Health and Wealth? Not in the Psalms

As I have read the opening 6 Psalms over the last few days, I can't help but notice how many of the Psalms are written under circumstances of gut wrenching distress.  David may have been a man after God's own heart, but that doesn't mean he had an easy life.  Sometimes his struggles were the result of sin (the rebellion of Absalom loosely flows out of David's sin with Bathsheeba). Most of the time, though, it seems that David was just facing the intrigues and dangers that beset kings and powerful figures in ancient times.  While David was a great king, his life was not easy.  There were times that he experienced a great deal of hurt and pain.  The Psalms make clear that this pain never diminished his faith.  Even in the worst of times, he had absolute hope and faith that God would be faithful and give him joy.   David teaches us that faith in God never guarantees that life will be easy.  Health and wealth is not the Christian's normal lot.  But in the midst of suffering, we have a fierce hope, one that can never relinquish its grasp on the believer's soul.

To close, I thought I would share a video that provides a musical meditation on the opening verses of Psalm 5.  The song wears its roots in the 70's, but I think it wears them lightly: