Saturday, December 20, 2015

Saturday, December 20, 2015

[Kenny]

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.  The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me." (Psalm 138:7, 8a)

    If you read the newspapers on a daily basis you realize that Job had figured out life many many years ago.  In the writings that bear Job's name it is written, "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble" (Job 14:1 ESV).  Trouble is all around us!  Terrorism, profiling, racism, fear, fatherlessness, hatred, murder, political shenanigans, deception...and the list goes on and on and on.  Have a conversation with someone about this world's state of affairs, or that of their personal life, and you will find that many want to see life change, but few have little hope that their life will change in any significant way.  What do you tell them?  There is power in the testimony and Psalm 138 offers us a powerful one.

    "As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength."  The psalmist realizes that Hope is a person.  He refers to Him as Yahweh (the Lord), but His human name is Jesus.  Bending the heart in prayer requires faith, "the substance of things HOPEd for; the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).  What I love about prayer is that even with a faith the size of a mustard seed (1mm - 2mm in diameter; slightly larger than the tip of a pencil) one can move mountains (Matthew 17:20).  The power is not in the prayer or the pray-er, but rather in the One Who Answers.  Our job isn't to answer our prayers; our job is to pray in faith.

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you [Lord] preserve my life...The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me" (Ps. 138:7, 8a).  

    You may hear the reply, "But, I've prayed and nothing is happening."  Having enough breath to say "nothing is happening" is proof that something IS happening:  God is keeping you and fulfilling His purposes for you.  Jesus assured His disciples that there would be trouble in their lives, but to rest in knowing that He had overcome the world (John 16:33).  God may be using the trouble that the enemy meant for evil to fulfill some good in/through our lives (cf. Genesis 50:20).  

    Jesus once told a parable to make the point that we ought to always pray and not ever give up (cf. Luke 18:1).  Our faithful and good God always hears our prayers.  Our world is sinful and broken, but not Hopeless.  Hope is God IN us, preserving our lives and working through us to fulfill His purposes.