“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah.”
~ Psalm 62:8
Hi James and Ellen,
Are there mornings when you would just like to stay in bed? Are there days when you would just like to stay home from school? Are there times when you would just like to sit and do absolutely nothing? Are there moments when you would just like everyone to go away? Are there mornings when you do not want to get out of bed because you are just tired of the same old routine? Are there days when you do not want to go to school because you are just tired of being around the same kids? Are there times when you do not want to do absolutely anything because you are just tired of not being appreciated? Are there moments when you want everyone to just go away because even God seems to have forgotten you? Do you sometimes feel like life is beating up on you, that kids at your school are telling lies about you, that the only way to get ahead is to steal and that you have no value to anyone? By the time that David scribed Psalm 62, David was an old codger. David’s words in this psalm song – which David wrote for Jeduthun – who was the director of music, was to possibly have the temple choir sing as a couched appeal to God to help him. David’s words in this psalm song seem to imply that he was unto a conspiracy to dethrone him from being the king over the Israelite people groups guys and gals. David’s words in this psalm song communicate an absolute trust in God. David’s words in this psalm song were directed to an enemy – in a metaphoric way, who was trying to knock down a leaning wall or a tottering fence – the leaning wall or the tottering fence being himself in a fragile state of health. David admits in this psalm song that he does not have the strength any longer to fight an enemy, that he is physically weak and that he is a pushover for a guy who wants to get rid of him. The only recourse that David still had left in life was to unreservedly acknowledge God as being his only hope to save him from the conspirator who were wanting to eliminate him.
What do you do when things get really overwhelming? What do you do when everything seems to be going against you? What do you do when no one is there to help you? God has embedded all kinds of different life lessons into the timeframe that He designed for you to live in on planet Earth that are to teach you how to have an enduring trust in Him. God has planned all kinds of different life scenarios around you to teach you how to have an undying faith in Him. God has staged all kinds of different beings to cross your life paths to teach you how unworthy you are to receive His touches of mercy that has Him keeping you safe and secure in His strong, caring arms for His sake. Now that your grandpaa has reached his old codger life stage, your grandpaa can speak from his life experiences as to what it is like to not have the energy or not to feel like wanting to get out of bed in the morning, to not have the desire or not to feel the passion to go to the mission office each day, to not have the driving motivation or not to feel the inner prompting to do more than to just sit and watch TV and to not have the sense or not to feel the presence of God – as God the Spirit, always animating him with a peace spirit that is continually telling him that everything is okay. Your grandpaa can very easily let a bemoaning spirit take control of his thoughts. The bemoaning spirit likes to tell your grandpaa that his nearly thirty years of missionary preparation, living and ministry have very little if any value to his mission agency; that his mission agency only wants him around to satisfactorily maintain the tasks that they have assigned him to do. Your grandpaa is quite confident that he can maintain quite satisfactorily pretty much any tasks that are assigned to him to do; your grandpaa still feels a sense of devaluation because his mission agency does not seem to want to tap into the nearly thirty years of cross-cultural learning experiences – through all kinds of ministry venues, that he and your grandmaa have had. The servitude spirit often tries to remind your grandpaa that God is still going to accept without reservation whatever he and your grandmaa do because whatever it is that they do, it is precisely what God – as God the Father, – before He created the cosmos, put in their life plans to do, but . . .
Operations and/or injuries are life lesson opportunities to grasp how God unfolds His will. Your grandmaa about this time last year had an operation. The operation was not to be life threatening. The operation became life threatening when the doctor who did your grandmaa’s surgeries could not stop your grandmaa’s internal bleeding. After your grandmaa was given two liters of blood, the bleeding finally stopped. It took several months for your grandmaa to finally recover from her surgeries – surgeries that were done to supposedly help or to insure that your grandmaa would have the chance to live a better and a longer quality of life. Your grandmaa almost five months ago now broke her right radius right at the wrist – blowing out her wrist. Your grandmaa probably will never have the full use of her right hand again. Your grandmaa’s recovery from falling down and breaking her right wrist has been complicated because of an arthritic condition that has been causing her finger joints to swell – which in turn has limited her ability to move her fingers. (It is now over sixteen years since your grandpaa wrote this missive. Your grandmaa almost three years ago had shingles on the right side of her head. Your grandmaa experienced unbearable headaches for weeks. Your grandmaa right now has sciatica that has been causing her excruciating pain.) Sometimes your grandmaa has been a little discouraged but even then, your grandmaa knows that God is her rock, her fortress and her salvation and that there is no reason for her to worry. Your grandpaa on the other hand is fighting to live the words of verse 8, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah.”
Psalm 62 (691)