“O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent. Do not be far from me O Lord.”
~ Psalm 35:22
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you talk to God or with God? Do you talk to or with your ma and/or your dad? Because you cannot see God, it is easier to think of talking to Him. Because you can see your ma and/or your dad, it is easier to think of talking with them. Does God want you to talk to Him or with Him? Your grandpaa wants you to think about God in the context of what God’s created relationship is with you. You have an earthly father and a Heavenly Father. God is your Heavenly Father. If what you say shows respect and not a lack of respect, you can talk the same way with your Heavenly Father as you would with your earthly father. Ask your dad what respect means. It really is very important that you always talk to and with your Heavenly Father. You are talking to and with your Heavenly Father when you pray. God – as your Heavenly Father, is the One who has every life answer for you. You do not have to fold your hands and close your eyes to talk to or with God. You can talk to or with God as you work, as you have fun, as you sit, as you walk, as you . . . God does not expect you to say words out loud as you talk to and with Him. God always knows what your heart is saying. God also always knows what your mind is thinking. Nothing can be hid from God. Do you know why nothing can be hid from God? Who do you think allows love, compassion, thankfulness, hope, peace, patience, joy, pride, anger, hate, etc., to be in your hearts? Who do you think allows dreams, ambitions, plans, fears, etc. to be in your minds? Your Heavenly Father allows these desires and these thoughts. God also allows the enemy to mess with your hearts and with your minds. Your enemy is Satan. Your enemy Satan will sometimes get you to become angrier and angrier. Your enemy Satan will sometimes get you to become more and more ambitious for prestige, power and position. Your enemy will sometimes get you to become more and more fearful of what is happening around you. Your grandmaa and grandpaa want you to never ever forget that your Heavenly Father has already given you the victory over every bad thing that your enemy Satan wants to embed in your hearts and minds.
Do you know how many Psalms that there are? There are 150 Psalms. The Psalms Book has more chapters in it than there are in any other book in the Bible. The Psalm authors talk to and with God. There are some Psalms where the writer of the Psalm is imploring God for His help. Psalm 35 is one of those Psalms. David uses this song that he wrote to God to plead with God for His help. David’s enemies at this time were getting ready to destroy him. David felt completely trapped by his enemies. David feared that his enemies were getting the victory – as they were ruining him. David does not like it that his enemies are happy with what is taking place in his life. Your grandpaa just had something very interesting happen which reminded your grandpaa again that God is always in total control of every situation. Your grandpaa’s mission agency in Guatemala – Equipo SEPAL, yesterday morning presented the results of a countrywide survey to over 100 Guatemalan church leaders, seminary and Bible school directors and the local Christian news media that identified the percentage of evangelical Christ-followers in Guatemala. Your grandpaa had to greet every guy and gal who showed up for this meeting and then your grandpaa had to thank every guy and gal at the end of this meeting for coming. Your grandpaa never dreamed that he would one day end up doing something like what your grandpaa just did. Your grandpaa last week presented the same survey information to a smaller group of Guatemalan church leaders. One of the guys who attended last week’s meeting is the President of the umbrella entity – ALIANZA, for the majority of the different Guatemalan evangelical organizations. This guy communicated last week not accepting the survey’s results. The survey was done by your grandpaa’s mission’s field ministry team. Your grandpaa had the responsibility for giving the go ahead for the survey, for funding the survey and for setting the dates for presenting the survey’s results. Your grandpaa knows that do not have a clue what your grandpaa is saying to you now but later – as you get older, your grandpaa hopes that you will appreciate this story. The ALIANZA President made a trip to the U.S. after last week’s meeting. Roger is a Southern Baptist Mission missionary. Roger is who wanted to do the survey. Roger asked your grandpaa’s mission instead of his own mission to help him with his survey. After the survey was completed, Roger flew to the U.S. where he spent about a month. Roger’s plans had him leading the meeting that took place yesterday morning. Your grandpaa was to pick up Roger from the airport the day before yesterday’s meeting. Roger called your grandpaa early the day before yesterday to tell your grandpaa that he had been bumped from his flight to Guatemala. Roger told your grandpaa that he hoped that he would be able to make it to Guatemala on yesterday’s flight. When Roger finally sat down in his seat on the plane on his flight from Miami to Guatemala, who do you think was sitting in the seat right next to Roger’s seat? Edmundo Madrid was sitting in the seat right next to Roger’s seat. Edmundo Madrid is ALIANZA’s President. Edmundo Madrid was the guy who was not totally convinced of the viability or the validity of the countrywide survey. Roger was able to talk about the survey with Edmundo Madrid on the flight all the way from Miami to Guatemala – at which time Roger was able to answer a lot of Edmundo Madrid’s questions.
David knew that God sees everything. David wrote in verse 22 “O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent. Do not be far from me O Lord.” If David can talk to or with God like this, there is no reason at all why you cannot talk to or with God as David did. Just as God would help David, your Heavenly Father will help you with your concerns.
Psalm 35 (73)