Monday, June 25, 2012

Psalm 13- A God Big Enough to be Mad At

This summer my Bible study group is going through the book of Psalms.  Ironically, I just found out my Dad is doing the same thing in his summer sermon series... I'll say he copied me.  So, this summer my friends and I are reading one Psalm a day.  This summer I want to highlight some of my favorites.

"How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord
for He has been good to me."
Psalm 13

In this Psalm David is upset at God.  I picture him screaming at the moon in parts of this Psalm.  David is feeling mad, scared, and alone.  He feels like God is slow in rescuing him... or not caring about him at all.  David is upset at God.

I love this because we serve a God that is big enough to be mad at.  God does not get scared when we yell in frustration.  He won't even think you are evil if you doubt him for a time.

Christians, if others are going through a valley and they are mad at God, let them be mad.  If King David, a man after God's own heart, can be mad so can they.  We are not to be Christian cheerleaders all the time.  Encouragement is great but sometimes we need to shut up, give them a hug and as my philosophy professor says, "drop off a casserole".

However, at the end of the day we must trust in God's unfailing love; that's called faith.  God's love cannot lose.  He is good to us... even when it doesn't immediately look at that way.  So, it's okay to feel mad, alone and scared but at the end of the day we must anchor ourselves to the truth that is God's unfailing love.

It's okay to despair and wonder what God is doing.  We are human and at many times we will be frustrated because we can't understand the Master.  But in the end we must trust God today.

1 comment:

  1. "Christians, if others are going through a valley and they are mad at God, let them be mad."
    Glad you wrote this because sometimes you just need to get it out to get over it and to be able to move on to the faith/trust/unfailing love.
    cw

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