Daily Lesson for February 19, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Psalm 37 verses 3, 5 and 6, and 8 and 9:

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

There is an old saying that the meek shall inherit the earth, but somebody else gets the mineral rights.

That's basically the story one of my friends is living through right now. He's one of the good guys -- loyal, diligent, and there to serve the company, his bosses, and his fellow employees. Just the guy you would want working for you; and just the guy who gets hosed when times get tight.  It seems the nice guy really does finish last.

It's my friend this psalm is talking to. It's talking to the meek and disinherited, to the nice guy who doesn't even get a consolation for finishing last. And what's the word for my friend?  The word is: "Befriend faithfulness."

It's tempting to act unfaithfully -- to lash out in a rage of anger at God, and the abusive system, and at the powerlessness of friends to help, or to just die altogether defeated in spirit and wait for the body to follow. It's tempting.  Langston Hughes's words capture the temptations:

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up
      like a raisin in the sun?
      Or fester like a sore—
      And then run?
      Does it stink like rotten meat?
      Or crust and sugar over—
      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags
      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?

There is another option. It is the option to "befriend faithfulness". To be a friend means to stick it out, to stay beside come hell or high water.  To be a friend of faithfulness means to keep the faith even when life has robbed you of job, benefits, home, and land. Faithfulness's friend holds on -- even when everything around him is trying to pull him apart. 

I write but in fear that I might come off smug. But I write nonetheless for two reasons: 1) The truth is anyone of us could end up where my friend is. Life can deal a series of bad hands to anyone of us or our employers and we could be in a bread line come next year.  None of us are immune to a raw deal.  2) Jesus, our LORD, grew up in a disinherited land amongst disinherited people. He and they knew what it was to be used, abused, oppressed, dried up, and discarded. He and they knew the temptations to either shrivel up or to explode.  But he did not; and he taught others to not. He taught them how to hold on to their dignity, stay in touch with their humanity, and keep their faith.  And when he stood in front of a multitude of the forlorn on the mountainside in Galilee, he looked into their eyes and asked them not to give up on God. He quoted today's daily lesson:

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. And Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

Somebody else may may indeed take the mineral rights; but nobody and nothing can take away our trust in a God who sees and knows and will ultimately make things right.  For we have befriended faithfulness; and we've decided to be friends for life.