Psalms 42 and 43 are closely linked and deals with the question ‘Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?’ (Ps 42:5,11, Ps 43:5) Often, this is our experience: feelings of disquiet and disturbance, a lack of peace, a restlessness or anxiety which we cannot quite understand. We may be able to describe the feelings, but we cannot necessarily identify the source of these feelings. When circumstances are adverse, it’s easy to understand a sense of turmoil, but so often, we experience these feelings even when there is nothing external to trigger them.

Sensibly, the psalmist brings these questions to God. He doesn’t try to pretend that all is well: ‘my soul is downcast with me’ (a statement of fact), but he deals with this in a spiritual way: ‘therefore I will remember You.’ (Ps 42:6) So often, we try to cover over our feelings with a plastic smile and a mask of pretence, but this simply buries the feelings deeper within. Repression is never a long-term satisfactory solution. More profitable is to change the focus of our gaze, bringing those questions directly to God and focussing on who He is. We may be downcast, but as Alec Motyer reminds us, we serve an upbeat God! God is our stronghold (Ps 43:2); He is the One whose light and faithful care lead us. (Ps 43:3) As Casting Crowns sing, ‘there’s a place where fear has to face the God You know’. (‘Oh My Soul’, Casting Crowns) God’s light and love will be enough for even the most Eeyore-like among us. A downcast soul is no match for an upbeat God!

Dave spoke tonight from Romans 8:28-39, some of the most encouraging verses in the whole BIble. We live in a dangerous world (where terrorism, climate change, politics and numerous other threats cast a shadow over our daily lives), but for those who are older, there is remembrance that this has always been the case (the challenges may have changed, but the winter of 1947 was dramatically cold; the Cuban missile crisis and Cold War following the 2nd World War and other political instability all indicate that life always has its ups and downs!) We tend to like our security blankets of routine, family, friends, health and money, just as Linus was never to be found without his blanket!

It doesn’t take long for us to realise, however, that bad things happen in this life, and we find it difficult to beleive that God really can work for the good in everything that happens to us. If we are realistic, we know that death, divorce, sickness, financial loss and abuse can easily rock our world and leave us feeling insecure and afraid. Yet Paul, in writing these words, also knew trouble and difficulties (see 2 Cor 11) and was not naive about these difficulties. He could write about the good God was ultimately working in every situation because he lived by faith and not by sight. We need to understand that life is rather like a tapestry: we don’t see the finished side yet, but are looking at it from the back, with all the confusing knots and apparent chaos.

Our part is not to sit back passively and adopt a fatalistic attitude that what happens will always be the right thing. We are called to fight injustice and to be the answer to so many of the world’s problems as we allow God to touch our hearts and move us to action. We can only do this confidently, however, if we understand that our lives are in God’s hands and His hands are working all things out for good. No matter what happens to us in 2018, we can be sure that God is there, right in the midst of it, working for good, and if our long-term confidence is that nothing can separate us from His love, then we will move forward with hope and confidence.

Stephen spoke this morning at Cherry Tree Court from John 9:1-7. Here, the story of how Jesus healed a man blind from birth is recounted, but as Stephen pointed out, this was not just a miracle for that man. Through this narrative, we can see how God cares for each one of us and can bring out miracles for us all.

Jn 9:1 tells us that as Jesus went by, He saw a man blind from birth. No one pointed out the blind man to Him; there were no friends advocating his cause, as in other healing narratives (e.g Mark 2:1-12), Instead, Jesus Himself saw the man; He noticed him. We can be sure that Jesus sees us and notices us too.

The disciples raised a question as to the cause of the man’s suffering, whether it was because of his own sin or his parents’. So often, we feel guilty and condemned in our situations, blaming ourselves or other people and feeling there is no alternative to the situation. The truth is, that no matter what the cause of our predicament, God is able to step in and turn things around. The darkness we face – whether self-inflicted or not – cannot stand against the light Jesus brings. Just as the man had to be obedient only to the commands Jesus gave, so we too need to be obedient to the light we have received and then we can see a miracle for us all, as our spiritual eyes are opened and our understanding becomes clear.

One of my favourite films is ‘Three Amigos’, a spoof Western which sees three actors having to rescue the villagers of a small Mexian village from a bad guy known as ‘El Guapo’. In a scene just before the great showdown, the amigos ask the villagers what their skill and talent is, the one thing that can help to rescue them from their enemy. Somewhat to their astonishment (and despair), an elderly lady tentatively offers the answer, ‘We can sew?’ ‘If only we had known this earlier!’ is the slightly sarcastic reply, but, in true Hollywood style, the sewing skills of the villagers actually do contribute to the defeat of the bad guy as they make hundreds of ‘amigo’ costumes to confuse and baffle El Guapo!

Dearne Churches Together has a similar need of sewing skills! We are looking to be involved in a ‘Good Friday Church Crawl’ when, on Friday 30th March, we will visit as many of the local churches as possible, attending a communion service at Furlong Road Methodist Church at 10.30 a.m. and visiting other churches to see how Easter is celebrated in different traditions. In between, we will be walking from church to church, giving out flowers and Easter chocolates to passers-by, as part of the Easter March of Hope we have done in previous years. To demonstrate that we are all part of God’s church, we will be wearing yellow sashes, which is where the sewing skills come in..

