Dear friends, on a personal note today; I am facing a trial which while not life threatening or dangerous and is in the grand scheme of things probably inconsequential, could cause me lots of mental anguish should I listen to the lies of the enemy. I have been praying - lots - and in my morning meditations I read of King David. He was stressed. Enemies hounded him. People lied about him. Onlookers looked on with contempt. When everything seemed bleak, when he felt ashamed and beaten down, David was able to turn to God. Reading Psalm 31, somewhere between the despair of this psalms opening verses and the strength of its closing lines, David took heart in the nature of God.. Desperate prayer turned to confident worship. He realized that the refuge he sought was a thoroughly reliable refuge. It sank into the depths of his being: God is good. I can relate. I get stressed. I feel as if I live in a besieged city - physically, spiritually, financially, socially, mentally. Going through illness, anger, poverty, or any of the other evidences of our fallen world, I begin to feel as if it will never end. Do you ever feel this way? This psychology of our being under siege begins to affect every area of our lives. We seek God as our refuge, but it is a weak faith at first. We must be reminded constantly of who He is. Reading Psalms like the one I read this morning and hearing from others who have faces these trials and have seen His faithfulness is necessary. Somewhere in this process - usually when we have no choice but to just give up - Gods power and faithfulness becomes real. We get a glimpse of who He is. Trust turns our despair into worship. Sooner or later, circumstances will overwhelm me - and you - again. God will let it happen - even ordain it - to force us into a necessary choice. Will we trust Him or not? There is no way to mature as a disciple without having to make that self-surrendering choice in the fires of trial; having once declared our trust is not enough. God will let it be tested, and the only way some of us are able to come to that place of rest in God is first to be absolutely overwhelmed. Our helplessness will intensify until we realize: We can trust Him, and we must. We have no other reasonable option. We can let go and believe that all our circumstances are His. We can relax, take a deep breath, and let it sink in that God is utterly trustworthy.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 13:02:49 +0000
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