I will say to God, my Rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy's oppression? My adversaries taunt me, as if crushing my bones while all day long they say to me: 'Where is your God?' "
Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God. (vs. 9-11)
We sometimes have our own doubts about where God is when things go horribly wrong. It feels like He has "left the building" while we struggle on our own to survive the oppression of disease, heartbreak, failure or loss. Our own hearts struggle not to accuse God and ask why He has forgotten us. In order to keep perspective, we must focus on the conversation we have with our inner woman or man in order to sustain hope. That is one thing.
The other thing is when those who do not know our God or the very circumstances themselves echo what the enemy is already trying to persuade us to believe. Our God has forgotten us. Where is He? I thought you had all this faith and look at you! Depressed. Crushed. Give it up. There isn't any God concerned about your day to day.
What happens when the world agrees with what the enemy is saying in your ear? Do you listen? I have. It leads down a pretty gnarly road. My daughter reminded me the other day that we really have two choices when we don't know what is going on and things look really bleak. We can lose hope and quit. We can trust God. I would add to that a third. We can do the expedient thing. What we think is best.
Saul was the king of Israel. Their first. Led in his spiritual walk by Samuel, the prophet. It was Samuel's job to perform the priestly duties and ask for God's favor and direction in wars fought by Israel. In 1 Samuel 13, Saul is at war with the Philistines because his son, Jonathan, had attacked one of their garrisons. Saul then declared battle against the Philistines and gathered his army at Gilgal. Ooops! The Philistines had 3000 chariots, 6000 horsemen and as many troops "as the sand on the seashore."
The men of Israel, being the staunch fighters they were, hid - in wells, in caves, thickets, holes and under rocks. But Saul stood his ground. Apparently he was to wait seven days for Samuel to come and give him God's guidance and pray for favor. But Saul has trembling troops and wavering warriors and the Philistines tasting Jewish blood all around him. Samuel was late. Missed the appointment by a few hours. So, like the Israelites in the desert when Moses failed to show, Saul did the expedient thing.
"Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offering," Saul ordered. "I will just have to offer these sacrifices myself!" Well, someone has to do something!
Samuel shows up just in time to smell the barbeque and see the blood.
"What have you done?" cries Samuel.
"Well, you were late, Sam, so what did you expect me to do? These guys are cowards and we cannot fight because my army bailed. I had to do what I had to do!"
"What were you thinking, Saul?" Samuel is beyond appalled.
"The Philistines will descend on us from Gilgal and you didn't show up and I needed the Lord's favor so I forced myself to offer the burnt sacrifices." Answering all in one breath. Ew, boy.
"Because you have done your own thing and disobeyed what the Lord told you, your reign will not endure. God has found a man who will obey Him. You should have waited and done what the Lord commanded you, Saul. Not what you thought was the right thing to do." Samuel left the building.
Trying to make your misery into marginal victory might just cause more mayhem....or worse. It might lead you down a path that cannot be reversed. Wait on God. If you are in doubt about what to do, do nothing. That is better than taking God's place in your life and deciding the right thing to do because you are desperate and think He has forgotten you, like Samuel "forgot" Saul. The Lord is always on His way. He never fails. He may seem too late, but He always has His glory and our best interest at heart. I think perhaps I could even say, the bigger the army against us, the more we should trust our God, for we don't have His resources for the battle. The worse the situation looks, the more important to look to Him. Do not force yourself to take things into your own hands. That didn't work for Saul or for the children of Israel when they built the golden calf (remember Aaron saying: "We threw in our gold and out popped this golden calf"?). They couldn't wait for what God wanted. Can we?
Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God. (vs. 9-11)
We sometimes have our own doubts about where God is when things go horribly wrong. It feels like He has "left the building" while we struggle on our own to survive the oppression of disease, heartbreak, failure or loss. Our own hearts struggle not to accuse God and ask why He has forgotten us. In order to keep perspective, we must focus on the conversation we have with our inner woman or man in order to sustain hope. That is one thing.
The other thing is when those who do not know our God or the very circumstances themselves echo what the enemy is already trying to persuade us to believe. Our God has forgotten us. Where is He? I thought you had all this faith and look at you! Depressed. Crushed. Give it up. There isn't any God concerned about your day to day.
What happens when the world agrees with what the enemy is saying in your ear? Do you listen? I have. It leads down a pretty gnarly road. My daughter reminded me the other day that we really have two choices when we don't know what is going on and things look really bleak. We can lose hope and quit. We can trust God. I would add to that a third. We can do the expedient thing. What we think is best.
Saul was the king of Israel. Their first. Led in his spiritual walk by Samuel, the prophet. It was Samuel's job to perform the priestly duties and ask for God's favor and direction in wars fought by Israel. In 1 Samuel 13, Saul is at war with the Philistines because his son, Jonathan, had attacked one of their garrisons. Saul then declared battle against the Philistines and gathered his army at Gilgal. Ooops! The Philistines had 3000 chariots, 6000 horsemen and as many troops "as the sand on the seashore."
The men of Israel, being the staunch fighters they were, hid - in wells, in caves, thickets, holes and under rocks. But Saul stood his ground. Apparently he was to wait seven days for Samuel to come and give him God's guidance and pray for favor. But Saul has trembling troops and wavering warriors and the Philistines tasting Jewish blood all around him. Samuel was late. Missed the appointment by a few hours. So, like the Israelites in the desert when Moses failed to show, Saul did the expedient thing.
"Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offering," Saul ordered. "I will just have to offer these sacrifices myself!" Well, someone has to do something!
Samuel shows up just in time to smell the barbeque and see the blood.
"What have you done?" cries Samuel.
"Well, you were late, Sam, so what did you expect me to do? These guys are cowards and we cannot fight because my army bailed. I had to do what I had to do!"
"What were you thinking, Saul?" Samuel is beyond appalled.
"The Philistines will descend on us from Gilgal and you didn't show up and I needed the Lord's favor so I forced myself to offer the burnt sacrifices." Answering all in one breath. Ew, boy.
"Because you have done your own thing and disobeyed what the Lord told you, your reign will not endure. God has found a man who will obey Him. You should have waited and done what the Lord commanded you, Saul. Not what you thought was the right thing to do." Samuel left the building.
Trying to make your misery into marginal victory might just cause more mayhem....or worse. It might lead you down a path that cannot be reversed. Wait on God. If you are in doubt about what to do, do nothing. That is better than taking God's place in your life and deciding the right thing to do because you are desperate and think He has forgotten you, like Samuel "forgot" Saul. The Lord is always on His way. He never fails. He may seem too late, but He always has His glory and our best interest at heart. I think perhaps I could even say, the bigger the army against us, the more we should trust our God, for we don't have His resources for the battle. The worse the situation looks, the more important to look to Him. Do not force yourself to take things into your own hands. That didn't work for Saul or for the children of Israel when they built the golden calf (remember Aaron saying: "We threw in our gold and out popped this golden calf"?). They couldn't wait for what God wanted. Can we?
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