For the leader. A psalm of David:
How long, YHVH? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I keep asking myself what to do, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long must my enemy dominate me?
Look, and answer me, YHVH my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death. Then my enemy would say, “I was able to beat him”; and my adversaries would rejoice at my downfall.
But I trust in your grace, my heart rejoices as you bring me to safety. I will sing to YHVH, because he gives me even more than I need.
Ah, a good ol’ fashioned pity party.
We are really good at #1 and #2. But #3?
Oftentimes, we get to a point where our situation seems as if we have no choice but to be defeated. We pray and pray and pray, but we never really know if He hears us. As we struggle and (possibly) suffer, we wait. And wait. And…
“Did He hear me?”
Now, of course He does hear us and we know it -- or at least suspect it. It’s just up to our level of faith as to whether or not He will intervene -- or at least so we’re told.
How do we know if he’s heard our cry? If He changes things we settle back into business as usual and go about our life until the next episode. And if things don’t change? Well, those are just the mysteries of God. He knows all and is infinitely wise which means He is likely setting up some other positive outcome through a different channel. So I’ll just accept my bumps and bruises until that time arrives.
Simple, right?
But look at this through the eyes of a father. Suppose your son was being bullied on the playground and he came crying to you begging for help. Or your daughter said the other girls were making fun of her and she wants you to make them stop. What would you do?
“Well Timmy, you had best figure out how to take your lumps because that’s what’s going to make you a man. Gotta get tough, boy. And Sally, forget about it. You need to quit being so sensitive. Both of you just need to suck it up and grow up. The real world is tough and you need to learn that now.”
Does this sound like a good father? I personally don’t think so.
A good father listens to his kids. He cares for them and does whatever he can to protect them. He will go out of his way to make sure his kids are safe and will build barriers to keep the enemy out.
But…
Now suppose that son was a whiny brat that was a bully himself and one day the kid he’s picking on stands up to him. Or the daughter was just hateful and rude, and made fun of the other girls first.
In light of this extra information, how does a good father respond? A little differently, huh? Turns out, context matters. In this situation, a little discipline may not only be helpful but required.
But does that mean the father still says nothing? Nope. It’s just that we may not want to hear what he has to say.
“You can’t go out there tearing people down and expect me to come in and save you when they retaliate. When you dishonor or hurt other people, they have a right to defend themselves so you need to learn how to treat people well if you want to be treated well. Or else your entire life is going to be full of troublesome relationships, pain, and unforgiveness.”
This is not the response we want. We want to be judged by our intentions and others by their actions.
What if we add yet another layer to the formula:
What if that son was picking on this kid because he had poor people skills and was just trying to get the other kid to like him? What if that daughter had so little self-respect and valued herself too little to know how to humbly make friends? They both are acting out in order to be accepted. They want these people to be their friends and not their enemies, but they have no idea how to be a friend themselves.
Again, context changes the story. Their intentions are good but their actions are bad. And this creates a poor outcome. Of course, the only thing ever considered is the evidence that appears after they have set this all in motion. Which means, a parent can easily be duped into believing their child is innocent when in fact, they are the aggressor.
Yeah, we need wise parents. We need parents that teach their children how to be in relationship and honor others. We need parents that don’t have their head in the sand and see what is going on in their children’s lives.
(You see where this is going, right?)
Let’s look at our lives now…
Look back through your life and find all of the places where other people did something to hurt you. What actually happened? Can you see through the lies to understand fully? How did you even get to where you are now?
Depending on your age, there may be different realities attached to what you believe. If you were really little, you likely had no idea how to hurt anyone else so when you got hurt, it was probably abuse (or perceived abuse). As you age through that middle window of childhood, however, you learn how to survive in the face of that abuse. You become a little more proactive in protecting yourself and may even start to put up walls to keep people out. Get to the age of accountability and now you are running in front of it all, manipulating others to not only stay protected but to also be aggressive. You want something and you will get it. “Street smarts” start to get ingrained. This is “wisdom” in a survival context.
Here we have an abused child that learns how not to get abused. They then become the abuser because that’s simply how life works. “I’m going to get mine before you come and try to take it away. Then I’ll fight to keep it.” They navigate their teenage years perfecting survival and enter adulthood ready to change the world. But…
The trouble is they have no idea how to live. And they are chock full of woundings and pain. Those childhood realities become adulthood realities and it drives us crazy. So we live in the manner we understand: “I’m going to get mine before you come and try to take it away. Then I’ll fight to keep it.”
Now look around and see if this doesn’t describe a good number of people you know. If and when they enter the House of God and join Him in a covenantal relationship, what is the only thing they know?
But we need to get to #3. And to break through we need understanding in the Ways of our Father’s house. It also appears as though we need healing. But we can only get there by knowing who He is.
So who is He?
5 But I trust in your grace, my heart rejoices as you bring me to safety.
The literal translation of this verse is more like this:
“I go quickly for refuge in your kindness, my heart rejoices in salvation”
And salvation?
H3444 יְשׁוּעָה yshuw`ah (yesh-oo'-aw) n-f.
Sound it out: YESH-OO-AW
Yeah, Yeshua.
Substituting:
“I go quickly for refuge in your kindness, my heart rejoices in Yeshua”
No matter the situation you face, can you say this? Whether you feel He’s answered your prayer or not, can you say this? Even if your enemy comes and takes your life, can you say this?
The only way you can is if you understand exactly what He’s already done for you. Go and read about the life of Yeshua. Go and read about His death also. But if you only learn one thing about who He is, go and learn why He did it. Once that abused, wounded, pain-filled little kid catches a glimpse of what’s real, this is all they will be able to say:
I will sing to YHVH, because he gives me even more than I need.
You don’t need to hear in order to love Him. You don’t need to hear in order to be loved. All you need is to know how and why you have Eternal Life.
And that is way more than you will ever need.