Psalm 145:13 The Lord is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds.¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. ¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. ¹⁶ You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing. 

This may or may not make sense, but stay with me.

These are beautiful words from King David. His love for the Lord is evident. Yet I can’t help but think David has a bit of selective memory here. The bible speaks of many times when the people of God did fall, were not raised up, did not receive what they desired. King David himself had many struggles and heartbreaks despite being favored of God. After David died, things went downhill fast for Israel until ultimately God decided to bring famine, disease, death and destruction on Israel because of their infidelity. I’m not saying God was not justified in doing so, just that it doesn’t square with the words of our passage.

So when I read this passage it sounds to me like a white-washed portrayal of God.

That said, perhaps David is writing of his overall experience of God during the course of a lifetime. If that’s the case, this passage makes more sense. I probably do the same sort of thing when describing my experience of certain things and people. I might say my family is amazing, but that doesn’t mean it’s amazing every single day. My vocation as pastor is a dream come true – most days. Some days… not so much. My experience of God is a great blessing, but there are days when God seems far away indeed.

If I read our passage from this perspective, it makes sense to me. Lord thank you for your incredible faithfulness every single day, whether we recognize it every day or not. Amen.