Psalm 21:4
4 He asked [sha'al] life [chay] of thee, and thou gavest [nathan] it him, even length ['orek]
of days [yowm] for ever [`owlam] and ever. [`ad] KJV-Interlinear
4 He
asked life of Thee, Thou didst give it to him, Length of days forever and ever.
NASB
When a persons life is in
peril, then the natural thing to pray for is deliverance from that peril and
the continuation of ones life.
David found himself in
peril many times, as in much of his adult life, he was in one war after
another, one battle after another, and could easily have lost his health or life
in any of those conflicts.
Many a person will face
death in some way. Even if you get the flu and believe that you are knocking on
deaths door because you feel so bad, but really aren’t. Still when you hurt or are in pain, either
physical or emotional as so many folks face anxieties throughout their life,
then it is only natural to pray for the pain to stop, for the stress to stop,
for that suffering whatever it is, to go away.
And sometimes it goes
away by some natural course like getting over some illness, or it goes away
after a certain amount of time for a healing process to complete, or in some
cases, there is no apparent way out of the problem and you just have to rely on
faith and wait for your solution to come along.
But in every situation,
there is a solution. Sometimes it is
obvious, and other times it is not so apparent.
More often than not, your
suffering is a test of some sort. It is
either there to get you back on track in your spiritual life, or to get your
attention and remind you that you are not invincible and you really are
dependent on God. Far too many folks
need a good hammering from time to time, in order to place their boasting or
arrogance or their indifferent or belligerent attitude in check.
And then there is the
suffering for blessing concept wherein a spiritually positive person is given
the opportunity to exercise and strengthen their faith by getting through their
ordeal with poise. This of course does
not mean that you do nothing. God did
give you a brain and you need to use it.
You think through your problem, you look for solutions, and more often
than not, they will present themselves sooner or later. But what you do not do is sit down and do
nothing.
David did not stand out
in the open on the battlefield and believe that God would make him
invisible. He held his shield, he used
his sword, he ducked and dodged and ran and darted and took cover and did what
his training taught him to do.
Athletes and entertainers
practice and practice, and practice some more in order to be at their
best. Whatever it is that you do, you
must do over and over, in order to know your trade or talent or ability.
And if your problem is
not social or economic, but some form of terminal illness, then you have
doctrine.
And doctrine is what we
all have. It prepares us of the ultimate
test, which is our departure into eternity.
And that happens to us all sooner or later. Ignoring the inevitable gets you
nowhere. Preparing for it, gains you
confidence and a greater outcome.
