Psalm 44 are some of the strongest words we find in Scripture of a prayer of complaint towards God, even expressing the feeling that maybe God has forgotten Israel, has become inattentive, even sleeping! If we are feeling this way, the one to whom we should take these feelings is God...He does not want us to be guarded with Him. It is in the freedom and authenticity of our expressions in prayer that we take the first step toward our hope being restored.
In Psalm 73:15 we are admonished to be careful though about venting these emotions to others. If they are people who look to us for leadership, we may be over-burdening them, possibly even spreading our dismay. We must be wise with whom we are emotionally vulnerable. Clearly we need people in our lives to whom we can go to share such sentiments. I love the New Testament example that was first pointed out to me at a Promise Keepers rally years ago during a session on discipleship, that we must have a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy in our lives -- someone as a mentor, someone as a peer, and someone we are in turn mentoring. Our mentors and sometimes our peer are the safe place for us to air our grievances so as not to harm others.
So many people make the mistake of justifying the revelation of their feelings to everyone with no regard to the impact it may have on the recipient. That is selfishness, not honesty. Ephesisans 4:29 lays down the ultimate standard as being whether or not our words are edifying or build up the person with whom we are speaking. People say, "Well it's true isn't it?" Maybe you have said that in defense of yourself. But truth is not the only benchmark for our outbursts. There in that same chapter, Paul admonishes us that we must speak the truth in love. In love also means with the right people! How do we know this, because the context of this statement is made within the explanation of how the family of God is rightly connected to one another.
Psalm 73 and 77 begin to give us some of the wise steps we take to find our hope restored. We need to put ourselves in an environment where we are awakened to His abiding presence. One of Rob Bell's most impactful insights on me came from his book Velvet Elvis. I don't fully endorse every one of his positions but may that never stop us from embracing the wisdom of others where we can! He talks about how our language betrays our beliefs. If we believe that God is everywhere all the time, why are we continually inviting Him and His Spirit into our gatherings...isn't He already here! For me, and our church, we now pray, "God, help us to be awakened to your abiding presence, we know you are here, waiting for us, Holy Spirit, help us to hear Him, see Him, sense Him..." What awakens you? Worship music, reading, a walk in nature...find that place, discover His presence, He is there waiting on you!
Next, the Psalms talk about how we are to reflect, meditate on who we know God to be through the revelation of His Word, the history we have with Him, the testimony of others...remind ourselves just who He is. Why? Because truth trumps circumstances! We see in these Psalms too where we are to praise Him, celebrate Him, recommit our trust in Him. Reflect on where possibly we have been disobedient and reaffirm our covenant vow of devotion to Him.
Then, we are to begin to prophesy over our own circumstances. Remember, the foretelling of the future from a supernatural revelation given to us by God is only one part of prophecy. Prophecy is also declaring God's promises over our future and our present, long before the circumstances of our situations have begun to change.
Finally, we are too begin to share with others our journey, where before we are admonished to be careful with whom we share our pain and doubt. Now however that our pain and doubt have given way to faith and hope...who doesn't need to hear that! Tell your story! Share your journey! It might just be that your journey is just what someone else needed to hear to not give up as they are still stuck in Psalm 44.
Take some time to read these three Psalms and see if you can identify some of the steps noted above as you read and prayerfully reflect on His Word!
Pastor Fred
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