Sunday is Mother’s Day. It marks another “get together holiday” we will need to spend apart because of quarantine. St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Earth Day, Cinco de Mayo, countless birthdays, and Mother’s Day plans have all been cancelled due to the fact that we need to keep each other safe. Where once you’d be planning brunch, now you’re planning a Zoom call. The crowds are easier, but the experience just doesn’t feel the same.
As we navigate this new normal, it’s easy to get disheartened. We had plans, ideas, things to do, and people to see. Now, we have video meetings and kids that haven’t left your side in what feels like forever! We have all adapted to this weird new “normal” in different ways. Vigilance fatigue is setting in and we just want to act like nothing bad is happening in the world.
During the writing of Psalm 3, David was going through some serious troubles. His son was trying to overthrow him and a large number of the people he considered friends were turning their backs on him. As he was running for his life, he needed to maintain a heightened sense of awareness about him because he never knew who might cause him trouble.
This is similar to our need to wear masks and gloves. “But they’re are stuffy, and uncomfortable, and they fog up my glasses, and I hate them.” The problem is, we don’t know where the trouble might come from. “Was that cough from the virus or just allergies?” “Could I be asymptomatic and sharing this garbage everywhere I go?” We don’t know, and because we don’t know we make the sacrifice to protect ourselves and each other. Even when it makes us feel weird. Even when it’s uncomfortable. Even when we can’t see how much we are making a difference.
Psalm 3:3-8 says,
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the Lord,
and he answered me from his holy hill.
5 I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
7 Arise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people!
Though it is exhausting, we will stay vigilant and find our rest in God. Though we are afraid, we will stay faithful because we have received your blessings.