Psalm 125
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore.
3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain
over the land allotted to the righteous,
for then the righteous might use
their hands to do evil.
4 Lord, do good to those who are good,
to those who are upright in heart.
5 But those who turn to crooked ways
the Lord will banish with the evildoers.
Peace be on Israel.
***
I have been finding out in this season of life that the "Lord giveth and taketh away." Where do I stand, I have been pondering, when things don't quite go the way I want them to or have planned? I have been brought back to the psalms the past few weeks and have been challenged in my study of Psalm 125 by whether or not I am placing my trust in the Lord or in the Lord's favor. Consider this thought:
David was the first to ascribe his prosperity to the Lord, but somewhere along the way he mistakenly placed his security in the blessing of God rather than God Himself. We often know enough not to ascribe our security to carnal, worldly things. Our greater and slyer temptation is to place our security in the blessings we readily credit to the Lord.
Even if our security is in something God has given us--our gifts, talents, loved ones, church family, consistent victory, passion for His Word--our seemingly secure mountain ultimately will fall into the sea. We can grow secure in the favor God has shown us, but God's favor and His person are not synonymous. If our trust is in manifestations of God's favor rather than God Himself, we will crumble like dry clay when He calls us to walk a distance of our journeys entirely by faith and not by sight (Beth Moore, Stepping Up).
What an incredible challenge this is in my heart. Do I trust in the Lord or have I come to trust primarily in His abundant blessings? Am I going to praise Him when circumstances are not as I would have them be and trust that His plan is much greater than mine? I was challenged in John Piper's daily devotional yesterday to this end:
We find the deepest meaning in life when our hearts freely go out of ourselves to admire God’s power, rather than turning inward to boast in our own — or even think about our own. We discover something overwhelming: It is profoundly satisfying not to be God, but to give up all thoughts or desires to be God.
In our giving heed to God’s power there rises up in us a realization that God created the universe for this: so that we could have the supremely satisfying experience of not being God, but admiring the Godness of God — the strength of God. There settles over us a peaceful realization that admiration of the infinite is the final, all-satisfying end of all things.
We tremble at the slightest temptation to claim any power as coming from us. God has made us weak to protect us from this: “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Oh, what love this is, that God would protect us from replacing the everlasting heights of admiring his power with the futile attempt to boast in our own! It is a great gladness not to be, but rather to see, God!
What does this mean for us? It means that when we have Christ in us, we can stand in awe of a God who can make our hearts thankful for circumstances that the world would otherwise despise. It means I can thank God for my MS--not because I like it but because I can see how He has worked it for good, how He has and is using it to conform me to the likeness of His Son, however hard that may be. If I had been in charge, I never would have chosen MS, but oh, the blessings I would have missed!
This morning the Lord took me to Daniel 3--to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And I sat in awe of the faith of these men who refused to bow to an idol even in the face of death. Who, with the blazing furnace standing ready to swallow them up in an instant, still told the king with conviction: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (Daniel 3: 17-18).
What faith, even in the midst of such dire circumstances to know that God CAN save them but might choose not to and "even if he does not...we will NOT serve your gods...." Oh, how challenging this is. What faith and abundant TRUST in the Lord.
So what furnace are you facing, dear reader? Perhaps it's not blazing--perhaps it's just a small fire. Or perhaps the flames are blazing so high you can barely get through the next minute. What will you do? Where will you place your trust?
Oh, how I pray that we might keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing that He is God and being so thankful we are not. May we pray that He will deliver us from it but may our souls truly resonate with this conviction: even if he does not, we will TRUST in the Lord with all our hearts. Our hope is not in this world or in our circumstances. Our hope and our trust are in the Lord. May the end of all of it be this: to see and revel in the Godness of God, as Piper puts it. To know that any power we have, any good, any success comes from God and God alone, and it is this same God who allows the trials and uses them for His glory and our good. May you "rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess. 5:16-18).