Naming the Season

In the 69th Psalm, we find David in a perplexing and overwhelming situation. In the opening verses he interjects these statements into his plea to God:

• the waters have come up to my neck
• I sink in the miry depth
• I am worn out calling for help
• many are my enemies without cause

David had truly found himself in a bad spot--feeling like he was literally drowning. I've been there, and we can probably all relate to these feelings of being besieged and beaten down.

The most incredible thing we find, however, is in verse 13.

"But I pray to you, O LORD,
in the time of your favor;
in your great love, O God,
answer me with your sure salvation."

Do you hear what David does in the midst of this struggle? He calls this season "the time of your favor." Amazing. Even though he felt as if he were going down for the last time, he was able to maintain a perspective that was bigger than his current situation. This faith-filled outlook enabled him to "name the season" of his life as something other than:

• defeat
• loss
• ruin
• death

I want that same spirit within me. I desire to see things from God's vantage point, the way David did, so that I can name whatever season in which I find myself with hope and faith rather than despair.

Evidently Paul caught this same truth. In 2 Corinthians 6:2 he quotes the prophet Isaiah then has his own prophetic inspiration:

"'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation" (emphasis mine).

Jesus, I don't want to give in to despair when the flood waters of life swirl about me. May Your Holy Spirit give me the insight I need to SEE my situation from Your perspective so that I can NAME this season of life "the time of Your favor!"

PRAYERS FOR TOUGH TIMES

(From Pastor Dennis in Budapest)

If there is any one thing that David could instruct us on, it would be to remember and revel in your relationship with God before you start verbalizing the problems you are facing. To do so gives one a perspective on God’s protection and purpose in our circumstances. To not do so leads to a surrendering to forces that have no other objective then to distort what God I s up to in your life.

“Since you are my rock and my fortress…you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.” Psalm 31:3, 5

Once this bedrock confession and perception about God is firmly established he then can honestly say I have real enemies who are seeking to destroy me…without giving into them. For beyond the enemy of my soul is my God who in the midst of a potentially limiting season of life has “set my feet in a spacious place.” Psalm 31:8

Now don’t’ think for a moment that the right perspective on God’s care will insulate you from either real pain or problems.

“My strength fails because of my affliction”

“I am the utter contempt of my neighbors”

“I am forgotten as though I am dead”

“I have become like broken pottery”

Grounded with his earlier perception of who God is, and in light of the current realities he is facing, he can offer a confession of God’s care that is authentic and meaningful. “But I trust in you, O LORD, I say, ‘You are my God’”. Psalm 31:8

In light of it all he turns to us who have observed his unfolding story and offers us to very important take aways:

“Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful…Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.”

Great counsel for tough times that won’t last forever.

REMEMBERING THAT GOD DOESN'T FORGET

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" Psalm 13:1

Some Psalms seem to read my mail more than others and this is one of them. How easy it is for us to let the circumstances of our life, especially when they are not turning out the way we desired, generate suspicion as to God’s caring involvement in our lives.

“How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” Psalm 13:2a

I suspect that it will be as long as it takes for whatever God is endeavoring to get at in my life. I suspect that real trust in God’s loving care for me is not developed during those times when everything is going well, but during the times my heart turns sour with doubt and my mind has to wrestle with the fears.

“How long will my enemy triumph over me?” Psalm 13:2b

Okay I’m starting to notice a pattern here and it is all about “How long?” Back to the issue of how God uses the unsettling things of life to process his work in my heart. The reason this questions arises repeatedly is that it always takes longer than I thought.

“Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him, and my foes will rejoice when I fall.” Psalm 13:3-4

Now there is a prayer…one that comes from the heart of a person who has been asking the “How Long” questions. The focus is no longer on the God who forgot but on the Psalmist who remembers that, he was never out of the view of God. How many times have I mistaken whining about my circumstances for intercessory prayer? The “How Long” whine must give way to a confidence that God hears my prayers and I must offer them as pointed request for his intervention and care.

“But I trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me.” Psalm 13:5-6

This is what the “How Long” is all about. To bring me not only to the place of trust in a loving God but with a heart so changed that it rejoices and sings. Here’s the kicker, the Psalmist has come full circle from his feelings of abandonment and finds a whole new perspective of hopefulness rooted in remembering he is loved by God. There is no evidence as of yet that what started the “How Long” laments at the beginning have been resolved. But of course that is the central point…it is not the absence of difficulties in our lives that cause us to rejoice and sing, but the presence of a loving God who saves and is always good. When I get this, really get it that God is not absent, that he actually loves me…then I can trust that everything that seems to be breaking my heart will in his time and through his power ultimately shape it for His glory and my good.

Lord Jesus, thank you that in every place where I find myself dealing with circumstance that press me to believe you have abandoned me…every place I ask “How Long”…you are in fact more present than I can fully understand or appreciate. Thank you God that when I forget about your love you do not forget about me. Thank you that when I am in a hurry to get through something you are committed to working through it. Your unfailing love is the only antidote for my impatience and fear. I choose now to remember that and offer my praise and heart song of thanks to you.

A Good Nights Sleep

"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

Now here's a Psalm I can live with...literally! But my journey to a good nights sleep isn't without the kind of stuff in life that would like to keep me up frantically worrying about how to do life successfully.

I'm more like David than I realized..."Give me relief from my distress"...may not be the exact words I've uttered but they sure sound like ones I have..."I'm at the end of my rope" or "I'm lost and I can't figure my way out of this" or "I'm way out of my league on this." Distress leads me to look for answers that will give me a quick escape rather than insight for how I can be shaped by God to be me more like him. "How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?" (v. 2). Instead of seeing my distress as an opportunity for divine shaping I'm looking for a way around the pain or the problem rather than the way through it. "The LORD has set apart the godly for himself." That's what all of this is about, not to be abandoned by God in the middle of challenges but by them to draw even closer to Him.

Instead of responding with anger that comes from not being in control ("In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent." v.4), I'm invited to step back and reflect, to listen to the activity of God in my pressing situation that is meant to shape my soul. The result of this dynamic pause is to have the same heart that was pressed by fear to be "filled...with greater joy" (v. 7)....not because I have all the answers as much as I have a perspective that God is in the circumstances of my life...right now. The distressing elements of my life are simply building material God is using to construct something eternal in me.

When I get that right...when I truly believe that God is in the details of my life and that He cares deeply about these things...well, I'm going to get a good nights sleep. So, if you find yourself restless at night perhaps its time to "search your hearts and be silent", looking for how God is at work in the things that seem to be working you over.

"Lord Jesus, thank you that the stuff that crowds the joy and peace out of my life is actually the things you can leverage to put it back in...as I discern how you are using these things to shape me to be like you. Now what seemed like only a problem, creates possibilities I would never had considered without them. I choose to no longer go to bed in fear or anxiety...I choose to "lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD make me dwell in safety." Amen.

Now I lay me down to sleep,

Pastor Dennis