God is always working behind the scenes, in hidden and mysterious ways we know not…
Psalm 143
The Message
1-2 Listen to this prayer of mine, God;
pay attention to what I’m asking.
Answer me—you’re famous for your answers!
Do what’s right for me.
But don’t, please don’t, haul me into court;
not a person alive would be acquitted there.
3-6 The enemy hunted me down;
he kicked me and stomped me within an inch of my life.
He put me in a black hole,
buried me like a corpse in that dungeon.
I sat there in despair, my spirit draining away,
my heart heavy, like lead.
I remembered the old days,
went over all you’ve done, pondered the ways you’ve worked,
Stretched out my hands to you,
as thirsty for you as a desert thirsty for rain.
7-10 Hurry with your answer, God!
I’m nearly at the end of my rope.
Don’t turn away; don’t ignore me!
That would be certain death.
If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice,
I’ll go to sleep each night trusting in you.
Point out the road I must travel;
I’m all ears, all eyes before you.
Save me from my enemies, God—
you’re my only hope!
Teach me how to live to please you,
because you’re my God.
Lead me by your blessed Spirit
into cleared and level pastureland.
11-12 Keep up your reputation, God—give me life!
In your justice, get me out of this trouble!
In your great love, vanquish my enemies;
make a clean sweep of those who harass me.
And why? Because I’m your servant.
____
It is amazing how many different subjects and moods can be touched in a Psalm of twelve verses.
143:1-12 HEAR MY PRAYER
Like the preceding psalm, this one describes a person who is facing overwhelming troubles and feels he has reached his limit (vv. 3-4, 7; cf. 104:29).
All he has left is a prayer that God will restore his hope and rescue him from his desperate situation (vv. 10-11).
This psalm of David was most likely written when he was running for his life from jealous King Saul.
Although the psalm writer is experiencing isolation and loneliness without any human support, companionship or sympathy, he still realizes that the Lord is his refuge, friend and helper.
When we are suffering or in trouble, rather than remaining silent and depressed, we should cry out to God.
He has promised to be our comforter and helper in time of need (see Jn 14:16-26; 2Co 1:4-5).
In our minds, the way God weaves remarkable events in and through our lives may seem illogical and beyond our understanding.
However, we walk by faith, not by sight. Christians know that God’s thoughts are above our thoughts and God’s ways are higher than ours.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
God’s ways are not only higher than ours, but they are also better than ours.
The big struggle we have is whether or not we will embrace them.
There is a blessing and a hope that comes from embracing God’s ways.
The good news is that the blessing comes even when you don’t understand what God is doing.
God will always make a way, even when there doesn’t seem to be one.
Selah (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
____
Friday, July 29, 2022
Worthy Brief
TAKE SHELTER IN HIM!
“Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; In You I take shelter.”
— Psalm 143:8-9
During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific Island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades. Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves.
Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed. As he waited, he prayed, “Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen.”
After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, “Well, I guess the Lord isn’t going to help me out of this one..”
Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave. As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave. “Ha,” he thought. “What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor.”
As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on.
Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. “Lord, forgive me,” prayed the young man. “I had forgotten that in you a spider’s web is stronger than a brick wall.”
God’s resources to protect you are vast. When you pray for protection, believe that He hears you and is able to manage it with great skill, and even perhaps a stroke of humor.
Your family in the Lord with much agape love,
George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah
Knoxville, Tennessee
SB SALT AND LIGHT MINISTRIES 