FOR TIMES OF TROUBLE

 FOR TIMES OF TROUBLE

There are many people who feel bad for my loss, but who feel that there is no help from God available for me.  I love this Psalm which teaches something different.  For those of us who have gone through deep depths of sorrow and have turned to God for help, we have learned a powerful truth.  He really is there, UNDENIABLY He is! Skeptics may say that it is all in our heads, that grief plays strange games with your mind. But I have been there, and I know no amount of self-talk would bring me out of the abyss, only a higher power has the ability to do that.

Psalm 3:2-5

2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. 

3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. 

4 I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. 

5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me. 

"He knows better than I..." 

Verse 4:

"God hears our prayers and he always answers them"- (We may not hear His answers, or we may not recognize them, or in some cases we may not like them even though we say we trust in Him) In these moments we must remember... that He knows better than we do.

In the case where we do not like His answer we have to remember that God is a 'shield' for us, even against ourselves. So when you have to choose between His view and our own, "we must yield to His divine view and divine love." -Jeffery R Holland

Lifter of thy head

Verse 3: 

Every great cause requires vision. We have to see before we can achieve" - Holland.  Normally in the midst of a trial we lack vision.  We feel lost in a fog and have our heads down to the ground looking at our feel.  It is during those times that God can lift our heads if we turn to Him.  He can give us glimpses of hope, glimpses of the future.  He can put ideas in our head that can give us direction to guide us through the fog.  "God will be the lifter of thy head if we will allow Him." We must CHOOSE to keep our heads up.

Sometime we just have to sleep on it

Verse 5:

"Don't make important decisions or try to resolve serious problems when you are exhausted" - Holland.  I  have learned this one the hard way.  Sleep deprivation can play tricks on your mind.  It can make you more emotionally distraught and anxious.  Often a nights sleep will refresh and quicken your spirit and mind and give you new strength to deal with the task at hand.  I often find that problems resolved themselves in my sleep as answers and ideas come to my mind in those early wake/sleep times.  

In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.- Isaiah 30:15 (Who knew that the scriptures told you to just sleep on it? )

I also like to remember "Don't run faster than you have strength."  God wants us to stretch and grow from our trials, but not to the breaking point.  He does not expect us to do more that we are able.  I find that is when the miracles come for me in my life.  When I have been stretched to the breaking point and I call out in agony, "I can not take another step alone."  It is then, we I ask for help, that I feel the angels pushing my cart up the hill.  I feel someone lifting my head toward the light, and bearing me up as I keep miraculously moving forward.

He HEARS us, 

He LIFTS us, 

He SUSTAINS us, 

He PROTECTS us and 

He GUIDES us safely through this life and back to Him...  

I bear witness of that truth.  

THIS is what I have learned to ABSOLUTELY rely on this year. 

Quotes are from Jeffery R Holland's Book For Times of Trouble:  Spiritual Solace from the Psalms