Two vital disciplines . . .

 

READ Psalm 41–45

Like many people, I once thought of OT law as bunch of rules and principles by which I could earn God’s favor and blessings, or at least micromanage my life. Now I understand that the law was given to drive me to Jesus, never to be a basis of my acceptance with God. Jesus fulfilled the law by His perfect obedience and exhausted its judgment by dying on the cross. For salvation, He gives me Himself!

The psalms are also about Jesus. Except for the parts where the psalmist confesses sin and mortal flaws, those expressions of joy and delight could be Jesus shouting truth. For instance, “ . . . I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.” (Psalm 41:11–12)

However, these songs also express the deepest experiences and emotions of human life. One of them says:

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (43:1–5)

The next psalm is also a prayer, and authored by someone who feels abandoned. When life goes sideways, especially without warning, I’ve felt like this, perhaps not with these words but certainly with the same sense of loss and confusion:

Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! (44:23–26)

Yet as the Lord has taught me (and reteaches me), praise is vital. He inhabits the praises of His people (22:3) meaning He is right here. When I lose the sense of that, it is always because my focus has shifted from His presence and His promises to my problems and self-pity. The Bible tells me the truth about God and I need to keep my focus there, not let it stray to any misery I might be experiencing.

Tough assignment? For sure, yet He is the Savior. the psalmists knew it and even in the depths of whatever they were experiencing, they called out to Him. This does not mean crying out to God is only for when I cannot manage things myself, when there is nothing left to do but pray. It means relying on Him for everything all the time.

It also means praying for others. Paul was a super star in the early church and in recording God’s truth for His people, yet he said, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.” (Romans 15:30–32) Giants of the faith do not get there by themselves.

Epaphras, also a servant of Christ Jesus, was said to be, “Always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.” (Colossians 4:12) This motivates me to pray too.

Today’s thoughts seem all over the place but my heart is focused. I need to rely on the Lord for everything: when I am up, or down, or troubled, or joyful, concerned for others, assured about everything. No matter what is going on, He is in it with me to give direction, encouragement, enablement, love, peace, joy, and whatever else required to glorify Him in all of life. He is also with others — hence the reason I keep praying. Sometimes He shows me what He is doing, yet even if I cannot see it, praise and prayer are a large part of what it means to walk with Jesus.