Psalm 106-107 A Roadmap From God

I saw in these chapters a path charted out to bring a sinner to redemption.  His cries are:  “Lord, remember me …. Help me when You save them.  Let me see the good things You do for Your chosen people.  Let me be happy … Let me join Your own people in praising You.”

He admits, “We have sinned … we have done wrong; we have done evil.”

So what does God do?  “But the Lord saved them for His OWN sake, to show His great power … He saved them from those who hated them … from their enemies … Then the people believed what the Lord said, and they sang praises to Him.”

It didn’t last long, however:  “They tested God there.  So He gave them what they wanted … They exchanged their glorious God for a statue of a bull … They forgot the God who saved them … They refused to go into the beautiful land … They did not believe what God promised.  They grumbled … and did not obey the Lord … The people became UNHOLY by their sins; they were unfaithful to God in what they did … The Lord saved His people many times, but they continued to turn against Him.  So they became even more wicked … But God saw their misery when He heard their cry … He felt sorry for them because of His great love … They were hungry and thirsty (spiritually), and they were discouraged … He led them on a straight road …He satisfied the thirsty and filled up the hungry .. He broke their pride … He brought them out of their gloom and darkness and broke their chains.  God gave the command and healed them…. They saw what the Lord could do … God guided them to the port they wanted.”

And what should our reaction be to His intervention in our lives?  The same as theirs:  “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His love and for the miracles He does for people.  Let them praise His greatness in the meeting of the people; let them praise Him…”

And lest we be tempted to forget all this, He concludes:  “Whomever is wise will remember these things and will think about the love of the Lord.”

Father, reading this was like watching a replay of my own life.  It reminds me too much of the movie Groundhog Day.  Just as I’d hate to be stuck in that loop, help me not to get stuck in the loop of loving You, then wanting what You don’t want me to have, and turning away from You to get it.  I know it’s better to skip to the end instead.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 105 -- Us In The Details

David recounts most of the history of the Israelites in this one psalm.  Listening to everything God did for them, it’s easy to see that they are His chosen people.

There was one sentence that stuck out early on, and when I finished reading, I went back and saw how amazingly it summed up what our feelings should be toward a God who would do all these things for us:

“Be glad that you are His.”

Be glad that God loved you enough to seek you out, to draw you to Himself, and to save You.  Understand that He didn’t have to do it.  But He did.  Not because of anything worthwhile that He saw in us.  But simply because He loves.

Father, I’m still amazed that You cared enough for me to do all that.  I was totally unworthy and deserving of death instead, yet You pursued me and purchased me with the death of Your own Son.  Such love!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 102-104 What God's Been Doing And Not Doing

Several times the statement is made:  “My whole being, praise the Lord.”  That should lead us to ask ourselves, “Is there any part of my being that is not praising the Lord?”  Perhaps my eyes could instead be looking at something that doesn’t praise the Lord, or my ears listening to disrespectful stuff.  Are my feet walking into places they shouldn’t go?  Perhaps a body check would be advisable.

Psalm 103 tells what God has been doing and what He has not been doing:

                “He forgives all my sins

                And heals all my diseases.

                He saves my life from the grave

                And loads me with love and mercy.

                He satisfies me with good things

                And makes me young again….

                The Lord does what is right and fair for all who are wronged by others …

                The Lord shows mercy and is kind …

                As high as the sky is above the earth, so great is His love for those who respect Him.

                He has taken our sins away from us as far as the east is from the west.”

So what has He not been doing?

                “He does not become angry quickly …

                He will not be always accuse us,

                And He will not be angry forever.

                He has not punished us as our sins should be punished.

                He has not repaid us for the evil we have done.”

I’m so thankful for what He has done and is doing.  Yet I’m equally thankful for His patience with me, for His mercy, and for His grace and His great love for me that has led Him to not do the things listed above.  All that should lead us to want to praise Him with our entire being.

Father, thanks for the reminder to look at my life and see that every part of me is praising You through what I’m doing and not doing.  Thank You for Your great patience with me, for Your mercy, Your grace, and Your love.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 98-101 The Cost Of Our Disobedience

“Moses and Aaron … and Samuel … called to the Lord, and He answered them.  He spoke to them … They kept the rules and laws He gave them.  Lord our God, You answered them.  You showed them that You are a forgiving God, but You punished them for their wrongs.”

