My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
This psalm naturally divides in two portions, and I would like to consider verses 12 – 23 for this blog post
Let’s read it before any comment.
Psalm 25:12-23
Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.
The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.
My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.
Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.
Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.
Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.
The psalmist, in the last half of the psalm is speaking of two topics. The depth of his need and his utter dependency on the LORD.
One verse, amongst the many that speak to me, of relationship with the One who is All, is verse 16
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
The verse before, the psalmist speaks of his eyes always being toward the LORD, that he seeks the favor of God continually. But something is wrong. The LORD is not looking to the psalmist. You see, when the psalmist states “Turn to me”, it implies that the LORD had turned away from him.
Now, I don’t understand too much about the Old Testament saints related to the LORD, and this particular saint, being David, definitely had a relationship with his LORD that compared in many ways with our condition today.
For believers, after the LORD provided His Son for our rescue, to consider Him to be turned away seems to be beyond the pale. (Consider Romans 8:32 as an example of our Father’s attitude to us)
Where is the application for us in this passage?
It may feel like He has turned on us at times in our life, and a couple of thoughts come to mind.
First off, sin breaks fellowship, and unconfessed sin pulls us away from His loving care. Confess the sin, and repent of it, four hundred and ninety times if you have to.
Secondly, the feeling of abandonment may be just that – a feeling. Now don’t get me wrong, feelings are powerful and intended to be a blessing from God, but they can be used to detract us from our goals in life.
There have been times in my life when I have been very low, struggling to maintain a faith, to not give up. Times of loneliness and affliction that were drawn out for months, even years, and were very difficult!
Every believer goes through times such as these. It should drive us to the promises that have been given, that His love is extreme and He seeks the best for us in all our trials. He is seeking to conform us to the image of His Son, and this is a gargantuan effort from my point of view!
Hold on to the promises of God, in the depths of your loneliness and affliction, for He has promised.
And remember, He was truly abandoned in order that we may never be.
Praise Him for His many many mercies.
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