of greater worth than fine gold … gold will perish but faith will endure and will not only move mountains but will change the world.

Bless God O peoples!