Pray when you feel bad.

But I, O LORD, cry to you;

in the morning my prayer comes before you.

Psalm 88:13

Psalm 88 is known as an “individual lament”. The only positive takeaways are this verse, the end of verse 9 which is also a commitment to pray, and the opening two verses which reveal a lamenting person praying and asking God to hear their prayers.

Every other part of this psalm is a depressing list of the pain of soul in which the lamenting person exists. Theirs is a soul that feel dead to joy, close to dying (Psalm 88:3-7). This is an overwhelming heaviness of soul, bearing feelings of God’s wrath, perhaps because of a sin committed against God as they wrestle with their guilt.

The lamenting person feels alone with no human companions to understand the pain they uniquely know (Psalm 88:8, 18). This brings a litany of questions to mind that are asked of God (Psalm 88:10-14). Do the dead know how to praise God? Do they remember His grace and faithfulness? Why had God hidden Himself and seemingly forgotten the pain for the lamenting person? The pain creates the questions.

These are all feelings, though. And in these bad feelings the soul in distress, filled with doubts of God’s faithfulness, overwhelmed by pain and emotion, feeling all alone, does the only spiritual act left... prayer. And when bad feelings overwhelm us, the best outlet we have is prayer to God. We let God know how it feels. We ask our questions, speak our pain, and start moving back to faith by prayer.

sovereign despite sin

Now then bring it about, for the Lord has promised David, saying, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies.’

2 Samuel 3:18

David was promised by God that he would rule over all of Israel. But this was a promise that took years to finally be known as true. For seven and a half years David ruled in Hebron, while the remnant of the house of Saul ruled most of Israel’s territory. This civil war was painful but part of the eventual plan to bring David to a unified kingdom. It took the long weariness of war, as the forces of Saul’s house grew weaker, for the events to lead to change (2 Samuel 3:1).

Eventually Abner, the lead general opposing David and the true power behind the throne of Saul’s house, realized the moral decay of Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son. Abner was accused by Ish-bosheth of a treason he did not commit, which led him to switch his allegiance to David. And using his political power and persuasion, Abner convened the elders of Israel and Benjamin to align themselves again as one nation ruled by David. The promise God made to David came true. God worked even in the messiness of human conflict and the murky dirtiness of human politics.

God will keep His promises. And He can do so despite human activity that seems counter-productive to His will. He will use the worst humans can do to one another and despite our fallenness, His will is done!

seeking and being found

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke 19:9-10

This is the response of Jesus to the legalistic judgmentalism of the religious crowd and to the exuberant, generous true faith of the repentant Zacchaeus. This little wealthy tax man was eager to see Jesus, industrious in his method to see Jesus, and quick to change when Jesus found him. He went looking for Jesus. Jesus found him. What a beautiful picture of how faith comes into being.

So after seeking and then being found, Zacchaeus responds to Jesus in joy, even as the hateful and bigoted crowd grumbles at Jesus’ choice of a host. But little Zacchaeus proudly stands before the Lord and declares that half of his estate will immediately be given as charity to the poor, and what’s more, if anyone has been defrauded, he will make fourfold restitution. He puts his money where his heart now is. He believes Jesus. Everything is changed.

And Jesus uses this conversion and commitment to remind us all of His mission. Salvation has come to Zacchaeus. And Jesus has sought and saved this lost tax collector because that is exactly why He came into the world. A sinner is saved. God is praised. Jesus as Savior is lifted up. It is then a beautiful day in Jericho.

a prayer to let me hear the Word of my Lord

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,

for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;

but let them not turn back to folly.

Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,

that glory may dwell in our land.

Psalm 85:8-9

Lord,

I will listen to Your Word this morning. I will listen, because I need Your voice to speak Your peace to my soul. My heart is often in turmoil. Life throws so much at me, but I must hear Your voice, and then I will know that everything I face is coming from the caring hand of my Creator. I have a Father that loves me and will never leave me without peace made for me by His Son, Jesus, and experienced by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit with my soul.

By Your Word I will know Your peace. And by Your instruction I will not give in to the folly of my sin. I want to hear Your Word’s wisdom and turn from the foolishness that can rule my own heart so rigidly. And I can find freedom in the peace that comes from Your saving, nail-scarred hands! For Your salvation is always near to me when I look to You. When I obey and believe You, my Lord, Your glory will dwell with me.

So Lord, speak now in Your Word to me. I will listen. I will obey. I will turn from my sinful, foolish thinking and actions and find Your saving love so very near to me now!

Amen

Obedient faith refuses selfish shortcuts.

Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.’

1 Samuel 24:10

This is a turning point in the story of David’s rise to the throne in Israel. It is also an interesting and amusing episode illustrating the length of God’s sovereignty as God literally uses a bathroom break to bring out the best in David’s character. It changes Saul’s relationship with David.

King Saul had been hunting David and happened to come to the very cave where David and his men were safely hidden, not because he was such an expert tracker, but sheerly by the coincidental providence of God. As Saul enters the daylight portion of the cave to take care of nature’s call, (and the third grade boy in me who first heard this story in Sunday School still giggles imagining this in all its most amusing aspects) David stealthily cuts off a corner of Saul’s discarded robe as it lay away from the king who was undoubtedly busily concentrating on royal duties at hand.

David’s men had whispered to him to end Saul’s life at that moment, but David would not. In fact, he was instead struck with guilt over his little escapade of robe cutting. David would honor God’s covenant rather than advance himself by His own shrewdness.

And that faith gave him courage to tell Saul what he had done in sparing the king’s life during a vulnerable moment. His rationale is that he would obey God (Saul was the LORD’s anointed choice as king) and the king (in that order of importance) in order to honor and obey the Lord. Character led David to take no selfish shortcuts. And God was glorified by this kind of obedient faith.

in a little or a lot

One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

Luke 16:10

You will do as you are in your heart. If your heart craves personal attention and selfish desire at any cost, if you have no limits, if you seek yourself first in all the small details, this will all burst out inevitably into all the bigger issues of your life. If you lie easily in a small detail, you will be dishonest and lie in the clutch moments that matter most.

And the converse is also true. If you are faithful, obedient, trusting Christ, honest, quick to repent and believe Jesus in the small things, this character will find faithfulness in you in the big situations. If you allow the Word of God and the Spirit of God to renew your thinking, You will approach life with God’s faithfulness bringing You peace, confidence, and the satisfaction of God’s pleasure in relationship with you.

This is Jesus speaking out this principle... He knows our hearts! It is rewarding to be honest and faithful to the Lord. Our lives are better when we trust God with the small stuff. Faithfulness is rewarded in big ways. The heart of a good steward of the kingdom starts with the simplest desire to be faithful in EACH level of trust so that faithfulness will be known in EVERY level of trust given to us by God. Faithful with a dime means faithful with a dollar. And that is a kingdom-building generous lifestyle worth enjoying!

shine on us

Restore us, O LORD God of hosts!

Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Psalm 80:19

Shine on us, dear Lord

that we may be saved

that Your glory might be shown

in our rescue today

Restore us, O God

as Your people again

draw us back to You

by the power of Your name

Be known, O Savior

in what Your people say

and in who You have redeemed

be shown in us, we pray

Be seen in Your church

Jesus, be known

so that others may be saved

as Your life is shown

Your power, Your glory

are our heart’s cry

so that the world may see

Your salvation on high

Let Your face shine

that salvation is here

and we will worship God

as our Savior draws us near