Rector’s Reflections
Thursday 21st March 2024
Psalm 62: A Psalm of Comfort for Times of Stress
In yesterday’s reflections, I referred to the following words from Psalm 62 : “ Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this : that power belongs to God, and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord”. These words are a reminder to us that our best source of comfort during times of stress is to place our hope in God’s love and power. God loves us and He will deliver us from the dangers we are facing - our deliverance is sure, although God’s timetable may be different from the timetable we had in mind, and the deliverance may take a different form to the one we expected.
We might have expected that the psalmist would bring his psalm to an end at this point. The psalmist has said what he wanted to say : at times of stress and anxiety, we are to focus on God. Surely this is everything that needs to be said?
But the psalmist chose to finish his psalm with an additional thought. Having written about God’s power and steadfast love, he adds the following phrase: “For you repay to all according to their work”. I wonder why the psalmist chose to finish with these words?
The prospect of future repayment might be a source of comfort. If we have done some good deed, it is pleasant to think that we will be rewarded for doing it. The reward can take many different forms- sometimes, a simple “thank you” is more than sufficient. The prospect of a reward is only very rarely the motivation for doing the good deed in the first place- we tend to do good deeds because we know that they are the right things to do, and would not dream of acting otherwise. But the giving of a reward recognises the value of what we have done, and this in turn helps us to develop and maintain a healthy sense of self-worth. Sometimes we receive the recognition we deserve or require, but sometimes we don’t. In such cases, it can be re-assuring to know that God will recognise our good deeds, even if no one else seems to care. Perhaps the psalmist felt that no one was recognising his good work, and so he added these words to his psalm to re-assure himself that his virtue was not wasted.
But the prospect of future repayment might also be a cause for concern. If we have behaved badly, and seem to have got away with it, we might think that we have got one over on God. We can laugh at God and at any idea that the principles of right and wrong govern the universe. But can we be quite so certain? Might not there be some future reckoning? Might not there come a time of moral accounting, when God will reward those who have done good deeds, and punish those who behaved wickedly?
I wonder how you re-act to the psalmist’s statement that God will “repay to all according to their work”? Do you find these words a source of comfort, or do you find them rather unsettling? Or perhaps a bit of both?