The great leaders of the Jewish people still sinned.  They cried out to God for forgiveness, and in His faithfulness He granted it.  Yet, they did bear the consequences of their sin.  The most notable of the three was Moses, I think, who had led the people out of Egypt for 40 years, yet was not allowed to enter the Promised Land – having to be satisfied with gazing upon it from a high mountain just outside the borders.

We, too, can come so close to the best God has for us, yet miss it because of the consequences of our sin.  Yes, God does forgive, and He does restore.  But our sin taints our memories and causes us to have to settle for less than God’s best for us. 

Father, that may be the only sadness in heaven – to get there and have You finally show me what You’d intended for my life and then compare it to where I eventually ended up.  Yet I think it will be necessary so that we can see just how much You did love us, and how much or disobedience really cost us.  Then we will see the value of grace.  Please help me during the remaining years of my life to minimize the differences between what You want from me and what I actually do.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 92-97 We Don't Know The MEANING Of Praise

Sin has caused us to lose sight of God’s majesty and His worthiness of praise.  These psalms seem to show how much more aware people were of these facts than we seem to be today.  They still seemed to have an awareness that nature itself praises its Creator, stifled as it became by man’s sin which fundamentally altered Creation.

“Let the skies rejoice and the earth be glad; let the sea and everything in it shout.  Let the fields and everything in them rejoice.  Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord, because He is coming.”

Why would anyone ever imagine verses like this, unless they were true?  This isn’t just the work of an artsy poet imagining frivolous things to try and capture the hearts of an audience.  There had to be truth in these words or God would not have allowed them to become part of our Bible!

All creation, in the beginning, praised its Creator and resonated with Him in expressing joy at its existence.  Skies weren’t just mixes of gases and water vapor.  They are trillions of atoms dancing before their God, working in concert to glorify the One who made them.  Yet because of our sin, they now must struggle to do what once came naturally.  Oceans speak, trees sing, rocks cry out.  But right now they’ve been muted.  They are capable of praise, and they long for the day when they can once again be free to express what they know – that our God and Creator is infinitely worthy of praise.  When God someday makes everything new, I imagine we’ll be blown away by the music all around us that right now we are unable to hear.  And as we finally do hear creation praising God as it once was able to do, we too will be led to appropriately praise Him for His greatness.

Father, I want to hear rocks cry out and trees singing about You.  We think of them as nothing, yet one day they will show us up with the honor they bestow upon You with their praise.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 88-91 Our Obedience, His Watchcare

“Lord, I cry out to You day and night.  Receive my prayer and listen to my cry.”

His cry implies that God may indeed be deflecting his prayers – that they are never heard in God’s ears.  I suppose that since God knows who the prayers are coming from, He could certainly choose to ignore them rather than listening to them.  It made me wonder, though, how God could do that, yet at the same time know when a true prayer of repentance had been prayed, so that He would begin to listen to the prayers again.

“Your love continues forever; Your loyalty goes on and on like the sky.”

The sky truly never ends, so God’s loyalty to His children won’t either.  Would His loyalty, therefore, need to include the turning away from us in order that we would feel the loss of His presence so that we’d desire that presence again and change our lives to get it back?

“My loyalty and love will be with him.  Through me he will be strong … My love will watch over him forever.”  These verses appear messianic – referring to Jesus before His actual incarnation on earth.  Yet they also could apply to David as king, or to any child of God.

“You have put the evil we have done right in front of You; Your clearly see our secret sins.”  God loves us enough to pry.  Because He is all-knowing, even our secret sins are known to Him.  In His love, He desires to change us, and secret sins are a good place to start.

The last part of Psalm 91 seems to wrap up the connection between obeying God and experiencing His love for us:

“Because he loves me, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name.  He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble.  I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.”

Father, that’s what I want and that’s what I need.  Make it so, Father.  Strengthen me so that I may love You more!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 79-87 Are We There Yet?

I read last night that a friend and his family had been driving all day from Iowa to Mississippi.  His stepfather, who’s been quite ill and in hospice, passed away.  Someone had posted “Are you there yet?”.  The stepfather is.

