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But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. Psalm 13:5
Interesting little word, the word ‘but’. It can be used to signify a change in direction: “I was going to go to the ball game BUT it rained so I went shopping instead.
It can be used to describe actions that seem contrary, “He wanted to speak up, BUT he was afraid”.
But can be used to signify actions that may seem heroic and strong, “He could have died BUT he went in after the young boy anyway.”
But can describe an attitude of heart, of commitment and of being resigned to a particular action, thought or emotion as well.
In Psalm 13 David vividly expresses the emotions of a man who is stressed out, under attack and questioning God. When will this end? When will you deliver me? When will my enemies be defeated? When will I finally get a decent night’s sleep? When will I finally have enough money at the end of the month? When will my son/daughter get their life straightened out? When…?
In the midst of the storm, when there really is no indication of relief, when the noise of rockets and bombs is still heard, and defeat seems imminent, David comes to a decision.
“But I trust in your unfailing love…”.
Ultimately, David’s trust in God was based on the favor God bestowed on him spiritually even though it wasn’t recognizable in his physical circumstances. The things that were most troubling to him were superficial regardless of the struggle they brought into his life. None of them would ever take away the favor God bestowed on him. The bestowing of God’s favor has never guaranteed we would be without turmoil, in fact, the opposite is true.
As he contemplated his situation, David realized that none of his trouble took away the friendship he had with God. True friendship is shown to be strongest in the midst of the battle because a true friend will fight for you when he can, but stand by you regardless of the situation.
In the midst of enemy attack, David remembered that while the enemy could take away everything he held dear, including his life, the enemy would never be able to steal the promises God had for him. Promises of salvation, grace, mercy and eternal love. Those were things the Psalmist could rely in regardless of circumstance.
Regardless of what you are in the midst of today, remember these two things. You will go through trying times in which there seems no way out. Those times may be at the hands of others or the result of your own decisions. Whatever those struggles are, you can come boldly to the throne of grace and talk to your Father about the situation.
Secondly, as the Psalmist says in the midst of his struggle, you can trust your loving Heavenly Father to deliver you in his time. Nothing can take you from his arms.
PRAYER: Lord as the storm rages around me, thank you that I can stand firm in the fact that your love, your friendship; your promises will never be taken from me. Help me to rest in these promises as I endure the pain. Amen.
Please help me, LORD! All who were faithful and all who were loyal have disappeared. Psalm 12:1 (CEV)
Talk to anyone from ‘the Good Ole’ Days’ for very long and they’ll tell you things have changed. My Grandfather sold real estate for over 30 years. The way he did business back then would never fly today. Too many forms to fill out, regulations to adhere to and protective measures to put in place. Much of Grandpa’s business was done with a handshake and a smile. Why? Because a man’s word was good back then.
Not so today. Politicians tell every group what they want to hear. Those enlisted to protect the public can’t always be trusted to treat everyone the same. Vows made at the altar are sometimes broken before the day is finished. Even those called to minister for the Lord fall by the wayside because of moral, ethical or spiritual collapse.
I stopped at a local fast food place the other day. Since I was in a hurry I used the drive through to order a sandwich. As I pulled away with my purchase I parked to double check my order. It was wrong! I went into the building and explained my situation to the young lady behind the counter. She was very polite and apologetic. “OH! I’m so sorry! Keep this one and I’ll get you the right one.”
With that she turned and got the crew working on getting me the right sandwich. In the meantime she apologized continually for the mistake. I finally said, “It’s okay! I’m not upset. It’s fine.”
At that point she said, “Well, you see, we’ve had people come in very angry. I’m not used to people like you who aren’t upset.”
As she handed me my correct sandwich I smiled and said, “Well, the difference is, I’m human. I know we all make mistakes.”
As I got in my car I thought of how my one small gesture of kindness and understanding had most likely made that young woman’s day. I didn’t pull out a Bible and start preaching to her. I didn’t hand her a gospel tract or explain how people should be more careful. I simply showed her the love of Christ.
