Seven Weeks for Water 2011, week 7: "We desire to do your will", by Rev. José Pilar Álvarez Cabrera

⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am;

in the scroll of the book it is written of me.

⁸ I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart.’

⁹ I have told the glad news of deliverance

in the great congregation;

see, I have not restrained my lips,

as you know, O Lord. 

¹⁰I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, 

I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;

I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness

from the great congregation.

¹¹Do not, O Lord, withhold

your mercy from me;

let your steadfast love and your faithfulness

keep me safe for ever.

 

Psalm 40,7-11, NRSV

When our situation presents us with unexpected dangers (vv. 1-3 and 16-17)  

In these verses the psalmist describes a situation of danger that leads him to cry out to God for God’s protection and salvation. 

What is being described is not a passing situation. It has been happening for some time, and thus the cry to God as well. Hence God’s actions have resulted in joy, thanksgiving and praise. 

The Guatemalan Lutheran Church (ILUGUA) has committed itself to protect nature and in particular the Las Granadillas mountain, initially because it contains the sources of the water supply for where we are living, and more recently because we have come to know and appreciate the biodiversity to be found on the mountain.

In the course of the years, we in the ILUGUA have seen how this commitment has exposed many of our church members to serious dangers as they have challenged the interests of powerful individuals. We have been threatened, insulted, abused and branded as criminals, and over many years we have been subjected to harassment by those who wish to destroy the forests and the water sources. 

In this situation, we have cried out to God and we have seen how God has protected us, how God has enabled us to meet people who help, encourage and strengthen us. That has led us to give thanks daily, to recognize God’s greatness and power, but, above all, to continue to cry out to God in face of the actions of those who oppose the protection of nature. 

When dangers strengthen us (vv. 4-6 and 12-15)

In the course of all these years of our struggle to defend the Las Granadillas mountain, we have been subjected to many, many lies on the part of those who are attempting to destroy the forests and the water sources. However, those of us who are part of the Guatemalan Lutheran Church can say with the psalmist, ‘we do not look to those who turn aside to falsehood’ (v.4b). 

On the contrary, on that mountain we have witnessed the creative hand of God, whose greatness is to be seen in the trees, the animals and the water sources. 

Moreover, in our daily struggle we have discovered how God has brought us to get to know one another better, and give greater support to one another. We have learned to protect one another, to appreciate one another and above all to realize more and more that we are brothers and sisters. Those are some of the wonders and purposes of God. 

However, it is also certainly the case that we continue to need divine help and protection. When our opponents see how God is active in our church and in the individuals who are defending God’s creation, they do not give up, but find different ways of harming us. So we continue to cry out to God, acknowledging in advance that our crying out to God is also a declaration of our confidence that God’s promises will be fulfilled. 

Those whose aim it is to destroy the created world have attempted over many years to put us to shame and to humiliate us. They have tried various ways, in the words of the psalmist ‘to seek to take our life’ (v.14). However, God has proved faithful, and we have never been put to shame, humiliated or captured. On the contrary, we have come out of each encounter strengthened to continue the fight, in the knowledge that the Las Granadillas mountain is a gift from God that we have to protect because in many respects our survival depends on it.

When our faith encourages us (vv. 7-11)

In the course of this long journey we have discovered that we shall only be able to continue our struggle to protect creation if we strengthen our faith. Day by day we find in the Bible words that encourage, strengthen and guide us, and thus we can say with the psalmist, ‘We desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within our heart’ (v.8). 

The struggle in which we are engaged and the choice that we have made are acknowledged day by day both by our supporters and by our opponents. However, in doing this we have total confidence that God’s mercy and love will always be with us, until all will come to the truth, or (what is the same) until the Las Granadillas mountain becomes protected and is finally designated as a water protection area. 

The Rev. José Pilar Álvarez Cabrera is a pastor of the Guatemalan Lutheran Church (ILUGUA), and collaborator in the Association for the Defence and Protection of Las Granadillas Mountain.