“Many people say, “Who will show us better times?” Let your face smile on us, Lord. You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.”
Psalm 4:6-8 NLT
Human beings always want more. Materialistic demands dominate many people’s lives, and they take on more debt to get a better house or car, clothes or some nice but non-essential trinket. Social-scale-climbing drives some people to extraordinary lengths to tick the necessary boxes. And then at the other end of the scale there are those who have very little. Single mums in sub-standard accommodation. An old lady in a cold and draughty house that is too large for her, with heating bills unaffordable on a state pension. A benefits-funded family blighted by sickness and unable to work, with children clamouring for all the nice things their peers enjoy. But whether they are “have’s” or “have-not’s”, they all look for “better times”.
At the time David wrote this Psalm, the economy was largely based on farming, a subsistence existence prone to natural disasters. And in hard times, the cry “Who will show us better times” would dominate their world.
David wrote that there is a better way. Focussing on the immediate issues of life, envying those around them who seemingly had a better, well-supplied existence, with “abundant harvests of grain and new wine”, was perhaps not the way to achieve a satisfied state of living. Instead of looking to the Lord for the source of their peace and well-being, they laid awake at night worrying about where the next meal would come from. And David put his finger on the issue that so many, both in his culture, and today, stumble over. We must indeed look to God to supply our needs, giving us peaceful nights’ sleeps, and keeping us safe.
Jesus taught us, as recorded in Matthew 6:25-27, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”. He went on to say, “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:31-33).
Are we pilgrims looking for “better times”? We need look no further than God Himself. In Him we will find times that are the best.
Dear Father God. You provide for Your children every day, and we look to You for all we need, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Thank You. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 