The Broken Heart of Faith

Do not hide Your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. - Psalm 143:7b

We learn so many lessons when we read the Psalms that are credited to David. I don't think, (perhaps Job) there is a biblical character for me who seems more human than this man. Actually, I don't think I would deeply understand the depths of God's mercy and grace, love and acceptance if there was no David. In David we find a man who time and again broke the most cardinal of our laws and who had the capacity to appear the most rebellious in God's site. Yet, in David, we find a man, though full of fault also was powerful and virtually so until the very end of his life.

David provides for you and I a peek into the window of a man's life that walked with God with great emotion in victory. And, in defeat we see deep into his troubled and tortured soul.

Here's a little known fact (Perhaps you knew) David never lost a battle throughout his many years of serving as king of Israel. In many of the Psalms, David often lamented about the difficult places where God had placed him. He talked of his enemies and the need for God to deliver Him. He talked of God's everlasting love for him. You might suspect after years of victory that David would simply get comfortable with God giving him and his armies the victory.

He never did.

How do you suppose David came to the understanding time after time and year over year that he must seek God and that is was alright for him to go before God and explain to his Heavenly Father how strong, vast, angry and powerful those enemies were? We can look at the beginning of his formative times and one might suspect this could have created in David a loser's limp. After all, having been promised the kingdom, he next finds himself running, and for no small period of time; years, from the current king. Later in his life, the last 30 percent of it, David experiences horrible turmoil within his nuclear family. How does that speak of a loving, merciful, miraculous and healing God. Yes David's life gave him many reasons to lose all hope in a loving God. That however, was not who David was. He saw beyond the events.

David often began his Psalms in a place of discouragement and sounded as if he had lost all hope. However, he never ended one Psalm in defeat. Through the process of meditation, prayer and worship David always came to a place of internal victory in God by the end of his writing. David consistently placed his life in God's hands, knowing He would care for him and then obediently moved forward in the action set before him.

Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul. Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in You. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground - Psalm 143:8-10

You are a human. Humans get discouraged. God's people get discouraged. It is okay to be discouraged! More than this, discouragement, being heartsick, is part of the process of grieving and working through times of pain. Just always bring back to mind, like David, that God wants each of us to allow Him to walk with us in these places. If you find yourself in one of these places, do what David did. Ask God to show you the way and let Him bring the word of His unfailing love deep into the spirit He has restored within you!

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~