Too Late for Me
Will You do wonders for the dead? Will the shades arise and acclaim you? Selah. Psalm 88:11 (Robert Alter translation)
Wonders – When is it too late? When does the power of the Lord cease to be effective? When you’re dead! Death ends it. As the Korahites sang, we can cry out to the Lord now while we are still alive but once the end has come, nothing more can be done. The questions of this verse are rhetorical. The expected answer is “No.” This song speaks of the utter despair of the author, his hopelessness, his plight, his rejection. But even in this terrible condition, something is still in his favor. He’s not dead yet! It is still possible for God to act.
Perhaps we need just such a reminder. Life can be pretty awful. No matter how much we try, things can fall apart. Injuries can happen, both physical and emotional. We are not immune to disaster. Job gives the correct prognosis of the human condition. “Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.”[1] There isn’t any escape. For most of humanity, the future is grim, unrelenting and dark. Heschel is right. Human history is a nightmare and it doesn’t look like we are going to wake up anytime soon.
But then there are the rhetorical questions. If those who go down to the pit can no longer offer praise, if heavenly wonders are no longer displayed, then God has every reason to act now. Waiting only means the decibels of devotion diminish. So, Lord, recognize the inevitability of the answer—and act now! Act while it is still possible to praise You. Act while Your handiwork can still be seen. Act while men are still able to call You good and full of grace. Don’t wait, Lord, until it’s too late!
Perhaps you haven’t realized that God has every reason to do something marvelous today. Perhaps you see only the storm on the horizon, the open mouth of the grave, the fruitlessness of our fight. Perhaps you haven’t turned the question upside-down and realized that it is a question for God, not for men. It is a question designed to elicit His response. Why should He act today? Because today we can praise Him. Because today He can receive the glory due Him. Because today it is still not too late.
Do you cry for some small wonder to befall you? Are you desperate for a reason to proclaim His care and compassion? Tell Him it’s not too late for you—yet. Tell Him now is the day of His glory, the day that He shows Himself the God of righteousness, of promise-keeping. Today is the day He can still receive your thanks and praise.
Topical Index: wonders, pele’, death, praise, Psalm 88:11 (H), Psalm 88:12 (E), Job 5:7
[1] Job 5:7
“A question for God, and not for men”. Oh, but we still have to ask it before He can act and answer. He is already acutely aware of just how many microseconds He and I have left to get it asked and answered, too. He is already holding the torn veil of His flesh open, hoping that I will show up so that we can go together into the Holy of Holies to praise our Father together; hoping that I will glance at my cosmic watch and check the train schedule. He doesn’t want to leave without me, but I still have to share His desperation and show up (cry out) before He can answer. The other half of the promise that whatever I ask He can answer also makes that answer conditional upon that asking. Oh! I just glanced at my life watch. Time for me to cry out! Gotta run.
Do wonders for the dead… How will we know they are dead? Or rather what dead are we talking about? In sin, separated from God or just stubborn of stiff-necked not yo seek God.
Or rather lukewarm in his teachings/mouth…
Physically dead God can resurrect if needed, myself sorrow just a stiff…
Spiritually dead, catch 22. Nobody knows Yeshua least the Father calls VERSUS nobody knows the Father except those that the Son chooses to reveal too.
So strictly we will never know if spiritually dead even when sinning according to our view… Think of Hosea’s marriage or Joseph ‘s brothers selling him as a slave…
Skip, I see you updating and re-posting this in the future as “Something Marvelous Today” or just “Today.” I read and started praying it on the 20th. The afternoon of the 21st, I received a text from a friend. God is doing marvelous things for us. Today. He bends down and does things for us today. Your post changed things for us. Peace.