Wednesday, April 12, 2017

When things get tough.....?

There are many times in our Christian life, when the facts of our faith (our theology) and the reality or experience of life, do not seem to match. There many times when what you believe and what is happening do not seem to match up. What do you do? We can either question God, put Him on trial demanding answers or we can be driven to despair trying to figure out or explain why things are the way they are? David often found himself in situations that he could not explain and challenged his view of God. In one such incident he pens his response in Psalm 131 and gives us what the believer’s response in such times should.  
O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Psalm 131
Do not be proud or arrogant
Pride is when sinful man seeks to take up the status and position of God and refuses to acknowledge their dependence on Him. This is about worship. Instead of worshiping God we worship of self. Self-worship is the greatest disturber of the soul’s peace and sweet communion with Christ, the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts.
Pride manifests itself in; self-importance, self-righteousness, self-promotion, self- contentedness, self- reliance, self-pity, self-attention, self-assurance, self-absorbed, self-preoccupied, self-opinionated, self-obsessed, self-governing, self-seeking, self-satisfied, self-willed, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-infatuated, self-interested, self-directing, self- indulgent, self-flattering, self-reliant etc. Trust in the Lord at such times. 
Know your place
David says I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. David quickly realized that he was not in control of the world and the happenings in his life. David knew his place! The desire to be in charge and in control of life results in all kinds of frustrations. The old prayer is spot on when the author says “OH Lord give me the courage to change the things that I can change and the peace to accept serenely the things I cannot change and the wisdom to tell the difference.”
Trust in the lord
David desires to be a like a weaned. A weaned child is after the presence of the mother and to foster a relationship with her unlike a nursing child who simply desires and cries for milk. Even though things do not make sense and even painful, David rests in the Lord and his hope is in him and him along. Even though we do not understand the ways of God, we can fully trust in Him because we can be confident in who He is.
“I am not conceited, LORD, and I don't waste my time on impossible schemes.   But I have learned to feel safe and satisfied, just like a young child on its mother's lap. People of Israel, you must trust the LORD now and forever.” Contemporary English Version


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