Jess shares her thought for the week; putting your trust in God.
Psalm 13 says this,
“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord, my God. Light up my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say I have prevailed over him, unless my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
Psalm 13
In this Psalm we see David quite literally writing a song. He is declaring to the Lord all of his weariness and all of his feelings. I don’t know about you, but maybe you’ve had hours, days, weeks, maybe even months where you’ve felt that same cry in your heart. “How long, O Lord, will I feel like this? How long, O Lord, will I be in this situation?”
This Psalm is a beautiful way to remind us how we might respond in the end with verse 5, “That I have trusted in your steadfast love. That my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.” I love that ending to that Psalm. I think it serves as a really great reminder.
But Jesus also prayed a similar prayer. He showed the disciples that he was overwhelmed with sorrow and he went to pray. And in that prayer we see the famous words of, “Not my will, Lord, but your will be done.”
We’re human and we need to be able to express our concerns with God. We need to be able to be honest with God and show what we’re worried about, why we’re weary, why we’re tired. It’s part of our nature. But it doesn’t just stop there. David didn’t stop there. He needed Jesus. David goes on to ask God to be present with him and finally finishes with trusting in God’s plan, just like Jesus did.
We must learn in our times of trouble that it’s not enough to just say, “Lord, how long is this going to go on?” We must then say, “So Lord, please can you come and help me?” Before finishing with, “Lord, I trust that you’re going to rescue me by my side.” If you’re in that space where you’re feeling those things this morning or maybe you’ll find yourself in that place in the future, might I encourage you to turn to Psalm 13 and to pray over yourself:
“I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.