“In the
day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with
strength in my soul.” (Ps 138:3
AV)
David is the author of this Psalm. We do not know what the particulars are
concerning this Psalm. However, we do
know that he is writing this while under the duress of enemies. In the Psalm, he is able to see the future of
God’s answer to his prayer and his resultant praise to those who will
eventually surround him. One might think
David wrote this while fleeing from Saul or his very early reign. Verse one of this Psalm speaks of David
singing the praises of God to the gods.
Or, those men who are the prominent of the nation and surrounding
nations. The point to see here is that
which David testifies which results in his gratitude. It isn’t the defeat of his enemies. That is future. It isn’t the end of all trouble. That will be with him until the day he
dies. What he testifies as to the answer
which God provides is strength of soul.
The human condition will always contain some amount of
suffering. One’s social status doesn’t
erase all suffering. It merely adds a
different type of it. When one goes to
the grave yard, no matter how simple or elaborate the grave sight it is, the
suffering that results in a whole in the ground is universal. It doesn’t matter if the name is chiseled on
a slab verses a great mausoleum, the suffering which resulted in their permanent
residency in a beautiful park like surroundings is still the same. Trouble is with us from the day we are born
until the day we die. And if we do not
know Jesus Christ, then trouble continues for all of eternity. The point is this, trouble weakens the
soul. Trouble makes it hard to continue in
the path of life which the LORD has asked us to walk. There are times when we wish the trouble would
simply go away and then we could be strengthened in the inner man. But what if it doesn’t? Or, what if it doesn’t as quickly as we want
it to?
God never promises a life free of trouble or
trials. What He does promise is His
presence in the midst of those trials that we might endure through them, coming
out the other end of them a stronger and more mature person. Perhaps the better prayer request would be
for strength to not merely endure, but the flourish. Not the end of a trial or answer to a
problem, but spiritual and emotional health that blossoms under adversity. Maybe, like David, instead of asking the
enemies be removed prematurely because we are failing in our strength, we can
ask for strength that the enemy enjoys no gains at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment