DAY 154: Why?

DAY 154

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith, by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland – pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Twenty-two Saturday 15 August 2020

Why?

Darius Jamal Settles, 30

“Darius Jamal Settles was born on June 19, 1990. He was the son and grandson of Pentecostal ministers, a designer of men’s suits, a church organist, a husband to Angela and a father to Samari, his first-born son. ‘He spoke in tongues in church, seen as a gift of the Holy Spirit, for the first time when he was 8 or 9,’ his father said. Always he had plans – to go to law school, to enter the ministry, ‘but the suit thing really took off,’ a friend said. Running his own business in Nashville, he built a clientele largely of ministers, including his own father. He died on July 4^th, having just turned 30, at the time the youngest person to die of COVID-19 in Nashville.” - From a newspaper series, “Those We’ve Lost: Faces from the Coronavirus Pandemic”

Why does one person who wants nothing to do with God live into their 90’s in good health, and someone like this beautiful person, who wanted more than anything to serve the Lord with whatever he did, die at 30? It doesn’t make sense. David asked the same question in Psalm 73 when he “…saw the prosperity of the wicked…they suffer no pain…In the misfortunes of others they have no share; they are not afflicted as others are…they wrap their violence around them like a cloak…they are always at ease, they increase their wealth…”  

He concluded – “In vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence…When I tried to understand these things, it was too hard for me….”

“Until I entered the sanctuary of God…”

This is the great divide in life and determines how we interpret everything. The question “why?” becomes, in the sanctuary or presence of God, not an answer but a relationship: “When my mind became embittered, I was sorely wounded in heart…Yet I am always with you…Whom have I in heaven but you? And having you I desire nothing on earth.” The passing of Darius Jamal Settles at age 30 receives not a reason, but a response: “Though my flesh and my heart should waste away, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Jamal knows this in its fulfillment, and it is enough….it satisfies the question “Why?”   

Reflective question: What ‘why?’ do you need to hand over to the Lord – today?

Reflective Scripture: And now for the rest of the story – Read Psalm 73 in its entirety.

Reflective hymn:

“Be Still My Soul” – Katharina von Schlegel (1697-1752)

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord;

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.