God Who Gives Us Strength and Power (1)

[Psalm 68:19-35]

Right now, in Huntington, Utah, USA, many people are working hard to rescue six miners trapped 1,500 feet underground in a mine. Of the ten miners, four managed to escape alive, but the fate of the remaining six is still unknown. However, the rescue mission to save these miners, who may still be alive, is ongoing. If these six miners are alive, they are in a situation where they cannot get out on their own and need to be rescued from that deep place by a successful external rescue operation.

This makes us think about the unimaginable fear and terror of death they must be experiencing. How desperately they must be waiting for someone to come and save them soon. It reminds me of the prophet Jonah in the Bible. In Jonah chapter 2, we see Jonah inside the belly of a great fish, praying to God from the depths of the sea. In that extreme crisis, I recall Jonah’s confession: “…Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).

To live a proper faith life, we need to thoroughly realize our own helplessness and weakness. When we do, we rely more fully on Jehovah God, who is “my strength.” Personally, I often feel helpless and weak in my struggle with myself. Even though I know what should be done, I recognize, even a little, my own helplessness and inability to change without God’s help. Therefore, I cannot but depend on God’s power. For this reason, I have no choice but to pray to God. In prayer, I experience God’s strength and power in the midst of my helplessness and weakness.

In Psalm 68:35, the psalmist David says:
“May God be awesome within his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!”

Today, centered on this verse, under the title “God Who Gives Us Strength and Power,” I want to meditate on what kind of God this God is who gives us strength and power, and I pray that we may enjoy the grace that God gives us.

First, the God who gives us strength and power is the Lord who carries our burdens every day.

Look at Psalm 68:19:
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

What does the psalmist David mean by “our burdens” here? We can think about it in four ways.

(1) Our burden refers to the burden given to God’s people because of “enemies” (verse 1) or “wicked people” (verse 2).

Among those burdens, of course, there would have been suffering and hardship caused by persecution. A specific description of that suffering and hardship is when the people of Israel were imprisoned (verse 6). I believe we also have such burdens. That is, because of our enemy Satan, in the midst of countless attacks and temptations, our spirit is troubled and weary, and there are many times when our hearts are heavy. Just as the enemies of Israel imprisoned them, how many times does Satan attack our hearts, making us prisoners within our own hearts?

For example, Satan causes us to disobey the Lord’s command to forgive one another, which makes us live in a prison of unforgiveness. How heavy a burden is this for us?

(2) Our burden also refers to the “loneliness” of God’s people (verse 6).

When the people of Israel were persecuted by their enemies or wicked people, they felt loneliness amidst suffering and hardship. That is why David says God is the father of orphans and the judge of widows (verse 5). I think there were actually many orphans and widows among the people of Israel. The reason is that during their time in the wilderness and especially during the conquest of the land of Canaan, a significant number of Israelite men died.

However, beyond the literal meaning, I believe using the terms “orphan” and “widow” to describe the people of Israel also has a spiritual meaning. It means that the people of Israel felt lonely in their suffering because of their enemies (the wicked). We also feel loneliness just like the people of Israel. Especially when we are in pain and feel that God is very far away, even though we are among many people, we often feel lonely.

(3) Our burden also refers to the material poverty of God’s people (verse 9).

This refers to the poverty faced by the people of Israel in the land of Canaan during their exodus journey through the wilderness. That is, it refers to when the land of Canaan was dry, and crops and fruit trees could not survive (according to Park Yoon-sun). This material poverty became a heavy burden for the people of Israel. Especially the poverty in the land of Canaan, which they believed would be a land of plenty, caused sinful thoughts longing for their past life in Egypt, which made the burden even heavier.

We, Korean-Americans living in the abundant country of the United States, can somewhat empathize with the people of Israel. Leaving our homeland Korea and coming to a wealthy country like the United States, if we find ourselves in poverty like the people of Israel, how heavy would that burden be on our hearts?

Just like the land of Canaan being poor and farming not succeeding, if we come to America and try to start a business but it does not go well, leading to financial hardship, how heavy a burden would that be on our hearts?

(4) Our burden is the poverty of God’s people (verse 10).

In today’s passage, Psalm 68:10, David says, “… O God, you have prepared your favor for the poor.” Even after entering the land of Canaan, when drought struck and crops and fruit trees could not survive, the people of Israel sometimes experienced poverty. How ironic is that? Poverty in a fertile land… Yet this can be our reality. Poverty in a wealthy land like America… Of course, here we think of material poverty, but if we look deeper, how many hearts become spiritually poor even in a land of plenty? I think about how many Christians, despite economic prosperity, fall into Satan’s temptations and become spiritually impoverished. This is indeed a heavy burden.

How did God carry the burdens of the people of Israel? We can consider four ways:

(1) God took on the burden caused by enemies or wicked people, especially when the people of Israel were taken captive, and God prospered them, thus carrying their burden for them (verse 6).

(2) God carried the heavy burden of the loneliness of His people by leading them “to a place like a warm home” as the “Father of the fatherless” and the “Judge of widows” (verses 5–6) (Park Yoon-sun).

(3) When the land of Canaan was in scarcity, God sent satisfying rain to restore the land, thus carrying their burden (verse 9) (Park Yoon-sun).

(4) God bestowed favor on the poor and thereby carried their burden (verse 10).

The Bible encourages us with these words: “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). No matter how heavy our burdens are, let us cast them on God through prayer. God will give us the strength and power to carry them.

Thanking God who carries my burdens every day,

Shared by Pastor James Kim

(yearning for the grace of God that lightens even the heaviest burdens).