God of Grief
For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. Psalm 66:10-11 NASB
Oppressive burden – Life is difficult. God is in control. Often those two sentences seem to be completely contradictory. If God is good and He is in control, then why is life so difficult? Why doesn’t He make it easier for His children? Even as parents, we don’t lay oppressive burdens on our children, so why does God? Or are we just reading some ancient misconception? Didn’t Yeshua say, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11)? Who’s right: David or Yeshua?
This is an age-old question. It goes back to Job, perhaps the oldest book in the Bible. Men have always wondered, “If I serve the gods, why is my life so hard?” But the Psalmist makes the question even more difficult because he says that it is God Himself who lays the burden on us. The Hebrew is mûʿāqâ. It is a hapax legomenon (occurs only one time). It is derived from the verb ʿûq, found only in Amos 2:13. In fact, there is only one other derivative, ʿāqâ, found only in Psalm 55:3. The conclusion? This is a very unusual word!
Let’s consider (just for fun?) the consonants in Paleo-Hebrew. Our word in Psalm 66 is Mem-Vav-Ayin-Koof-Hey with the root (ʿûq) of Ayin-Vav-Koof. If we start with the root, Paleo-Hebrew produces a picture something like “see-secure-behind.” Hold on to that idea and consider our word mûʿāqâ. Here the picture is “chaos-secure-see-behind-reveal.” How do these images help us understand the Psalmist’s idea of oppressive burden (really, “crushing”)? Can I suggest that these words push us in two directions at the same time? We experience life’s difficulty now, but the word picture shows us that the burden we carry is not the present moment but rather the hoped-for experience of God in the future, that is, behind our heads (what we can’t see). In other words, to feel crushed is to expect that things should be different. We project an image of God’s involvement into our future and we measure our present experience by that projection. Thus, mûʿāqâ(“chaos-secure-see-behind-reveal”) puts us in the chaotic present but projects that same chaos into the future. We feel crushed because we anticipated a different reality, one where God secures His children from harm.
But what do we do with Yeshua’s remark? Yes, God does know how to give good gifts, but we must learn to accept them. Because we are caught in the net of mûʿāqâ, we measure the gift according to our preconceived idea of good. The oppressive burden is our assessment of the present condition. Yeshua reminds us that we do not have the perspective needed to know what God is really doing. What we need is the commitment to accept, not the right to complain. Perhaps our word today is totally unique because we can only handle a one-time reminder of this truth.
That does not mean we simply take whatever comes. Job still complained. We can identify with Job. It’s not all a test. But knowing when it is and when it isn’t, isn’t really up to us. As Heschel remarks, “I choose to be an optimist despite my better judgment.” Maybe that’s all the Psalmist wants to say. Life is hard. Choose to be an optimist.
Topical Index: oppressive burden, crush, mûʿāqâ, ʿûq, Psalm 66:10-11, Matthew 7:11
