Joshua was a young man in his mid-twenties. He had been sick for a long time. He had seen many doctors, some of whom were helpful and some not so much. Joshua had also tried all sorts of alternative treatments, but his chronic condition remained. He told the chaplain that in so many ways he felt like the woman with the flow of blood (see Mark 5:25-34). Nothing had cured him, but he really didn’t know how to, “sneak up on Jesus”, as he put it.
Such an interesting expression caused the chaplain to ponder just how a person should approach God. He thought about the Psalms and the raw, honest approach to God the psalmist demonstrates in so many ways. Joshua seemed to be thinking that one had to manipulate God to get one’s way.
By actively listening to this young man’s story of chronic illness the chaplain was able to follow the process Joshua was going through. By process, we mean the story a person is telling themselves about what the events of their life mean for them. Ultimately the events are not so important. Each of us reacts to life events in different ways. We will also react to the same events differently at different stages of our life. What is important in pastoral care is to note how those events are affecting a person. It is important to understand what those events mean for the person. What is the story they are telling themselves?
By asking the question, “what is the story they are telling themselves?”, we understand that people attribute meaning to life’s events. That meaning will be different for each person. It will be something like, “When you say those words, I feel …” or, “when that event happened, I felt …” The feeling a person has following certain words or events is the story they tell themselves about themselves. To finish those sentences above would look something like this: “I feel sad,” “I felt as though my world had collapsed.” Another person might finish the same sentences differently, such as, “I felt so happy,” or, “I was overwhelmed with joy.”
Each of those responses could be to the same words or the same event. That’s why pastoral care focuses on the process. The process is about how a person responds to events that happen to them. Helping a person acknowledge the process they are going through will help them to better cope with the words spoken to them or the events that have happened around them.
The story Joshua was telling himself was a story that misunderstood who Jesus is and how we can approach him in prayer. The chaplain’s first task was to help Joshua acknowledge his unhelpful and unbiblical process. The next task was to show him how he does not need to “sneak up on Jesus” but can approach him confidently and boldly.
Psalm four provided the chaplain with a basis to show Joshua the confidence he can have in approaching God in prayer. This Psalm begins standing in front of God and making a bold statement, “Answer me when I call”. There is no pleading. There is simply a direction to God from the psalmist to answer his prayer. This boldness is only possible because the God the psalmist appeals to is the “God of my righteousness.” The righteousness of the psalmist does not come from himself. It comes from God. The psalmist is also bold because he has known “relief when I was in distress.” Presumably this is his past experience, and he is therefore confident that God will do it again. And finally in v. 1, it becomes clear that the psalmist is not simply demanding God to do for him what he wants. He recognises that God will answer his bold prayer because of the fact that God is gracious towards His people.
In v.2 the psalmist addresses those who are oppressing him. “How long,” is a style of lament yet it is not addressed to God but to the oppressors. It is a cry to the oppressors that they lie in regard to the human condition as it is meant to be in God. Honour is turned to shame. They “love vain words and seek after lies.” Chronic illness falls into this category. While we live in a fallen world and illness and death are realities, the ideal life is one that prospers and knows abundance. Illness and death are things to shake our fist at because they are not the way life is meant to be.
Verse 3 also expresses the psalmist’s confidence in God and here provides an answer to the question he put in v. 2, “how long?” The answer is that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself. The psalmist puts himself in this category of the godly. This is not the self-righteous but simply those who know their God. It is these whose prayers are heard by God. And therefore, the question of, “how long?” falls into insignificance because the godly one belongs to the Lord and therefore their prayers are heard. The question of, “how long?” directed at his enemies is not a plea from the psalmist for them to stop. Rather, it is an expression of ridicule. The psalmist is saying to his enemies, “How long? Don’t you know that God is in charge? You are wasting your breath. Your lies will not stand in the judgement of God.”
“Be angry, and do not sin,” are words directed by the psalmist to his oppressors. It’s like he is telling them, “Do your best, but don’t bring your lies before God.” He then tells his enemies to think about this and be silent. In other words, the lies his enemies are speaking against him will not stand up before God. The lies Joshua was telling himself, that he was somehow a lesser person because of his chronic illness, were not words that would stand in the presence of the God who had died for him. Joshua needed to understand that he was a person created in the image of God and his illness had not diminished that image.
Verse five is further advice from the psalmist to his enemies. It is positive advice to offer right sacrifices and trust the Lord. To Joshua, in his chronic illness, this advice is a recognition that God is in control. One must approach Him acknowledging His lordship. For Joshua this led to an understanding that the lie he was telling himself in the process of dealing with his illness had to submit to the Lordship of God. He needed to recognise that he was not a lesser human because of his illness, and he had to understand that he could approach God directly, sincerely, confidently and did not need to sneak up on Him.
Verses 6 & 7 together are a recognition that joy comes from the Lord. The psalmist has experienced the joy of abundant food and good wine, the good things of this life. He recognises, however, that God gives him so much more joy than these. This is what knowing God achieves. The process and the story that Joshua needed to begin to tell himself is the truth that God is far greater than anything else he might experience in life, whether that be the abundance of a rich life or the pain of chronic illness. Joy in the lord is so much better than these. Knowing the Lord and this joy in Him helped Joshua to begin to tell himself a different and a truer story about his chronic illness.
The Psalm finishes with a great confidence that, even though his enemies may still lie at hand, the psalmist will lie down and sleep because the Lord alone keeps him in safety.
Changing the story he was telling himself about his circumstances became possible for Joshua when he carefully studied the Scriptures. Doing so focused his attention on God and showed him how much greater He is than any chronic illness. Joshua needed to learn that life is not about sneaking up on God but facing God directly in truth. He came to understand that that truth is honesty about who he is and who God is. It is the truth of facing God realistically.
