| But I have trusted in your steadfast love; | |
| my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. | |
| I will sing to the Lord, | |
| because he has dealt bountifully with me. | |
| (Psalm 13:5-6) | |
Continuing with this occasional series on the Psalms our church preached through this past summer, we come to Psalm 13. What follows is an adaptation of the notes I wrote upon my research for this psalm.
Overall, Psalm 13 reminds me of the experience of Job, who waited and waited and waited in the face of incredible suffering, without ever abandoning or blaming God for his woes. This was brought home to me by an idle cross-reference I saw in one Bible from verse 1a to Job 13:24: "Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?"
The key word in the entire psalm seems to be "trusted" in verse 5. Everything up to that point is despair, with no hope in sight. "But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation." In the face of adversity and seeming hopelessness, I trust in the Lord. This is faith. No matter what happens, I trust in the Lord.
And then in verse 6: "I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me." I trust in the Lord's love, rejoice in his salvation, and sing praises to him, because he has dealt—he has already dealt—bountifully with me. David has written four verses lamenting his fate and despairing, and yet here he praises God for his providence.
I was reminded of something Dan Phillips wrote as an "Afterthought on the crucial nature of pastoral/Christian suffering," in which he advanced the idea that not only is suffering to be an expected part of the Christian life, but in fact it should be welcomed, as way in which the Lord tests and teaches us, and purifies us. As unpalatable a concept as it may be, even the suffering we endure is a gift from Him, even though in the midst of it, we may be utterly unable to discern where He is leading us.
Personally speaking, I know that in at least two long, painful periods of my life in the past, the Lord God caused me to suffer in order, ultimately, to bring me closer to Him, all for the sake of teaching me how to be His servant. All we can do is praise the Lord for his providential will and wisdom that surpasses all our understanding.
6 comments:
"Personally speaking, I know that in at least two long, painful periods of my life in the past, the Lord God caused me to suffer in order, ultimately, to bring me closer to Him, all for the sake of teaching me how to be His servant. All we can do is praise the Lord for his providential will and wisdom that surpasses all our understanding."
I know what you mean, brother. I went through a time a few years ago where literally everything that could go wrong did. When I came out on the other end of it, though, I trusted God more and felt closer to Him than ever. I can honestly say, now, that I am glad I went through that time.
Amen! He purifies us in His righteousness.
The more I look into of this kind of thing, the more sobering it is. I have worked with Russian Christians now for a number of years, and when you've visited over there and hear the stories of what they went through under communism, AND to see how those trials purified their church, it really is humbling.
How I hate to see some Western nonsense leaching into their groundwater. (Emergent Church anyone?)
Oh man, how true that is. Our own denomination was born among Mennonites in the Ukraine, who starved and died at the hands of Stalin—and yet those who survived are resolute in their faith in the Lord, as are many of their children. God has blessed our church with elders who know what suffering means.
And yet, the overall denominational trend now is towards abandonment of Scriptural inerrancy, and all the corollaries and consequences that follow from that. How sad and ironic.
That's where the power of Romans 8:28 is. It's been gutted by prosperity thinking, but it's an amazing truth.
I've been meditating on the fact that God is a Redeemer. I seem to be resistant to the fact that there is so much in me that needs actual redeeming. Not fixing. Not glossing over. Redeeming. And that doesn't happen when we don't even admit that there's suffering.
David:
Yes, yes, and yes to all that you wrote! (Not "yes" to you need redeeming, though, but definitely "yes" to I need redeeming!)
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