Earlier this week, my Bible reading plan had me
in Psalms. I normally love the opportunity to read these letters of
worship, allowing my heart to reflect on the nature of the God we
worship. This particular day had me reading Psalm 13:
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound
like an extremely cheerful song of encouragement. I had to stop what I was doing and take a few minutes to process what I had just read. I know
that there are times in all of our lives where we have this same sense of
emotion and interaction with our creator. I know that I was personally
able to interject myself into each one of these questions that the psalmist
writes. The troubles and needs expressed here cover such a wide range of
practical pain and heartache such as abandonment, depression, sorrow, fear,
defeat, and many others. Those are all very serious and real issues that we deal
with on such a regular basis.
The ideal way to interact with this passage
would be to recognize where these situations play into our own lives, and then
continue with trusting in the Lord and rejoicing in his salvation. To be
completely honest, I don't always do the best job at this. I know that I can have the tendency to focus on the first four verses of this chapter and
neglect the last two. I find ways in my mind of feeling sorry for myself,
needing others to recognize the pain I am in, and unfortunately at times let
these define my heart and attitude. When a person feels pain, it is very
difficult to focus on anything except for that pain for quite some time. I know that the enemy will do his best to keep our hearts focused on the pain
and difficulties, hindering the growing work that God wants to do in our hearts.
Growing up a pastor's kid (PK) I have heard every
message on surrendering difficult situations, physical or emotional, to God and
allowing him to work on my heart through those times. Sometimes we convince ourselves that we have handed situations over to God; but the truth of the matter is that more often than not, we are kidding ourselves. We know it’s the right answer, and so we assume that
we automatically surrender those things. But there are times when I need to
take a step back and really evaluate the condition of my heart, especially in difficult times. Many times, I can honestly say
that I am doing a good job at the moment, but many other times, I am
lying to myself and others when I say that I am allowing God to do his good
work in my life through the surrender of my challenges.
When I was 13 years old, I had to memorize the
book of James (the ultimate PK punishment). Many verses have stuck with
me through the years, especially James 1:2-4 (The Message):
2 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. 3 You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. 4 So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
I want to live a life determined not to flee from difficult and challenging situations, but more importantly, to
develop a deeper relationship that allows God to do a powerful work in my life
through those things. This only happens when I consciously bring these
challenges to God and allow him to do the work needed to overcome and grow from
the difficulties life brings. It should be our desire to be mature
children of God, children who allow a good God to work through the trials and
challenges that we are presented with every day.
Thanks for reading,
Ryan
rpickrel@b4church.org
Thanks for reading,
Ryan
rpickrel@b4church.org
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