That also seems to be the question I kept hearing as I read this morning:

“Lord, how long will this last? …. Show Your mercy to us soon … Hear the moans of the prisoners …. Shepherd of Israel, listen to us … Lord God All-Powerful, how long will You be angry at the prayers of Your people? … God all-Powerful, come back.  Look down from heaven and see …”

God replied:

“I wish My people would listen to Me.  I wish Israel would live My way.  Then I would quickly defeat their enemies…”

They continued:

“God, do not keep quiet; God, do not be silent or still … Lord God All-Powerful, hear my prayer; God of Jacob, listen to me … My God, save me, Your servant who trusts in You.  Lord, have mercy on me, because I called to You all day… Lord, teach me what You want me to do, and I will live by Your truth.  Teach me to respect You completely.  Lord, my God, I will praise You with all my heart, and I will honor Your name forever.  You have great love for me.  You have saved me from death … Turn to me and have mercy.  Give me, Your servant, strength.”

Father, You and You alone know what each of us have facing us at this moment.  You know the discouragement we feel, and the things that desperately need resolving – things that have been on high-center for so long.  God, please move things along.  I hate to keep asking, “Are we there, yet?”

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 78 We Did ... He Did...

What a contrast of reactions!

“The men of Ephraim … ran away on the day of battle.  They didn’t keep their agreement with God.”

“He divided the Red Sea.”

“The people continued to sin against Him … asking for the food they wanted.”

“But He gave a command … and opened the doors of heaven.  He rained manna down on them to eat … He rained meat on them like dust.”

“But they kept on sinning; they did not believe…”

“So He ended their days without meaning.”

“ Anytime He killed them, they would look to Him for help; they would come back to God and follow Him…. But their words were false … their hearts were not really loyal to God …”

“Still, God was merciful.  He forgave their sins and did not destroy them … He remembered that they were only human.”

“They turned against God so often in the desert and grieved Him there.  Again and again they tested God and brought pain to the Holy One of Israel.”

“God led His people out like sheep and He guided them …”

“But they tested God and turned against God Most High … they made God angry by building places to worship gods…”

Finally, enough was enough –

“He left His dwelling at Shiloh, … He let the Ark be captured;  He let the Ark, His glory, be taken by enemies.  He let His people be killed.”

(He didn’t kill them.  He removed His hand of protection from them.  Their actions resulted in their own deaths.)

But then His mercy returns –

“He chose the tribe of Judah … And He built the Temple high like the mountains … He built it to last forever.”

God’s mercy and His forbearance with our sin in incredible.  Despite our worst, He lovingly gives His best.  And when it was apparent that our problem was a sin problem, He gave His absolute best – His Son, even – to take care of that.  He doesn’t leave us with no help, despite everything we do.  Instead, in love He pours out His grace and mercy, because He wants us home with Him.

Father, I’m incredibly undeserving of such love!  Inside, I know that I’m worth nothing compared to your Son, yet You gave him anyway, because You wanted me with You.  Thank You for Your extravagant mercy and grace.  Thank You for loving me even when I feel so unlovable.  Only a Creator and God could love that way.  I’m sorry for messing up so often.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 72-77 A Pound Of Prevention

These chapters are amazingly honest in how they show us examples of people doubting God and yet coming back to Him in belief. 

“I had almost stopped believing; I had almost lost my faith because I was jealous of proud people.  I saw wicked people doing well.”

It’s so easy to wonder why sinful people seem to prosper and have fun.  Yet when we fall into that trap, here’s what happens:

“When my heart was sad and I was angry, I was senseless and stupid.  I acted like an animal toward You.”

Yet even when we act like that, God doesn’t give up on us:

“But I am always with You; You have held my hand.  You guide me with Your advice, and later You will receive me in honor.  I have no one in heaven but You.  I want nothing on earth besides You.  My body and my mind may become weak, but God is my strength.  He is mine FOREVER.”

Father, I am sorry that I too still seem susceptible to Satan’s lies.  I should always know better.  Fatigue seems to be a perfect catalyst Satan uses to do a number on me.  He loves to see me getting disgruntled or frustrated, because those attitudes give him a place to stick his pry bar in and try to widen the cracks in my armor.  I’ve never seen anyone so bent on my destruction as him!

