"You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; this I know, that God is for me." (Psalm 56:8, 9--NASB)
When we are "wandering," we are usually alone; this is a sad state. At some point during, "my wanderings," David asked the Lord to, "put my tears in Your bottle," and, "in Your book". You and I can be as sure of this Father's Love as we are sure of anything. I wonder if one of the reasons our Father, "puts my tears in [His] bottle," and, "Your book," is that some day He will show us just how faithful He always was to us, even when we could barely believe He was "there."
Psalms 50-60 are Psalms which reveal some of David's great struggles in his sojourn, struggles of adultery, murder, pursuit of his enemies, God seemingly abandoning his armies. These Psalms reflect a human being at his most basic loneliness, the loneliness brought on by sin, by victimization, by spiritual "desert wanderings." Remember his cry in Psalm 22?- "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night but I find no rest" (NIV). Now most "spiritual" people never want people to know they have gone or are going through such a time. Then I guess David was not spiritual.
"My enemies," will always attempt to take such times to defeat us, to get us to doubt the keeping power of and in Jesus Christ. Yet with David you and I can, should, must always affirm that which is truth, no matter if the whole of life seems to conspire against it, "....THIS I KNOW, THAT GOD IS FOR ME." David gave us the foundational reason for this confidence in the final verses of the Psalm, "In God, whose word (Who Is Jesus Christ) I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me? I am under vows to you, my God....For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life." My dear sibling in Christ Jesus, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us ALL THINGS? What a rhetorical question. "If God is for us," i.e., if we are in Jesus and He in us, then no one can be, "against us." Moreover, in Jesus Christ, the Living Triune God, "will...graciously give us all things." There you have it, my friend------------------ the rest of your life is covered!
Father, in Jesus' Name, let me never forget that You are, "for me." Amen.
***************
If you are interested in a briefing of our last mission, let me know; I will send details.
When we are "wandering," we are usually alone; this is a sad state. At some point during, "my wanderings," David asked the Lord to, "put my tears in Your bottle," and, "in Your book". You and I can be as sure of this Father's Love as we are sure of anything. I wonder if one of the reasons our Father, "puts my tears in [His] bottle," and, "Your book," is that some day He will show us just how faithful He always was to us, even when we could barely believe He was "there."
Psalms 50-60 are Psalms which reveal some of David's great struggles in his sojourn, struggles of adultery, murder, pursuit of his enemies, God seemingly abandoning his armies. These Psalms reflect a human being at his most basic loneliness, the loneliness brought on by sin, by victimization, by spiritual "desert wanderings." Remember his cry in Psalm 22?- "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night but I find no rest" (NIV). Now most "spiritual" people never want people to know they have gone or are going through such a time. Then I guess David was not spiritual.
"My enemies," will always attempt to take such times to defeat us, to get us to doubt the keeping power of and in Jesus Christ. Yet with David you and I can, should, must always affirm that which is truth, no matter if the whole of life seems to conspire against it, "....THIS I KNOW, THAT GOD IS FOR ME." David gave us the foundational reason for this confidence in the final verses of the Psalm, "In God, whose word (Who Is Jesus Christ) I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me? I am under vows to you, my God....For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life." My dear sibling in Christ Jesus, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us ALL THINGS? What a rhetorical question. "If God is for us," i.e., if we are in Jesus and He in us, then no one can be, "against us." Moreover, in Jesus Christ, the Living Triune God, "will...graciously give us all things." There you have it, my friend------------------ the rest of your life is covered!
Father, in Jesus' Name, let me never forget that You are, "for me." Amen.
***************
If you are interested in a briefing of our last mission, let me know; I will send details.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
