Monday, October 05, 2009

Difficult Faith

"Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday."

~ Psalm 37:4-6


Personal confession time. When I am tempted with faithlessness by believing God doesn't care, I want to fight that faithlessness back by saying, "How am I feeling in this moment?" or, "Am I really that sinful?" My feelings respond with "You are feeling like a wicked sinner." or, "Yes, you really are that sinful." My response to those feelings is to then try to change those feelings myself. Once my feelings have been brought in line, then I feel as though I am ready to delight in God and trust in him (because my feelings agree). But, is that what David prescribes?

Absolutely not.

Look at Psalm 37:4-6 again.

David contradicts my natural inclination. He says that I must simply trust God in the midst of difficulty and believe these truths:

1) God is worthy of my delighting in him (trusting in him and committing my lifestyle to him) - even, and especially, when "things" don't make sense.

THEN...

2) God will give me the desires of my heart

AND...

3) God will clearly bring about righteousness and justice in my life.

The reason I find much hope in this passage is because I tend to want to be the "approver" of what is right and what is wrong. If my feelings or even circumstances of life or the advice of many others lead me to a certain conclusion, I tend to want to go with that. But, this passage gives hope.

- I can't effectively change my desires (I must be dependent on God to do that in his timing).

- I can't make righteousness and justice spring out of my life (I must be dependent on God to do that in his timing).

So, what is my responsibility when I'm faced with temptations to sin, trials or difficulties of life? Trust. It's "that simple." But, it requires a death to self that I don't like. I want to know the plan. I want to "feel" on board with God. I want to create a righteousness of my own weaving.

What arrogance.

Graciously God has given me his righteous and good answers in His Word. I can truly trust him because he will take care of my feelings (and even the circumstances of life) in his good timing. The desires might not change immediately, but Jesus, the sum of all my desires has secured a hope for me that is inexpressible. And righteousness will be clearly revealed in my life because not only have I been forgiven, but I have been set free to a new life. So, it is all because of God's mercy through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that I can be a faithful follower of him.

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