Tears and Encouragement

08.27.11

Psalm 143.8,10; 144.1
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. 10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
1 Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. (NIV)

There are often multiplied days and weeks, situations and circumstances that will test who we really are rather than prove who we think we are. In life it is best to know who you really are and deal with it than to think you are what you aren’t and be deceived. With that said let’s always remember that wherever we are in life our God and Savior are working to perfect us Their nature.

This morning I was moved to tears when I read the two Psalms in my daily Bible reading plan – it was an odd combination of tears and encouragement. I cried as I read Psalm 143.8 & 10. I rejoiced and was reassured when I read Psalm 144.1. You see, God knows exactly how to get us to focus on what He knows we need to focus on. And He is infinitely able to bring about enormous spiritual growth in us as a result.

Today, I needed the word of His unfailing love because the last few days have seemed to have been cloudy in that regard. I am doing something that requires me to think differently than I ever have, and have possibly resisted all my life. It seems the Lord is using what I am currently doing to help me to stand up to fears and doubts that I have run from ever since I was a little boy. If there ever was a moment in my life when I feel as if I’m going through a rite of passage today, at the ripe old age of 56, is it.

So there was the reminder of His unfailing love, and then a reaffirmation of where my faith lies: in Him; I’ve entrusted my life, my days and weeks, situations and circumstances, to Him. And then a reminder of a petition to do only His will and always let Him do the leading. Because without all of this I am only trusting in me… and that’s a very, very bad place to be. That very thought broke my heart.

So, with tears streaming, I then read: Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. That seems to be the issue – lack of training (or lack of cooperation). But the reassurance is, He is the One who will show me what to do and how to overcome; I can’t look back and see that He is there; I must instead resolutely face my foes and trust that He will train my hands for war against them! Because He does the training, I in turn, in Him, get to watch them die.

What is the Lord doing to you lately? How is He causing you to stand up to what you’ve been running from (or are tempted to run from)? It is God who trains our hands not for a wrestling match, but for an all-out war where something dies.

For moi, today is a day to rejoice that I am very much in the crucible of training, and for whatever lies in my future there must be nothing less that all-out war. The apostle Paul said the flesh wars against us. Today, through tears and encouragement, it is time to fight back. To the victor belong the spoils.