Hard Choices?

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. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your 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. (Psalm 42:5–11)

Since we moved (about 1 1/2 years ago) few days have been ‘normal’ in the sense that my to-do list was simple, no surprises, and early to bed. Today is no different except that the interruption to my plans happened before spending time with the Lord and being prepared for ‘whatever happens’ since it always does.

Reading the above verses describes a bit of how I feel, as if oppressed by the unexpected, but this psalm also gives the solution to this sense of being abandoned. This is a test of faith. Will I trust Him with this too, and give up my priorities even as I feel neglected and trade those important things for what seems like trivia?

Last night I dreamed being called out of a worship service to speak to an elderly man in distress. He seemed to be dying so I asked him if he was ready for that. He said no, so I quickly told him about Jesus, then walked away, as if that was enough. When awake, I could see the selfishness of my attitude in that dream.

Then when awake, someone asked me to do something and that same selfishness popped up. I felt cast down at needing to do an unimportant thing (to me) for the sake of someone else.

The solution: Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Sometimes hope is a choice. Praise is an obedience, and salvation seems a disconnect. Yet this is the Word of God for today. I must obey it even without seeing any reason or feeling any hope about the value of obeying.

Jesus, I need the hope You give. I have none of my own. You promise to use all things for my good. May this also be good for the person who asked me to give up my plans and do something so unimportant to me.

Jesus knows best

We are spending time with a person whose life has changed. I don't know if it is a "pull up your boot straps" change or a commitment to Jesus. I want to know. Is this an answer to my many prayers? Or do I need to wait and continue to pray?

I asked the Lord to speak about this and Piper’s devotional reading for today says this:

"Nothing you will touch or feel or see or think today is apart from Christ. What can this mean but deep humility before such an all-encompassing, all-sustaining, all-governing person, and, since he loves us, indomitable confidence?"

To put this in my words, He is telling me to remember that He is the Sovereign God. He is in charge of whatever I see or hear today. That means no attempts at manipulation on my part. Instead of anxiety and being eager to know what I want to know, He wants humility and a deeper trust in Him. He knows what He is doing. I don’t and I don’t need to know. Trusting Him is enough.

This is not the answer I wanted or expected — but should have. It echos what He said when Peter asked Him about John:

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21:21-22)

PRAY: Thank You, Jesus. This is not what I expected but You gave the right answer. Fill me with Your Spirit that I can do what You say and just trust Your power in that person’s life and I my life as well. You are always wise and always good. Bless Your holy Name.

Our only hope . . .

 

READ Jeremiah 13–17

Just as Jeremiah was told to hide a garment in the cleft of a rock until it was spoiled and good for nothing, the Spirit of God hides me in Christ, my Rock, that I fully realize my pride and efforts are good for nothing. Instead, I must cling to Him that I might be a praise and glory for Him. Just as God filled His people with wine so they clashed with one another, God allows me to see my fumbling and uselessness without Him. (13:1–14)

Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness. But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive. (Jeremiah 13:15–17)

And if you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things come upon me?’ it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil. (Jeremiah 13:22–23)

This is why we need a Savior. It isn’t that all of us are murderers and thieves. It isn’t that all of us are ruining lives with gross sin — for sin is not defined so much by degrees, even though some sins seem more deadly than others. Sin is as the Bible defines it: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way” and for that, God sent Jesus and “laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) As the NT declares:

The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith . . . . (Romans 3:21–25)

We cannot change our spots. This is why Jeremiah cried, “Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you. O you hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should you be like a man confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot save? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us.” (Jeremiah 14:7–9)

This passage says God will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; He would send destroyers and have no pity on them because they rejected Him. He was “weary of relenting” so He turned them over to their enemies, took His peace from them. Sickness and death ruled. When they asked what they had done to deserve this, God said:

Because your fathers have forsaken me . . . and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them . . . and have not kept my law, and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor. (11–13)

God saw their ways. Nothing is hidden from Him. He doubly repaid their iniquity and sin of idolatry and yet He also promised He would deliver them “out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.” (15:21) Such is the grace of God. We can agree:

O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit. Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!” “Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord.” (19–21)

Even though the human heart is “deceitful and desperately sick,” God says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” (17:7) He made that possible by sending Jesus who died for all sin. And we can cry with the prophet: “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.” (17:14)

Thank You, Jesus. Praise to Your Name! Amen.