I recently read an interesting take on that most popular of Psalms, Psalm 23. Many of you may know it, but it would be worth reading again before you read on in this entry.
Notice, as you work through the Psalm, about the relationship that David describes between himself and God. At the first, things are good. God is leading David to green pastures and still waters, and he speaks of God in the third person. "He leads me...He makes me." When life is good, so often God becomes third person to us. He's out there. He's doing things, but it isn't quite as personal.
But notice how the language changes as the valley of the shadow of death appears. Though I walk through the valley, YOU are with me. YOUR rod and YOUR staff, they comfort me. When life was good, God was third person. But then, when life gets challenging, when threats appear, suddenly the move is made to God in the second person. YOU. As though talking to someone walking along beside, not up there merely watching from above.
It's amazing how dark and difficult times bring out a much closer relationship between God and His people. And it almost makes you think, especially when you read through much of what God, of what Jesus, tells us about life in this world. You will have trouble. Life will not always be good. And you almost have to wonder if that's not actually some part of God's grand design.
If the dark times draw us closer to God, don't you think He might put them before us so that we become closer to Him? What more fervent prayer is there than the one Jesus prayed mere hours before He was crucified? It's hard to be closer to God than when you are walking down the dark road and all you have is Him to lean.
I face occasional dark times in my life and ministry. What I have found is that they usually end up strengthening my relationship with God in Jesus even more. I hate going through them. They are wrenching to the stomach, they lead to sleepless nights, and the like. However, more often than not, I find myself talking to God at those times even more. Could it possibly be that He would actually want something like that, so that I would be closer to Him?
Maybe David was on to something. Maybe the dark times pull us closer to Jesus, and that's where we find ourselves relating to Him even more. Or, maybe, that's where He reminds us that the price was high that He paid for us, but He sees that price as one well worth paying.
Notice, as you work through the Psalm, about the relationship that David describes between himself and God. At the first, things are good. God is leading David to green pastures and still waters, and he speaks of God in the third person. "He leads me...He makes me." When life is good, so often God becomes third person to us. He's out there. He's doing things, but it isn't quite as personal.
But notice how the language changes as the valley of the shadow of death appears. Though I walk through the valley, YOU are with me. YOUR rod and YOUR staff, they comfort me. When life was good, God was third person. But then, when life gets challenging, when threats appear, suddenly the move is made to God in the second person. YOU. As though talking to someone walking along beside, not up there merely watching from above.
It's amazing how dark and difficult times bring out a much closer relationship between God and His people. And it almost makes you think, especially when you read through much of what God, of what Jesus, tells us about life in this world. You will have trouble. Life will not always be good. And you almost have to wonder if that's not actually some part of God's grand design.
If the dark times draw us closer to God, don't you think He might put them before us so that we become closer to Him? What more fervent prayer is there than the one Jesus prayed mere hours before He was crucified? It's hard to be closer to God than when you are walking down the dark road and all you have is Him to lean.
I face occasional dark times in my life and ministry. What I have found is that they usually end up strengthening my relationship with God in Jesus even more. I hate going through them. They are wrenching to the stomach, they lead to sleepless nights, and the like. However, more often than not, I find myself talking to God at those times even more. Could it possibly be that He would actually want something like that, so that I would be closer to Him?
Maybe David was on to something. Maybe the dark times pull us closer to Jesus, and that's where we find ourselves relating to Him even more. Or, maybe, that's where He reminds us that the price was high that He paid for us, but He sees that price as one well worth paying.
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