Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 42 (January 8, 2026)

January 8, 2026:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 42

Good evening/morning, depending on when you choose to look at your emails and the Psalm study which normally comes to you late on Thursday morning. I pray for the LORD'S richest blessings to sustain you and to keep you fully faithful even in what may be difficult times. I know that the cold rain today is important to the health of our desert and its environment in which we live. But I must tell you as I sit in our 68-degree house, that I yearn for the high seventies and nights much nearer to 50. I do know that if our environment is to have any chance in its long-term recovery from a severe drought, days like today, and I do remember many like this in other winter seasons in the 35 years we have lived here, must be a part of our winter season.  I do know that many of you wish that we would keep the worship area a bit warmer on Sunday mornings, but it is truly expensive to heat that very large space to a temperature warmer than 70. When I practice piano during the week, I do not turn on the heat, instead I wear warmer clothes and bear with the very cold temperature of the piano keys. Have hope though, by a week from now we will be back in the 70s with lows at night much warmer, and plenty of sun once again.

I wanted to speak for a moment about how we approach our membership and participation in church. I think that we often find that congregation and building where we grew up as somehow more holy than subsequent churches we may have attended or joined later in our lives. I have come to love our beautiful church, mature and holding some of the best glass in Tucson, God's altar at American holds many wonderful memories of weddings, and on the nave floor, Baptisms and oh so many Holy Communions, filled with music, joy, and the courage of our faith in God even when times can get pretty tough, like the pandemic closures, and the necessary absence of those who feared being around others, and for darn good reasons.  But, at my insistence, we didn't close our doors, we worshiped with courage and some pretty cold Sunday mornings when our furnace and our fresh air cooler were running at the same time. I know that the Church throughout the world has suffered because her members sometimes failed to return to worship, fellowship, and unity with our Savior in Holy Communion. We have sometimes felt down, and yet, we have weathered through all of it with the strength of our faith that God will never dessert us, or leave us destitute of knowing that, in Christ, we will be lifted up once again.  The prayer chain at American, your participation in three Bible Studies each week, your support of my sometimes mediocre piano and organ performances on Sundays or festival days, and our feeling that American is unlike any other church we have been in, is real, and potent in our call to serve Christ's Gospel Truth in the world, often broken with unnecessary violence by governments toward their citizens, wars against neighbors, and biases that broadly show our sin.  You may feel down about how each of us can move forward, and yet, our life experience tells us that God is not far from us. In fact, it is we who find ourselves far from God even when His faithfulness toward us has never failed.

Now my good friends in Christ, why did I start out with all of this about our relationships with congregations and buildings where we have been, or may be right now? This is exactly what Psalm 42 is about. The Psalmist is walking with two feelings in his/her heart about God's faithfulness and acknowledging their own personal failure to trust the God who has proven Himself time and again in the history of His people, and by the birth, ministry, suffering, and death of His Son, Jesus Christ.  The Psalmist is definitely worried about God's faithfulness personally, but also to Jerusalem, its people, its safety, and its current situation which is alive with threats from outside the nation of Israel. In the north of Israel are the mountains about which the Psalmist writes. Just as we have seen in the last week in California, those wonderful mountains of rocky strength can be flooded and flooding against those who are near to them, but it is God, in spite of that flooding and damage, who always remains in control, there, and in all of life!  I can see myself in this Psalm, sometimes the resolve of my faith and confidence in God and Christ is unshakable, and sometimes, I find myself praying for greater faith, and for the courage and commitment of Christ as my ministry moves forward in my later life.

However, like the Psalmist, we also know that our God's love for us is immutable and unshakeable. In the weeks ahead we may need to revisit this Psalm. It is a powerful telling of our loving God, and our shaky faith, and of our loss of courage at the hands of others who might make us fail to turn to the God in whom we have always trusted.

Please enjoy the rain, carry the birth of Christ in your hearts, and know, that in everything that we face, celebration, triumph, failure, or weakness to face the driving forces around us, Our God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is in charge!

With the Love of Christ for all people, those I know, and those who are yet to be known by me, I humbly offer you this psalm of mine for today. Pastor Kim