When times get tough...Gleanings from the Psalms

There seems to be those stages in life, sometimes unexpected, that put a burden on our very shoulders and seems it will overtake us..."all hope is gone" like mentality. It can come in a variety of ways: a broken relationship (that one is tough at times simply because you feel someone has just reached in and ripped your very heart out of your chest), finances ( I know money is not the source of happiness...but when you are facing a foreclosure, not enough to pay bills, or worse yet...your very own kids have needs you are not able to supply at the moment you feel like you would rather die), or perhaps the death of someone close to you ( I think what is hard about that, at least for me, is the reality they are just not there anymore...no voice..no comments..no reaction...to daily life. Its just one big void).

 Yet, in all this, the Psalms point to writers who faced similar calamities...and gave instructions on how they got through their difficulties and actually declared God's hand was there for them.
 In the examples I share in this post, it comes down to an attitude I must have, and a determination to trust Him to the point of thanking Him and honoring Him with a "Song of Praise"...that has to be a heartfelt song from within my battered life.
 Is it an easy road? I would have to answer it like this: "Not at first, it feels like all hell is laughing in your mind, and God?.. He is the farthest thing away...like He is visiting a faraway country I never even heard of."

 Yet, somewhere in the depth of the emptiness and bitter loneliness that is sometimes felt....a choice is made inside you.......

                                                   Gleanings from the Psalms

 Here in Psalm 118:24, the writer gives an exuberance over "this very day", perhaps a day he didn't see coming.
 The thing that strikes me about this verse...is the actual changing of events that was to occur in the life of the writer of this verse...had not happened yet. Later in verse 25 he indicates his "troubles in life" had not been resolved....yet!...but was totally convinced they were... through God and His unending Grace.
 In verse 22, the psalmist describe how the "stone that was rejected has now become the chief cornerstone", and from that built up his own faith that God was going to be faithful in his dire needs of the moment.
 Of course, Jesus is declared in the New Testament as the "Chief Cornerstone" of which we build our lives of trust and faith on. He is our Rock..and "we live and die" with Him. That is the way God has designed it...the very Rock of our Salvation:

Psalm 118:24  " The Lord has done it!...this very day...this is our day!...this is our time!...a time of celebration and to discover the gladness He has deposited in my own heart...the knowing from within that it is He...who has made this very day...for me!"

 In Psalm 31:7, further instructions are given us as to how we face very real adversities in our own individual lives: " I will be glad..this is my very choice! I will even celebrate and sing to You the "Songs of Praise"...simply because You are so kind...no matter what my eyes see, no matter what my emotions may be doing to overtake me.
 For You know and have seen my troubles...you have seen and understand my pain...and You have been so good as to disarm all the torment that surrounds me, and not leave me in the "Grips of Darkness".
 In fact, You have replaced all that...and given me some room to breathe...again! And You have whispered to me how much You care and love me!"

 Going back to Psalm 118 once more, verses 17-20 give some idea what faith is all about...because all these things this psalmist was writing about in these 3 verses...he was still waiting to actually happen...at the moment it appears he was settling the matter in his own heart and mind: " I did not die...I lived! I actually made it! I will live to tell what the Lord has done for me!
 I admit, this was tough, the test was hard. It may have even been the toughest thing I ever faced in life...but, I was not simply handed over to Death. In fact, I am happy to report Death was not able to get his hands on me.
 Instead, God opened the "Gates of Justice", and He allowed me to enter...to give me opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude. And that is when it really happened! My eyes...they caught the glimpse of the "Gates of His Very Temple"...this is the place where the "Victorious Ones" are lifting up the "Songs of Praise"...to the One who made my life even possible!"

 At the end of our lives here on earth, may our testimony be: "The Lord has been...so very good to me."