Thank You for being even more bent on my salvation!  Help me not to act like a dumb animal.  Let me use the sense you gave me to see when I am most susceptible to Satan’s attacks and change course immediately.  I’m not entitled to head down paths that can lead to my destruction, even for a little while.  I trust You, Father.  Help me to display that trust in every decision I make.  I don’t want to leave You wondering what I was thinking!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 69-71 The Way David Might Have Seen It

Most commentaries say that chapter 69 is a Messianic psalm, describing Jesus’ agony on the cross and His thoughts during death.  Yet I thought about David writing it, not having full knowledge about an event hundreds of years in his future, and what he might have been thinking as he wrote it.  Was he struggling with sin and its effect on his life?  The images of mud and flooding certainly fit what it feels like to be in the grip of sin:

“God, save me, because the water has risen to my neck.  I’m sinking down into the mud, and there is nothing to stand on.  I am in deep water and the flood covers me.  I am tired from calling for help; my throat is sore.  My eyes are tired from waiting for God to help me.”

At youth last night I was discussing with a group of middle school boys about how it feels when we keep crying out to God to remove a sin from our lives and yet we still find ourselves struggling with it.  I asked them why it wasn’t going away.  After all, God is all-powerful.  He certainly can do it.  They came up with a great answer – because deep down inside we want to hold on to that sin, and we haven’t given God permission in our hearts to remove it.  He wants to purify us of that sin more than anything, but His gift of free will to us limits Him to only what we allow Him to do.

The psalm continues:

“Pull me from the mud, and do not let me sink.  Save me from those who hate me and from the deep water.  Do not let the flood drown me or the deep water swallow me or the grave close its mouth over me.  Lord, answer me because Your love is so good.  Because of Your great kindness, turn to me.  Do not hide from me, Your servant.  I am in trouble.  Hurry to help me!  Come near me and save me; rescue me from my enemies.”

We have to want to be rescued.  We have to love Him more than we love our sin.  If we’re in deep water, He throws a lifeline to us, and we have to let go of our baggage so He can haul us in.

Father, how sin-crazed we are when we expect You to rescue us and let us keep our sin with us.  We can’t have it both ways.  We have to love You more than our sin.  Otherwise, we’re trading away an unimaginable fortune for a carnival trinket.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 64-68 The Reason God Does What He Does

“Those who plan wicked things … God will shoot them with arrows … then everyone will fear God.  They will tell what God has done, and they will learn from what He has done.”

“God, You hear our prayers… Our guilt overwhelms us, but You forgive our sins.  Happy are the people You CHOOSE and invite to stay in Your court.  We are filled with good things in Your home.”

“Praise our God … He protects our lives and does not let us be defeated.  God, You have tested us; You have purified us like silver … You brought us to a place with good things.”

“All of You who fear God, come and listen, and I will tell you what He has done for me.  I cried out to Him … God has listened; He has heard my prayer.  Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or hold back His love from me.”

“God, have mercy on us and bless us and show us Your kindness so the world will learn Your ways, and all nations will learn that You can save…. God blesses us so people all over the earth will fear Him.”

“God, order up Your power; show the mighty power You have used for us before.”

Everything God does is used to draw people to him – shooting down the wicked, forgiving sins, choosing people, protecting people, testing and purifying them, bringing them to a good place, having mercy on them, and blessing them – so the world will learn.  No effort by God is wasted.  Whatever people experience in their encounters with the Almighty, whether good or bad, He intends for them to tell others about it, drawing others to Him.

Father, I’ll never stop telling what You have done for me and for my boys.  Even here You say, “God … is a father to orphans … God gives to lonely a home.”  Thank You for using our lives to let others know about You!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 57-63 More Basking This Morning

“Be merciful to me, God; be merciful to me, because I come to You for protection.  Let me hide under the shadow of Your wings until the trouble has passed.  I cry out to God Most High, to the God who does everything for me.  He sends help from heaven and saves me.”

“My heart is steady, God; my heart is steady.  I will sing and praise You.”

“God, save me from my enemies.  Protect me from those who come against me … You are the Lord God All-Powerful.”

“God, my strength, I am looking to You, because God is my defender.  My God loves me, and He goes in front of me … I will sing about Your strength.  In the morning I will sing about Your love.  You are my defender, my place of safety in times of trouble.  God, my strength, I will sing praises to You.  God, my defender, You are the God who loves me.”

