Monday, October 23, 2023
If you’ve lived three minutes on this planet you know there is a raging
war which cannot be seen. The battlefield
is within, and the fighting is intense every day. Like the results of a physical conflict, you
can see the results of the mental and spiritual battle: deep furrowed lines on faces, matching the
hollowed, empty eyes staring at nothing in particular. Substances, meant to relieve pain caused by
the struggle, have replaced the inner determination to keep breathing,
marching, or thinking. It is survival
mode; it is not pretty, a void-like existence…not living.
There are enough personal stories to illustrate that struggle; we need
not point a finger at anyone to understand the reality of abyss-darkness, the
place where those who enter must, as Dante penned it, abandon all hope.
All humans experience fear, loneliness, heartbreak, and grief. In that internal pain, we tend to dwell on
the worst-case scenario…the place where we find ourselves beyond hope, with
only the memory of past “good times”. The
memory of “bad times” in the past, drag with them the dread they’ll return. Strains of the song Never Again
play in our head, an unspoken vow of “doing better”.
King David knew, perhaps on the most intense level, both privately and
publicly, the heights and depths of both good and bad “times”. He was a national hero in Jerusalem, favorite
to the king, hated and hunted by the same king.
He won battles often, and failed the simple choice of faithfulness, enough
to lose a kingdom. David had known hero
and zero in his life, the products of wisdom
and foolishness. He’d
been up and down, in and out, and understood the fact that power, riches, pleasure,
and pride were (as his son, Solomon would later write[1]) vanity…empty…a languishing, disappearing vapor of hope-turned to despair.
Now, if this sounds unfamiliar, like it only happens to other people, just
hold on; you’re not smarter than Solomon, or better looking and popular than
David. You’ve just not lived long enough,
or sinned big enough…yet. When that time
gets here, you don’t have to email or text me about what to do. David’s inner thoughts, and what he did, how
he prayed, and how he depended on God are wiser, better, and stronger than any
advice I’d have. All I would do – all I could
do is point you to Psalm 63, and say: Do what he said!
For You Today
So-called good times
and bad times are part of the human experience. Each person
must deal with pain, and enjoy what pleasure God gives us, and leave the balancing
of it to Heaven’s lovingkindness and grace.
If you have just come through a night
when all you could do is lay awake, opening the painful wounds of your heart to
God with tears and that old friend of a question on your mind…WHY, God….Why?...then
you’re not far from the kingdom, my friend.
Keep asking, seeking, knocking…His care is near; He’s got you, and His
grip is secure!
There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons
in the Rocky Road library.
Title Image Pixabay.com Images without citation are in
public domain or cited via weblinks.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT©
