"My heart is fearfully pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me. So I said, 'Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.'" (Psalm 55)
Don't feel bad if you are here, or have been. This is David, the man who had, "God's Heart."
Suffering is a part of the human journey. The question for humanity is always, What will we do with it? David at a point in his journey longed to, "....fly away and be at rest," always a deceptive temptation. The only problem is that life has a tendency to follow us. "Ah, but wait. I could, '....wander far off, and remain in the wilderness..., escape from the windy storm and tempest." Did such a life style attempt ever solve anything?
There is a real sense (now some of you more spiritual bear with me here) in which you and I control our destiny. No, we do not control how others treat us. We do not control natural disasters, the stock market. Basically, the power of life and death is not in our hands. But one thing is in our hands: How we react to life, the course we choose, the responses we make to life's uncertainties. Verse 22 of Psalm 55 says, "Cast your burden ('lot, what is given') on the Lord, and He shall sustain ('contain') you; He shall never permit the righteous to be shaken ('totter, slip')." This is an eternal principle of the Godhead. Psalm 23 does not say we will not face, "the shadow of death," nor, "evil." It just declares, "I will fear," none of this. "I will not attempt to, 'hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.'"
Instead of being like the creatures of the desert which run and hide when a storm is approaching, be like the eagle which goes to the highest point in the desert and turns his face into the approaching storm. Then when the storm arrives, he spreads his wings, facing the storm and rises on top of that storm. Where do you choose to "ride out" life's storm?
Father, in Jesus' Name, instead of our text, may I "run to You." Amen.
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Latest update on Germany: jhs58.blogspot.com
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.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
