The Faithfulness of God
Your hand made me and fashioned me;
Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous,
And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
O may Your lovingkindness comfort me,
According to Your word to Your servant.
May Your compassion come to me that I may live,
For Your law is my delight.
Psalm 119:73, 75-77
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
Psalm 91:4
Not long ago I was feeling external pressure from conflict at work. I know, that’s my business but this pressure was from someone I supervise. Pressure is my co-therapist when I’m working with clients. But I like things to flow with people I work with. And for all the conflict I deal with, I really don’t like it in my personal life. This was the first time that I can recall having an enemy without cause simply because of the position of authority I was in. I like to get along. I’m easy to get along with…as long as you are walking in integrity.
So I had to address this personal attack. It was a very humbling experience not because I felt threatened but because for the first time I looked into an arrogant, intentional rebellion that was evil – evil in the since of total unwillingness to humble himself. (I don’t consider this person “evil” but deceived and building a total paradigm on that deception.) I struggle to articulate this because it is still a very raw experience. It caused me to see myself and be broken before an awesome and holy God. I had done nothing wrong. I was confronting wrong in others. But it shook me to see how a person could get so far off as to call evil good and good evil. And “but for the grace of God go I.”
The passage that came to mind is Ps. 91:4. Father’s faithfulness is my protection regardless of what I face. It is something completely outside of myself. I cannot conjure it up or speak some incantation to summon it. It is totally His doing and it is marvelous in our sight.
Currently I am experiencing an internal pressure. Father is equally involved with internal pressures. My experience with Father is that He is not wasteful. He uses every smidgen of time, energy, and resources to complete the circumstance for His glory. His word does not return to Him void. What is working in those around me is equally working in me to burn away the flesh. Some are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction and some are vessels of mercy prepared for glory. Pharaoh was raised up to demonstrate the power and Name of God. So was Moses. Each felt the affliction of God equally. Each had a choice to make. Each made their choice. Each ate of the fruit of their choice.
We all have choices. I’m looking from this side of the mosaic and not addressing the sovereignty of God in our choices. This is not a theological debate. The point is that affliction is a raw commodity that we all have. We all go to the mines of personal experience and work. Some work out of drudge and regret wasting their sorrows, while others recognize the precious ore they are mining. David was able to say, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” I doubt he said this while mining the ore. On second thought, being familiar with his writings and his heart, he probably did say it while in the depths of the mine. These comments were made in context of feeling the pressure of a personal attack and external circumstances. Yet in Ps. 119:75 he identifies the faithfulness of God in his affliction. He is faithful to inflict affliction. But for what purpose? Maybe it’s because we are the ore.
Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous,
And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
O may Your lovingkindness comfort me,
According to Your word to Your servant.
May Your compassion come to me that I may live,
For Your law is my delight.
Psalm 119:73, 75-77
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
Psalm 91:4
Not long ago I was feeling external pressure from conflict at work. I know, that’s my business but this pressure was from someone I supervise. Pressure is my co-therapist when I’m working with clients. But I like things to flow with people I work with. And for all the conflict I deal with, I really don’t like it in my personal life. This was the first time that I can recall having an enemy without cause simply because of the position of authority I was in. I like to get along. I’m easy to get along with…as long as you are walking in integrity.
So I had to address this personal attack. It was a very humbling experience not because I felt threatened but because for the first time I looked into an arrogant, intentional rebellion that was evil – evil in the since of total unwillingness to humble himself. (I don’t consider this person “evil” but deceived and building a total paradigm on that deception.) I struggle to articulate this because it is still a very raw experience. It caused me to see myself and be broken before an awesome and holy God. I had done nothing wrong. I was confronting wrong in others. But it shook me to see how a person could get so far off as to call evil good and good evil. And “but for the grace of God go I.”
The passage that came to mind is Ps. 91:4. Father’s faithfulness is my protection regardless of what I face. It is something completely outside of myself. I cannot conjure it up or speak some incantation to summon it. It is totally His doing and it is marvelous in our sight.
Currently I am experiencing an internal pressure. Father is equally involved with internal pressures. My experience with Father is that He is not wasteful. He uses every smidgen of time, energy, and resources to complete the circumstance for His glory. His word does not return to Him void. What is working in those around me is equally working in me to burn away the flesh. Some are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction and some are vessels of mercy prepared for glory. Pharaoh was raised up to demonstrate the power and Name of God. So was Moses. Each felt the affliction of God equally. Each had a choice to make. Each made their choice. Each ate of the fruit of their choice.
We all have choices. I’m looking from this side of the mosaic and not addressing the sovereignty of God in our choices. This is not a theological debate. The point is that affliction is a raw commodity that we all have. We all go to the mines of personal experience and work. Some work out of drudge and regret wasting their sorrows, while others recognize the precious ore they are mining. David was able to say, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” I doubt he said this while mining the ore. On second thought, being familiar with his writings and his heart, he probably did say it while in the depths of the mine. These comments were made in context of feeling the pressure of a personal attack and external circumstances. Yet in Ps. 119:75 he identifies the faithfulness of God in his affliction. He is faithful to inflict affliction. But for what purpose? Maybe it’s because we are the ore.
posted by brent at 11:53 AM
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