“Who’s kidding who?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, May 12, 2025
Psalm 44 (Forward, p. 14) CEV p. 581
The Hebrew people are in dire straits. They remember all too well just how decisively God acted on their past in times past by defeating their enemies and allowing them to possess the land. And they remembered that it was not through their own efforts or military prowess that this happened. It was entirely the Lord’s doing.
But now the tables have turned: they are in total defeat with their enemies slaughtering their people and sending them into exile. They have become a joke and a byword for sneering and ridicule to their neighbours. And so, quite rightly, the people are asking ‘why’, why has this taken place.
Here is where it gets interesting, and where the title for today’s meditation comes in. The people make audacious claims about their holiness and faithfulness to God. It is almost beyond belief, given what we know for certain of their behaviour towards God:
“All of this has happened to us, though we didn’t forget you or break our agreement. We always kept you in mind and followed your teaching” (verses 17-18).
“We did not forget you or lift up our hands in prayer to foreign gods. You would have known it because you discover every secret thought” (verses 20-21).
Who’s kidding who? Is this really how they thought themselves to be? I’m sorry, but the story from elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures tell an entirely different story! Ancient Israel was anything but faithful to God.
But, what about people are genuinely faithful to God: do they not sometimes experience this ‘seeming’ desertion by God? Jesus, for
instance: ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Indeed, is this not part and parcel of ‘the dark night of the soul’ that some people have experienced? Yes, indeed. However, the good news in this—yes, there is good news—is that God is still there, even if unseen and unexperienced, and will one day make His presence known. And so, it is a matter of waiting, of being patient, and simply trusting, trusting in Him who is yet unseen for the moment.
Forward notes: “You are my King and my God” (verse 4a).
“My father was born in 1947 in the city of Chennai, about three months after India gained independence. He is the only one of his siblings who was not born under British colonial rule. It would be a wild understatement to say that he finds the idea of monarchy abhorrent.
“Many of us Americans are predisposed to find the idea of a king or a queen problematic as well. A glance at history provides example after example of monarchs abusing power. Given our history with monarchies, it is truly radical that we proclaim God as king. It is even more radical to contemplate our king choosing to hang in compassion and great humility on a cross.
“The reign of Christ lays a claim on everything. It challenges us to live our lives in light of the true order of things rather than the order that we see each day. It challenges us to take on the mantle of sacrifice and service for others. Christ our king calls us to give up what we have, whether it be power or money or prestige so that we may care for those society has named as least.”
Moving Forward: “Do you proclaim Christ as your king?”
Some concluding thoughts: Today’s author is, of course, speaking of his own lived experience when he speaks of ‘monarchs abusing power’, and this did indeed happen frequently throughout history—but, can it not also be said of other leaders as well, yes, even ones who have been elected by democratic means? Can we not have abusive and autocratic leaders who are not kings or queens? Yes, indeed.
And now, in Canada, the United Kingdom, and many other Commonwealth countries, the king is truly a servant of the people, devoted to their welfare,
and here in Canada, as ‘the Crown’, a guarantor of their rights amid the various machinations of whatever government might be in power. We certainly hold allegiance to him but in no way does he hold sway over our behaviours as did the kings and queens of old, or as does our Lord and King Jesus Christ. However, Jesus, like our present constitutional monarchs in the Commonwealth, occupies this position for our good and well-being, as do His dictates. And so it is only right and proper that we give Him heed and obey Him.