The Open Hand of God

David had some pretty bad days during his lifetime. His father forgot about him. His brothers despised him. His father-in-law king tried to kill him. In a very short space of time, he lost his parents, his wife, his best friend and his Spiritual mentor. One time while away in battle, a band of raiders burned his town and stole his family and the families of his 600 men--who then turned against him and wanted to stone him. The closing years of his reign were defined by dysfunction, devastation, and rebellion. He lost four sons and a daughter. He even lost the kingdom for a bit. And there was almost always somebody somewhere who wanted to kill him.

And during those dark days, David did what he always did...he got alone with God and a guitar and sang about his situation. Some of those songs are recorded in Scripture. Consider these excerpts from Psalms 141, 142 & 143.

Deliver me, O Lord...

Lord, I cry out to You; make haste to me!

I will cry out to the Lord with my voice;

with my voice to the Lord I make my supplication.

I pour out my complaint before Him;

I declare before Him my trouble.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,

then You knew my path...

Look on my right hand and see,

for there is no one who acknowledges me;

refuge has failed me;

no one cares for my soul.

The enemy has persecuted my soul;

He has crushed my life to the ground;

He has made me dwell in darkness,

like those who have long been dead.

Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me;

my heart within me is distressed.

Answer me speedily, O Lord;

my spirit fails!

do not hide Your face from me...

Deliver me, O Lord...

In spite of all the blessings of God, when time and time again the Almighty had come through for David, there were still days when David's heart broke under duress and distress. There were still days when the weight of worry and anxiety and doubt and fear overwhelmed him. There were still days when life seemed to much for the man after God's own heart. And what did he do?

He went to the Lord.

Our hard times, our bad times, our dark times...they are real and very serious. But we can choose how to face them and deal with them. We can choose to endure with God. Or we can choose to abandon all hope and cave under the pressure. We can throw our hands up in the air and say, "I quit!" Or we can set our face like flint, take our stand, and trust the Lord to come through for us. Either way, we're eventually going to die. But we can choose to go out in defeat, or in a blaze of glory.

I started to blog today on some of those verses above, particularly from Psalm 143, because my spirit is overwhelmed within me, and my heart is distressed. But I kept on reading, and I'm glad I did, because it was in Psalm 144 & 145 that I found my true relief. Not in crying to God about my situation, by in telling my situation about my God.

Blessed be the Lord my Rock,

who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle--

My lovingkindness and my fortress,

My high tower and my deliverer,

my shield and the One in whom I take refuge...
I will sing a new song to You, O God;

the One who gives salvation to kings,

who delivers David His servant from the deadly sword.

I will extol You, my God, O King,

and I will bless Your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless You,

and I will praise Your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised...

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,

slow to anger and great in mercy.

The Lord is good to all,

and His tender mercies are over all His works.

And even those verses would have been enough, but I still wasn't through reading:

The Lord upholds all who fall,

and raises up all who are bowed down.

(Thank you Lord, because I'm feeling mighty low!)

The eyes of all look expectantly to You

(After all, where else would I look?)

And You give them their food in due season.

(You always have Lord, and I know you always will)

You open Your hand

and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The Lord is righteous in all His ways,

gracious in all His works.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,

to all who call upon Him in truth.

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

he also will hear their cry and save them.

The Lord preserves all who love Him,

But all the wicked He will destroy.

And there it is. The Lord is good, and He knows what He's doing. And He is still going to come through for me. Just as He always has. It might not look like what I thought it would look like, but when the Lord opens His hand and begins to pour out the blessings that satisfy, who can complain? Those blessings are infinitely good and beyond compare! The sun is going to set on the trials of today, and tomorrow the sun will rise again to newness of life. And me with it. Because God is on my side, and He never fails!