“But I trust in your unfailing love: my heart rejoices in your salvation.”
~ Psalm 13:5
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever gone through or experienced bleak despair? Have you ever been in the ‘pits’? Has there been a time when absolutely nothing has gone right for you? How do you feel when you fail a test that you thought that you had passed? How do you think a guy or gal feels when he or she is fired from a job that he or she thought that he or she was doing well at doing? How do you think a guy or gal feels – who has done all that he or she can do to stay in good health, when after his or her doctor had medical tests done on him or her, the doctor tells the guy or gal that he or she has a very short time to live? Have you ever had days when it seemed like you were tripping over everything, knocking everything over and everything that you were trying to do was not working? Your grandpaa remembers his dad having one of those times when everything went suddenly wrong. Your grandpaa was around your age James the day when he saw his dad hurrying home – on foot, from the strip of land that was his that was located between the dirt road that went north and south on the west side of the house where your grandpaa grew up as a kid and along the east side of Lake Goldsmith. Your grandpaa’s dad was doing fieldwork with one of his tractors in the field when the wiring on the tractor that your grandpaa’s dad was using caught on fire. Your grandpaa’s dad had just reached the other side of the barbed wire fence where your dad’s Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Deanne years later would build their dream house when your grandpaa’s dad realized that his tractor was on fire. When your grandpaa’s dad saw that his tractor was burning, your grandpaa’s dad hurried as fast as he could back to his house – which was a little over a quarter of a mile away, where he quickly wet a couple of burlap bags. Your grandpaa’s dad was planning to use the wet burlap bags to try to put out the fire that was burning around the spark plug wires on his tractor. Your grandpaa remembers watching his dad hurrying to get into his tan Nash Ambassador – which looked like an upside bathtub, quickly backing up the Nash Ambassador to turn around and then spinning the Nash Ambassador’s tires to leave as fast as he could to get back with the wet burlap bags to the burning tractor. As your grandpaa’s dad mashed down on his Nash Ambassador’s accelerator pedal to get back to his burning tractor, your grandpaa’s dad ‘blew out’ his Nash Ambassador’s transmission. Your grandpa’s dad had to go back as fast as he could by foot to his burning tractor – carrying the wet burlap bags, to try to put out the fire that was burning the wiring on the tractor that he was using. Your grandpaa’s dad did save his tractor from being burned up by the fire. If your grandpaa is remembering correctly, your grandpaa’s dad only needed to replace the spark plug wires on the tractor as the wires had burned. Instead of repairing the Nash Ambassador’s transmission, your grandpaa’s dad pulled the Nash Ambassador to the grove of trees that is located to the north of the house where your grandpaa grew up as a kid. Your grandpaa’s dad bought a brand new blue Nash Rambler to replace his undriveable tan Nash Ambassador.
Your grandpaa does not remember his dad bemoaning afterwards about his tractor having caught on fire or his car having broken down. Your grandpaa remembers his dad being a realist or pragmatist versus being a pessimist or an optimist. There were some days when your grandpaa’s dad would get migraine headaches so bad that he had to stay in bed. When your grandpaa’s dad had a migraine headache, your grandpaa and his bros and sisters had to be really quiet around the house. Even though your grandpaa’s dad had some things happen as a farmer which could have caused him to become really discouraged – such as a bad hailstorm doing a number on his corn fields or fields of oats or the price going down for selling the pigs that he raised or cream that he sold or machinery breaking down in the middle of a harvest or . . . your grandpaa’s dad would just keep plugging along without ever going into debt. Even though your grandpaa’s dad would at times have a bad migraine headache that could have resulted in him to become depressed, your grandpaa’s dad would just get out bed without complaining to take care of the daily chores that needed to be done.
David – in Psalm 13, did some serious crying to God for His help for a grave illness that was threatening his life – which if the illness caused him to die; it would make his enemies very happy. This despairing psalm song that David authored is David’s anguished complaint to God about an apparent prolonged, serious ailment that seemed to have had him stuck in the ‘pits’. David communicates in this psalm song thinking that God has totally forgotten him, has completely given up on him and has for whatever reason hidden His face from him. David communicates in this psalm song wondering how long he has to – without God’s help, wrestle with his thoughts, carry the sorrow that he has in his heart and have his enemies’ triumph over him. David communicates in this psalm song pleading with God to look at him, answer him and give him just enough light to see what is ahead of him. David communicates in this psalm song wanting to sing praises to God for His kindness. In spite of all the hopeless, despairing, desponding life experiences that God – as God the Father, took David through, David still would claim what verse 5 says, “But I trust in your unfailing love: my heart rejoices in your salvation.” If you are now pulling a David, you have gotten into always asking God for His help no matter how terrible that you are feeling, no matter how many things have gone wrong that you have tried to do and no matter all the corruption and immorality that is happening around you.
Psalm 13 (882)