The Blessing and the Wait

Psalms 13

Psalm 13 is a representation of a typical day in the life of a believer, especially when we're waiting for God to work on our behalf. Or when we've been praying for some situation in our life and we have an answer for it but it hasn't reached us and there is usually no tracking number for our shipments from God so we can keep checking with its status. We would probably end up in David's despondency in this Psalm.

1. God has forgotten me(v1a) - He must be busy with His work, or maybe my situation is not important to Him.
2. Seems like God is hiding Himself from me (v1b) - I don't know what more I should do to get His attention!
3. How long must I keep worrying and be sorrowful (v2)- Is there anyone else who would care enough to lessen my burden  and share my worry for my situation ?
4. Even my enemies know about my situation and making fun of me (v2)

His prayer (verse3)

1. Consider me - Oh God that you would think about me,  pay attention to me.
2. Answer me
3. Lighten my eyes [of my faith to behold Your face in the pitchlike darkness] (Amp)- I like how Amplified Bible writes this verse. God that you would enable me to see your face in this time of aimlessness and darkness. Let me see your face at least Lord that I know You are watching my situation. Sometimes thats all we need, not even the answer really matters, we just need to see His face.

His temperament

1. I have trusted
2. I have leaned on
3. I have been confident in Your mercy and loving-kindness

The outcome of it all David sums up is that he will rejoice and be in high spirits in the Salvation of the Lord! He knows Jesus will redeem. He is faithful. David reassures himself of God's faithfulness in the past and therefore he knows God will come through for him

Conclusion
What do we have that we are waiting for desperately. Is there some decision, some situation, some matter that needs a ruling, a result that will change your life forever; be assured that we have God's promise from His word in 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully."(AMP) Now this is exactly what David was looking for and God has it written down for us to be a promise in our lives. All we got to do is seek out His face in the pitch darkness of our situations and we will KNOW He has been watching us every step of the way.

Oh Culture!

Psalms 12
^"7 You, LORD, will keep the needy safe
and will protect us forever from the wicked,
⁸ who freely strut about
when what is vile is honored by the human race. "

Lessons
1- Wrong place wrong time? Maybe not- Many a times I wonder, if the world we live is so depraved right now, what will be in the future! Is it worth living here, when I can take my kids back to a place where they would probably have lesser moral dangers to deal with. But we are called to be in the place where God has planted us, we are to be there to do the work He has ordained for us to do and God will take care of the rest.

Verses 5-7 from the same chapter give us hope!
^"5Now will I arise, says the Lord, because the poor are oppressed, because of the groans of the needy; I will set him in safety and in the salvation for which he pants. ⁶The words and promises of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times over. ⁷You will keep them and preserve them, O Lord; You will guard and keep us from this [evil] generation forever."

2-Salvation is near-In the time when it seems like no one is watching, God Is! The verse above starts with an everlasting hope in God. "...He will protect us from the wicked forever." Now that is our God. Our God, our Father waiting for reconciliation with His children, when we turn to Him and His love by our own will. Deciding once and for all, that as for me and my household, we will serve our Living God and remain under the shadow and protection of our Almighty God. Let's not venture out of our safe zone in God.

Conclusion
The more I think about life on planet earth right now, the more it reminds me of Sodom and Gomorrah and the more I think about Sodom and Gomorrah, I think about Lot. I wonder, what would have been going on, on his mind when he saw the depravity of his generation. How did he hold onto his faith? How much did he compromise? Did it hurt when he did let down his beliefs to try to fit in? I'm sure it must have, because it hurts on the inside of me, when I am not being normal, just so I can fit in with a bunch of people who do not really care for my faith and my stand, my narrowmindedness of having just ONE SAVIOUR and NO ONE ELSE. Sometimes the people who reject/exclude you may be your own family but you know what God gave me an answer for Lot's lot. I'd love for you to read 2 Pet 2:6-8 and I particularly looooove this -
"...and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless" 2 Peter 2:6-8, how much more all of us, who are in a depraved world of degraded moral principles where anything goes!
Go ahead, stand up! Be a square peg in this round hole, of a world! Be Holy just as He(our Living Lord God) is Holy!

When you feel cheated!

Psalms 10 & 11
"v1 Why, LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"

Lesson
Personally I feel very wronged when someone deserving does not get the reward and its given to someone less deserving or not at all deserving! Something of that kind happened in our lives recently and it hurt! Why wouldn't God do something about it? He does see everything that's going on in my life so He should do something "to" those people and teach them a lesson!

