better than life

“Your loving kindness is better than life." Taken from an ancient psalm and more contemporary Christian song.

Often I equate the good things in life with God’s loving kindness. The close parking space, the friendly receptionist, the sale at the grocery store, the pay raise, the warm reception at church, the green lights, etc. all point to God’s favor warmly extended our way. Who could argue with God’s loving kindness expressed so beautifully and practically on behalf of mankind. Even Scripture reminds us that we should be thankful and realize where the good things come from, “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the father of heavenly lights.” To go a step further, we can begin to equate these “blessings” with God’s communication with us. We pray, talk to God, and don’t hear a response with our ears, but allow God to speak through circumstances. For example, everything falls into place for a new job and we "hear" that as God speaking to us to take the job. Or, things become difficult or seem to not be working out, so we "hear" God saying this is not the way to go. This is not always the case.

This potential problem can grow very quickly in the life of a pastor. In this context, if we take the "blessings" mentioned above and add to that the common problem of a pastor finding his identity and affirmation in the positive growth/success of their church, we have a lethal brew. As "blessings" come, the church grows, people are saved, they reflect God’s blessing, God’s communication, and God’s affirmation. How great it is to be in such a setting, living in the flow of God’s "lovingkindness". However, what happens when life, including church life, is not going well? The church is not growing, people are not responding, etc. All of a sudden, it appears that God is not talking, God is not blessing, and God is not affirming, at least in the way we have been used to and have come to expect. Can God still be good if bad things are happening or good things are not happening? From outside the circumstances, the answer is YES. God is GOOD, all the time! However, in the midst of the problems we can quickly begin to question and even doubt God's personal, caring love for us. If God loves me, why is he allowing this to happen to me?

The psalmist's words reflect for us a solution for this human tendency to equate only "good" things with God's love. David, learned to separate his understanding of and relationship to God from the circumstances of life. In words from a more recent song, "life is hard, but God is good." David declared that God's lovingkindness was better than life; better than the bad things that happen and even better than the best that life has to offer. As I mentioned, for the psalmist, this was a continual process of learning to love God and trust in His love. This was not an easy or simple lesson to learn, but was learned through great personal difficulty and painful experiences. Through it all, in spite of times of anger with God and doubt in His lovingkindness, David ultimately chose to hold onto His God and do his best to stay close to Him. Through it all, David came to realize that life could be good or bad, but God's lovingkindness was better than life and could/should be experienced in spite of life's difficulties.

"Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you." Psalm 63:3-5 (NIV 1984)

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