A Prayer for Tough Times

Praise God for His Great Goodness! Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 107:1)

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He Is Good titles Psalm 107. This chapter repeatedly describes Israel’s turning from God, being in more trouble than they can handle, returning to him, and his forgiveness of them. The first verse reminds them, and us, that God always loves his own, enough to discipline them when needed.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. (Hebrews 12:6)

The next verses declare what some of Israel’s children could get themselves into when they turned away from God. They wound up in deserts, prisons, cold and hungry. Some almost died in their sin and illness, or came upon huge storms as they sailed and thought they’d never survive. This chapter’s forty-three verses detail various ways the ancient Jews begged for salvation and were saved from a sure death. Though Psalm 106 describes most of the Exodus event, the same thing happened repeatedly. What does any child do when they can’t handle a situation by themselves?

As we scroll through this chapter, we notice the phrase below repeats in verses 6, 13,19, and 28. It reminds me of how many times I’ve taken a wrong turn and cried out to God myself.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, And he delivered them from their distress.

Just like an earthly parent, God rescued the Jews from their difficulties, though some of them paid for their sin with their lives, as in the 40 years wondering in the wilderness. I’m so very thankful that each time I’ve asked for help, repented of whatever way I’d been less than faithful and returned to the Lord, he heard my plea.

When our heavenly Father disciplines us, he remains faithful to hear us when we cry out in difficulty or pain. Though I’d had issues with my back for years and learned to handle it, suddenly pain hit me like I never known. I talked with my orthopedic doctor, and he gave me a pain killer that didn’t help much. Three days later he told me to go to the emergency room, and I had two fractures in my spine. Finally ready to go home, I couldn’t because pain kept me on heavy opioids and I stayed in bed most of the time. During this same period, my husband fell and could no longer walk, so our children found us a good assisted living facility.

During the next months, I prayed for help with addiction to pain medication, and God enabled me to drop to a less powerful one without major problems. When time came to get off the second opioid, I was led to spread out the time between pills until I didn’t take them. I’d heard of severe withdrawal symptoms from all opioids, but my Father heard my prayer and spared me.

While my family supported me entirely and our children who lived out of town visited as often as possible, I also knew God’s love and comfort. Times of deep awareness made me feel like God had his arms securely wrapped around me. I cannot tell how much this meant. Even though I remained in our apartment most of the time those first few months, I didn’t feel lonely. God’s peace kept me calm.

I then prayed for healing from all pain but it didn’t come. Formerly I’d lived with my husband in our own home with me doing our light housework and driving wherever we wanted or needed. Now we stayed in an assisted living residence, and I’m no long able to drive because I’m not strong enough. I carry a cushion for my back, use a walker, and deal with moderate pain. It isn’t a scenario I want, but my loving heavenly Father enables me to be content in the situation.

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. (Philippians 4:11b)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3)

In a tragic instance, my friend Susan’s husband had a major heart attack and died within three days. During that time, Susan naturally reached out to family and friends for prayer. Later she told me how she thanked God for those three days to sit beside her husband and say good-bye.

Susan lived far from her family and wanted to move closer, but had to sell her home and buy one in the new location. Would it be difficult to sell her home? It was one story and most around her had two floors; would that be a hindrance? What were prices in the new area? Could she afford something similar to what she had? As all these questions swirled through her mind, Susan asked for God’s wisdom and guidance.

Since an open house was scheduled for a particular weekend, Susan used that time to go find another home near her family. God worked a miracle for Susan, selling her home and leading her to another, all on the same weekend! Out of tragedy, God blessed Susan, and her praises rang out to all who knew her.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, For his wondrous works to the children of man!

This thanksgiving repeats in verses 8, 15, 21 and 31. Truly, our merciful Father God abundantly forgives us when we ask. That’s what the cross of Jesus is all about – so we can be forgiven each time we put something ahead of God. The last verse of Psalm 107 sums up the entire chapter. Therefore, let’s remember to repent when we go against God’s word, to turn to Him when we face any kind of difficulty and then to give our heavenly Father paise for his help in our situation.

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; Let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord. (Psalm 107:43 ESV)

Sandra Meyer

Different Ways Our Lord Reveals Himself

            God is nothing like that! But sometimes I do see Him acting this way in my life. As I hunkered inside my home to avoid Covid-19 last year I learned to play Solitaire. A few characteristics of God appeared after I learned the game well.

Primarily, solitary never describes him. God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit function differently, even though they compose one Godhead. Scripture says believers are not to neglect meeting together (Heb 10:25). During the early part of Covid, most churches were closed; later ours had services in the parking lot and used a local radio station so we could hear as we sat in our cars.  As Texas summer heat arrived, the church was cleared to move inside. This verse in Hebrews speaks about those times we get too busy or lazy to attend church, not times we cannot for some reason.