“God, hear my cry; listen to my prayer.  I call to You from the ends of the earth when I am afraid.  Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I …”

“I find rest in God; only He can save me.  He is my rock and my salvation.  He is my defender.  I will not be defeated … I find rest in God; only He gives me hope … My honor and salvation come from God.  He is my mighty rock and my protection.  Trust in God all the time.  Tell Him all your problems, because God is our protection.”

“God, You are my God.  I search for You.  I thirst for You like someone in a dry, empty land where there is no water… Because Your love is better than life, I will praise You.  I will praise You as long as I live.  I will lift up my hands in prayer to Your name.  I will be content as if I had eaten the best foods.”

There are no better words, Father.  Thank You for letting me bask in Your love and care for me this morning!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 52-56 Know Where Your Help Comes From

“I trust God’s love forever and ever.  God, I will thank You forever for what You have done.  With those who worship You, I will trust You because You are good.”

“See, God will help me; the Lord will support me.”

“God, listen to my prayer and do not ignore my cry for help.  Pay attention to me and answer me … I am frightened inside …  But I will call to God for help, and the Lord will save me … He will listen to me … He keeps me safe in battle.  God who lives forever will hear me and punish them … Give your worries to the Lord and He will take care of you.  He will never let good people down … I will trust in You.”

“When I am afraid, I will trust You.  I praise God for His word.  I trust God, so I am not afraid … You have recorded my troubles.  You have kept a list of my tears.  On the day I call for help, my enemies will be defeated.  I know that God is on my side.  I praise God for His word to me.  I praise the Lord for His word.  I trust in God.  I will not be afraid … So I will walk with God in light among the living.”

Enough said, God … Please carry it out.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 49-51 -- Seeing It God's Way

In chapter 51, David makes some requests of God from the middle of his sin with Bathsheba:

“You want me to be completely truthful [with You, God], so teach me wisdom.”

With wisdom we won’t be as likely to sin and won’t feel that we have to hide it from God.

“Take away my sin and I will be clean.  Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

He doesn’t just want his sin painted over.  He asks for it to be taken away.  That’s what Christ did personally for each of us.  He took our sins away from us.

“Make me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones You crushed be happy again.”

David’s guilt over his sin has far overshadowed the brief pleasure he received while committing it.  Unless God forgives and takes away that sin, he feels he’ll never experience happiness again.

“Turn Your face from my sins and wipe out all my guilt.”

David wants God to stop looking at his sins.  He’s embarrassed that God brings them into full view and David has to admit what he’s done.  But it’s the guilt that really does a number on us.  David knows that and knows it has to be removed for him to ever get back to a place of worshiping God.

“Create in me a pure heart, God, and make my spirit right again.”

Like our hearts, David’s has been scarred and hardened by sin.  He asks for a tender heart once again, as if sin had never happened – a heart that beats only for God.

“Do not send me away from You or take Your Holy Spirit away from me.”

David lived before Christ’s death on the cross.  Those people did not have assurance of salvation.  He did not have what we do – that calming certain knowledge that nothing can separate us from Christ.  We cannot be removed from God’s hand.  Also, at that time the Holy Spirit did not come to take up residence in the hearts of all believers.  He was only given for a time to certain individuals.  Who could know what it would feel like to have him living within us and then feel the dire pain of His departure!

“Give me back the joy of Your salvation.  Keep me strong by giving me a willing spirit.”

That says David had once had the joy of God’s salvation, for he wants it back.  To have it and lose it would be unimaginable.  David also knows that the spirit he was born with was a rebellious spirit, not a willing spirit.  It comes from our sin nature.  Only God can make that change in our lives.

“The sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit.  God, You will not reject a heart that is broken and sorry for sin.”

David had just asked for a willing spirit.  He knows that to get it, his old spirit must be broken, and yes it will be a sacrifice for us – giving up control of our lives – but that’s exactly what God wants.  When He sees that our hearts are broken by how we’ve hurt Him with our sin, and that we are truly sorry for that, God won’t reject such a person.  Instead, He draws us near to Him.

Father, how easy it is to see what our sin does to us using these word pictures.  How unfortunate it is that we cannot seem to keep those pictures in our heads when we feel like sinning.  Keep me ever mindful of them, Father!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 45-48 A Wakeup Call

Chapter 45 is titled “A Song For The King’s Wedding” and I wondered what I’d possibly get out of it.  But a note from my commentary said the bride may be Israel and the groom Christ after the Second Coming.

