Have you ever been in the place where you had nowhere else to go, where you were stuck in a corner with no way out? On Sunday Pastor Ron talked about the woman who was sick for twelve years and who desperately reached out to Jesus for help because she had nowhere else to turn to.
Another person that came to mind as I listened to Pastor Ron was King David since I am knee-deep in studying the second book of Samuel in the Bible. One of the things that impresses me about David is his almost-constant awareness that everything he has – all of his blessings, punishments, gifts and his power – is because of God and His grace. This is the key difference between his reign and the reign of King Saul, his predecessor.
When Saul sinned and did not truly confess, God took away his kingship and gave it to David. This did not happen right away. Over several years, Saul constantly threatened David’s safety and well-being in a bid to try to thwart God and preserve his dwindling hold on the kingdom of Israel.
During this dark time, David was a fugitive, constantly on the move to avoid assassination. A wanted man, he had no idea who he could trust. He was desperate, a feeling that comes through in a very real, raw way in the psalms that he wrote during this time. For instance, in Psalm 142, a psalm that was written when he was hiding in a desert cave, a place with only one way out, he writes, “Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.”
Even in his young age and in the predicament that he was in, David understood that he could only go to God for help and that God would help him out. God, he says in the same psalm, “is my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” Indeed, in the closing sentences of the psalm, he begs to be freed from being a fugitive so that he can go and praise God’s name to others and show them how good God is.
This, I think, is a wise attitude, one that we all should adopt as Christians regardless of where we are in life, comfortable or desperate. God is to be praised always. We need to be constantly looking to God and accept that God always has good in mind, both our own and the world’s, even if it doesn’t look or feel like it. All things work towards the praiseworthy glory of God.
Consider Heidelberg Catechism’s Q&A #28 that asks, “How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?” It is answered as such: “We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in God’s hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.”
So, friends, as effective as a clarion call towards God as desperation is, don’t let it be the ONLY thing that drives you closer towards God. Praise Him in lean and fat times, look to Him for clarity and wisdom, and thank Him for His grace in every molecule of the air that the world breathes.
-Matt
2 SamuelDaviddesperationGodgraceHeidelberg CatechismpraisePsalm
Praising God Any Time
March 27, 2014
Calvary
Comments Off on Praising God Any Time
Matt
Have you ever been in the place where you had nowhere else to go, where you were stuck in a corner with no way out? On Sunday Pastor Ron talked about the woman who was sick for twelve years and who desperately reached out to Jesus for help because she had nowhere else to turn to.
Another person that came to mind as I listened to Pastor Ron was King David since I am knee-deep in studying the second book of Samuel in the Bible. One of the things that impresses me about David is his almost-constant awareness that everything he has – all of his blessings, punishments, gifts and his power – is because of God and His grace. This is the key difference between his reign and the reign of King Saul, his predecessor.
When Saul sinned and did not truly confess, God took away his kingship and gave it to David. This did not happen right away. Over several years, Saul constantly threatened David’s safety and well-being in a bid to try to thwart God and preserve his dwindling hold on the kingdom of Israel.
During this dark time, David was a fugitive, constantly on the move to avoid assassination. A wanted man, he had no idea who he could trust. He was desperate, a feeling that comes through in a very real, raw way in the psalms that he wrote during this time. For instance, in Psalm 142, a psalm that was written when he was hiding in a desert cave, a place with only one way out, he writes, “Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.”
Even in his young age and in the predicament that he was in, David understood that he could only go to God for help and that God would help him out. God, he says in the same psalm, “is my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” Indeed, in the closing sentences of the psalm, he begs to be freed from being a fugitive so that he can go and praise God’s name to others and show them how good God is.
This, I think, is a wise attitude, one that we all should adopt as Christians regardless of where we are in life, comfortable or desperate. God is to be praised always. We need to be constantly looking to God and accept that God always has good in mind, both our own and the world’s, even if it doesn’t look or feel like it. All things work towards the praiseworthy glory of God.
Consider Heidelberg Catechism’s Q&A #28 that asks, “How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?” It is answered as such: “We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in God’s hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.”
So, friends, as effective as a clarion call towards God as desperation is, don’t let it be the ONLY thing that drives you closer towards God. Praise Him in lean and fat times, look to Him for clarity and wisdom, and thank Him for His grace in every molecule of the air that the world breathes.
-Matt
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2 SamuelDaviddesperationGodgraceHeidelberg CatechismpraisePsalm