March 14, 2014
Psalm 13
How long, Lord, will You forget me?
How long will You hide Your face?
How long, Lord, will this depression
grip my soul in its embrace?
How long will this dreadful sorrow
pierce my heart all night and day?
How long will my soul’s attacker
be exalted o’er my way?
Look on me, Lord, come and answer;
Light my eyes, lest death approach.
Lest my enemy claim vict’ry
and my foes gloat in reproach.
But I trust Thy lovingkindness
and my heart shall yet rejoice;
For my God has been good to me,
I will sing with heart and voice.
CONSIDER THIS . . .
Every time the doors were open she was there. She always arrived early, never missing an opportunity to be there. And like clockwork, this small, frail widow presented her case before the towering, distant judge, appealing for mercy, for justice, for relief and for vindication over her enemy. And every day, like clockwork, the calloused judge dismissed her pleadings. Despite the ever mounting despair, she would never give up. For her it wasn’t if, but when. Her only question seemed to be, “How long?” Finally, one day everything changed. Finally, the judge, worn down like dripping water wears on a rock, granted her plea. He simply wanted to be done with her. Widow wins. Case closed.
The moral to the story? Try harder? Never give up Jimmy V!? Sort of, but not really. Jesus told this story to his disciples “so they would always pray and never give up.” Yes, but we so easily miss the point if we stop there. We readily translate the story into something like this: The answers to my pleas for help depend on the degree of my persistence in prayer. WRONG! The real truth behind the story: Never give up, because the God to whom you pray is nothing whatsoever like the judge in the story. God always sees, always hears, always cares, always responds, always loves and right always wins, even if it takes a while; and sometimes it will. It’s not our persistence that gets it done in the end. It’s the unwavering, unfaltering, unfailing, unflinching LOVE OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST that gets it done. What fuels the persistence Jesus speaks of is not our dogged self-determination, but an unstoppable faith in this kind of God– OMG! Hang on. . . what’s that music I hear in the distance?
Fun and games aside, Song #13 is the soundtrack of the widow’s story. She probably sang it every time she climbed those courthouse steps. Can you hear her frail voice singing those last verses as her hand once again reached for the door, “But I trust Thy loving kindness, and my heart shall yet rejoice; for my God has been good to me, I will sing with heart and voice.”
That’s the truth about underdogs. They never stop singing.
Are you still putting off singing these songs? Here’s another chance. I won’t give up until you do. ;0) CLICK HERE.
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