Echoes From the Campfire

You can’t run away from a difficulty.  You have to face it…  With the help of your friends.”
                –William MacLeod Raine  (Challenge to Danger)

       “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.”
                –Proverbs 29:25  (NKJV)
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I’m not one to believe in luck, but have you ever thought the thoughts of that infamous song that go, “If I had no bad luck, I’d have no luck at all”?  Sometimes we are our worst enemy, but at other times the devil comes roaring at us, and then there are people–people who seem to want to see you go down.  That must have been the thoughts of David as he penned these verses of the 31st Psalm.

    6 – I hate those who are devoted to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord.
    7 – I will rejoice and be glad in Your faithful love because You have seen my affliction.  You have known the troubles of my life
    8 – and have not handed me over to the enemy.  You have set my feet in a spacious place.
    9 – Be gracious to me, Lord, because I am in distress; my eyes are worn out from angry sorrow—my whole being as well.
   10 – Indeed, my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my strength has failed because of my sinfulness, and my bones waste away.
   11 – I am ridiculed by all my adversaries and even by my neighbors.  I am dreaded by my acquaintances; those who see me in the street run from me.
   12 – I am forgotten: gone from memory like a dead person—like broken pottery.
   13 – I have heard the gossip of many; terror is on every side.  When they conspired against me, they plotted to take my life. (HCSB)

    When you read these verses, you might say, “What’s the use?”  They sound like the words of a country song, I’m just like a piece of broken pottery.  Everywhere I turn there is trouble.
    However, right at the beginning he presents the answer to anything or person that he might face.  In spite of it all “I trust in the Lord.”  God knows all about the issues of our life; He cares about every aspect of our life.  Do not despair.  The enemy of our soul wants us down and out, in the pit, but the Lord Jesus will not allow this to happen.  He will not turn us over to the devil.  Nothing can pluck us our of His hand and the good work He had begun in us will be completed.  Take that to the bank of eternity.
    Perhaps, one of the most terrible feelings in the world is the feeling of uselessness.  We have to realize that until the day of our departure from this earth there is something for us to be doing.  Sure, because of age, infirmities, situations of life, things must change we must adapt to those changes.  However, even the man on his death bed can still pray.  Ministry/service to the Lord changes as life changes.
    This is a good Psalm in this day of terror; this day of confusion.  We will not be forsaken.  When we have a “down day” and we need encouragement remember this Psalm.  When we need encouragement the most often we may have been forgotten, but…the Lord is there, trust Him.

         “Whate’er your sacred will ordains
          Oh, give me strength to bear.
          Let me but know my Father reigns
          And trust his tender care.”
                 –Anne Steele

Remember to give thanks for something today.