Psalm 43:5 Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again– my Savior and my God! I know that my husband is really feeling discouraged right now. His job is chewing him up and spitting him out mercilessly. He’s frustrated with it and is finding it difficult to work so hard every day without any appreciation or hope of added compensation or promotion. And I totally feel for him. Teaching is a thankless job where you work really hard with students (teens, in my case) who may or may not want to be there (and most of whom think what is being taught is pointless and stupid) and usually end up with a tiny salary and all the blame when students aren’t as successful as the state thinks they should be. End of rant. I know the feeling of frustration. We’re in a position where our choices are incredibly limited. We don’t know what to do to get out of the mud we’re in, and it seems every time a vine lands close to the pit, it snaps just as we begin to pull free, landing us right back where we started. Faith tells me that God has a plan, even in this, and that He can work miracles because He has resources that we know nothing about. Faith tells me to keep trusting Him because He can work all this together for good. Faith also tells me that God is glorified in my weakness and that He is my strength when things are so tough and it’s hard to stand. My mind and the rest of me doesn’t always agree. But what else can I do? When there’s nothing left to do except trust that this isn’t all there is and this isn’t the best there is, it all comes down to faith and what I believe about the God who made me and loves me. Some days that’s easy. Some days that’s hard. I choose to believe that every day is one step closer to the light at the end of the tunnel.
Psalm 42:11 Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again– my Savior and my God! It’s kind of strange how it’s so easy to get discouraged. Maybe it’s the weather (it’s stormy this morning). Maybe there are just so many people who feel the need to poke holes in my dreams (some of the holes are quite legitimate). This school project I’m working on is so huge that sometimes it seems overwhelmingly impossible that it will ever get off the ground. But, God is bigger than my storms and bigger than all my limitations. He is wiser than I am and knows far more than I do about what resources He has available. When I get discouraged I try to remember that God is not always predictable because then why would I need faith? It’s hard to cling to something invisible, especially when I’m trusting Him for something that’s so dear to my heart. On the other hand, what other choices do I have? I can’t trust in my own abilities, even though I want to work as hard as I can. There’s so much I don’t know. Trust other people? They’re just as limited as I am. Sure, God can work through them and through me, and He often does, but ultimately the answer will come from Him and His resources.
Psalm 11:4 But the LORD is in his holy Temple; the LORD still rules from heaven. He watches everything closely, examining everyone on earth. In teaching American Literature I’ve learned that there is a mindset that believes that God made the earth and then just left it to run itself – the “Clockmaker God. But this verse clearly disputed that belief. The Rationalists during the Colonial times didn’t see God at work around them and dismissed the Puritan notion that God could be seen in and through every event in life. They came from Puritan roots, but either didn’t read or didn’t believe in the Bible. Maybe Psalms weren’t part of their Bible. If they had read more carefully, they would have noticed that God is closely involved in activity throughout the Bible. I don’t think He would have had such a hand in Biblical times and then just bowed out once He got to the 1700s. But, there again we see the limits of man’s rationality and logic. We build arguments of straw on foundations of sand. Personally, I like to think that God is still at work around me. There’s sense of relief to know that I don’t control everything. Sure, I have a hand in my life and in my world because God gave me choice and free will, but the world isn’t operating purely on its own. It’s easy to feel like God’s not there though, sometimes. It’s especially challenging to see Him at work in our nation today. There are so many things that are contrary to His will and His desires that it’s hard to imagine how He could be in that and allow that. But I suppose that since He gives free will, He also allows the consequences of our decisions. And He’s totally capable of stepping in at any point and stopping the play clock.
Psalm 25:4-5 Show me the path where I should walk, O LORD; point out the right road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you. This is my prayer today. Our Inaugural Green Gala is next weekend and that slight feeling of panic is setting in. It’s come so fast and there is SO much left to do… And I probably don’t know the half of it since I’m not really all that much in the know. I want to know the path I should walk, the things I should do and focus on, to be most effective and to be where God wants me in His plan. My hope is in Him because this task seems insurmountable. I had a pastor who one said that if I can do the job on my own, it’s not big enough. God has the opportunity to shine when we are overwhelmed and the task seems impossible. He is the God of the impossible. So, God, I lift up this event to you. We’re too small to do it alone. Only You have the knowledge and resources needed to get this school off the ground. Please put us on the right path, with eyes to see where you have put the resources we need and ears to hear when you direct us towards a person. I will trust in You because You alone are God, and this is a dream you’ve planted in our hearts. Thank you that we can trust you and put our hope in You, and you never fail.
Psalm 113:7 and he lifts the poor from the dirt and the needy from the garbage dump. Just because God is God, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have trouble. Even in this verse there are poor who are in the dirt and needy in the garbage dump. Actually, in some ways I feel like I qualify for those verses. However, when I look at my circumstances in light of other people around the world, say in Haiti or Africa or even China, I find that I have far more than I realize. God doesn’t leave us in our current situations (unless we completely ignore Him and do things our own way). He sees us and longs to lift us up. There’s a song called “Royalty” by these two prophetic worshipers, and it speaks to a woman reminding her that God has created her to be a queen, royalty in His house. I love this song. Not because I want to rule the world, but because it reminds me that I was adopted into the family of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the King of the Universe, and I am more than I appear. He longs to lift me back to that place that He intended for me to be – a queen, living in the house of the Most High. I was made for more than this, but I live in a fallen world. I am a child of the King, and if I remember that, I am reminded to carry myself as royalty. It’s an awesome song. We were not made to live in the trash heap. We were made to live with God. And He longs for us to come spend time with Him, reminding us of who we are really meant to be and how special we are to Him. We are not insignificant. We are loved. Remember?
Psalm 22:2-3 Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. Yet you are holy. The praises of Israel surround your throne. The part of this verse that captured me is the part where it says “Yet you are holy.” Even though David didn’t see God answering his calls, even though his prayers didn’t seem to be answered, and even though he was overwhelmed by his problem, he still called God holy. He recognized that God is bigger than the problem and no matter what he felt, it didn’t change who God was and is. So, I often cry and ask God for things, for relief, and I don’t seem to get an answer (or the answer’s something I don’t want to hear). Even then God is holy, and I need to recognize that. Because He is holy, His way is best and is always good. There’s always a reason, even if I can’t see it. That’s not easy though. Even if it is true. The other thing that David acknowledges it that Israel still praises God, and so does he. Another book I have, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day recognizes this fact and says that “worship is the way out.” Praising God changes our perspective and our hearts. Worshiping through the storm brings solace and strength. It’s one of the things I love about music – it’s ability to transform our hearts and minds and bring us into God’s presence in a way that touches our emotions. Praising God when the winds are raging shows that we trust His plan. Now, if I could just remember this when I’m holding on for dear life, the winds are howling, and the waves are crashing, and I feel like my boat is breaking up around me.
2 Corinthians 10:13 But we will not boast of authority we do not have. Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us, and this plan includes our working there with you. The part I thought was interesting in this verse is where it says that Paul’s goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for him. I wonder how many times I’ve wandered outside those boundaries. I have the best of intentions, but if it’s not God’s plan then it’s still not the best place or thing for me. I also like how Paul knows what God’s plan includes. Right now I feel a little lost sometimes. Or maybe I’m thinking too hard and God’s plan is much simpler – to bring Himself glory. It’s an interesting thought.