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Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. Psalm 32:6
As I read Psalm 32:6 a picture came into my mind. It was a home video taken during the horrific Japan Tsunami of 2011. As flood waters came into a small seaside village, sirens wailed and residents took shelter on a small hillside, running to the safety afforded them by a single set of stairs. We all watched with amazement and horror as the sea crept down the streets, then gained momentum and began to sweep cars, truck, boats and other debris ahead of it.
The water rose higher and higher, endangering the small group of people taking shelter there. They were safe, but the destruction around them was a stirring testimony to the power of nature and the frailty of life
“Surely, the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them,” is a promise those of us that are believers in Jesus Christ can hold on to. Flood waters will come. Those earthy things we hold dear may be taken from us. Those things that have provided us security may falter or even fail.
Relationships we thought would last a lifetime end in divorce or death or job changes. Careers once though secure will end abruptly. Freedoms we hold so dearly too may be in danger or taken completely from us. The winds of time and age will change the lifescape we have always known.
Those who put their faith completely in God, who trust in Jesus Christ and build their security on the word of God and prayer, need not worry when the flood waters approach. We may lose all of our earthly possessions. We may watch as the world we once knew gets swept away. But our souls remain secure in the promise of Psalm 32:6.
Here’s the true beauty of this promise. Sometimes the flood waters that threaten us are our own doing. Sometimes they are the result of evil in the world. God’s promise of protection isn’t affected by the reason for our struggle. His promises are based on his character and strength, not ours.
When you see those flood waters approaching. When everything you held as secure crumbles or is swept away, remember that the God of the universe has promised to be a refuge from which the raging waters of the sea can not reach you.
PRAYER: Father, we are surrounded by adversity and pain and trials. It seems sometimes as though our hopes and dreams are being swept away in flood of adversity. During those times may we run to you for refuge and strength. We praise you for your promise of ultimate protection. In Jesus name, Amen.
Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord! Psalm 31:24 (AMP)
The amount of courage we have is dependent on what we put our hope in.
If I put my hope in my own ability to follow God I’ll be frustrated. I’m weak. I follow my own desires far too often. Selfishness sneaks up on me at the least likely time. I’m full of lust. My past haunts me.
If I put my hope in relationships I’ll be lonely. People fail us. The promise things, but fail to honor that promise. They all too often put demands on me that I can’t fulfill, or if I do fulfill them to the best of my ability, expect more.
If I put my hope in finances I fall short. Too many times that I have way too much month at the end of the money and if I do have the finances to get what I want, it’s often outdated by the end of the week.
Putting hope in religion is demoralizing. Religion puts far more expectations and demands on me than God would ever do. Churches seem to be ivory palaces full of dead man’s bones. Pretty on the outside but full of politics, judgmental attitudes and hypocritical leaders on the inside.
If I put my hope in living healthy, you know, doing the diet thing, exercising, and all the rest, someone else always seems to be trimmer or enjoying life more than I. And I still get sick. Some of the ‘healthiest people I know’ have suffered from debilitating illnesses or accidents that have robbed them of life.
Maybe you have felt some of the feelings listed above. Your strength to go on seems to have left you. Increased effort has only brought increased frustration and feelings of failure. It doesn’t have to be that way.
If we put our hope in God’s hands our frustration turns to a realization that our success has never been dependent on our ability. God has never put much hope in our ability to follow his rules, that’s why he offers me Jesus. That’s why he offers me forgiveness and grace.
He’s never measured our success by the amount of money in our bank account or the number of friends we have on social networking sites. He’s never demanded anything that he doesn’t first give us the ability to follow through on. He knows your heart. He knows your deepest fears. He knows your past and wants to walk with you into the future.
Losing hope? Frustrated? Worried? Tired of losing sleep. Have courage based on a loving forgiving God. Worship and praise him for fact that he has reached down to give you peace through his son Jesus Christ.
PRAYER: Father God, there are many things that scare me today. I have lots of worries; lots of fears; failure seems to follow me wherever I go. Thank you that I can find my hope and rest in you. Help me have courage through your son Jesus Christ. Amen.
I will live among my people Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never abandon them. 1 Kings 6:13 (GNT)
There was a story on the news some time back about a man who witnessed a horrific accident. He went to assist the victims. The two passengers were able to be helped from the wreckage, but the driver was trapped and bleeding badly. It was obvious he wasn’t going to make it, but he was conscious. The ‘rescuer’ knelt beside him.
The driver told him he wasn’t going to make it but asked the ‘rescuer’ to stay with him. Over the next several minutes, as sirens grew louder the two had a short conversation. The driver asked him to say good bye to his family and the two talked briefly about life until the driver breathed his last breath.
There are times when people isolate themselves from others because the pain people have inflicted on them cause them to withdraw, but in reality none of us want ever to be alone. This is especially true during the crisis times of our lives.
Bearing the pain of divorce is much easier if we have just one of two friends who will help us through the battle. Health concerns, financial setbacks, career changes and a plethora of other events in life can drag us down, but having someone we can count on to sit with us through it all makes all the difference in the world.
The sad fact is, it’s hard to find someone who will always be there when we face crisis. Friends may give us some relief, but they have their own lives, or they move away. Perhaps the most painful wound is when family rejects us. A friend of mine recently went through a messy divorce. He was the first one in his family to be divorced and in the midst of his pain, shame and guilt he turned to his family for support to get through the pain, but he got none. His family was to embarrassed by his failure to see the pain. When family members leave you and friends abandon you, what’s left? Who will pick up the pieces and help you put them back together?
