Psalm 143:1-12

There are times when we long to hear an answer from God and it seems like He is far away and that He does not hear our prayers at all.  Usually these are the times when we feel like we are in the biggest trouble and we need Him the most.  It is important that we remember that our feelings are very volatile and do not always reflect the reality of our situation or God’s attentions.  We must not become discouraged and give up seeking the Lord especially when we feel like it is not doing any good.  Our faith must take precedence over our feelings and we must trust Him to hear our prayers, keep His Word and accomplish His will.  There are two things mentioned in this passage that can help us to trust God in the midst of our trials.

REMEMBER GOD’S WORKS: When we look around us and see that we are surrounded by trouble and trials and there seems to be no hope of escape; we tend to project that hopelessness to the future and can become desperate.  David is in this situation.  He is surrounded by enemies who want to kill him and feel powerless to defend himself or escape.  He is calling out to the Lord but does not fell like God is hearing his prayers.  In fact he feels like God is judging him too.  He begs for God to have mercy on him and not judge him according to his own righteousness but to consider His faith in the Lord.  The first solution that he finds to combat these feelings of hopelessness is to begin remembering the works of the Lord in the past.  He begins to meditate on the faithfulness and power of God that he has experienced time and time again.  Times of trials are not the time to have bad memories.  We must remember to meditate on all that God has done in the past, project His faithfulness onto our futures and that will give us hope in the present.


REMAIN IN GOD’S WORD: When we feel like we are under duress and that God does not care for our situation it is very easy for us to begin to rationalize that we have the right to abandon the will of God because we feel like He has abandoned us.  This is terrible thinking and will only serve to complicate our situation.  We must rededicate ourselves to following God’s Word in the midst of trials.  God usually uses trials to help us understand His will and His Word more completely, so when we face trials we should imitate David’s prayer of asking to be taught the ways of the Lord.  Many times difficult circumstances are allowed in our lives in order to teach us and mold us into the servants that the Lord wants us to be.  The quicker we learn that lesson, the faster we may escape the trials.  We must be vigilant about obeying God’s Word and being sensitive to His will no matter how our feeling rage.  We will be tempted to begin rationalizing our sin but we must remain in God’s Word. 

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