Introduction: God doesn’t spoon feed His people for ever! He graciously lets us drink the milk of the Word to begin with and to get us through the baby stages of growth in Christ. There are stages of spoon feeding but there is meant to be a stage for us to be able to chew on the tough meat of Truth and Doctrine! We are meant to be childlike in our trusting Him completely, but not childish, displaying tantrums or withdrawing when He faces us with difficult situations! There are accusations against God here which spring, I think, from the Psalmist’s anguish but quite frankly are false!
1 O LORD, God of my salvation,
I cry out day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!
3 For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol. – An urgent prayer has become a lament, and probably strayed into the feared, but not real, situation where the author faces death. Remember Sheol can be used to describe ‘hell’ or simply ‘death’ meaning that is loss of physical life on the earth but not necessarily (for the soul) to be in hell! Do you think that ‘my soul is full of troubles‘ is talking about his emotions or that he fears that God has reason to be angry with him?
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
5 like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand. – What does all this mean? It meant a lot to the Psalmist as you can feel his anguish and distress oozing out all over his words! Is he physically ill and about to expire? Or is he so afraid of what is happening that, like some moderns, he wishes to be euthanized? But his understanding is incomplete if not wrong! The dead are not cut off from God’s hand. Is the Psalmist thinking of the ‘helping hand of God’? Surely he realized that death brings everyone right into the presence of God?
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit,
in the regions dark and deep. – Does this refer to the ‘deep dark pits of depression’ or that God, in his fears at least, has thrown him into hell?
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah – It’s time to stop and think again! What reason has God to ‘lay His wrath heavily‘ on the distraught man? Has God any reason to be angry with you and me?
8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. – God is Sovereign, but has He caused this enmity between companions? Or has the Psalmist brought it upon himself? Or is the companion being spiteful and unreasonable and plain nasty? I can understand why the poor guy can’t fathom out what is going on! ‘My eye grows dim through sorrow.’ Let’s hope that the second half of the Psalm gives us an answer tomorrow!
Hebrews 12: 5,6 – And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Prayer: I thank You, Father, that You don’t leave me alone to wrestle through life but thank You that You call me to be ‘strong in Jesus’.