Saturday, March 14, 2015

Psalm 35:17

Copyright Ó 2015 J. Neely
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?