Psalm 41 - Restored

Read: Psalm 41 vs 1-13

There are 150 chapters in the book of Psalms. The larger book is divided into 5 shorter ‘books.’ Psalm 41 is the final Psalm in ‘Book 1’. This Psalm begins with a theme that has become very familiar to us, all the way back to Psalm 1, the question of what it means to be ‘blessed’. The Bible teaches that God is a God of kindness and He shows kindness to all people, whether they are Christians or not. We see that, for example, in how He provides the seasons, an act of creation that provides good things for all people (Acts 14:17).

However, the Bible also teaches, and this is a big theme in the book of Psalms, that God blesses His people in many and particular ways. These are what are sometimes called ‘covenantal blessings’, blessings that come from being in a relationship with the God who has made us. Those who live outside of that relationship choose to live outside of the reach of those blessings.

So what does it mean to be blessed as we live in a relationship with the God who has made us? Psalm 41 is a difficult Psalm in many ways. A verse like verse 5 can bring great hope, for example, in a time of sickness: ‘The LORD sustains them on their sick-bed and restores them from their bed of illness.’

But what happens when a Christian is not restored? I think of very fine Christian people I know, people who got sick, and people who died. My mind goes at this point to the story of Lazarus. Lazarus and Jesus were close friends. Lazarus got sick and Lazarus died (the story is told in John 11). This story ends with Jesus miraculously raising Lazarus from his grave. Psalm 41 surely encourages us to pray for the blessing of healing when people we know and love are sick. However, the story of Lazarus brings us face to face with a Saviour who weeps alongside us in a world where sometimes believing people get sick and they die (John 11:35). 

Jesus comes into this world to take the full weight of sorrow, for a world where sometimes all the blessings of Psalm 41 are neither seen nor experienced at this time. Jesus suffers the pain of Psalm 41 vs 9 so that He can ultimately call His people out of not only sickness, but death itself. There is a day coming when we will be blessed in the fullness of relationship with our Saviour. Then, and only then, ‘There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’. (Revelation 21 vs 4) For now we live in hope; ‘Come, Lord Jesus.’ (Revelation 22:20)