Do you feel like nobody is paying attention to your situation? Do you wonder why God doesn't seem to be rewarding your struggle and your prayers and your anguishing heart?
Partially because it's so important… and partially because we struggle so much to actually follow through with it… the Bible reinforces our instruction to trust in God. As difficult as it may be for us to maintain that focus, it is what we must do. Our way of living is to be subjected to eternal scope of the Lord, not to our short-sighted understandings. This is a most difficult task… and yet… it is the most freeing.
We pursue God sometimes because we seek justification for our cause. We strive to be heard. We speak up or act up in order to make sure to voice our ideas and our side of our stories. We don't like it when those who have done wrong prosper… especially when we believe we have done right and when we believe we deserve the reward or the comfort or the attention. At the least we believe we somewhere down deep in our gut that in the face of trials we should be cared for.
The Good News is that God knows. This is sometimes the most frustrating and confusing part of life… that God sees our struggle. He is aware of our cause. He is aware of our toil. He is aware that division and deviousness and dilapidation in this world detracts from our ability to live fully on this earth. He is aware that the sin and destruction of others hinders our own pursuits. And God is fully cognizant that things don't always work out the way we want them to work out.
That's why Psalm 37 reiterates the command for us to keep after God, to keep living the right way… so that God can do something great for us:
"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." (NIV) Psalm 37:5-6.
Today may not make much sense to us. Today may be a struggle. We may feel blind to the way God is working. We may wonder why some people prosper and others suffer. Today we might lie in agony and anguish.
But as we pursue the Lord… as we delight in Him… as we actually trust in Him… The Lord is already at work to make us shine and to make public the justice of our cause. How this will all work itself out is still part of the mystery of TRUST. But the pursuit of God in the midst of the unknown outcome reminds me of something revolutionary that Jesus spoke:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Thanks for lifting me up this morning.