Psalms 43:1-45:12

The world around us changes minute by minute. Each day I wonder if this is the day Christ will return for we know we are living in the “last days”.

It is easy to get distracted from our goal as Christ followers and throw our two cents into the mix with our selfish, human opinions. I have been reading friends posts on Facebook and I see fear, hopelessness and defeat. I see people claiming to have the solutions to all of our world’s problems but what we forget as Christians is that this world is not our home. This world will continue to decline and the speed at which this will happen will continue to increase like a train derailed. We are not called or promised to have an easy life but we are promised that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us.

Here, Paul reminds us to pray for those people whom we may not always agree with; people in position of authority or government. We don’t know any of their hearts. We do know that the Lord works all things according to His greater plan.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, ² for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. ³ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2: 1-4

Our prayers for those in high positions should not be out of selfish ambition but instead desire to bring God the glory and praise he is due. God’s plan is rarely clear to us as we are in the process of trial, persecution, pain or confusion but He is always with us. It’s those experiences that turn hearts to him. It is not our personal power that solves the problems or turns a heart but the Holy Spirit. But we are told our prayers are “good and pleasing in the sight of our God our Savior”.

Like in the days of the Psalmist, we need to remember that it is the Holy Spirit working in and through us to accomplish the will of the Father. He will never leave us and his plans will always prosper.

“O God, we have heard with our ears,
our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:
² you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;
³ for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and the light of your face,
for you delighted in them.” Psalm 44: 1-3

Thank you, Lord for the opportunity and privilege to come before with our prayers of request, thanksgiving and intercession. Help us to be diligent in praying not only for those who are easy to pray for but also those whom we disagree with. Help us to seek your will and in all things bring you glory. Amen.

Kateredding

From the archives. Originally published June 27, 2016.

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1 Chronicles 16; Psalms 42, 44; 1 Corinthians 10:1-18

Remembrance

Hope

Need

Example

1 Chronicles 16–David’s song–full of praise and remembrance of what God has done. And all the people shouted “Amen!” and praised the Lord.

Psalm 42–not so jubilant. Panting, yearning, craving, breaking–the psalmist is deeply discouraged. But his message and resolution speaks last, “Hope.”

Psalm 44–God is praised; he gets the credit. But the psalmist is confused: We’ve praised you all day long, but now you’ve tossed us aside; we are butchered, mocked, humiliated.

¹⁷ All this has happened though we have not forgotten you.
We have not violated your covenant.
¹⁸ Our hearts have not deserted you.
We have not strayed from your path.

1 Corinthians 10

I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago […] These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. 1 Corinthians 10:1,11 NLT.

I see themes of life: celebration, adoration. Depression, despair. Confusion, wondering. Hope. And while our clothes and lifestyles are unique bookends to time, we seem rather the same at heart–those wilderness wanderers and us.

I can look around and name friends who are celebrating, friends who are mourning and depressed, friends who wonder and wander–and if I look at 2012 through a lens of antiquity, isn’t it true of believers today:

And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. 1 Corinthians 10:17

Maybe the biggest changes can happen not in the span of centuries, but in the vapor years of a lifetime–the reversal of heart disease from hardened to tender–if we’re lucky. Paul writes to the believers in Corinth of the example of the past. And how blessed am I to hold their stories in my hands and learn from them. This bible, a book of remembrance; a book of hope; a book of need; a book of example.

Thank you, God.

Courtney (66books365)

1 Samuel 27; 1 Corinthians 8; Ezekiel 6; Psalm 44

What went wrong? I waited for the that’s why moment. For something to reveal the why that caused the change from victor to victim. Psalm 44: How is it they go from fathers planted and flourishing, victorious and boasting in his name all day long, to rejected, humbled, scorned, reproached, reviled?

I waited for the why, but it didn’t come.

Left hanging, not understanding, I am confronted with a part of God I am afraid to speak of, even in the quiet of my thoughts. Because in my mind, I only want to see him as deliverer, comforter, rescuer, provider–it is his hand, his arm, the light of his face–because he loves us.

Jesus says there will be troubles in life. He tells us, take heart! Still, I find myself looking for the reason behind the hurt. Sometimes there are no answers, not yet. Questions come anyway. Why would someone say that? Why would someone do that? How come this is happening? How do I make sure this doesn’t happen again? What did I do to bring this on? Not in the sense of why me or because God owes me anything, even in answers. But I want to learn.  I think it is the absence of the why that unsettles me. (Or perhaps it’s more my limited understanding!)

In a time of great distress, the psalmist looks for the why too. He writes words that make me want to look away.

¹⁸ Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.

¹⁹ But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
and covered us over with deep darkness.

²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

²¹ would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?

Cries into a night and no immediate answer, sometimes this feels quite lonely and cold, hope seems far away. The psalmist implores: Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! He is not sleeping–he is not ignorant of circumstance. In the midst of trial, it could be exactly where he wants any one of us.

In difficult times, friends encourage: God has a plan; he has something better. Yes, I nod; and my heart hopes. But the place in me that doesn’t want to give the thoughts voice mentions God’s best could be a painful path. I don’t say it. God’s best may look nothing like I imagined. It could be brought about by tragedy, loss, despair. In trial, his hand may not pull me out, but it is the one to hold as he walks me through.

I am still trying to shape my thoughts, turning this psalm on different angles, working through it.

Courtney (66books365)