.Those of you who know me know that even sewing a button on a garment is a major production for me! Sewing is definitely not one of my skills. But Our Shed Dearne (based at the Renaissance Centre in Bolton-on-Dearne and host of the Pins & Needles sewing class whose fashion show was a great success at last year’s Dearne Community Arts’ Festival) has offered us the use of their sewing machines one Saturday to help us make the sashes. They have also offered ignoramuses like myself tuition on Thursdays between 5 and 7 p.m. to teach us to hem material, which is what these sashes essentially will need. Between these two offers, hopefully we will be able to make sashes for all who wish to take part in the Good Friday event.

So if you can sew and wouldn’t mind giving up a couple of hours one Saturday… or if you are a novice like me but wouldn’t mind giving up a couple of hours over two Thursdays… please let us know and we can prepare the sashes for Good Friday in good time for one of the most important days in the Christian calendar, when we celebrate the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and look to share this good news with our local communities!

Ps 2:11-12 reminds us that we are to approach an omnipotent God with reverence and awe:

‘Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.’

Ps 2, like Ps 1, has presented us with the way of human rebellion verses the way of submission to God. ‘Kissing the son’ (or his feet) indicated an act of submission or homage, a declaration of obedience and recognition of being in the presence of someone greater than oneself. Other examples of kissing as a symbol of submission are found in 1 Sam 10:1 (when Samuel anoints Saul as king) and 1 Kings 19:18 (when God tells Elijah of the seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.) To kiss the Son means to recognise God’s Son as the only way to God (Jn 14:6) and to live to serve Him and celebrate His rule.

‘The fear of the Lord’ is a theme which runs throughout Scripture (especially the book of Proverbs, where we are told it is the beginning of wisdom.) We need to have reverence and a healthy regard for God. Whilst we are not meant to cower away in fright and are exhorted to come before His throne of grace with confidence (Heb 4:16), we cannot treat God’s Messiah with indifference or complacency. He deserves our respect, attention, obedience and submission, for He is Lord of Lords!

Psalm 2 is the first of the Messianic psalms. Along with Psalm 1, it forms an introduction to the book of Psalms (‘a joint preamble to the whole book’, in the words of Michael Wilcock). The private world of Psalm 1 opens out into the public world of Psalm 2; the personal is followed by the cosmic (in airport language, one is ‘domestic’ and the other ‘international’!) Psalm 1 looks at how an individual is to live a blessed life in God; Psalm 2:12 reminds us that ‘blessed is the one who takes refuge’ in God. Psalm 1 ends with the warning that ‘the way of the wicked leads to destruction’, whereas Psalm 2 begins with a reminder that God will not let the way of the wicked triumph. In Psalm 1, the godly person meditates on God’s law; in Psalm 2, the wicked meditate (NASB = “devising,” NIV = “plot”; using the same Hebrew word) on how to cast off the rule of God. In Psalm 1 the theme is the contrast between the righteous and the wicked person; in Psalm 2 the theme is the contrast between the rebellion of wicked rulers and nations and the rule of God’s righteous Messiah.

Psalm 2 shows people plotting against God’s word, devising schemes for getting rid of it so that they can be free of all God-interference in their lives – something that continues to happen to this very day. Eugene Peterson says, ‘These people see God’s words not as javelins penetrating their lives with truth, but as chains that restrict their freedom. They put their minds together to rid themselves of this word so that their words can rule.’ (‘Answering God’, P 28) Rulers and nations seem an intimidating force to ordinary people, but God simply laughs and scoffs at all their plans, being completely in control. (Ps 2:1-3) His plan involves His Messiah who, born of a woman, would be bruised on the heel by Satan in death as the sin‑bearer for the fallen race, but who would bruise Satan upon the head in His triumphant victory over sin and death in His resurrection from the grave. (Gen 3:15) By bringing people from every nation under the lordship of God’s Anointed, Jesus, the rebellion of Satan is thwarted.

Ps 2 also reveals something of the nature of the Godhead to us in showing us a personal relationship between Father and Son. Ps 2:7 has been the object of much controversy over the years, but in describing this relationship, we see something of the closeness described by John in the New Testament (see John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9; 5:1, 18). Heb 1:1-3 and Col 1:15-19 give us a much fuller picture of this relationship between Father and Son, but it is already foreshadowed in this psalm, with the pre-eminence of Jesus implicit in Ps 2:8-9.

Psalm 2 is quoted in 7 places in the New Testament, with 3 separate sections quoted in different books (Acts 4:25-26, Acts 13:32-33, Hebrews 1:5, Hebrew 5:4-5, Rev 2:26-27, Rev 12:5, Rev 19:15). Clearly, the New Testament writers found great comfort in God’s sovereignty and in the nature of the Godhead. We too can find comfort and hope in these things.