Thursday, August 17

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2017

 

 

In Psalm 35, we read about David’s call for God’s intervention against his enemies.  Quite a few psalms, particularly with David as the author, share this plaintive theme of seeking God’s justice against worldly enemies.  David trusts matters into God’s hands and calls on His sovereignty to address situations beyond David’s earthly control.

 

In the New Testament, Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. (Matthew 5:43–48)  This ethic flies in the face of our human tendencies to seek justice ourselves for ourselves.  Both David and Jesus’s teaching point to a deep trust in God’s provision:  that He knows, and He cares.  Jesus and Paul further explained that we should strive for peace with others.

 

How do we react to situations beyond our control?  In my anxiety, I tend to become angry.  I hunger so much for the autonomy that God alone has.  This cycle ultimately draws me back to recognizing God’s sovereignty and His better plans.  Yet, where does the initial urge for control start?  It starts with my pride of position and suggests that I should take care to assign the position of sovereignty to God more clearly and more frequently.  Lord God, give me grace to seek You above any position that my pride would seek to take.

 

 

“ I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

    he delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant;

    their faces are never covered with shame.” (Psalm 34:4,5)

 

 

I close today with a great prayer from John Baillie’s A Diary of Private Prayer:

 

“Teach me. O God, so to use all the circumstances of my life to-day that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.

    Let me use disappointment as material for patience:

    Let me use success as material for thankfulness:

    Let me use suspense as material for perseverance:

    Let me use danger as material for courage:

    Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering:

    Let me use praise as material for humility:

    Let me use pleasures as material for temperance:

    Let me use pains as material for endurance.”

 

 

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