The pain continues but he doesn’t face it alone. It continues but he doesn’t act like it’s his fight to win. Even in the midst of blaming God for his pain, he knows that God is his hope and deliverer. This may not preach well, but there is a deep comfort in it for those who experience deep pain and deep anguish and pray very difficult prayers to God. When we know God could have prevented a horrible thing from happening, but it happened. When we know God can remove a horrible circumstance from our lives, but it continues. Satan’s temptation and our internal anger wants us to abandon God. To blame God and flee our faith. And if we did so, what would we be left with? Who would be left to win the war for us? Who would be our shelter and refuge? If we make that choice, we are then completely and truly alone, with only our feeble fists and beaten down strength to fight off all the evil that Satan and this fallen world bombard us with. The psalms chart out a better path. A path of hope. A path of victory. Even in your darkest hour, even when all hope seems lost, run to God. Cry out to God. Give him all of your emotion. Blame him if you need to, he can handle it. But keep your hope in him. Keep him as your shelter in the storm and refuge in the war. If you die from the bullets, die in his arms. If the storm overwhelms you, be overwhelmed in his arms.
Psalm 20 Devotional – The Paradox of God’s Power
I’m not going to lie, the psalms continue to puzzle me and bend me theology in different directions. A psalm like this can feel a slam dunk that God is always going to answer all of your prayers and always bring you victory. But as we read through the entire book of psalms, we know that wasn’t always the case for the very psalmists writing these prayers. We know that many of the psalms are filled with prayers crying out to God in the midst of suffering and asking God why he is so silent.
The Key to Being Thankful
If you’ve ever prayed, “God, give me what I deserve,” take time today to thank him for not answering that prayer! Often our times of prayer, and our lives in general, are fixated on what we want from God and specifically, on the things we feel we have earned or deserve. These are often legitimate […]
When God Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations
We often make deals with God. God I’ll do this for you, if I get this in return. So when we don’t get what we wanted in return… the deal is off.
The Tension
between the Kingdom of God being here, but not yet fully here of being a sinner and a saint of going through trials, knowing the day without trials is not yet here knowing God has power over my trials and could stop them