By now in our reading throughout this year we should have learned that life is full of challenges. (Actually we might have figured that out from our own life...) The Bible is not a book that tells a story that is all rosy and upbeat. We are confronted page after page with the realities of a world that has been troubled with sin, and which has a cloud of darkness hanging over it.
David was no stranger to these challenges. Some he brought on himself by his own sin; but others came as a result of the people around him. Before becoming king he was chased around the countryside by Saul, trapped at least twice in a cave, brushing ever so closely with death. As he fled Saul he came in contact with others who wanted to do him harm. In Psalm 56 we are told it was the Philistines who seized him. So...in these inevitably dark situations what does one do? That is the beauty of Scripture. We can learn how men and women of old weathered the dark, difficult times of their lives and find the means that can carry us through as well.
What did David do that enabled him to pass through the floodwaters of difficulty? Consider the following:
1. In the midst of difficulty, when he found himself filling up with fear, he turned his gaze away from the situation and from the people who were causing the trouble, and remembered the Lord and His word. In Psalm 56:3-4 David said, "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?"
2. In the midst of difficulty he remembered the depth of the Lord's care. In Psalm 56:8 David said, "You have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?" David calmed himself by considering how intimately acquainted the Lord is with His life. A tear is not shed, a sleeepless night is not experienced without our Lord being fully aware.
3. In the midst of difficulty he cries out for mercy and rests in God's sovereign purposes. In Psalm 57:2 David writes, "I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me." It is such a benefit to be able to look heavenward, to know how much the Lord cares, and to cry out to Him knowing that He is a God of great mercies. It is also an encouragement to know that nothing comes our way except through the grid of the benevolent purposes of our God, whose purposes cannot be thwarted. Though we may not know all that God intends for our lives, we do know that His purposes for us are for good. The giving of His Son should convince us of that.
4. In the midst of difficulty he takes his eyes off his own deliverance and focuses on the glory of the Lord. In Psalm 57:11 David says, "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!" When our focus is redirected to something grander than ourselves....in this case, the glory of the Lord, we will find strength to endure the severest of trials. When we do this we will find that our trial takes on new meaning in that it may well be used to bring glory to the Lord. This is that for which we live!
5. Finally, in the midst of difficulty it is helpful to remember that our Lord is a God who loves to shine His light in the darkness. Isaiah 9 offers a beautiful example of this. It speaks of a people dwelling in darkness, finally seeing a great light. Ultimately, that light is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the darkness of our world, God sent forth His Son, the light of the world. It is so good to know that God specializes in sending light into dark places. During those times we should look in faith for that light to shine. Jesus is very near!
C. H. Spurgeon, in speaking of those dark times, encourages his readers to stand firm in faith because if we do "we will come out into greater light than we have as yet hoped for."
May God grant us all grace to weather our challenges with the same hope our forefathers once did!
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