HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

According to the Psalmist, this Psalm is “for teaching” in a day of great tragedy.

The nation, under David’s leadership, experiences an unexpected military setback. (See 2Sam. 8:13 and 1Chr. 18:12.) While David and the main part of the military were fighting in the northern part of the country, one of Judah’s other neighboring enemies, Edom, successfully attacked and devastated the southern part of the nation.

The Psalmist’s initial response is one in which he contemplates the cause for this disaster. His immediate conclusion was that God had abandoned them.

Unless you’ve been in New Orleans, you’ve aware of the ongoing “Blame Game” concerning the assistance or lack of assistance give to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

On national television Kanye West indicated that the reason it took so long to evacuate the people at the Superdome and the Civic Center in New Orleans was because they were black. He went on to accuse our president of racism and genocide: “…they’ve given them [soldiers] permission to go down and shoot us. George Bush doesn’t care about black people." [1]

New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin blamed FEMA and President Bush and Governor Blanco.

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton blamed President Bush for the problems in New Orleans and Jackson likened the scene at the Superdome to the hole of a slave galley.

None of the blamers did anything to alleviate the suffering that was being experienced by the people in New Orleans. They didn’t bring any food with them, they didn’t offer anyone a ride home and they didn’t stay and share the plight of the people in the Superdome. Nope! They road in on their high horse, blamed someone and never offered anyone a piece of bread or a cup of water.

Colin Powel offered a valid observation when he said, “Some black leaders, including Democrats in Congress, have charged that racism contributed to the misery of New Orleans' predominantly black storm victims.” He went on to conclude, “ I don't think it's racism, I think it's economic."

I. OUR CALAMITY

The Psalmist assessed his nation’s situation and saw God at its source.

“God! You walked off and left us, kicked our defenses to bits and stalked off angry….” (v.1)

“You shook the earth to its foundations and ripped open huge crevasses….” (v.2)

“You made your people look doom in the face, we are drunk on the wine of confusion.” (v.3)

The Psalmist doesn’t make God the General of Edom’s armies, but says that the national tragedy was sourced in God’s absence. Like Martha, who said, “If you had been here my brother would not have died,” (Jn. 11:21), the Psalmist viewed his nation’s plight as being sourced in God’s absence or abandonment. What happened would not have happened if God had not left them defenseless.

This is a far cry from the view that describes God as some anger driven fiend steering Katrina into the Gulf Coast with malevolent intent and sardonic glee. Nope, God wasn’t piloting the storm and He isn’t pleased with the devastation being experienced by the residents of Biloxi or New Orleans.

If the issue is indeed the absence of God’s presence, then it is an absence based on the rejection of God. The Gulf Coast isn’t known for its godliness, but for its decadence and outright defiance of God. It is hedonistic, given to the worship of pleasure for the sake of pleasure. It is known for corruption and lawlessness and debauchery. New Orleans is known as the city that care forgot.

In Romans 1, God’s judgment isn’t described in active terms, but in passive terms. God doesn’t violently destroy those who reject Him, rather He gives them up or over to themselves. (See Romans 1:24, 26, 28.) Simply put, He gives them what they want by leaving them to their own desires, passions and debased thinking.

If New Orleans had been a kingdom minded city living in submission to God’s rule, then everyone would have had a ride out of town, no looting would have occurred and love would have prevailed. No, the problem isn’t God, but godlessness. We cannot reject God and then blame Him when He doesn’t show up. So, if the finger of blame has turned on us, then the new question is, What do we do now? How should we respond to this tragedy?

II. OUR CRY

While the nation has rightly responded to the physical needs inflicted by Katrina, there is a gapping wound that begs for out attention. It is evidenced in the anger and violence that filled the streets of New Orleans and the superdome after Katrina left town. It was heard in the words of the hate mongers who sought to stir up strife between the races. It was seen in the greed that prevailed in the face of grief. People without electricity and food were stealing TVs. I could understand taking food, but TVs are useless in the absence of electricity and in the face of rising flood waters. No, the wound in Louisiana cannot be healed with money, as it is a spiritual malady.

The Psalmist, in the midst of his calamity admits that the circumstances have revealed a need greater than the calamity itself. According to the Psalmist it is the absence of God himself.

“God! you walked off and left us…Come back. Oh please, come back! We are a nation torn by calamity. Everything’s coming apart at the seams. Heal the breaks!”

Katrina didn’t make New Orleans violent and lawless and loveless. Katrina merely showed us the ugly sore that has been there for years. Violence thrived on the streets of New Orleans before Katrina came to town and long before the levees broke.

The problem isn’t Katrina or a lack of leadership. New York’s Rudolph Giuliani did an excellent job of providing leadership when the Twin Towers fell, but he is not the answer. The problem is godlessness and the answer is a repentant cry that pleads with God to invade New Orleans and all of Louisiana with His presence.

Come back to Louisiana, God! Please, come back! We’re being torn apart by hate and greed and violence. Everything’s coming apart at the seams. Please come and pour yourself into our wounds and heal the breaks. Deliver us! Hear us!