When you see the wicked getting aggressively wicked, liars and manipulators becoming richer, walking in truth and love becoming harder and even then when we see the wicked prosper it doesn't seem fair. But no matter what our feeling may feel like feeling, God IS at work. God may not sometimes seem to be fair, but He always is a just God.

This verse from the NT came to my rescue, from Romans 11:10-12 (NIV)^"10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”^[a] Ingrafted Branches ¹¹ Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. ¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring! "

If the Israelis would have been everything that God wanted them to be, we the gentiles would not have had a chance to know such great a salvation, such wonderful a God. Sometimes God would choose to allow a wrong to seem to flourish right before our eyes. We can choose to get offended by it and reject the walk of faith, the walk of surrender, quit the narrow road and join the bandwagon of underhanded work - OR - let it be a time of humbling, a time of introspection for with God there is nothing meaningless that God does in our lives. Deuteronomy 32:4
"He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he."

Conclusion
The next time God does something in your life, which seems like injustice to you, think about this, if the Israelis had not had a season of hardened hearts, we would not have had a chance to know their Awesome Living God - A God who was just engaging His plan of extending His love to us. If a wrongdoer is seemingly getting all the best things and nothing, that we think is right for us, is falling on our plates, remember this - God is engaging His plan of a greater blessing for us, something which has our name on it. Psalmist continues his words with this verse Psalm 11:7 "For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face." Yes the upright WILL see His face, what a blessing for just hanging on to God's plan for our lives.

Learning from David

^{Psalm 9
"10} Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you."

Lesson
How to give Praise

1. Thanks for what you have received-" v1 I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;
   I will tell of all your wonderful deeds."
2. Above all, recognizing Who your Giver is- " ⁷ The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. ⁸ He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity.
   ⁹ The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. " David never failed to Praise God and recognize who God is. If we see a person helping out a stranger for no personal gain, we know that person must be kind. If we see a person giving off of his own lack, we know he must be generous. Actions define the character of a person. David learned that full well. He therefore, praised God for what God did, but also for who He IS.

Conclusion
The one thing that especially stuck to me from this passage is the verse ^"10 Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. " Unlike people, God is exactly what His name is.

JEHOVAH-JIREH "The Lord our provider"

JEHOVAH-NISSI "Our banner, a banner of love and protection"

JEHOVAH-SHALOM "Our perfect peace"

JEHOVAH-TSID-KENU "The Lord is our righteousness"

JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH "The One Who is with us everywhere for He is Omnipresent"

JEHOVAH-SABAOTH "The Lord of Hosts, our Protector."

JEHOVAH-RAAH "Our Shepherd Who tenderly leads us, loves us and will keep us safe."

JEHOVAH RAPHA "I am the Lord Your Physician or I am the Lord Your Healer"

Now those who know the Name of their God, WILL trust in Him. For our God always keeps His Word ! His promises are Yes and Amen. Take comfort and strength in the Name of our God, for He is Who He says He is and He does what He says He will do! He will never forsake His people!

Praise Power

Background: Ps 8:2 "From the lips of children and infants, you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger."

Lesson
It doesnt matter who is praising. It doesn't matter the size od the person praising. It doesn't matter the language of the person praising. It doesn't matter the fluency in a multitude of ornate words used for praising. The Word of God says that God ordains: meaning "confer holy orders upon/to establish by law/to decree/to destine" even infants, the Amplified Bible says "unweaned infants" to praise God in the face of His enemies and you know what the impact of that is "to silence the foe and the avenger." God can silence His enemies not by great macho praise people, but from unweaned infants. What an Awesome God we serve. Ordaining glorious abilities on people whom we may think incapable/weak. That is our God Who empowers the praise of His people, no matter how low, tiny, small you feel before the enemy. Your God thinks BIG of you and empowers you to be BIG before our enemies.

Conclusion: Our God is a powerful God. Able to transform people by one utterance of His Word. When God ordains/establishes praise from infants, they receive the power to silence the enemy. God is able to impart to YOU the power needed to silence the enemy. Don't fret about how tiny, incapable, weak, babyish, helpless you are, but rejoice and Praise in God, Praise our Living Lord Jesus and God will empower you to put your enemies to silence.

Love
Godzheart