When Solomon was building the temple, the Lord God of Israel made a promise. This temple would be his dwelling place. The people of God would know two things. They would know where God lived, and they would know he was there for them.
Thousands of years later the Apostle Paul writes “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? (1 Corinthians 3:16) What a great reminder to us during those times when crisis faces us and we’ve nowhere else to turn. Our creator God lives with us. He will never leave us, never let us down, never be too busy to hear us, and never overlook our pain.
That’s a promise each of us can cling to when life gets harsh; when we want to give up; when we aren’t sure we can go on. Invite him in to those darkest hallways of your existence. He will never ever leave you or judge you. He only wants to show you his love, comfort and forgiveness.
PRAYER: Father, it seems like during the darkest times of my life, when I’ve needed someone the most, no one is there. Some have tried, but they don’t really understand me. I thank you for loving me, understanding me and living with me through all of life. Amen.
Love the Lord, all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full. Psalm 31:23 (NIV)
Mom grew up in rural Minnesota long before cell phones and microwaves and cyberspace were even words in the dictionary. She’d often tell stories of riding to church in the sleigh or buggy with nothing but hot stones to warm their feet. When electricity came to their farm it was an amazing, exciting event!
In mom’s world, frugality was a lifestyle, not an option. The things she learned on the farm prepared her for her life as a pastor’s wife. With five boys to feed and a husband serving small, rural churches like she grew up in, excess was rare and simple things were cherished.
One of the many things mom did to make ends meet was to always have a big garden. At the time, I didn’t appreciate the fresh vegetables and detested the thought of having to help plant, weed or harvest. I don’t ever remember, however, being upset about having the fruit and vegetables mom canned on those cold winter evenings or for Sunday dinner!
I never once complained about having mom’s strawberry preserves on a piece of her warm, homemade bread.
Today, for the most part, people who preserve fruits and vegetables and make jam and preserve other fruit do so for nostalgia or to help make ends meet. For mom (and us) it was a necessity. Rows of colorful jars on the basement shelf in the fall provided assurance of food for the winter regardless of anything else that might happen.
I think of that when I read Psalm 31:23. The Lord ‘preserves’ those who are true to him. We, as his children are protected from the ravages of life. Regardless of what goes on around us, we stay safe in secure in him, like a jar of strawberry jam, unaffected by all that goes on around us.
Today the things I see around me make life difficult. Today I’m confused, frustrated, worried and maybe even angry at times by where I see the world going. But I’m preserved! I know that someday all this will pass and I’ll receive in full measure all that the Father has for me. The Father’s preservation of me means I’m changed so that life’s struggles will not affect me, yet I maintain the basic identity of who I am.
Those who reject his love, the psalmist says, will receive, in full measure, the consequences of their rejection. They will seek fulfillment in things unpleasing to God and suffer the despair of loneliness. They’ll openly reject the principles of his word and continue on a path of hopelessness. Will God punish them severely? I think the psalmist implies that he won’t need to. He’ll simply let the consequences of their behavior run its full course in their lives. Rejecting God carries its own penalty.
For us, though, as his children there is forgiveness, restoration, and best of all, preservation.
PRAYER: Father God, I thank you for preserving me. The things I see around me scare me. The trials I’m enduring now weigh me down. But I rest in your promise and wait for your blessing to unfold because I know that through Jesus Christ I am preserved. Amen.
The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Psalm 28:8
Imagine what it was like for David, just a kid, a mere 16 years old or so. His idea of excitement was being in the mountain meadow tending a bunch of sheep. David spent more time alone than he spent with people.
One day all that changed. He was called in from the field and when he arrived, the great priest Samuel was there. Priests didn’t just ‘show up’ at your door for no reason. Especially someone as mighty as Samuel. When he came, there was a reason. What must have been going through his mind as the oil from the anointing ran down his cheeks and dripped from his chin?
The King? Me? I’ve never even been in the palace much less be king?
Anointing didn’t mean maybe. David was in! How or why or when didn’t matter at that time. Too much to think about. Scripture implies that at least for a while David returned to the fields. Same old sheep. Same long nights. But now, there must have been something different, and the difference was in David. Now he had hope. Now he knew God was going to use him for something wonderful. The songs of praise must have rolled off his lips.
The story didn’t end there of course. There were years of waiting. Years of scoffing by his brothers. Years of dodging spears and angry tirades by Saul. Years of hiding for his life in caves. Years of wondering when God’s promise would be fulfilled.
What was it that kept him going? What was it that made David get out of bed every morning and attack each day as a mighty warrior with victory in sight? The motivation for David’s persistence was his anointing. That was the promise that would never fail because that promise came from God.
As a follower of Jesus Christ you are anointed today. Whatever trial you are facing, whatever disappointment is trying to keep you from moving forward, whatever or whoever has hurt you with words or action, don’t forget the anointing.
The anointing David received was a promise of strength and a promise of the future. It was a guarantee that God the almighty, the Creator of the universe, the one who hung the stars in space and flung the galaxies into place has chose you for a task and he will see you through to the end.
There will be dark nights. There will be wilderness trails to endure. But when God anoints you, when He has chosen you, the outcome is sure and is in his hands not yours. A wonderful word of praise and reminder from the Psalms.
PRAYER: Father God. Worry seems to follow me. I doubt myself and at times I doubt you. People mistreat me and I make mistakes. But today I rest on the promise of my anointing through Jesus Christ. Today I rest on your promise to see me though. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 