2 Samuel 22:7 “In my distress I called upon the LORD, Yes, I cried to my God; And from His temple He heard my voice, And my cry for help came into His ears…” I am amazed that God listens to me. Lately I’ve been struggling to understand how my relationship to and with God works. I’m learning to learn about Him, all over again. Sometimes it’s easy to think of Him as big and distant and worried more about the bigger picture and not so worried about me. But, that’s not the case. Even though He is glorious and mighty and powerful, He cries for help come into His ears. He hears. And more incredibly, He responds. Just like with my children, I wait for them to ask for help before I help them (usually), so does God with me. He wants me to ask Him for help. He’s waiting for me to remember that I can’t do this without His help. And I think He probably delights in showing me how it’s done and helping me get it right. At least, that’s how I feel when my little ones let me help then learn. I need to remember those lessons more often.
Psalm 119:147 I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your word. In Hebrew this verse actually reads something like: I anticipate (go before) the twilight and cry out for help. I await Your word. A couple of thoughts on this: To me, twilight is a peaceful time. In the morning it heralds the coming of daylight. In the evening, the world prepares to rest. Today I am anticipating the twilight. Circumstances have made life rocky and uncertain. I know God is faithful, and I cry out for His help – to smooth the way, to speed the process, and to give me peace as I wait. I await (anticipate) daylight, when things are settled and sorted and I can see a little bit. I anticipate evening when I can rest from the running around like crazy. I await Your word. When God speaks, things happen. His word is action. He spoke and the world became. He speaks and what He says is done. His word is law. He is never wrong (wrong is different from changing His mind). Therefore, I wait (today, anxiously) for God to speak. I know that what He speaks will be. His word may be “Peace, child, and wait with me.” Or it may be, “Remember my faithfulness!” Or maybe His word will be something I can’t perceive, but the angels know and obey Him. I don’t know. I don’t have to know. My job is to remember. And to wait. So I wait for the knots to untangle and for the unhill climb to level off a bit. And I remember that YHWH has always been faithful in the past. Perhaps He will wait until the 9th hour, when everything is impossible, to move in miraculous ways. Then He will remind me, “I am God! Nothing is impossible for me!”
Psalm 56:9 On the very day I call to you for help, my enemies will retreat. This I know: God is on my side. I’ve been listening to Skip Moen’s classes on Living the Biblical Worldview where he explains the way the Hebrew writers of the Bible thought and how it differs from the Greek way of thinking that we are saturated with today. It’s pretty much rocked the foundations of my world. I’ve realized that many of the things I thought I knew and understood are not what I believed, and are built of a philosophy of thinking that is alien and opposite to the philosophy and mindset of the very people who wrote the book that makes up the basis of what I believe. I’m not particularly sure I’m even articulating what I’m thinking. I cannot recommend enough these classes (they’re on downloadable CDs on Skip’s website – http://skipmoen.com/products/). Anyway, the Psalm in which today’s verse lies is one of my favorites. It’s one where it talks about God collecting all my sorrows and tears in his bottle. It’s a beautiful image. This verse reminds me that God hears me. He’s never far away and He’s never not paying attention. His answers come quickly (just not always in the form I expect). It may be that to answer my cry for help, other events get set in motion, some depending on the obedience of another person, ultimately resulting in the answer I need.
Psalm 25:15 My eyes are always looking to the LORD for help, for he alone can rescue me from the traps of my enemies. I find that when I get in trouble and need rescuing, I look to God, but I also look to people around me. When I’m hurting, I go to people to talk. People are tangible. I can see them and touch them. I can get the comfort of a hug if I need it, too. Sometimes it’s hard to go to God for help. Not because I don’t believe He can help, but because I can’t see Him. However, this verse is a good reminder that rescue isn’t going to come from anywhere else. God is the only one who can truly set me free and keep me from harm. People are good, but God is better.
Psalm 56:4, 9 O God, I praise your word. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? … On the very day I call to you for help, my enemies will retreat. This I know: God is on my side. Today I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by everything that I need to get done in the next week. There are a lot of important tasks that I’ve taken on (at least important to me), not so much because I was asked but rather because they bugged me (not necessarily anyone else) and I’m the only one who can fix them, or because they were my idea and past history has shown that if I let someone else do them, they’ll won’t turn out the way I want them to and I’ll be disappointed (and because I’m so particular, I’ll end up redoing them anyway). But that’s my own personal issue, and I’m okay with that. This verse, is great. First of all, it worships and praises God and the words He gives to us. I believe that this project, this school, is a word from God. It’s a dream and a desire placed in us by Him. Last night at our meeting, one of the other board members shared some things he learned in a devotional he got. One of the things was that when God gives us a desire or a dream we should go for it. Don’t be afraid of it. That’s what got the servant who buried his talent in the ground in trouble. He was afraid of his master so he never used the gift. Our Master is our Father and He loves us and gives each gift to be used. The other lesson was that we should be passionate about our dreams. If we’re not passionate, then why should God be passionate about helping us achieve them? This was from the story of Elijah, the king, and some arrows. The king was told to hit the ground with the arrows, which he did, but he only did it a couple of times. Elijah scolded him for his half-hearted attempt because if he had been more passionate about it then God would have completely destroyed the enemy. However, since he only hit the ground a couple of times the enemy was not completely destroyed (and I’m guessing the king died or was taken prisoner, but I can’t remember). Anyway, good lessons. Back to the verses… so Praise is due. But also, when I get afraid and overwhelmed, I should remember that God is on my side, what can mere mortals do? I love that part about mere mortals. It’s such a great reminder that relative to God and His power, we’re pretty puny. God is on my side. And the very day I call for help, God begins to work. The very day! Not several days later… That very day He begins to move mountains. He is for me. He is for the dreams He plants in me. He is by me every step of the way. So, my conclusions are that my God is AWESOME! He plants dreams and stands by me, helping me, as I jump into those dreams with courage and passion. Hang on! It’s going to be a wild ride!