Life's Deals!

Life's Deals!

Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become restless and disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. PSALM 42:11 AMP

Questions, questions!. Answers are difficult to come by, because the problem at hand is not one with conventional or usual answers. The Psalmist in today's extract has simply put into words the general state of mind of almost all of the world's human population. Everywhere you turn to in this adulterous and sinful generation, sin is the order of the day. Everywhere you turn to in these strange times, men seem to mock God and dare him to challenge or stop them. 

In this context do the sons of Korah pen down these words. They remembered the good old days; they remembered the days when God's hand was visible in and around them, and they rejoiced as they went to His house to worship. Now, trouble had come, and those things they probably took for granted had been taken away. 

It is the same in this generation too: men find the path of least resistance when it comes to serving God. As long as it is not convenient or in line with his plan, man finds it convenient to just do away with Godly commitments. However, one thing is clear from today's extract: trouble doesn't change who God is; it only tests the quality of my faith and dependence on God. 

No wonder the writers here made their choice so clear: they spoke to themselves and in the light of the past experiences of God's faithfulness, charged their souls to remain focused on God. Storms will come, doubt will speak, winds will blow, strange voices will speak, the devil will roar, but yet, none of these will matter if my soul is fully anchored on Christ. This anchor bit is very important because it is the one thing that will keep you sane when everything else falls to pieces.

Hope in God never fails. The world may have you believe the gospel of self help and manual labour, but God does not need my help to prove that he is God. If I can hold on to Him, he will come through for me. If I can depend absolutely on his power, grace and mercy, I will have cause to smile. 

Things may not end up the way I planned them, but they will always end up right, because God is in charge. After all, the life I live is his, not mine, so it must reflect his glory if it must be lived right. His time of favour is here.