** For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. ** Psalm 31:22
This is why I love David’s story and his person. Because he is real. He is not fake, pompous, arrogant, or self-obsessed. He doesn’t pretend to be something that he is not. He is quick to recognize his shortcomings. He doesn’t put on religious errs of perfection. He lives where we all live, in a world of imperfection and mistakes.
This Psalm is full of David’s praises for all that God has done to care for him, protect him and for doing what He promised to do. And then he says….** I said in my haste**….
How many times do we do that? We are confronted with a crisis and we lash out at God….
-How could you let this happen?
-Why won’t you do something?
-When will this be over?
-Weren’t you paying attention?
-Don’t you love me?
-Aren’t you listening?
-Why won’t you answer me?
And on and on we accuse the Lord of letting us down. Just like David did.
Our circumstances can cause us to doubt and our faith can fail. But God is using those exact same circumstances to grow our faith. He knows that the trial is too big. He knows that we are going to falter. That is when He does his best work in our hearts. We don’t grow when everything is perfect and comfortable. That is when we get lazy and our faith goes cold.
But when trouble comes, we remember God and cry out to him. And we find out who we think is really in charge. The Lord, or our own will. His perspective and priorities or ours.
The thing is that He is a perfect Father and He knows when we need to be stretched and how far back He needs to step so we can see who and what we are in Him. When our faith fails and we want to throw in the towel and turn our back on God because He isn’t giving us the easy life that we want, He stays faithful. He cannot deny himself. He cannot not be who He is.
He is in charge and He knows it. He is holy and righteousness and He will never be otherwise. So, he sends us a trial and sees our faith shine, until it fades and wanes. And then He steps in and does something beautiful, miraculous, loving. And our faith grows and shines again.
That doesn’t mean we don’t still hurt. Some trials bring pain that last a lifetime. But through those trials we learn more about the ways of God. His sovereignty, His faithfulness, His kindness, and His mercy.
The Road to Perfection does not depend on us. It depends on God and who He is. And He is not a liar.
He said He would care for us, provide for us, and that He will make all things work together for good, and He will be at our side. Always. He promised!
If today we are doubting, if we are waiting for the Lord to answer our prayers, if we are in great pain and loss, and think we cannot go on another day….He is there at our side! He is listening. He is feeling what we feel. But He does not sink because of the feelings. He can see the future. He can see what is going to happen. He knows the outcome and the benefit and the good that we cannot yet see.
Perhaps we don’t have the grace to hang on a week or a month or a year more. But we have grace sufficient for today. We have faith for the next hour. Or the next 5 minutes. And tonite, when we lay down and look back on the day, we will see that we had grace to keep going. Because God was there, giving us the strength, the endurance and the grace to carry on.
So, if we face a problem that is testing our faith and trust in the One who loves us more than we can ever understand, hang on one more day. And then another. And then one more. We don’t know how long David’s trials lasted. Or how long before he saw God’s deliverance. But we do know the end of each story. God came through. Every time.
What happens now, in our lives, is not the end of our story. We don’t know the final chapter. We don’t know how our lives will impact future generations. We don’t know how today’s trials will effect our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren.
But the Lord does. He knows every detail. And He is transforming our lives for that future. For our future and for theirs. The “they” that we still have not met. The “they” that will benefit from our faith. The “they” that will carry on the legacy.
So, let’s give ourselves a break when we can’t see what God can see and just give Him a little more time and be a little more patient with ourselves. We are David’s in the making.