Happy and Blessed - Pt. 12

 My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word. My eyes long for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?” For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes. How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law. All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me! They have almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts. In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth. (Psalm 119:81-88 ESV).

 

I’m always a little baffled by the response of so many people to the promises of God. Inevitably, as I work with people who find themselves in a seemingly impossible situation, I will guide them to the Scriptures that speak of the goodness and wisdom of God. There are so many of them you can almost randomly open the Bible and just point blindly at a passage. As I often point to the hope of God’s ultimate deliverance I am met with a resounding “…but.” The real key in our text today is “the power of yet.” We have so many internal doubts that it is far too easy to reject the redemptive nature of God in all things as we are overwhelmed by near impossible circumstances.

 

Our reading is another example of the psalmist crying out for God to rescue him from his enemies. They have tried to trap him; they have tried to persecute him without cause. On the brink of despair, the psalmist is in crisis, “like a wineskin in the smoke.” Normally wineskins are soft and flexible, but long exposure to smoke makes them brittle. From abuse, the psalmist feels he is about to crack. Pounding on heaven’s door, the psalmist cries out: Where are you, God? “When will you comfort me?” “How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors?” Rescue me from these troubles, now!

 

But it seems God is silent. Did you notice the psalmist’s reaction to this? He doesn’t reject God or turn away from him. Instead, the psalmist’s ­trials stoke his passion for God and for growing closer to God by meditating on his Word. In God’s Word the writer finds assurance of God’s unfailing love — and this, he says, makes him hopeful in the deliverance of God. Though our troubles may or may not be as difficult as the psalmist’s, we all experience waiting for God. And while we wait—resting on God’s ­promises—we have an opportunity to grow in following and serving the Lord. In the right time, God’s time, He will answer. Job declared the principle: Though he slay me, yet will trust in him (Job 13:15). Trust Him… use the “power of yet”!