Psalm 13 “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
David was anointed king long before he was crowned
king. David said: How long? He repeats this six times. How
long will you forget me forever? At times a man of God will not feel God's
presence. However, feelings often lie and deceive us.
In this Psalm, David convinced his heart to turn
back to God. When we ask "How long" or "why" there is
a tipping point: either to turn our heart away from God or toward
God. When we pray and ask God the difficult questions, God often says
"wait." When the student is ready the Teacher will come.
When we ask God for truth, at that moment in time, we often "can't handle
the truth."
David needed to prepare his heart before The Lord. During times of trial and tribulation, God allows us to be tested in order to develop our trust in him and not the comfort and blessings of the physical realm. Where's your heart? Where are your thoughts? Thoughts are seeds of words and deeds. It's not about the pain of tribulation, rather as Paul said by revelation, " tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts."
Thank God that that when we pray he he doesn't give us what we deserve: the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ his son.
To come to God we must have a broken and a contrite heart. Our heart must first be broken for God to reconcile us back to him through his Son. Reconciliation means to re-unite that which has been separated. Communion i.e., co-union with our Father is the result of reconciliation. What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Our lives are often tempered, strengthened, and hardened through the heat treatment of the fire of tribulation. The depth of patience, experience, and hope are the results of God allowing tribulation through the crucible of our lives. When the pain is intense, God allows us to focus on humility... of my own power I can do nothing. When Paul prayed three times for God to remove his thorn in the flesh, God finally answered, "my grace is sufficient for thee." God's strength is made perfect in thy weakness.
In Psalm 13, David "preached himself happy." From the pit of despair, God lifted him up when David realized that despite trial, tribulation, and pursuit by his enemies, deliverance from despair came only when David decided to trust in the Lord's mercy. David said, "I will trust in thy unfailing love, I will rejoice in thy salvation." Our rejoicing is not in the things of this world or in the defeat of the adversary, rather our rejoicing is in The Lord.
Jesus reminded his followers after they had cast out demons and "saw satan fall like lightning from heaven,"rejoice not because ye have done these mighty works, rather rejoice because your names are written heaven, in the book of life."
Our rejoicing is in the Word of God and in the manifold blessings of God. Blessings, i.e., success is according to God's standard, not the worldly standard of physical comfort, worldly accolades, and material things. According to the beattitudes in Matthew 5, blessings or "happiness" is the exact opposite of the World's standard for happiness: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are the hungry and thirsty, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the reviled and persecuted.... for great is their reward in heaven.
Within God's will, pain is often in my own best interest. Father knows best... thy grace is sufficient for me. God didn't say that he would deliver us from the storm, but rather through the storm. Jesus said, "in this life ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." This world is not my home... I need not rejoice in temporal worldly things but rather in God's eternal heavenly things: For this light affliction which is for a moment worketh a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2 Cor 4:17
David needed to prepare his heart before The Lord. During times of trial and tribulation, God allows us to be tested in order to develop our trust in him and not the comfort and blessings of the physical realm. Where's your heart? Where are your thoughts? Thoughts are seeds of words and deeds. It's not about the pain of tribulation, rather as Paul said by revelation, " tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts."
Thank God that that when we pray he he doesn't give us what we deserve: the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ his son.
To come to God we must have a broken and a contrite heart. Our heart must first be broken for God to reconcile us back to him through his Son. Reconciliation means to re-unite that which has been separated. Communion i.e., co-union with our Father is the result of reconciliation. What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Our lives are often tempered, strengthened, and hardened through the heat treatment of the fire of tribulation. The depth of patience, experience, and hope are the results of God allowing tribulation through the crucible of our lives. When the pain is intense, God allows us to focus on humility... of my own power I can do nothing. When Paul prayed three times for God to remove his thorn in the flesh, God finally answered, "my grace is sufficient for thee." God's strength is made perfect in thy weakness.
In Psalm 13, David "preached himself happy." From the pit of despair, God lifted him up when David realized that despite trial, tribulation, and pursuit by his enemies, deliverance from despair came only when David decided to trust in the Lord's mercy. David said, "I will trust in thy unfailing love, I will rejoice in thy salvation." Our rejoicing is not in the things of this world or in the defeat of the adversary, rather our rejoicing is in The Lord.
Jesus reminded his followers after they had cast out demons and "saw satan fall like lightning from heaven,"rejoice not because ye have done these mighty works, rather rejoice because your names are written heaven, in the book of life."
Our rejoicing is in the Word of God and in the manifold blessings of God. Blessings, i.e., success is according to God's standard, not the worldly standard of physical comfort, worldly accolades, and material things. According to the beattitudes in Matthew 5, blessings or "happiness" is the exact opposite of the World's standard for happiness: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are the hungry and thirsty, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the reviled and persecuted.... for great is their reward in heaven.
Within God's will, pain is often in my own best interest. Father knows best... thy grace is sufficient for me. God didn't say that he would deliver us from the storm, but rather through the storm. Jesus said, "in this life ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." This world is not my home... I need not rejoice in temporal worldly things but rather in God's eternal heavenly things: For this light affliction which is for a moment worketh a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2 Cor 4:17
Your
brother in Christ,
Michael
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