Living for Him means that we put our hope in God, as we studied last week. It means that we strive for holiness, as we studied on Monday. And sometimes living for Him means that we must submit to His hand of discipline in our lives.
Not a happy subject. But a necessary one.
With rebukes You punish a person for wrongdoing;
You consume like a moth what is precious to him;
Certainly all mankind is mere breath! Selah (Psalm 39:11)
Ouch!
Wait a minute! Since I was a little bitty tyke, I learned that God is love. He loved all of us so much that when we were still sinners, He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us. He cares for us and knows us just like when He sees the sparrow fall, or the flower nodding in the field . . .
What gives?
Yes. God loves us unconditionally. Fiercely. But He often uses trials to show us our lack of holiness. To help us become more like our Savior. Trials should cause us to examine ourselves in the light of His Word, to see what God may be trying to teach us. It became apparent to David, as he examined his own life, that God was disciplining him.
But why would God consume as a moth what is precious to us? Just like a moth that flits too close to the flame and is gone in a crackle and a puff of smoke . . . . That just sounds mean-spirited! Is God cruel?
No.
The answer is that we are counting the wrong things as "precious." If we are putting great store in the wrong things, then that means we need to get things figured out. We may not be fully placing our hope in Him; we may be placing our hope in other things. So, God has to consume those things in order to show us their true value (or lack of value) and to show us that He alone is worth hoping in. He alone is worthy of our trust.
In the next verses, David is showing us a variety of emotions. He pleads with God to remove the trial in verse ten, but then in verse eleven, he acknowledges God's authority to reprove him. In verses twelve and thirteen, he becomes increasingly intense -- David asks that God would hear his prayer, then his cries, then his tears.
“Hear my prayer, Lord,
listen to my cry for help;
do not be deaf to my weeping. (v. 12a)
Often when we are beset with trials, we grow more and more desperate for God's help. We may forget His faithfulness, His promises, and even His peace. Our Father God understands the desperation that we feel. The Spirit may grant the request of our hearts, the prayer that we've not been able to put into words . . . that prayer may be the one He answers, not the words of our lips.
As we try to learn to submit to His hand of discipline in our lives, it is ok to plead with Him to remove the trial. It's ok to complain, as long as we do it with a submissive, contrite heart, and as long as we don't give unbelievers the opportunity to scoff at our God. We must acknowledge His right to deal with us, not rage against Him. We cannot be defiant against God, nor can we accuse Him of treating us unfairly. The key to growing through His discipline is to ask Him to help us learn the lessons He has for us.
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
(Hebrews 12:3-11)
David is saying in this psalm the same thing that the writer of Hebrews says in that passage: that living for the Lord means that we will submit to His hand of discipline in our lives. That we will ask Him to help us learn the lessons He has for us in our trials.
I loved this.
ReplyDelete