Being faithful begins with you. Be faithful to yourself by realizing your own faults and living with the understanding that you are human. You will make mistakes. You will falter, perhaps even fall. But God’s grace can lift you up. When we realize our own weakness, it’s far easier to deal with the mistakes others make.
Secondly be faithful to your God. As a Christ-follower you are the representation of Christ’s love, grace, mercy and forgiveness for others to see. Your heavenly Father knows your weakness. He knows you will fail him every day. Yet, in spite of your inability to follow his laws, in spite of your lack of commitment to him, he loves you and wants a relationship with you. Faithfulness to God begins with a proper understanding and acceptance of who you are and deepens as you grow deeper in God through study, prayer and worship (corporate as well as private).
Lastly, be faithful to those around you. Be a person of your word. If you make a promise, fulfill it. If you fail, confess it and ask forgiveness, realizing you may have damaged a relationship, but you have done everything in your power to restore it. Put the feelings of others before your own rights. In essence, “Be Jesus in Skin” to all those around you.
At the end of the day, may all those who have come in contact with you know the answer to the question “Where have all the faithful gone?” They will answer with your name.
PRAYER: Father I’ve been unfaithful in so many ways. I’ve lost sight of who I am. I’ve grown far from you. I find myself demanding my rights before protecting the rights of others. Empower me with your spirit to be a faithful person so that other will see Christ in me. Amen.
But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15:32
You see the stories. A child is lost. Parents beg for help and the safe return of their precious child. Teams of law enforcement personnel and volunteers form quickly to find the child. News reports are issued and everyone, everyone is called on to look for the child.
In far too many cases, the scenario ends sadly, but in those situations where the child is found safe there is great celebration. Tears of joy and ‘high-fives’ abound. Heartfelt ‘thank-yours’ come from parents and family members. The child is home, safe and in the arms of those who love him/her.
In the spiritual realm there is also much rejoicing when a ‘child comes home’. Think of the jubilation we feel and multiply it a thousand-fold in heaven. What is significant in the story of the prodigal son isn’t what happened so much as what we don’t find.
There is no questioning about the prodigals sincerity upon his return. No period of ‘probation’ to see if he really had changed his ways. No consequences laid out before the party could happen.
Note the wording in the NIV. ‘But we HAD to celebrate.’ There was no question in the father’s mind. No second thoughts. No apprehension. A celebration had to happen and the sooner the better.
Too often, we who are steeped in years of ‘church-iness’ are cautions in our acceptance of those who ‘return home’. Oh, we celebrate initially because that’s what you do, but at the first sign of a slip-up we tend to think ‘well, you can’t really change those kind can you?’
Too often we require steps to spirituality to prove the life-change in a person before we accept them ‘back’ into the fold. Remember too that the prodigal represents one that was in the ‘fold’ at one time and left. By today’s standards we would think of him as a once-upon-a-time church-goer who’d left the faith, tarnished our good name and then returned for forgiveness.
When a sinner comes home to the Father it doesn’t matter if he comes for the first time or comes after going astray. The Father welcomes him back with open arms. There is no question in his mind that the ‘prodigal’ will fail. It’s a given. The Father is never surprised by our sin. Never shocked by our lack of obedience. Never amazed when we choose our own way.
On the other hand, he is never unwilling to take us back when we come home. All of us are prodigal sons and daughters. All of us can come home again regardless of why we went astray.
PRAYER: Father you know me better than I know myself. You know how easy it is for me to stray from you. You know how hard it is to accept those who have gone astray. Thank you for forgiving us in spite of our ability to be obedient to you. Empower me with your Spirit to live according to your word. Amen.
If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3 (NASB)
Jesus told a parable one day about houses and the importance of building your house on a firm foundation. Jesus was a carpenter. He knew the importance of having a firm foundation to build the walls on. A shaky foundation would never stand the tests of time or weather the storms of life.
Although he was chosen by God to be king, David lived in constant threat of his life from an angry, insecure, violent King Saul. David endured his threats, dodged his spears and suffered the effects of Saul’s ridicule and lies while he waited for the promise to be fulfilled.
