There's much that we can look at and say "this is wrong with the world." Have we, though, considered what is wrong in us first? Jesus calls it "looking at the speck of dust in our brother's eye, while ignoring the tree growing from our own." Consider, then, this wisdom of the Psalms:
Psalm 42
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?(v. 1-2)
Does your soul hunger and thirst for the living God? Do you feel as though, perhaps, you aren't thirsty enough for the presence of God? Often times I find that my soul thirsts for God, but I try and fill it with other things. I should desire that I thirst for Him as a deer pants for water!
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival. (v. 3-4)
Hardships come. They happen. We can't stop them from happening by locking ourselves away, we can't stop them from happening with laws and rules; we live in a broken and fallen world, and broken and fallen things happen. What, then, can we do? We can pour out our soul to God! We can remember with longing the times we were with our brothers and sisters, (And if the lord allows) to meet with them to celebrate the Lord! But we never need doubt that God is there. He has our best interests at heart. He will hold us tightly in His victorious righteous right hand. When troubles come, hold even tighter to Him! When the voices against us ask "Where is He?" Hold fast! He will prove Himself! Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God. (v. 5 and 6a) No matter what happens, we need to place our hope in God. We need to put our faith and our trust. How? How can we do this? It's easy to call upon the Lord when we're in trouble. What if, then we hungered and thirsted for God and His righteousness when times were fair? God IS our ever present help in times of trouble, but what if we depended on Him when we were not in need? What if we sought Him in all times, in all our ways? When times of trouble come, we would, automatically, I think, place our trust in Him. Consider the rest of the Psalm as you consider where your hope lies, and place your trust in Him! My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
(v. 6b-11)
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