Monday's Blessing
Psalm 13:1
"How long will You forget me, O Lord?"
Telling God how we really feel seems to come with strings attached. These strings are usually embedded from our childhood and border on "political correctness". Feelings such as: we are faith bound - everything happens for a reason. Or, turn the other cheek - God has your back - plague our subconscious. It is almost as if we are afraid to let on that things are going sour and pissing us off. Why if we do, we may see that mighty bolt of lightening zeroing in on a potentially bad situation already. After all, things are going sour, why upset God on top of it?
But the Psalms written by David, such as the one above, are interesting. He was never reticent about telling God exactly how he felt. Of course he always followed up by stating that he was trusting God to be faithful to keep His promises and would even remind God of something He promised in his word: How long will You forget me, O lord? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? how long must I lay up cares withing me and have sorrow in my heart day after day? How long shall my enemy exalt himself over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God: lighten the eyes of my faith to behold Your face in the pitch-like darkness, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am shaken.
But I have trusted, leaned on, and been confident in Your mercy and loving-kindness; my heart shall rejoice and be in high spirits in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me (Psalm 13:1-6).
So, If I rephrased this it may go like this, "God, GEEZ, This really stinks. My heart is breaking it is hurting so badly. I just want to lay down and die. How long is this one going to take? When will you do something for ME? Do you want my enemies to CRUSH me? Do you want THEM to win? God I TRUST you. This will NEVER stop. Let me see your face in the midst of this ordeal so that I can been encouraged. Take this cross from my back as it is just TOO HEAVY now. I feel lousy, God, but I WILL REJOICE and keep a "stiff upper lip" because I know your salvation is not far away. I ask this in Jesus' name AMEN.
I believe that David was acting in a sense that kept his spirituality and mental health alive and well. These Psalms allowed him to not "sugar coat" the way he was feeling. It gave him an avenue of catharsis, making him stronger mentally and faithfully to pursue what God had intended for him. He trusted God with his most intense feelings - and so can you. There is NOTHING wrong with expressing yourself while you wait for deliverance. David always explained, quite thoroughly, how he felt. But he always added, "But i will trust God. I will praise God, who helps me."
This Week's Meditation:
I am under no laws but God's.
Pray:
I offer up to you the good, bad, and ugly.
I trust you will deliver me from this mess.
Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind. And realize God has you in his arms always.
Psalm 13:1
"How long will You forget me, O Lord?"
Telling God how we really feel seems to come with strings attached. These strings are usually embedded from our childhood and border on "political correctness". Feelings such as: we are faith bound - everything happens for a reason. Or, turn the other cheek - God has your back - plague our subconscious. It is almost as if we are afraid to let on that things are going sour and pissing us off. Why if we do, we may see that mighty bolt of lightening zeroing in on a potentially bad situation already. After all, things are going sour, why upset God on top of it?
But the Psalms written by David, such as the one above, are interesting. He was never reticent about telling God exactly how he felt. Of course he always followed up by stating that he was trusting God to be faithful to keep His promises and would even remind God of something He promised in his word: How long will You forget me, O lord? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? how long must I lay up cares withing me and have sorrow in my heart day after day? How long shall my enemy exalt himself over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God: lighten the eyes of my faith to behold Your face in the pitch-like darkness, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am shaken.
But I have trusted, leaned on, and been confident in Your mercy and loving-kindness; my heart shall rejoice and be in high spirits in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me (Psalm 13:1-6).
So, If I rephrased this it may go like this, "God, GEEZ, This really stinks. My heart is breaking it is hurting so badly. I just want to lay down and die. How long is this one going to take? When will you do something for ME? Do you want my enemies to CRUSH me? Do you want THEM to win? God I TRUST you. This will NEVER stop. Let me see your face in the midst of this ordeal so that I can been encouraged. Take this cross from my back as it is just TOO HEAVY now. I feel lousy, God, but I WILL REJOICE and keep a "stiff upper lip" because I know your salvation is not far away. I ask this in Jesus' name AMEN.
I believe that David was acting in a sense that kept his spirituality and mental health alive and well. These Psalms allowed him to not "sugar coat" the way he was feeling. It gave him an avenue of catharsis, making him stronger mentally and faithfully to pursue what God had intended for him. He trusted God with his most intense feelings - and so can you. There is NOTHING wrong with expressing yourself while you wait for deliverance. David always explained, quite thoroughly, how he felt. But he always added, "But i will trust God. I will praise God, who helps me."
This Week's Meditation:
I am under no laws but God's.
Pray:
I offer up to you the good, bad, and ugly.
I trust you will deliver me from this mess.
Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind. And realize God has you in his arms always.
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