So dark out there, if a feller lit a match, he’d probably have to light a second one to see if the first one was actually burning.”
–J. Lee Butts (Written in Blood)
“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness—how deep is that darkness!”
–Matthew 6:23 (HCSB)
————————-
I trust you contemplated the first part of Psalm 18 that I left with you last Monday. I hesitated to copy the second portion as it is a little longer, but then I looked at it and there is so much that David faced and passed on to us. Take time to go back over this portion of the Psalm. It will definitely bring you comfort and assurance. Psalm 18:7-19 HCSB:
7 Then the earth shook and quaked; the foundations of the mountains trembled; they shook because He burned with anger.
8 Smoke rose from His nostrils, and consuming fire came from His mouth; coals were set ablaze by it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down, a dark cloud beneath His feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His hiding place, dark storm clouds His canopy around Him.
12 From the radiance of His presence, His clouds swept onward with hail and blazing coals.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven; the Most High projected His voice.
14 He shot His arrows and scattered them; He hurled lightning bolts and routed them.
15 The depths of the sea became visible, the foundations of the world were exposed, at Your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
16 He reached down from heaven and took hold of me; He pulled me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my distress, but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out to a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.
Jerome, wrote this about this portion of Psalm 18, “Because we are little and lowly and unstable to lift ourselves up to Him, the Lord stoops down to us and in his compassionate kindness deigns to hear us. In fact, because we are people and cannot become gods, God became man and inclined Himself, as it is written: ‘He bowed the heavens also and came down.'”
God knows our need. He knows it better than we do. We might want this or that to happen when we are in adversity, but because He is all wise, and if we submit to His wisdom and will the provides what is right. The Almighty is on our side. Read this section over again and see the power of God and note that it is at work in our lives.
He will reach down and rescue us. He knows when and how. He saves us when we are at our weakest. For some reason, we simple and sinful men think we can handle all our problems. Yet, we cannot see behind the veil into the spiritual. God allows us to expend our energy and strength, and then when we are weak He shows His strength.
I think it is often hard for us to comprehend that He is on our side. We sin, we repent and then fail again. But yet, the Almighty takes delight in us. In the midst of our catastrophe, whether physical or spiritual, whether the fault of others or self-induced He still delights in us.
It will be a terrible day when the Lord finally does away with our true enemy. Remember, friend, today is the day of salvation. Live and be glad in it.
—————————
This day in the Texas Revolution: Albert Horton’s cavalry and Urrea’s advance forces skirmish near Fort Defiance.