Back and Forth and Back and Forth

When I was younger, my little brothers were younger too. Make sense? Anyway I remember when my little brother went through this "yes/no" phase. My mom would ask if he would like something to eat; he would say yes. When my mom brought out the food, he would change his mind and say no. When the food was gone ... he was back to "yes, I want food." The cycle never ended ... until my mom gave up his little "yes/no" game. Just so you know, this wasn't just with food - it was with everything ... my little brother lived his life under the strict policy of the "yes/no" game. When I read the Psalm this week, it reminded me a little of the yes/no game. You'll notice that king David goes back and forth on his focus - First, it's on God, then his enemies, then back to God, and again back to his enemies. What's the chapter about? ... Well ... both. Psalm 31



Verses 1-5 So we start out pretty basic right? David is just talking about God the way he normally does. God is our strong tower, He is our fortress, and our defense. So many times in life when we face a difficult situation, we tend to dwell on the thing going wrong in life. As you'll see, David is dealing with a few issues himself, but the first thing He does - goes to God. Why do you think he would do that? It goes back to the principle of the three little pigs right? Do you want to build a shelter out of wood? out of straw? No, you need to make a shelter out of bricks; sooner or later the wolves of this world will come huffing and puffing on your shelter - will it stand? 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 gives us this same picture. You can choose to build your life on the hay, straw, and bricks of this world but these aren't the materials the "wise master builder" should be using. "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." David has chosen a mighty fortress - an unshakable shelter to keep him from harm. David commits his life to the hands of a strong God [strong's an understatement really ... no words can describe God's might]. Anyway, he chooses God as a shelter ... here's why ...

Verses 6-13 At the beginning we see a little bit of this "God/enemies" game David seems to be playing in this chapter, but here's a list of some of David's troubles: he's depressed (9-10), He's fallen prey to sin (10), he has enemies who hate him (11), his neighbor's can no longer stand him (11), people have forgotten him (12), he has been let down, people are trying to KILL HIM (13). If you thought you had a lot going on ... think about David's list. Even so, you might read this and think, "man, this David dude is a complainer." Well ... what is he doing? He's taking all of his problems and all of his frustrations to the God he knows will take care of it - casting all his cares upon God because he has faith in the fact the God loves him (1 Peter 5:7). That's a man of God. That's the King David I have come to know and love. Just a quick check for ourselves - how often do you we lay our problems out before the king of kings? ... probably not very often right? So we've gone from God to enemies ... back to God

Verses 14-16 I like this. After complaining about his problems, the first thing David asks God is for God to make His face shine through in every situation in life. We're never too quick to hand over our problems to God, let alone, surrender our emotions to His will. From David, we could all learn just a little bit more what it means to be trusting of God - to give Him not only our problems but also allowing Him to handle the situation for us. "Let your face shine upon me" should be the basis of our prayer - that God would shine through us in every situation or choice we make in life. Just a quick note: Matthew 5:14 calls us the light of the world and a city on a hill. The thing most people forget is that when the people of this world look at you, they ought not be impressed with you, but with how God works in and through every situation of your life. How'd you become the light of the world? By God's grace, His love, and his never-ending mercy. Back to the bad guys ...

Verses 17-18 David continues here to talk about his enemies. He cries out for justice - for his enemies to be buried by a righteous God. Is that okay? Absolutely. Our God is a just God - he knows His right and wrongs - no way about it. He knows the way he has asked us to live our lives and holds us all to it. I think this section flies back up two paragraphs - David here is giving God the situation. Rather than being the 5-year old boy who says "I'm gonna kill him," David expresses his feelings honestly to God and trusts that God will do what is best. David was honest in prayer ... not afraid to express how he felt - something we could all learn to do just a little bit better.

Verses 19-24 If you see anything you want to add here, then go ahead - there is a lot of good stuff, but we've made our point ... which is: We go to God first to be our shelter - before we go anywhere else. We share our problems and our struggles with Him honestly/truthfully ... why? He cares. Lastly, we ask that He shine through in our lives in every way possible - even in tough situations that you might feel you want to face alone.


Have a great week guys!
- Chris