November 15 - The Lord is Good to Me

I have interesting conversations with friends I haven't heard from in years these days.  Many of these conversations are filled with the pain that comes from facing so much of life alone, even when surrounded by family and friends.  For some, an overwhelming sense of failure pervades their lives as they look back and only focus on those things that didn't go so well.  There's a resignation to their lives and a sense that if they had to do it all over again, they would have made different choices.


I recognize those feelings - I even have them sometimes.  There are so many things I wish that I would have had the courage to do and to say when I was much younger.


But, as I look at Psalm 13 and I think about David crying out in the middle of the night fearful of what was hanging over his head and then recognizing how powerful the Lord was in his life, I realize that God has given me this day just as He has every other day in my life.  Once my life was placed in His hands, He began to redeem each day, each choice, each move that I made.  He still does that for me.  He does it for you ... He does it for my friends.


The Lord is still good to me.  He still redeems my days, my choices, my movement.  I live a life that He provides for me.  That is what I take into the night with me.

October 4, 2009 - Psalm 13:1-6

I imagine that everyone has faced something similar to the feelings that David is crying out in this Psalm.

O Lord, how long will I be alone while I deal with everything that I'm facing?

Psalm 13:2 shows us the pain of having those thoughts flowing through our minds without any temperance from an outside source. I can remember night after night of staying awake worrying about things at my business, worrying about getting jobs out, bills paid, employees, everything. David cries out, "How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?"

Those nights seem endless and when you awaken in the morning and the worries seem to remain and darken your day, you begin to wonder how long it will be until the Lord hears and answers your cries!

It seems as if David knew exactly what I was feeling when he says, "Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death." (Psalm 13:3) There were nights I wished that I could just fall asleep and let death overtake me - I knew that it would be easier than what I was facing because at least I would be with God in person.

But, like David, I somehow managed to come to the point where I realized that the suffering my poor mind was putting me through was something that the Lord saw even when it didn't feel like He was responding.

Can you say that you trust in the Lord, even in those dark days? Sometimes it doesn't feel as if He is listening or paying attention to what we are going through, but even through that, David says, "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me." (Psalm 13:6)

The Lord has been good to me, He has rescued and saved me more times than I can count. And when the darkness presses in on me, though it seems as if I am alone, I know that He has been there in the past, He will be there in the future, and He is with me in the present.