That puts an entirely different light on it.  God is saying to Christ here:  “God has blessed You forever.  Put on Your sword, powerful warrior.  Show Your glory and majesty.  In Your majesty win the victory for what is true and right.”

Then the writer glorifies God Himself:  “God, Your throne will last forever and ever.  You will rule Your kingdom with fairness.”

The observations seem to switch to the rest of the wedding party:  “You love right and hate evil, so God has chosen YOU from among your friends.  He has set you apart with much joy … The king loves your beauty.  Because He is your Master, you should obey Him.”

I realize that lately I haven’t been seeing Him in His majesty.  I haven’t done my best to love right and hate evil.  I know He chose me and set me apart, but I haven’t done all I could to remain set apart.  The world has crept in.

“The river that brings joy” mentioned in chapter 46 seems out of reach at times.  “Be still and know that I am God” has been tougher to do.  Singing praises to our King as mentioned in chapter 47 has felt hollow at times.

God led me to 48:9 – “God, we come into Your Temple to think about Your LOVE.”  He led me to do that last night as well.  From John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave…” I told the students I was teaching.  For sinners like me, He gave His Son because of His love for me.  The world with all its demands has really crept in lately.  And as usual, it causes me to develop a sense of entitlement – that I DESERVE better than I’ve been getting.  And that’s flat out wrong.  I deserve nothing, but God freely loves me anyway.  Draw me nearer, Father.  Help me to rest in nothing but You.  Slow things down so that I can be still in You and get my perspective back.  I’m sorry for letting this happen.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 44 -- Perhaps "I'm Sorry" is the best thing to say?

“If we had forgotten our God or lifted our hands in prayer to foreign gods, God would have known, because He knows what is in our hearts.” 

The people of Israel had just lost a battle and they were stunned.  They didn’t understand what caused them to lose.

“We have been pushed down into the dirt; we are flat on the ground.”

They were at rock bottom and knew it.  But they didn’t know why, so they cried out to God for understanding.

“Because of Your love, save us!”

They knew one thing – God did everything out of love, and they appealed to Him on the basis of that love for help.

My sidebar today asks, “What problem or fear do you need to trust God with today?  Remember that God already knows your problem and wants you to trust Him for strength to solve it.  Tell God about your need.”

Father, You know what pains my heart today.  Give me strength that I don’t have.  Fight the battle for me.  Your great power and strength can overcome any obstacle – even me.  My puny efforts cannot.  I have to rely solely on You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 42 & 43 -- Remembering What It's Like To Pant

Starting chapter 42, my mind immediately goes to the song taken from these words.  That song lovingly speaks of how refreshed a believer feels in the presence of God.  Yet the psalm itself is anything but that.  It’s a cry of desperation, wanting to hear from God, yet unable to do so.

Those around him derisively ask, “Where is Your God?”  His heart is broken, remembering what it used to be like to praise God.  “I am very sad … troubles have come again and again … I say to God, ‘Why have You forgotten me?’ … My enemies’ insults make me feel as if my bones were broken…”

Unable to connect to God, he still has faith, though.  Questioning his own sadness, he knows what he should be doing:  “I should put my hop in God and keep praising Him, my Savior and my God … So I remember You … the Lord shows His true love every day (at least by the very fact that we’re kept alive).  At night I have a son, and I pray to  my living God.”  (Unable to connect with God while awake, he seems to know that he can in sleep.) 

Again, asking himself why he should be so upset, he remembers:  “I should put my hope in God and keep praising Him, my Savior and my God. (Even when we don’t feel the connection, God still deserves the praise.)

We all face a desperation of soul when we feel unable to connect with Him.  Our souls know worship and long for it instinctively.  God wants our worship, but at times He must feel it necessary to deny us that connection in order to shake us up and show us what sin does in our lives.  For we can easily let familiarity creep in and devalue our relationship.  We can presume on God and on His mercies, and we forget what it cost God to be able to offer it to us.

God wants to bring us back to the place of worshiping Him far more than we want to get there.  He’s pulling on this thing from the other direction, but He also needs us to see what impedes our travel back to Him.

Father, help me not to crave sin so much that You find it necessary to cut me off from Your throne room to get Your point across.  Help me to live connected to You deeply every day.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford