Psalm 35:17
17 Lord ['Adonay], how long wilt
thou look on [ra'ah]? rescue [shuwb] my soul [nephesh] from
their destructions [show'], my darling [yachiyd] from the lions [k@phiyr]. KJV-Interlinear
17
How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my
precious life from the lions! ESV
One of the first things
in our thoughts when trouble is upon us is, how long will it last. And so the question is posed to God. How long?
How long will this last? Do you
not see it? Will you not intervene? Why the wait?
And of course those are
the questions that people ask when under stress.
But God is in His heaven. God sees all.
And, God knows the burdens that we face from time to time.
But, God has a plan.
That plan looks past us
and into the future not only for us, but for everyone.
God has a plan.
God saw all problems of
today, in eternity past, and God made provision for them.
God has a plan.
And just because we do
not want to wait out the pressures, and we want instant response. That is not going to happen.
Most of our learning
occurs when we face hopeless or helpless or pressure situations.
Look back on your life.
And if you have any years
under your belt at all, then you should know that you are still here. You did not die. You did not starve. You did not give way under the troubles that
you faced. But somehow all of those problems
were taken care of, one way or another.
You are still here and that
is proof of Gods grace in keeping you around.
If God did not know of
your problem, if God did not care, if God did nothing, then you would have
vanished into oblivion a long time ago.
But we do not get text
messages or emails or phone calls or letters in the mail or angels delivering
us telegrams from heaven. We live by
faith.
But faith is not a hope
or an unknown. Faith is supported by the
confidence that is derived from a daily study of Bible doctrine. By learning doctrine, by understanding
doctrine, by growing up in our spiritual life, by coming to know just how life
works.
When you look at a chair
to sit in, you see the chair, you know its construction, you know that it will support
you and you probably sit down with little or no thought. You have faith that
the chair will hold you because you know the character and attributes of the
chair.
That is what you need in
your spiritual life. To know God, by
knowing doctrine, and therefore having your faith developed in such a manner
that you do not have to doubt or wonder or question.
And even though we do not
know the details of the tomorrows in our life, we should know that God has a
plan specifically designed for each one of us.
Therefore, uncertainty
and fear should fade as our faith overrides them because of the doctrine that
we have come to know through our daily study.
The lions out in the
world, represent the troubles in the world.
And the precious me, is the reference to you, yourself. You are precious to God. God has a plan. God designed a plan specifically for you, and
he did it in eternity past, long before you ever came into existence.
A precious person is a reference
to a one and only child, and that is how God treats you, as though you were His
one and only child. That makes you
important, extremely important. But that does not mean that He will spoil you
and let you go your own way into a messed up life.
We all have to learn in
order to become better persons, and sometimes the learning process is tough on
us.
But then, guess
what? We are still here. Why is that?
