City Life Starter

Psalm 143: 3-6 (ESV)

3  For the enemy has pursued my soul;

he has crushed my life to the ground;

he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.

4  Therefore my spirit faints within me;

my heart within me is appalled.

5  I remember the days of old;

I meditate on all that you have done;

I ponder the work of your hands.

6 I stretch out my hands to you;

my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

By Stefan Johnsson

We are like David during the trials and sorrows of our life. We feel the enemy closing in and we are crushed by life itself. Our soul is pained and we cannot move. We pray for God’s salvation, to be freed from the hurt, yet it doesn’t seem like it will come. Anxiety and hurt keep you up at night and there is no reprieve.

David tries to look beyond his pain, beyond his sorrow, to find a way to get away from it all. His solution is instead to try and remember all that God has done. We, as people, are short-sighted, and David understands this. We have a hard time to see beyond our immediate pain and to remember what all God has done for us. We always need to be reminded. God knew this. In Judges 4 it reads what God wanted the Israelites to tell their kids so they will not forget God’s power and might.

19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 

20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 

21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’

22 then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’

23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea,  which he dried up for us until we passed over,

24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

David wanted us to remember who God is and what He has done for us. To seek him with outstretched arms. To know that God is not far from us at any time in our lives. Meditate on what God has done, ponder the works of his hands. Once you remember, once it becomes reality to you how God takes care of his children, your current pain will not feel as bad in the larger picture. You will remember that God will provide for you and take care of you. You will come to Him with a renewed mindset.

I always enjoy what Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”  Paul doesn’t tell us that pain and sorrow will not be part of our Christian walk, rather, Paul explains how we should focus on getting through it. Rejoice in Christ’s work on the cross, understand that pain and sorrow will take time to heal from, and pray to God, your heavenly Father, constantly. That is the key to any heartache. Do not live with a shortsighted mindset. Instead, live with eternity in mind.