Confidence In The Chaos

In Psalm 52, David condemns Doeg the Edomite.

Doeg told Saul of David’s presence at the tabernacle. Saul responds with anger and paranoia and has Doeg kill the priests and others at the tabernacle. David responds to this horrific incident with a strong vilification of Doeg’s behavior. He wraps up the psalm with words of confidence:

But I am like an olive tree

   flourishing in the house of God;

I trust in God’s unfailing love

   for ever and ever.

For what you have done I will always praise you

   in the presence of your faithful people.

And I will hope in your name,

   for your name is good.

- Psalm 52:8-9

How many times have we sat in David’s seat, staring at horrific evil and condemning the behavior of people, systems, or uncontrollable accidents? It feels like now, more than ever, every news channel, social media platform, or article has a story of brokenness and sin that is hard to comprehend. We respond, correctly, with righteous anger and a deep desire for justice.

But too often, we miss out on the end of Psalm 52. We skip the part where David is confident that God will stop evil. We don’t finish our angry outbursts with a meditation on God’s unfailing love or an acknowledgement of how worthy of praise our God is - even in the face of ruthless evil.

In our humanness, it is so easy to get caught up in our finite perspective. We get lost in the anger and pain and we forget that the battle has already been won.

In Psalm 52, Doeg was not yet removed or defeated, yet David declared confidently that he knew God would stop him.

Friend, we have even more reason to be confident. Jesus Christ already conquered death. The battle is over, and as deep as the anger and pain can persist in our broken world, we can be continually confident and at peace knowing that this brokenness isn’t the end of the story. We already know the ending, and “Spoiler Alert” - Jesus comes out triumphant every time.

I write for you, I write for myself, I write for every heart that is weary and tired from personal pain, national crises, or global hurt. Together, we must declare: “We trust in God’s unfailing love! We will always praise our God! We will wait on Him!”

I was chatting with a friend a few weeks ago who was going through the unthinkable - her six

week old nephew had died suddenly, with no explanation and no warning. I sat with her, tears in my eyes, in awe of the unwavering faith and peace that permeated her calm face.

“How are you and your family still moving forward? How has this not flattened you?” I asked, not even sure what to say in a season as dark as theirs.

“How could it?” She asked with a small grin. “The pain is great, but the story isn’t over. God’s going to use it all, he IS using it all. And we will be reunited with our baby boy again soon.”

Friend, let’s have that kind of confidence. God IS using the pains and hurts in our stories for His overall will and glory. We can be confident! Justice is here! Redemption is real!

And, just like David, we can hope in His name!

Cristina Schmitter

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