 Solitaire may reveal a suit of several numbers together, reminding me of God’s quick answers to prayer. The next card I need hides until I find many others, comparing to weeks or months that pass before I see answers. Sometimes God says no or at least not in the way I want an answer. At such times, I remember when the cards are mixed in such a way that I cannot win,

God often reveals himself in scripture, music, other people, devotionals or teaching. While the general message applies to everyone, he says something specific to the  person who needs it. The birth of a baby proclaims how well our heavenly Father knows us and gives exactly what we need (Ps. 139:13-16).

As I think of Solitaire more, I remember other times God shows himself various ways. I started watching birds because their colors, various sizes, and eating habits reveal their Creator and his glory. The multiple colors, formations, and sizes of flowers I photograph remind me of God’s unique beauty. Mountains evoke God’s majesty and the sea recalls his vastness.

A dirt dauber got between our screen and window. I didn’t want to open the window and then the screen to let him out, assuming he’d come inside. As I prayed God would show him the way he’d gotten in, he had disappeared when I looked a little later. The next day I discovered that the screen had a place where it didn’t fit tightly. (I also pray God will protect dogs that get on the street, but this was the first time for a dirt dauber.) When I see how the Creator watches out for an insect, why do I have difficulty believing he will care for me?

As my husband and I took many trips to Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, we always marveled at the mountains, large blue lakes, and animals. Once while he fished, I sat on a rock and watched a colony of ants, thanking our heroic Lord who made a creature so tiny while setting in place the huge mountain across the river.

Our loving Father uses multiple ways to draw us close, including that still, small voice  belonging to the Holy Spirit. Remembering the various ways God calls, I try to keep my ears, eyes, and heart open for his word. Will you join me?

Does God really have a purpose for our individual lives? Will He really show us how to bring that to pass? When I wonder about this, I’m reminded of what the Bible says and shows in the lives of His people in the Old Testament.

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. (Psalm 57:1-2; probably written when David fled from Saul, in the cave.)

[God] who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24.)

Since I know that the Bible says God has a purpose for me, even before I was born, I’ll now look at a few biblical people to see how He fulfilled that purpose for them.

Because David is mentioned in the verses above, I start with him, realizing that God anointed him as King over Israel while he was still a shepherd boy. However, when David became a warrior, King Saul got so jealous of David that he tried to kill him several times. This was because the people sang about how Saul killed his thousands in war but David had killed ten thousands. Even though David had an opportunity to kill Saul, he waited on God’s timing when Saul was killed in battle.  After waiting many years, David became king just as God purposed in his life.

When Joseph was in his young teens probably, God gave him a dream of ruling over his family; naturally at that age, Joseph told it to his parents and already-jealous brothers. Later his father had him take some rations to his brothers who were away from home tending sheep, but they sold him into slavery after deciding not to kill him. From slavery to unjustified imprisonment, God finally led Joseph into the real call on his life so he could make arrangements to save food while there was plenty so they’d have it when famine came. Therefore, not only were the people of Egypt fed, but Joseph’s whole family when they came to buy food and eventually move nearby.

Jesus looked so unlikely to be the Son of God. He was born in a stable with low to middle class parents, lived in obscurity for 30 years. Then for three years He performed miracles and taught the people more about God than they’d ever heard, so that the religious leaders became jealous. Finally they demanded that He be crucified because they were so jealous of His power. After three days Jesus rose from the dead and fulfilled God’s entire purpose for His life. Today we call Jesus our Savior and Lord.

If I see these promises of God in the Scriptures, then see how they played out in these lives, I think I must take those promises for myself. I must ask God what His purpose is for me and then pursue it. That purpose may not happen immediately, as it certainly didn’t with the men above. God may not even tell me what my purpose is, but my Father will certainly guide me through the years of my life to bring that purpose to pass. Only one thing can stop this from happening: me not being obedient to what God tells me to do. Even with this, God can turn my life around so that I do accomplish His purpose.

I’m reminded of the story of Jonah, the Old Testament prophet. God told him to go to Nineveh and preach to them or the city would be destroyed. Nineveh was Israel’s fierce enemy; they were cruel and strong, overcoming their adversaries. Like I’d probably do, Jonah thought who’d want them to survive. Good riddance! So Jonah took a ship and went the opposite direction. When God showed Jonah that he’d be better off obeying, he reluctantly went to Niveveh and preached to this great city. Everyone repented and the people were saved from destruction for another 100 years until they again became intolerable to God. Most of the time I doubt God takes such a strong way to demonstrate His displeasure when we walk out of His purpose. But most of the time, we’re not called to preach to 100 thousand people to save them from immediate destruction.

Not only is it important for other people that I obey God’s purpose for my life, it’s vital for me. If I don’t, I’ll never know true peace in my heart and feel fulfilled in life. I’ll just live and do whatever I do but not know the joy of a God-filled life completing the purpose my Father created especially me to do.

I rarely think about the hundreds of times God made promises to His people and kept them. God never made a promise without keeping it, even if it was concerning evil if His people worshipped other gods. I’ve listed just a sampling of God’s major promises, sometimes with consequences for not obeying.                                                    

• God made promises to mankind from the very beginning of people’s existence when He told Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or he would die (Genesis 2:16-17). Spiritually Adam and Eve did die, shown by their fear when He appeared to them that evening; beforehand, they’d welcomed God’s presence.

