Worshiping with Questions
I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. Psalm 13:5
It’s
not uncommon during a long (or short!) trip for someone in a group of
travelers to ask, “Are we there yet?” or “How much longer?” Who hasn’t
heard these universal queries coming from the lips of children and
adults eager to arrive at their destination? But people of all ages are
also prone to ask similar questions when wearied because of life
challenges that never seem to cease.
Such was the case with David in Psalm 13. Four times in two verses (vv. 1–2), David—who felt forgotten, forsaken, and defeated—lamented “How long?” In verse two, he asks, “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts?” Psalms that include lament, like this one, implicitly give us permission to worshipfully come to the Lord with questions of our own. After all, what better person to talk to during prolonged times of stress and strain than God? We can bring our struggles with illness, grief, the waywardness of a loved one, and relational difficulties to Him.
Worship need not stop when we have questions. The sovereign God of heaven welcomes us to bring our worry-filled questions to Him. And perhaps, like David, in due time our questions will be transformed into petitions and expressions of trust and praise to the Lord (vv. 3–6).
Such was the case with David in Psalm 13. Four times in two verses (vv. 1–2), David—who felt forgotten, forsaken, and defeated—lamented “How long?” In verse two, he asks, “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts?” Psalms that include lament, like this one, implicitly give us permission to worshipfully come to the Lord with questions of our own. After all, what better person to talk to during prolonged times of stress and strain than God? We can bring our struggles with illness, grief, the waywardness of a loved one, and relational difficulties to Him.
Worship need not stop when we have questions. The sovereign God of heaven welcomes us to bring our worry-filled questions to Him. And perhaps, like David, in due time our questions will be transformed into petitions and expressions of trust and praise to the Lord (vv. 3–6).
Coming to God in prayer is most definitely one of our greatest "tools" as Christians. I also have to remind myself that God provides us with "listening ears" here on Earth, as well, in the form of friends, colleagues, therapists, counselors, & pastors & priests. We can't go at it alone!
ReplyDeleteI have been in a "how long" season before. A season where maybe health is sticky and fear is HEAVY and it overpowers everything. We always ask ourselves, "When will this be over" the impatience of life and the fact that we aren't in control of our bodies. It's so hard to trust sometimes, but the peace there is knowing that God is the ultimate and we need to bring our fears to him, since he's our best counselor. Thankyou for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhenever times of testing comes and doubts fill my mind because of the inequality of life in the here and now, I am reminded to read Psalm 73 where the writes was dismayed by all the injustice occurring but is given a different perspective at the end of the Psalm that the future will be different and the LORD will make right everything in his own timing.
ReplyDeleteI am such a day to day person that I actually cannot relate as much to this devotion. Sometimes I am even hour to hour. When I look back on periods of my life, I can see how long those hard times seemed but God has given me such a horrible memory and so much to do, that it just is what it is. I grew up hearing my dad say, "such is life", whenever I had any issues. It stuck.
ReplyDeleteGod can take it... He is bigger than our questions. Sometimes asking the hard questions bring us to a clearer answer, a truer answer. Job found this out the hard way!
ReplyDelete