David was able to withstand Saul’s attacks because his trust in God to fulfill the promise; his trust in God to protect him when evil attacked; his trust in God when it seemed he’d been forgotten, was greater than his fear.
David’s foundation lay in his trust of an omniscient, all-powerful, forgiving God. When we face hardship in this world, the depth of our foundation is crucial in maintaining our walk of faith. A foundation set on the surface is suspect. A foundation that goes deep into the bedrock will be unshakable. The roof may crumble. The walls may fall. But the foundation will remain intact.
Enemies of the faith will tell you the foundation the Christian faith is built on is suspect. They’ll tell you that there are other buildings, other ways of faith that will give the shelter and protection of the Christian faith. But while their walls may seem secure, the weakness of their foundation will never stand the tests of time.
The promise David waited for was two-fold. One was that he would sit on the throne ofIsrael. It took many hard years for that to be fulfilled. The second part of the promise was that an eternal king from his lineage would sit on the throne ofIsrael. The promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who will one day come back to claim the throne that is rightfully his.
Our faith is built on a foundation that will never fail. It may seem our walls crumble around us. The enemy’s attacks may destroy what is seen. But the foundation of our faith, the Word of God, will never falter. It’s a foundation you can trust in.
PRAYER: Father, in our day it seems like the very tenants of our faith are under attack and being destroyed. Even those who claim to be called ‘Christian’ are making decisions that go against your Word in the name of Grace. I praise you today that the truth of your word, the foundation on which I stand, will stand the attacks and weather the storms of time. Amen.
The LORD is my fortress! Don’t say to me, “Escape like a bird to the mountains!” Psalm 11:1 (CEV)
Huddled against a flickering fire, in the darkness of a cold, mountain hillside, a young boy listens to the night sounds while millions of stars flicker above. Alone, but not lonely, his thoughts gravitate towards his God. A song comes to mind and as he meditates on its words a cracking branch in the darkness snaps him back to reality. Taking a torch and his slingshot he goes to investigate. Minutes later, a roar is heard as a lion falls dead just feet from its prey, a sleeping lamb.
Years later, that shepherd boy, now an anointed king waiting his turn in the palace becomes the ire of the current king. His life in danger once again, his friends urge him to flee to the mountains he loved for safety.
The mountains were a place of security and a symbol of strength. The mountains were a place where the oppressed and abused would go because in the mountains it was much easier to protect yourself from your enemies. For David, they held a special advantage. They were home. He knew virtually every cave, every cliff, every hiding spot were danger come. The mountains and his trusty slingshot offered him all the protection he would need.
It seemed logical, to David’s friends, that when Saul began to threaten David’s life he should flee to the safety of the mountains. But when God is involved, logical isn’t the best way. To flee to the mountains would imply two things to David.
Fleeing to the mountains would imply that the mountains were David’s best source of protection. In David’s eyes, it was God that was the source of his protection, not the mountains. The rock on which David trusted was the strength of his God.
Fleeing to the mountains also implied that there was no more safety for David in the palace. To this I imagine David thought back to the day he was beckoned from the hillside to be anointed King by Samuel. David knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that the palace was where he was supposed to be. When you are where God wants you to be in life, you are in the safest place possible.
The enemy of doubt and its accomplice, fear, want us to believe that safety comes by our own strength and our own cunning. The follower of Jesus Christ knows differently. Safety comes when we are where God wants us to be. Will trouble come? Certainly. But in the face of that trouble we can have peace because we know we rest in God’s arms of strength and safety.
To the world a strong bank account offers financial stability. To the world, good health and good medicine offer the best hope of a long, satisfying life. To the world, protection comes from physical strength. All of these are good, to be sure, but we as followers of Jesus Christ know our ultimate protection comes from a loving, omnipotent Heavenly Father. When we trust in him we have NO FEAR!!
PRAYER: Father the future scares me. The financial picture is bleak. The political atmosphere is terrifying. It seems there are more and more things that cause me to worry. Empower me with your spirit to put my trust in you, not necessarily in the wisdom of those around me. In the strong name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 