Irene Bosma-Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Homily: Psalm 118:1, 5-7, 22-24
Brothers and sisters in Christ, that final verse, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it,” was truly a favorite verse of Irene’s. If we meditate, or spend some time, just considering that verse, it’s quite remarkable. To live life based on what that verse and this passage says probably isn’t typical for most people today. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
What probably comes to mind is creation. Whether it’s sunny and 45 degrees, the snow is melting, the geese are honking, or it’s 90 degrees if you’re someone who really likes warm weather, that’s a beautiful day and you can praise God. But so are the dreary days, the cold days, the wet days, the Creator is also in those. We might be thinking, “It’s tough, but even those who have been flooded out of their homes, off their property, surrounded on all sides by water, we have to acknowledge that God made these days, too. So, we’ll keep praising him.”
It’s not wrong to praise God in the midst of any form of weather. It’s not wrong to praise him for creating a day. But based on the psalm as a whole, this isn’t about how much we are appreciating God whether it’s warm or cold, snowy or dry. This psalm is about praising God for his power and reign over all things. I want to briefly touch on three phrases we find in these verses and throughout the psalm.
First, what we heard in verse 1, and if you have a Bible open, you can see it is repeated in each of verses 2 through 4 and again in the final verse, verse 29. “His love,” God’s love, “endures forever.” We are here tonight, and we’ll be gathering tomorrow, because a mortal life has ended. We are gathered because a woman who was born 96 years ago as a baby, and grew up as a little girl, and then became a mother and grandmother and great-grandmother, she has died. Her time experiencing and directly contributing to life on this earth has ended.
She and the family and all of us know that is going to happen to each one of us. There have likely been billions of people who have lived and died before any of us came onto this earth. Death is part of this life. But Irene held onto the truth that there is one who is eternal. There is a God who has no beginning and no end. She held onto the truth that his love for her, claiming her as his own, caring for her no matter what happened in her life, was just as a real now as it was when Eve lived on this earth. And God’s love for her will be just as real forever, including when Christ returns, and we get new life with him. Praise God that his love endures forever.
The second thing that we heard repeated was in verses 5 through 7, “The Lord is with me.” Hear those verses again, “In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.” Until this past year, Irene really didn’t seem like she was over 90 years old to me. I’d see her at a gym watching a basketball game. I’ve seen her listening to or watching games at home. I’ve seen her out around town with friends. I know those moments are just a small part of who she was, but moments like that quickly faded and were not as easy, especially these last months.
She came to a point where she could understand the psalmist’s anguish from her experience. To go through different things in life that rob abilities that we’ve had for years is not just frustrating; it’s depressing. But Irene also knew that her God would set her free. She knew, like Romans 8:38 and 39 tell us, there is nothing that would be able to separate her from the love that is in Christ Jesus. There’s nothing and no one who is able now or ever to take God’s grace away. There’s nothing and no one who can permanently convince a true believer, “God doesn’t care about you.” We may go through doubts. We may wander into sin and not think much about the faith. But God is always near waiting for us to turn to him. Praise God that he is with us.
Now we get to the final piece here, God is with us most intimately, most lovingly, most for-our-good through Jesus our Savior. All throughout the Old Testament, we have prophecies of a coming Messiah, one who was anointed and sent by God to save people from their sins, from their wickedness and the punishment we all deserve. Through this Messiah, we also find the promise of eternal and renewed life—a life without sickness or pain or death. This Messiah is Jesus, the one who was rejected by many people leading to his death on the cross. He was perfect, without sin or crime, yet he was mocked and afflicted. But Jesus willingly endured all things, that those who believe in him, may be made righteous and will one day be healed.
God created and set aside the day when Jesus would come. God made the day when Jesus would die, and when Jesus would rise again, and when he would ascend to heaven to prepare a place for us, and finally, God makes the day when Jesus will return and gather all who he loves to himself—both the living and the dead. God made the days of Jesus, he made the days of creation, and he made the days of each one of our lives in which we can turn to him, depending on and worshiping him because he is Almighty God.
When we hear those words, “This is the day that the Lord had made; let us rejoice and be glad in it,” let us remember that it’s about so much more than just be thankful to God whether the sun is shining or not. Let us remember that he has provided redemption through his Son, he guarantees his promise in believers. Praise God that he made the day when Irene found this hope, and he continues to hold her now. Amen.