Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of our great God as we close out this year and prepare to enter another. Thank God for all He has accomplished and that He knows all that is to come.
“Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah” (Psalm 62:8).
David has acknowledged the difficulty of his situation. He has looked to God alone as his source of deliverance. He has grown in his confidence and his trust. He has worshipped the one who has the power to save him. Now David turns his attention to encouraging others.
If my surmising about the setting of this psalm is accurate, David is speaking to those who are supporting him as he tries to remain on the throne. This could be addressed to the entirety of the loyal citizenry, or it could be spoken more specifically to the devoted servants who are with him in the midst of the conflict. These ones who have remained faithful are facing the threat right along with David. For some of them, that means risking their lives and facing the possibility of ruin.
David tells these people to do two things. The first thing is to trust God. The meaning is to go to God for refuge – not desperately or in a panic, but confidently, as to a familiar and comfortable place of safety. When can they do this? At all times. Such a sweeping, all-inclusive statement can lose its impact when we think of it only in a broad sense. Sure, I trust God all the time. But remember that “all times” includes THIS time! That might be the point that David is trying to drive home. These people trust God in general. They have trusted Him in the past. They have trusted Him in the easy times of life. They have trusted Him in lesser challenges.
All that is good, but what about this time? Right now, when it is hard? When danger and destruction lurk around every corner? When the vile enemy rears his ugly head? When there are no answers in sight? When the solution is not known? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Trust God in THIS time! The most challenging times are not the times to give up. These are the times when God does His most amazing work and when the answers are most clearly His. There is no question that He is able to deliver this time also. There are no situations too hard for God.
David is speaking from experience. He knows that trusting God is a valid position to take. One of the most astounding realities in the Bible (and in history) is that the Jews have survived, in spite of all the attempts to wipe them out. David’s personal story is also pretty incredible. There is hardly a man who has faced the severity of threat that David faced. It was a threat that started as a young man (bears, lions, Goliath, Saul) and never seemed to end. He faced long-enduring threats from his own king, perils from foreign powers, insurrections from his own people, and rebellions from his sons - constantly. That he lived through it all is evidence of God’s constant deliverance. The king who has experienced the threats and the deliverance encourages others to trust God also, no matter what the situation.
The second instruction is to pour out their hearts to God. The word has undertones suggesting extravagance or extreme levels. It isn’t like an accidental spilling of milk; it is more of a full-out emptying of everything. It is the deliberate shedding of the lifeblood in a sacrifice, the presentation of an offering, the mounding up of the quantity spilled, the full expenditure, or the sprawling out caused by such a large quantity.
This isn’t, “Oh, yeah, I prayed today,” or “I ran through my prayer list.” This is the depths of the soul being expressed to God. This is the agony that springs up from the depths. It is the conflict that is so intricately entwined in the heart. It is the full range and honesty of emotion. It is the thoughts we are ashamed to think and the words we would never tell anyone else. It is the desperation when we see no answers and we must rely desperately on God. We can tell Him all that we feel and all that we need.
Both actions – trusting and pouring out - are possible because God is a refuge. He is a shelter and a place of hope. This is true both physically in terms of practical protection and internally in terms of support and care. That’s kind of what the two actions are about. The first has a tendency toward the external (deliverance), and the second has a tendency toward the internal (support). God does both, and He does them very well. David knew this. These instructions were not empty words for him. David could say this so confidently to others only because it was his powerful testimony.
In this coming year, may God be all that you need for every need that you have – just as He always has been. God bless.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
No comments:
Post a Comment