• God made a promise to Noah that a great flood was coming on the whole earth, but to build an ark and his family would be saved. Noah obeyed and only his family survived the horrible flood (Genesis 6:11-8:12.)

• God promised Abraham that He would make a great nation from him and Sarah. The beginning of the nation of Israel was born from Isaac, the child of promise in Abraham’s old age. (Genesis 13:1-7.)

• Even Jesus Christ was a long-awaited descendant of Abraham. Did you know God has over 300 prophesies about Jesus in the Bible? All have been fulfilled exactly as stated except those in the future still (reference: the whole Bible.)

• God said that the nation of Israel would be restored to their native land and did more than once after Israel disobeyed and went into captivity. Centuries later, our promise-keeping Lord did this in 1947 when that covenant became reality for the last time.

Why do I mention so many times promises God has declared and kept? Because that’s the theme of this article – God’s faithfulness to His people. To You and to Me!

At times I haven’t been faithful to God in my heart, even though I never denied Him or did what we think of as “big sins.” I simply didn’t do things I knew I should do as the child of a Holy God. Has He ever quit loving me? No! I’ve known His love, and the older I’ve gotten the more real it is, but that didn’t always keep me as close to Him as I knew I wanted to be but simply didn’t take the steps to make that happen.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, God makes a new and different covenant with us than the Old Testament people of God had. Why? Because Jesus became our offering to God to save us from Hell instead of us sacrificing animals to ask for forgiveness. God is always perfect and just; our human nature keeps us from being that way. God never breaks that covenant, even when we stray from Him. He always loves us as His child, even more than a parent loves and forgives a disobedient child. 

But when I strayed from God, I was like that rebellious child who even though they loved their parents, stayed away from them because they were unwilling to change their behavior. There was a gap in the fellowship and both missed it, but the child was stubborn. As people, sometimes we find ourselves wanting our way more than God’s way; that’s what happened to me. I was simply being lazy as far as God was concerned.

In Revelation 2:1-7 Christ recognizes the church at Ephesus for their good works, patient endurance and how they hate those who do evil. Jesus then gives a warning to the church, saying they have left their first love meaning – in today’s terms – they’d let family, work or self-interest come before Him. This is what I felt the Holy Spirit saying to me, that I’d put other things before spending more time with my Father.

God gives us that choice, but He always longs for us to return to our rightful place of easy communication with Him. When we choose to return, He draws us ever closer and we experience His love with greater reality. That doesn’t mean our Father doesn’t love us less when we stray but simply that our disobedience has gotten in the way of our experience of His love.

            Picture this scene with me please. I go to the animal shelter to find a dog to adopt. Let’s call the first Happy, who wags his tail, jumps up and down when he sees me and almost speaks, “Please take me home with you.” Then I see another dog named Sad who barks and growls when he sees me, seems willing to bite the hand that feeds him and who looks like he’d never become a good pet.

            Which dog do I choose? Happy who welcomes me or Sad who seems like he might bite me? Then I consider which dog needs my love more? Which dog is less likely to find a home? The answer becomes obvious, but will I do what is hard, or will I give in to my likes and take home Happy?

            Long ago I purchased a registered toy poodle but got her for an inexpensive price. Why? Because the owner breed poodles and this one had a litter which all died. The vet told the lady she’d never be able to have live pups. I didn’t care about that because our son wanted a puppy. Naturally, at first she was shy in her new surroundings, but we figured she’d get used to us soon. Quickly she became “my” pet but was afraid of my husband and two sons. Later I asked my friend who had told me the dog was for sale what had caused the dog to be afraid of males. She told me the lady had two hyperactive sons and that her husband had hit the dog with a broom a couple of times. No wonder she was afraid of men. We had her a dozen years or more and she eventually lost all her fear and was a pet to the guys in our home as well as the gals. What changed her? Love and good treatment.

            Why do I mention this imaginary story and a true one? Because many people are quite sad about our presidential election last November. I’m one of those who is, and it would be easy to gripe and complain about what’s happening in our country. But yesterday I read two articles on the internet talking about how believers in Jesus Christ and in the Bible need to react. Both basically said the same thing my pastor said in his sermon this morning: we’re not to condemn this administration but rather to pray for President Biden and his people.

            First Timothy 2:1-4 reminds us to pray for all people, especially those in authority so we can live quiet and peaceful lives. This is what God wants us to do so that everyone can come to know Jesus as their personal Savior.

The question and responsibility come to me then, Am I willing to circumvent my emotions and recognition of what I believe is right so I can pray with pure motives for a group in government that I don’t agree with? Am I willing to do as Jesus would do to pray that God would give them wisdom in dealing with the many problems our country has? Will I pray that God will bless them so that our nation can be blessed? Will I do as God has asked me to do or will I follow my own desires? I believe the future will show the answer to that question if we join together and bless instead of curse.  Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits. (Proverbs 18:21)