...I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.
I was listening to my youngest brother over the phone, as he wept over the condition of his suffering and invalid wife (who after 6 years of battling with a horrific disease, passed away last August, 2010). He agonized over "the silence of God" in all of this; where it seemed, even after much prayer, God did nothing. But, then, after pouring his heart out, and between sobs, he said, "But I want you to know Hubert that I still believe!" His faith was dangling over the precipice of life, but it was not decimated. He knew that, alongside all of the pain and suffering in this world, there was the God who was right there. He believed that the clouds that obscured the light didn't destroy the sun. This is where the Psalmist lands in Psalm 13. He speaks from the agony of his soul, with words that will tear your heart out, saying, "How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide your face from me? How long will I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?" David, the Psalmist, then pleads with God: "Consider and answer me, O LORD, my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death..." And then he lands his soul on this foundational truth: But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me. Amazing! That is a different kind of faith than what we see among so many who so easily quit and give up on God. I like this faith of my brother Jimmy, and my friend David. Powerful! I want to link arms with this kind of people. They know in whom they have believed, and they help my faith. We have reason to keep believing, for He is still God!
I was listening to my youngest brother over the phone, as he wept over the condition of his suffering and invalid wife (who after 6 years of battling with a horrific disease, passed away last August, 2010). He agonized over "the silence of God" in all of this; where it seemed, even after much prayer, God did nothing. But, then, after pouring his heart out, and between sobs, he said, "But I want you to know Hubert that I still believe!" His faith was dangling over the precipice of life, but it was not decimated. He knew that, alongside all of the pain and suffering in this world, there was the God who was right there. He believed that the clouds that obscured the light didn't destroy the sun. This is where the Psalmist lands in Psalm 13. He speaks from the agony of his soul, with words that will tear your heart out, saying, "How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide your face from me? How long will I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?" David, the Psalmist, then pleads with God: "Consider and answer me, O LORD, my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death..." And then he lands his soul on this foundational truth: But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me. Amazing! That is a different kind of faith than what we see among so many who so easily quit and give up on God. I like this faith of my brother Jimmy, and my friend David. Powerful! I want to link arms with this kind of people. They know in whom they have believed, and they help my faith. We have reason to keep believing, for He is still God!
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