What do you say
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears. Psalms 18:6
I have gone through a lot of low times in my past. There were times when I was afraid, times when I was worried and times when I was down. When those times came, I called on the Lord. I cried out to Him for help. He was always there for me and even though I was not living my life in agreement with His plan and purpose, He still rescued me in my distresses. When things got better, I was off running in my own direction again. I didn’t say it out loud, but I was basically living my life with the mindset of, I’m going to do things my way, God and if I get into trouble, then I will ask You for help.
That is not the wise way of walking through this life and of course, now I know there is a better way to live. That way is to follow His leading and direction, not because He wants to control me, but because He knows how to get me to the good life He designed for me to live before I was even born. By following Him, I can find out ahead of time what and where that is. It doesn’t mean that I will never have trouble or problems again, it just means that I am in the right place and God is right there beside me to get me through. It also indicates that I am close to Him and talking to Him all the time so that when the low times come, He doesn’t have to rush in to rescue me, but instead He is right there beside me as we walk through and overcome, step by step by step.
I never really focused on my issues and felt the need to talk about them all the time with whoever was around me. That has helped me out a lot in life. I ask God for help; He comes and fixes things and then I would get up and start running again. Even though I was running in the wrong direction, that thought process helped me to unload a lot of baggage when I did start going in the right direction. However, I have met many people who park when they have problems and then sit down and talk about the issue over and over and over again. It doesn’t help anything, it just lets others know that they need help and by telling them, they expect others to do something to fix the circumstances, or to pity them and make excuses for them. Either way, it results in a victim mentality and it becomes a vicious cycle that is even harder to get out of and move away from in life.
In Psalms 18, David cried out to God while he was being hunted by king Saul. David didn’t do anything deserving of Saul’s oppression and hatred. Saul was just jealous of him because God had chosen David to be the next king after Saul’s disobedience. What I want to make note of in this Psalm is that before David talked about his problem to God, he told himself and even those around him how he was going to handle his concerns. He said: “Even though things look bad around me, and I am being pursued unjustly, I will love the Lord with all my strength because He is my rock and my fortress. He delivers me and I trust Him. He is my horn and my salvation. I call on Him because He is worthy to be praised and save me from my enemies.” Then David shifts his words to talk about how he was feeling. He said that he felt like the pains of death and sorrows surrounded him as he was confronted by death, but in his distress, he called upon the Lord for help. Then the passage goes on to say that God came rushing in with a fierce anger. Not because David asked for help, but because David was hurting.
As David watched what God did in the circumstances around him, he was encouraged and recognized that God lifted him up and brought him to a broad, safe place and that God delighted in helping David get there. To David it felt like God picked him up, dusted him off and moved him forward in the plan for his life. After that, David confessed his confidence in God’s mercy and faithfulness to help in out of every trouble. He kept his conversations devoted to speaking and praying the solution, not repeating the problem over and over again.
We can approach our difficulties in life with the same heart that David did. It is kind of the same way we approach our heavenly Father when we go to service each weekend with the body of believers. We enter in with worship and praise about God and what we know about Him. We sing praise about His great salvation and rejoice because He has delivered us from eternal separation. Then we listen to a message that teaches us how to walk in faith through every obstacle in life. We leave that place with hope and thanksgiving for the reminder of our Father’s presence and provision for everything we need coming up. He is good and His name is to be praised!
Today I want to encourage you to know what to say the next time you are going through a rough season. Begin by reminding yourself of God’s love and goodness in your life. Speak a list of all the wonderful attributes you know about His character. Then cry out to Him with how you are feeling at the time. You don’t necessarily have to tell Him why you are feeling that way, just let Him know you are anxious, fearful, depressed or whatever it is that day. They rejoice as you sense His presence with you, comforting you and lifting you up on your feet to face another day. Even if nothing changes immediately in your surroundings, your heart will change, and peace will rush in to hold you until your prayer is answered and the situation is resolved.
Today’s scripture reading: Psalms 18:1-26
1I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
2The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.
4The pangs of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
5The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.
6In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
7 Then the earth shook and trembled; The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because He was angry.
8 Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down with darkness under His feet.
10 And He rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 From the brightness before Him, His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
14 He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were uncovered at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
16 He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.
19 He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all His judgments were before me, and I did not put away His statutes from me.
23 I was also blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity.
24 Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
The Daily Dose 