Saturday, October 15, 2011

Psalm 13:1


Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
Psalm 13:1

1 To the chief Musician, [natsach] A Psalm [mizmowr] of David. [David
How long wilt thou forget [shakach] me, O LORD [Yahovah]? for ever [netsach]? how long wilt thou hide [cathar] thy face [paniym] from me? KJV-Interlinear

1 How long, O Lord? Wilt Thou forget me forever? How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me? NASB

The introduction is reduced to the shorter phrase, ‘To the chief Musician.’  In earlier psalms the introduction was longer designating more interest and a more active relationship.

But here, the shorter phrase indicates a dejection, a despair, in that so much time has apparently passed, with no results to prayers, with no change in the circumstances of the psalmist.

And often times in life, circumstances can seemingly go on and on and on and on, and just never come to an end.

People experience these things while in concentration camps in times of war.  People experience these emotions while disabled or with some sort of disease.  People experience these feelings when business is down or when unemployment continues on and on with no apparent hope in the coming days, weeks, or months, or even years.  People experience these things after a major storm or disaster of some sort.  People in poverty, or orphaned, or left alone in some fashion, can easily get the feeling that the world has forgotten them and left them behind.

There are many things in life that can put you into a situation of desperation.

Sometimes these things will clear up and go away.  Sometimes it takes a rescue or many other events to gain your relief.  And sometimes they are not designed to go away, and won’t.

History is filled with examples of trauma’s that have come and gone, as well as desperate situations that never went away.

The Bible if filled with stories of a population that had been negative for a very long time and when times turned bad, and when they realized that there was not going to be a way out, then they got very depressed, very dejected, very terrified.  And this happened because they had no spiritual strength within them.

Resent, be indifferent, ignore God and your spiritual responsibilities for a long time and God will sooner or later turn you loose and leave you at the world’s mercy.  That is not a good thing.

But for those who turn to God, maintain their fellowship status, who pursue their daily studies, learn and grow, and consequently build up their spiritual muscle, then there is nothing, whether of short or long duration, that can move them out of their faith and into a hopeless despair.

It is never too late, repeat, never too late, to restart or start a spiritual relationship with God.

Lots of people have cancers or ailments or disabilities or situations of some sort that are simply not going away.

But if they have doctrine within them, then that situation should not matter.

To pray for a cure, or a rescue, or some change for yourself is not an unreasonable request, in fact you should pray for an improvement in your situation.  But to place all of your hopes on a miracle to the point that you turn away from God or doctrine, is unreasonable.

This is the devils world. This world will never be perfect.  Disease will never go away.  Cancers will never go away.  Poverty will never go away.  Disasters will never go away.  There are so many potential problems out there, it is a genuine miracle that humanity is even still here. But that miracle is courtesy of the grace of God, which we should all understand.

But remember too, that your objective and purpose in this life is not to get miracles day after day, but to grow up in your spiritual life, in preparation for the next life.  Your destiny is not in this life, but in the next life.

Often times, the hardships of this life are there to nudge us into a relationship with God, and to help us keep our eyes on God, not on our problems.  To always watch the problems is a distraction.  To keep your eyes on God is what you should be focusing on, and in that, is the answer to this question, which is developed in the remainder of this psalm.

Sure the problems hurt financially, physically, socially, mentally and so forth.  But concentrate, focus, look to God, through doctrine and therein is your answer and deliverance, and your spiritual destiny to something that is far greater than any earthly miracle.

Gain a miracle and lose your destiny, or gain your spiritual destiny and the problems matter not.

E-Books, E-Book Reader
Your Comments
Daily Bible Study Quick Links
Subscription Options
Unsubscribe
(applies only to mailing list recipients)
%unsubscribe%