Have you ever had a moment or season in life when you were distressed and confused, wondering what God was doing in your life? In such seasons, it often feels like God is absent or has failed to incline his ear to your prayers. You cry out in prayer, lifting your hands and even falling on your face to the Creator of the universe. “Where are you, Lord? Do you not care? What are you doing? Deliver me!” I imagine most, if not all, of us have gone through such trying times. It was no different for King David in the Old Testament. He writes of such an instance in Psalm 31 and shows us what to do when we are wondering what God is doing.
We can hear the urgent and desperate tone in David’s words in just about every verse of Psalm 31. “Incline your ear to me, rescue me quickly,” David calls out to the Lord. “Be to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me” (Ps 31:2; NASB). This statement could easily end with an exclamation mark. Verse 9 goes on in the same vein: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also.” David feels like his body is wasting away because of his troubles, and God has yet to deliver him. Moreover, he feels forgotten by everyone. “I am forgotten,” claims David, “as a dead man, out of mind. . . . Terror is on every side” (Ps 31:12a, 13a). David’s enemies were many. He felt encircled. His mind and body were stressed, anxious, and exhausted. He was crying out to God for deliverance. Yet, there seemed to be no divine reply.
We can all relate to David. For me, the past month or so has been a season of distress, confusion, and crying out to God. During our transition in ministry from Georgia to Indiana, my wife and I sold our house, but then turned around a few days later to find out the buyers backed out. We looked tirelessly for a new house, always coming up empty handed. In the midst of this, one of my daughters graduated from high school. My oldest daughter graduated from college and then was married. Change and stress were on every side. Now, as we creep near the end of June, some of questions my wife and I have are still left unanswered. I’m still asking, “What are you doing, God?”
How shall we live in such seasons of life? David reminds us in Psalm 31:14. “But as for me,” says David, “I trust in You, O Lord, I say, ‘You are my God.'” We are to trust in the Lord no matter how long our trial lasts. But how can we do that? It seems so difficult. For one, we need to remember that God holds us in his hand and is present in our situation. “My times are in Your hand,” David affirms (Ps 31:15a). God is sovereign and is control of what is happening in our lives.
But God is more than sovereign, he is also good. “How great is Your goodness,” David proclaims. God has our good always in mind. The trials and seasons of our lives are given or allowed to occur to us by God for our good, not because he desires to hurt us. In fact, David goes on to say that God’s goodness is “stored up for those who fear” him (Ps 31:19a). A part of God’s goodness is his protection of those who love him. “You hide them in a secret place of Your presence. . . . You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues” (Ps 31:20).
David concludes by reminding us that God will, indeed, sustain us. “O love the Lord, all you His godly ones! The Lord preserves the faithful” (Ps 31:23a). In a final exhortation, David proclaims, “Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord” (Ps 31:24).
As I write this, all the stress and change of this year have mostly passed, except one: our house in Georgia still has yet to sell! What are you doing, Lord? Didn’t you call my family and me to minister in Indiana? Then why won’t you sell our house in Georgia so we can move? Why all these hurdles and going around Robin Hood’s barn? I do not have an answer, and I do not understand. Perhaps you are in a similar season of life. If so, this is what we need to remember: trust in the Lord. He is sovereign, and we are in his hands. He loves us and is doing whatever is occurring for our good. God is preserving us. So, be strong! Continue to seek the Lord and pray. “Take courage all you who hope in the Lord!”
Pastor Pete