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Psalms 18:1-3
The LORD Is My Rock and My Fortress
TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, WHO ADDRESSED THE WORDS OF THIS SONG TO THE LORD ON THE DAY WHEN THE LORD DELIVERED HIM FROM THE HAND OF ALL HIS ENEMIES, AND FROM THE HAND OF SAUL. HE SAID:
I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
Psalms 18:31-36
For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?—the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great.
You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip.
This is beautiful praise that King David renders to the Lord, but the beauty of the praise and its depth are found in the struggle. Just like us, where there is no struggle, no wrestling with fear, insecurity, no Goliaths to defeat, the praise is shallow, lacking sincerity. However, not so when by God’s might we together face and slay our Goliaths. Do you have a Goliath that needs slaying? Have you picked out your 3 smooth stones (as David did when preparing to meet Goliath) verses that speak God’s truth to you and build up your confidence in the Lord? These verses encourage us in the fight, now in faith sling them and watch your Goliath fall…. , and many times they do, but what happens if he doesn’t fall? David felt like that too…. For we have seasons of victory and we have seasons of enduring, seeming defeats but these are all used for the making of a soldier, a son or daughter who one day will hear the voice of the Father saying, this is my son, my daughter in whom I am well pleased.
Psalms 13:1-4
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
This is when faith draws a line and says, despite what my eyes see, despite what my heart feels, and despite what advances the enemy is making, I will trust in my God, for He is still on the Throne. This takes guts, like Mesach, Shadrach and Abednego.
Daniel 3:13-18
Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands( the arrogance of man).Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter ( or translated, we do not need to be careful how we answer you). If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set.
Jesus himself came and stood with them in the furnace. Extreme circumstances require extreme intervention, and Jesus was up for it. Saving those that were so bold as to declare their faith in the face of the world’s most powerful man at their peril speaks to their relationship with God, it was deep. We make no claim to understand all of God’s ways. The claim we do make is that we know the person of our God ( hence the importance of spending time with Him). His ways are his ways, but Who He Is and His Love for us is fully know. The Cross is the defining answer for all of our trials. It is the beginning, middle and final word for all that seeks to cause me fear, anxiety, pain, or doubt. We know that what He does and or allows is always from a heart that loves you and I and seeks to bring us closer to Him; especially in the painful trials.
These challenging events in particular, are the ones where the enemy comes and says, “ if He really loves you, then why?” But just as Meshach and his companions stood, we too can stand. I do not know the why of these events, but I do know The Who that I need to turn to. I also know that God keeps His promises and has given us precious promises to hang onto. We are to know them and and use them as David used the stones in his sling to kill Goliath. My single most beautiful promise that I use and have shared and kills every Goliath or keeps him at bay is in Proverbs,
Proverbs 3:5-9
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;
Another favorite verse often quoted without understanding the depth of its truth is Romans 8:28,
“KNOW that ALL things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose” Romans 8:28.
This verse is know so well know around Christian circles, just like John 3:16 “ For God so love that He gave…” that it almost has no meaning, not until you need it, then it means everything. “According to His purpose,” simply means living in His will. There’s a lot of stupid stuff that can happen to us when we are out of His will, but when in obedience stuff happens to us we can have the assurance that it will work out for our good. And when stuff happens because we were doing our own thing, the best response is repentance and then obedience because He will go through the problems with us.
Next question, do the events in my life define God, or does God define the events in my life? For example, everything is going really good, then that must mean God is good; or conversely, my life is awful, that must mean either God doesn’t care and or I am not important to Him. So many of us define God by our personal life experiences. If that’s you, then your God is too small. A Big God equals small problems, a small God equals big problems. So the question is, will life events determine my relationship to God, or will His Cross speak a better word?
