Day 17 - Friday, March 18
Title: THANKS FOR GOD’S GREAT WORKS OF REDEMPTION
Scripture: Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.

They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way;
They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty,
Their souls fainted in them.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He delivered them out of their distresses.
And He led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Poetry: 
A Brief for the Defense
by Jack Gilbert

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God
     wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn
     would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while
     somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the
     ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite
     everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a
     rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.

STUBBORN JOY

    …We can do without pleasure,
    but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
    the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
    furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
    measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.

I discovered today’s poem several years ago.  Since then, Gilbert’s lines have haunted and rebuked me.  When I read it then, the world seemed more peaceful; my cares more voluntary.  When I read this poem now, as Putin’s army invades Ukraine—shelling hospitals—I read it with gritted teeth.  The words come out a bit strangled. 

The Psalm, too, opens with words of praise that I sometimes struggle to speak with conviction: “For his mercy endures forever / Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”  The Psalm forces me to confront the reality of my assumptions about God’s mercy and redemption—assumptions that are easily dashed by calamity.  The heart wants to put God on trial and demand an explanation for failing to deliver what I thought was promised.

But what is promised?  The psalmist declares the mercy of God and insists that you and I join him in his proclamation.  God delivers, leads forth, satisfies the longing soul!  But sometimes when I read these things, it’s tempting to think that what is promised is life free from trouble; full of abiding peace, success, and prosperity.

But these things are not promised and not the true foundation of our hopes.  Drawing closer and closer to Golgotha, Jesus tells his disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  Jesus urges them to seek and receive peace on the basis of their relationship with Him; not on a life free from difficulty.

Jesus’ exhortation to “take heart” echoes the other commands and invitations expressed by the psalm, Gilbert’s poem, and the mural by Aaron Douglas.  If I want to know and receive peace, I have a responsibility to seek, see, and declare it.  It will not just be delivered like so many packages from Amazon Prime.  And the orientation toward peace is not achieved by averting my gaze from the “ruthless furnace of this world.”  That would be mere denial.  Indeed, Gilbert and Douglas present suffering and wickedness as wholly and graphically inescapable.  The poem’s opening lines are an exhausted parade of misery: “Sorrow everywhere.  Slaughter everywhere.”  His tone is impatient, verging on callous, and intensified by the seemingly bitter claim that “we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants.”  But he continues and presents bizarre images of laughter and joy in those places where suffering ought to have made joy impossible.  The poem ends with a quiet conviction that no amount of evil and suffering can decisively erase beauty from the world or our lives: “We must admit there will be music despite everything.”

Similarly, in Douglas’ mural, the ugliness of slavery and its consequences are on full display. A plume of smoke curls from the muzzle of a Civil War cannon.  Moving from the foreground to the background, the foliage of an African forest gives way to skyscrapers, towering like American pyramids.  In the center, the outline of a woman—perhaps Tubman—still holds the manacles that, until recently, held her.  But they are held aloft by her free, exultant arms.  And while the painting clearly asserts the horrors that helped transform Tubman into a hero, Douglas doesn’t dwell on them.  Detail is exchanged for silhouette seen through ripples and beams of light, one of which might be coming from heaven.  We are invited to share a vision that proclaims light and joy in the midst of horror and sin.

But, again, I have to choose to see it.  I must raise my voice and kindle a stubborn determination to receive the joy and the satisfaction that God offers; even when—or perhaps especially when—my path has brought me to desolation and distress.  “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”  So, let us take heart.  Let the redeemed say, “Hallelujah, we thank You, Lord.”

Prayer
O God our King, by the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, You conquered sin, put death to flight, and gave us the hope of everlasting life: Redeem all our days by this victory; forgive our sins, banish our fears, make us bold to praise you and to do your will; and steel us to wait for the consummation of your kingdom on the last great Day; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Dr. Phillip Aijian
Adjunct Professor
Torrey Honors College
Biola University

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.