“How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me. “-{Psalm 13:1-6}
THINKING ON FICTION OR FACTS? Note it is in the midst of difficulties, that David had been pursued relentlessly, hounded by Saul, whose desires was to kill him. With this as the background to the Psalm, David chooses to pray {v3}and God reminds him of past goodness to him that changes his focus from “FICTION,” believing the lie that God has abandoned and forgotten him,{v1-2} to FACT- God has been good to him!{v6}. The result is his prayer of PRAISE to God for His goodness to him. He has a history of God’s goodness to him and it primes his heart and faith to sing His praises! He looks back for “fuel” for his faith and praise the result for God’s personal goodness to him!
The problem we too often face is that we believe Fiction– the lie, and have nothing to base it on that God has forgotten or abandoned us. Most of us base the Fiction on the fact we do not “see” God DOING what we want, when we want, in the way we want and therefore conclude God has forgotten us. God has abandoned us. What other conclusion could there be. We live by “sight.”We live by “feelings,”Not that all “feelings” are bad in themselves but when they do not line up with His character or His Word, the “Facts,” and we make our choices based on those feelings we will come to wrong conclusions about God, and take His Name in vain, which is to use it in a way that dishonors Him! So it gets down to the issue of faith. Who will you trust, “Fiction or Facts as revealed in His Word, as the foundation for your faith? God says, “…for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”-{Hebrews 13:5}. That is a FACT! We say, “But I don’t FEEL His presence, I don’t SEE Him working, the way I want Him to!” So will you trust what you Feel or what He says.
It is treating FICTION as FACTS and Facts as Fiction. And what determines it so? Who you trust, self or God! Feelings, sight or FACT of His Word!
Jesus makes a COMPARISON in Matthew 7:24-27 OF TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE, TWO FOUNDATIONS, TWO CHOICES. He says that the one who builds his life on the Word of God is compared to “a wise man,” while the one who builds his life on anything else is building on “sand” and is “foolish,”- unwise! Believers are not exempt from making poor, unwise, foolish decisions. What do you build your decision making on?What is the foundation of your choices? Fiction or Facts of His Word? Ask yourself how did you come to your conclusion? David came to wrong conclusions in v 1-2 God had forgotten and abandoned him. The length of the trial had worn him down and he judged God based on his..unfavorable circumstances!
God saves, delivers us and gives us His Word so that we may renew our thinking, to align up with His thinking! -{Rom 12:2}
THINK ON PAST GOODNESS of the LORD To you to Fuel your faith ad FOCUS AMIDST PRESENT DIFFICULTIES AND PRAISE HIM! Your Mind has to go somewhere… develop the HABIT to Think, Recall His goodness to you… and PRAISE HIM!
GOD GIVES A SONG AMIDST THE
SORROWS!