Job had this decision to make as well, and his life was pre Cross, pre Christ. He had a period in his life that was horrific. None of us have been through what he went through. So many of us would have forsaken Christ. Yet Job without the aid of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of the Cross stayed the course. Listen to what he says and understand that his body is covered in boils and “his friends” are continually condemning him. In their theology if your right with God, God promises an abundant life free from harm. So with Job being in absolute misery, he had to have done something terribly wrong. “ His friends” accused him of being stubborn and prideful for his refusal to admit his error. It is not till much much later of this ordeal does God intervene on Job’s behalf; all the while Job being in excruciating pain. They finally understood that they were wrong, very, very wrong. God was proving a point to satan and refining Job in the process.
Job 13:13-18
“Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may. Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
and put my life in my hand? Though he slay me, I will still hope ( trust) in him; I will argue my ways to his face.
This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him. Keep listening to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears. Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right.
Job was sure if he could just talk to God that God would understand that Job was innocent, yet his trust was still intact, amazing.
Job 19:9-11 (God has cornered him)
He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head.He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree. He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary.
Job 19:13-17 (he literally has no one)
“He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me.
The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
What he’s enduring is off the charts, pain-wise as well as emotionally. Not being able to understand why a loving and merciful God is allowing this, but even worse, not even his family or his servants respect him.
Job 19:23-25
“Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book, Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
“ For I know that my Redeemer lives, and though He slays me I will yet praise Him” such a deep deep trust, you want to say to Job what planet do you live on? Who possesses such a faith, such a trust in a God who seems to be your adversary. Job’s depth and knowledge of God is profound. He knows that He knows God, he does not know why God has allowed these horrific events to occur to him, but because he knows God’s character, he is able to trust that God’s dealings are not without purpose. God cannot and will not violate who He is, it’s literally impossible.
Too many of us allow our situations to determine and define who God is to us. Situations, be they good, neutral or bad do not define God. How shallow and egocentric of us to allow our situation to define God. He honors us by coming into our lives through faith in Christ, coming into our mess; many times created by our own doing. If we invite Him in, then we play by His rules. Done with a life ruled by self interest and wants, we now seek to give Him a heart unmixed with the desires and wants of the world; we seek to give Him a life of purity and holiness and by His Grace and Holy Spirit we can live a redeemed and sanctified life.
Jeremiah’s 29:11-13
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for your good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart ( He’s worthy of whole heart devotion, He gave us His whole heart).
I liken God’s promises to life preservers. When we are drowning with life’s challenges and problems as Job was, it’s HIS WORD THAT WE TRUST. IT BECOMES OUR LIFE PRESERVER THAT KEEPS US FROM DROWNING AND OUR ANCHOR IN THE STORM THAT KEEPS US FROM BEING SMASHED AGAINST THE ROCKS OF HATRED, BITTERNESS, UNFORGIVENESS, FEAR, WORRY AND THE LIKE THAT CAN CONSUME A LIFE. Job’s life preserver and anchor was his knowledge of God. He knew that he knew God . The profound beauty and truth of Job is that his circumstances, though severe on all levels of life, did not define God. He didn’t understand his circumstances, but that still did not change who God was just because he didn’t understand. Could we do that? So many of us define God by what we can understand.
Job 38:1-7
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
(God goes on for three chapters questioning Job, and when done, Job replies).
Job 40:1-5
And the LORD said to Job:
“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
Then Job answered the LORD and said:
“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”
A couple of chapters later after The Lord completes His questioning of Job, Job answers…and with Job’s answer this concludes God’s dialog with Job.
Job 42:1-3
Then Job answered the LORD and said:“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
The Lord now goes after Job’s friends.
Job 42:7-8
After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
This is an amazing account of one on one with the Lord. It’s been a while since I have been in the book of Job and after reading these accounts, I feel like despite what happens here I feel the steel of the Holy Spirit in me and I know that whatever happens we, you and me, will have more than enough to conquer life’s challenges. Amen
Psalms 13:5-6
But I have trusted in your steadfast love;my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
This is the attitude that is required of all saints. A Job attitude will enable us to prevail in this life, and without it, we will only be marginal believers; saved yes, but without stories of praise.
May we be strong in these difficult times….Merry Christmas, the truth of that first Christmas day is the strong hope we all should carry. God Bless you all.