Through Fire and Water
Psalm 66[1]
I find it interesting how popular music
changes. What was edgy and “out there” when it first came out becomes more
“mainstream” over time. When I was younger, “protest songs” and “rock music”
were viewed as “edgy” and “out there.” Definitely so by my parents! But I find
it interesting and almost amusing how the “edgy” music of my generation became
the “oldies” of my children’s generation, and now some of it is so “tame” it
gets played as “elevator music.” One of my favorite musicians from those days
is James Taylor. Of course, he’s still around, still making music. But if you
look at the progression of his album covers, his image has undergone quite a
change. In the beginning, he was something of a defiant representative of the
“hippy” counterculture. These days, he looks like any other “Baby Boomer,” and
looks like he could be anybody’s grampa! I’m not sure what the James Taylor of
the late 1960’s and early 1970’s would have thought of that!
One of my favorite “JT” songs is “Fire and
Rain,” which was his first big hit in 1970. It’s a bittersweet song about
coming through hardships, including the death of a childhood friend and his
problems with addiction, to get to the other side and finding peace and even
success. There’s a twinge of regret in the lyrics that I think many of us might
be able to resonate with. Life is full of choices that we make, and the longer
we live the more we have the chance to reflect on the path that has brought us
to where we are. Hopefully, we find peace with that path. But at the same time,
we always feel the losses we go through along the way.
Our Psalm reading for today reminded me of “Fire
and Rain.” The psalmsinger looks back over the history of Israel’s interactions
with God. And, although they had to go through some deeply troubling
experiences, including slavery in Egypt, and their oppression at the hands of powerful
nations like the Babylonians, they knew God was with them through it all. More
than that, they knew God had brought them through it all. In fact, the
psalmsinger uses language reminiscent of James Taylor’s song: “we’ve been
through fire and water. But you brought us out to freedom” (Ps 66:12, CEB).
As a result, the psalmsinger worships God for the “awesome works” he does for
us (Ps 66:3-5). More than that, the psalmsinger worships God because his
“awesome works” point to the awe-inspiring quality of God’s character. God is
the one who “turns the sea into dry land,” so they could cross over from danger
into safety. God is the one who reigns over all the nations, and he does so in
a way that continues to draw “all the earth” into the song of praise.
This is the God who remains with us to this
very day. This is the God who brings us through all that we may have to go
through in this life. This God is the one who always hears our prayers, and the
one whose “faithful love” for us never fails (Ps 66:20). But as with
psalmsinger, it’s not only what God does for us that gives us this assurance,
it’s also who God is. A similar passage from the prophet Isaiah expresses it
well. It’s Isaiah 43:1-3. The prophet was speaking to the people of Israel
while they were still in exile in Babylon. They had not yet come through the “fire
and water” into freedom. It may have been all too easy for them to think that
God had forgotten about them there (Isa 40:27-31)! But the prophet reminds them
that God not only had not forgotten them, but he was with them. Hear how Isaiah
says it:
“now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O
Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I
have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will
be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you
walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isa 43:1-3).
The God who created them just the way they were, the God who chose them
just the way they were, was the same God who was with them wherever they went,
and who would bring them through whatever they might have to endure. Even
through the fires of adversity, even through the floodwaters of loss and
suffering!
That promise through the prophet Isaiah
demonstrates the same character of God the psalmsinger celebrates. He’s the one
who reigns over all the nations, over all peoples, with “wisdom, power, and
love,” as the song says it. And because that is the God who made us all, and
the God who chose us all, that God is the one who will draw all the peoples of
the earth to worship him for the awesome and awe-inspiring things he has done
and continues to do (cf. Rev 15:3!). I realize this is a different way to talk
about God. For centuries, the church presented God more as one who threatens to
strike us in his anger than as one who promises to bless us with his love. The
church has been more interested in detailing exactly what you have to do to
“make it” into heaven than in worshipping God in such a way as to draw all
people to join in the celebration. The psalmsinger’s words, “All the earth
worships you” (Ps 66:4) are both true now and at the same time not yet fully
realized. But the idea behind this Psalm, and many other biblical passages like
it, is that who God is and what God does is so awesome and so awe-inspiring
that it will inevitably draw “all the earth” into the worship of God.
I still remember the first time I noticed this
language about “all the peoples of the earth” coming to worship God in passages
like this. There are many of them throughout the Bible. It sounded too good to
be true. But it’s there, over and over, in the Psalms, and the Prophets, and
even in the New Testament. The idea is not that you can do whatever you want to
because God is going to “save” you anyway. The idea is that who God is and what
God does is so amazing and so awe-inspiring that it will inevitably draw all
the earth to worship him! That’s a big promise, and a big hope!
We might wonder what our role is in all of
that. I think the psalmsinger suggests at least one answer to that question:
our role is to worship God. Some might think that’s a lame answer. But the
psalmsinger won’t hear of it. Worship, from the perspective of the Psalms, is
not only a way to remember that God is awesome and awe-inspiring. It’s also a
way for us to draw others into the experience of God’s awesome and
awe-inspiring work. As one commentator suggests, every time we sing “Were You
There When They Crucified My Lord?” we are inviting all who hear to not only
remember that Jesus died for them, but also to experience the love that God
poured out for us all when Jesus died for us.[2]
When we join together for worship, we do so as
those who know that we’re God’s beloved children. We worship as those who know
that God loves us, always has and always will. We join together for worship as
those who know that God made us just as we are, and he made us for a purpose
that only we can fulfill in this world. We worship as those who trust the
promise that like Jesus, we’re God’s beloved children, and he is pleased with
us just the way we are. And we worship as those who know that this God will
always be with us, come what may, even through fire and floodwaters. And as we
join together in worship, celebrating the awesome and awe-inspiring God who
loves us in this way, we create a place here in this sanctuary where all who
join us can feel that all of this just might be true for them as well. As we
join together in worship, we create a place where we not only we can feel like
we belong, but also and especially where those who may feel “on the outside” of
faith can feel like they belong. I would say that in these days of fear and
hostility, it’s no small thing to create a place where all people can feel that
they belong in God’s love!
[1] ©
2026 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 5/10/2026 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Cf. James L. Mays, Psalms, 222.
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