Is such a cry a vain attempt at grasping for straws or does the Psalmist offer legitimate hope that God will come and change things?

III. OUR CONFIDENCE

1. While Judah is looking doom in the face and reeling under its influence, God gives His people a new place to look. He declared, “Then [as we looked doom in the face] You planted a flag to rally your people, an unfurled flag to look to for courage” (v.4).

God’s word to us is, “don’t put your confidence in the government. Get your eyes off of FEMA and focus on ME. Don’t look to the hills for your help, your help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. Don’t try and pull yourselves up by your boot straps, rely on ME. Change your focus and look to ME the supplier of every need, the truth, the life and the way.” Don’t look at the problems, set your eyes on the PROVIDER!

2. God, not the circumstances, is in control. He is sovereign over us and over our enemies; over saints and sinners. He still owns Shechem and Gilead and Manasseh and Ephraim and Judah. Our enemies, Moab and Edom and Philstia are still His servants. He uses them like a servant would use a towel or a farmer a hoe. FEMA is God’s servant and when we acknowledge His Lordship, then He will cause FEMA to serve us.

3. Don’t get confused. God, not man, is our help. When we return to God, then He will help us overcome Edom…that strong city (9, 10). The help of man is useless, but God can use man to help us! It is through our God that we shall do valiantly, for HE shall tread down our enemies (11, 12). You don’t need to know a congressman in order to get help. You don’t need FEMA or the ASSEMBLIES of God or the RED CROSS. No sir, all you need do is look to God! He will answer your prayers and meet your needs! He will cause men and the agencies run by them to bless you.

Last night, one of the News Networks did a spot on a lady from Jefferson Parish--Desaray Watson Jones. She wasn’t looting unguarded stores. She wasn’t blaming anyone and she wasn’t crying. Nope! She was driving and walking the streets of her neighborhood and New Orleans feeding and helping the hungry. While making her rounds, she happened on a member of the Dateline News crew that eventually did the report on her. She mistook him for a Katrina victim, offered him food and found out that he was a member of news team covering the aftermath of Katrina. Instead of doing their assigned story, the crew followed her around. She delivered groceries and, as you might guess, prayed for and ministered to everyone she came in contact with. She didn’t work for FEMA or the RED CROSS. She was working out of her little thrift store, not a million-dollar office complex. When they asked her about her bank account, she said she had $32 in it. Where she got the food, I don’t know, but she had it and she was delivering it to people that were hungry. The reporter mentioned that she had been drug free for 17 years, that 1year ago she lost a son to a drive-by-shooting and that she had only recently recovered from a heart attack. She wasn’t confused or depressed, and she wasn’t angry. She was walking the same streets that Katrina’s winds and water had devastated in search of people she could help. She was singing and smiling and rejoicing and praying as she went about delivering to others what God had given to her. Click here to go to MSNNBC, then click on "NEWS" and then on DATELINE. Go to the Angel of Mercy clip.

That’s a far cry from the mob that couldn’t clean up their own mess at the Superdome and the talking heads that tried to use human suffering as a platform for promoting racial strife.

Sister Desaray, as the reporter called her, wasn’t denying the calamity that surrounded her. She refused to focus on it and she refused to let it rule her day! What I observed was a kingdom citizen who was focused on God. She wasn’t waiting on FEMA or the RED CROSS or the NATIONAL GUARD or THE BUSES. She knew God was her source and that through Him she would triumph valiantly. She wasn’t afraid of the looters, as she knew that God would tread down her enemies.

CONCLUSION

I don’t know what you’re facing today, but I know this, God is your answer! Like the Psalmist and Sister Desaray, things change when we get our eyes on GOD, recognize that He’s still God and that He is our source. Instead of waiting for FEMA, look to God. Instead of trusting in man, rely on God. Instead of accepting your circumstances as final and impossible, ask God to come and show himself strong on your behalf. When he responds rise up in God’s power and use what God has given you to make a difference in your world.

PRAYER

Come back to Louisiana, God! Please, come back! We’re being torn apart by forces more devastating than the winds and waters of Katrina. We’re being destroyed by hate and greed and violence. Everything’s coming apart at the seams. Please come and pour yourself into our wounds and heal the breaks. Hear us! Heal us! Deliver us!

ALTAR TIME

Would you join me this morning and spend some time praying the Psalmist’s prayer and ask God to invade Louisiana. Would you come and rally to the flag of truth He is calling us to.

[1] "I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family and they say we are looting, you see a white family and they say they are looking for food. And, you know, its been five days because most of the people ARE black. And even for me to complain, I would be a hypocrite because I would turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I’m calling my business manager right to see what is the biggest amount I can give. And just to imagine, if I was down there and those are my people down there. If there is anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help about the way America is set up the help the poor, the black people, the less well off as slow as possible. Red cross is doing as much as they can. We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way. And now they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us."

"George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

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