It struck her suddenly and strangely that to know the real truth about anything in life might require infinite experience and understanding. How could one feel immense gratitude and relief, or the delight of satisfying acute hunger, or the sweet comfort of rest, unless there had been circumstances of extreme contrast?”
–Zane Grey (The Call of the Canyon)
“I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one.”
–John 17:15 (HCSB)
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When strife and struggle come what is your reaction? Problems will inevitably come our way from a myriad of sources. We do the best we can to cope with them, but it is important to realize that there are some problems that are beyond our ability to help and correct. Along with that we should also remember that God does not intend that we should fix every problem. Let’s take a look at our Psalm for the week from the HCSB, 17:9-15.
9 [Protect me] from the wicked who treat me violently, my deadly enemies who surround me.
10 They have become hardened; their mouths speak arrogantly.
11 They advance against me; now they surround me. They are determined to throw me to the ground.
12 They are like a lion eager to tear, like a young lion lurking in ambush.
13 Rise up, Lord! Confront him; bring him down. With Your sword, save me from the wicked.
14 With Your hand, Lord, save me from men, from men of the world whose portion is in this life: You fill their bellies with what You have in store; their sons are satisfied, and they leave their surplus to their children.
15 But I will see Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your presence.
For sure you understand that even though the Lord is with us day by day in every situation of life, doesn’t mean that we are immune to the cares, pestilences, and wickedness of the world. We walk daily in a world of darkness and must face the evils that lurk there, and those that might attack. God is still with us! He is not removed from this world; He is not a deistic ideal off somewhere, but is right with us in this world of treachery.
Another thing you can be sure of is that the enemy of your soul–the devil, will try to surround the believer. He seeks to ambush, not only with physical harm, temptation to the lust of the eyes and flesh, but he will also bring false ideologies to you. People will say try this and try that; here is the answer. Do not listen to his lies. John Howard puts it this way, “Every refuge but Christ is a refuge of lies. My soul, stay thou upon the Rock.”
We must be a realist about life. Don’t get on the pendulum of being a pessimist or optimist, but look at life in truth through the lens of God’s Word. To do that we must be saturated with God and His Word. We must be able to face our problems and when they get so large they overwhelm us we run to the Rock.
Life is full of tension and pressure, but there is that one thing that will come to us all–death. Paul, in the case of the believer, calls it slumber or sleep. When we fall asleep and wake up on the other side in glory we will for sure be “satisfied with Your presence.” Nothing more will matter. Someone put it this way. “When I awake on the other side of death, I shall be saturated with You forever!” What a thought!
“What others value, I resign,
Lord, ’tis enough that thou art mine.
I shall behold thy blessed face
And stand complete in righteousness.”
–Isaac Watts
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This Day in the Texas Revolution: Sam Houston is appointed commander of all Texas forces. Santa Anna holds a council of war with his generals.