One thing I appreciate about the psalms is the honesty. David, who wrote most of them, was open and real about how he felt whether he was elated or deflated. In a few psalms he sounds like me - very ambivalent in his emotions. On one hand, we trust God fully. On the other, we're angry with Him and trying to sort life out. But then there's the flip-flop back to absolute trust. Crazy ain't it? (I know you understand!)
Sometimes I just look at one psalm at a time. David was usually pretty good about covering it all. He poured out his heart in amazing honesty, told God just how he felt. Then he would ask God questions and usually end it all with a declaration lik. I will trust You.
Earlier this week, I found myself in Psalm 13. Boy, how I've prayed this one. David wrote it, it's included in the Bible so it's "legal," right? Listen to David's heart:
How long O Lord?
Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
Of course, as usual, David goes on to talk about how he will trust the Lord. Sometimes, we do that on a daily basis. (Maybe it's just me.) But as I was rereading this psalm this week I was like, hey wait a minute! David is also the author of psalm 139. Remember that one? It goes something like this:
Where can I go from Your spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven You are there,
If I make my bed in Sheol behold - You are there
In this same psalm, David talks about God knowing our thoughts from far off and knowing our words before we speak them. He mentions that God is intimately acquainted with all our ways. And yet, he prayed the prayer in Psalm 13 too. I thought - "wow, David was really ambivalent, wasn't he?" But aren't we as well?
One minute we are declaring how we trust Him and singing 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus... and the next asking Him where He went and if He knows what He's doing with our lives. You know what? God gets that. He sees the real struggle we have between our flesh and our faith. And He waits for us there to fill in the gap.
Today, I'm giving it all to Him. All my crazy thoughts and out there questions, and all my trust knowing that He can handle it. I will trust that He looks past my crazy words into my heart and He knows ultimately, I'm going to trust Him with everything, every,single.time. My meditations will be on how He loves me and won't abandon me no matter how all over the place my thoughts and emotions are. I'll turn my thoughts to His faithfulness, and I'll be grateful that He hasn't asked me to walk this path alone. And with that, I will trust Him for one more day. Will you join me?
This reminded me of this song, currently on repeat in my heart...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8wmABKCDUs. God bless, friend.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for reading and for sharing with us. Perfect song indeed!
DeleteJeanie
Thank you for this devotional. Sometimes, I feel quilty sharing all my ambivalent feelings with the Lord,but you are so right He knows all about our struggle with our humaness. He gets it and understands. This helped me to express some of the things I had stuffed.
ReplyDeleteI felt guilty for a long time too, I think that's natural and it's something taught indirectly by religion. But He knows anyway - and the day I realized that it freed me up a lot. I talk to God like I would my best friend - He already knows my thoughts according to Psalm 139 and nothing surprises Him. I can release my emotions to Him and then He can bring healing in those areas that are exposed.
DeleteThank you for sharing and thanks for reading!
Jeanie