Hosanna! Lord, save us!
“Hosanna!” It is the cry of Palm Sunday and the Triumphal Entry.
“Hosanna!” It’s an expression we likely associate with celebration and recognition of Jesus as King.
“Hosanna!” We often see it as an exclamation of joy! But there is a desperation and lostness associated with the plea. The exclamation, “Hosanna!” comes from two Hebrew words “yasa” meaning to deliver or make wide and spacious (1) and the word “na” which means “I pray, now”. (2) So, Hosanna is actually a prayer that means, “Save, I pray!” or “Lord, save us!” .(3)
The people of Jerusalem cried out to Jesus to be their King and Savior, but not in a spiritual way, they were crying out for political salvation from Rome. Jesus wept because in their desperation, crying out for salvation, the people still did not see Who Jesus was or what He came to do. They missed the Son of God. They were as lost and desperate as ever.
As parents, we too understand crying out in desperation. The desperation of a parent praying for their child is unmatched. We know what it is to cry out when we are so burdened and in distress over where our sons and daughters are headed, what they are choosing to do and who they choose to follow. We desperately want them to turn to the Lord, recognize Him as God and Savior, but we have no power to change their heart and capture their mind.
Yet, God the Father knows that desperation- He gave His son to save a world that didn’t recognize Him and, instead, crucified Him. He knows the deep loss of loving a Son so dearly, giving the most precious thing He had to give for the sake of others whom He loved, but were not choosing to love Him. Sometimes the desperation we feel is accompanied by a son or daughter who, in their rebellion, choose to not love us or respect our wisdom or do what is right. Hosanna! Lord save us!
We may describe our situation with our son or daughter as being ‘in dire straights’. But what does that mean? “To be in dire straits means to be in desperate trouble or impending danger. Dire means extremely serious. Straits are narrow passages of water which connect two larger bodies of water, navigating them may often become perilous. In the mid-sixteenth century, straits came to mean any difficult situation, one that carries a high degree of trouble.” (4) God understands dire straights, and friends, sometimes God allows it. But God is so good to remind us that He sees. He is ready to save.
Isaiah 43:1-3a “But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;”
God doesn’t tell us that He will keep us from the flood or fire- but He promises He will protect us through it. The Creator has full control over all of Creation. He builds our faith by walking with us through the dire straights and holding back the waters so that we’re not overcome. We may walk those narrow passages/times in life where there is barely room to breathe, when we feel pressed on every side, but He is there. Hosanna! Lord save us!
Psalm 32:6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.
Today, we might find ourselves praying Psalm 119:43a “Trouble and distress have come upon me,” lamenting to God our situation and how dire and desperate it seems.
The Hebrew word for trouble is “sar” which means “narrow, tight, afflicted, anguished, distressed. (5) And that word ‘sar’ comes from the root word ‘sarar’ which means “to cramp, literally or figuratively,—adversary, (be in) afflict(-ion), beseige, bind (up), (be in, bring) distress, enemy, narrower, oppress, pangs, shut up, be in a strait (trouble), vex.” (6) Distress is the Hebrew word “masoq” and it means anguish, straightness, striaits, (dire straits). (7) This word comes from the root ‘suq’ which means “to constrain, bring into straits, press upon.” (8)
God knows. He understands. He uses words in the original language that intricately describe how we might feel when pressed on every side and overwhelmed with situations out of our control. These words very clearly give us a picture of just how difficult and desperate the situations are that believers may encounter. But, those situations are not beyond His control- for whatever reason He allows us to experience trouble and distress- anguish and dire straits. But He doesn’t leave us there and He doesn’t abandon us. Keep going! Read further! Psalm 119:143 resolves and gives hope. It ends with “but Your commands give me delight.” Take a breath. There is delight to be enjoyed! God sees and He rescues. Trust Him. Hosanna! Lord save us!
Might we, today, cry out “Hosanna!” “Lord save us! Lord save my child!”?
Step to the side of the pathway and watch your Savior. Know His Presence. Reach out for His hand and pray “Hosanna! Lord save us!” Pour your heart out to your King and your God for rescue and deliverance from whatever dire straight you find yourself or your son or daughter. He sees and knows. He hears you. He will rejoice over you with singing and provide a way of escape. Hosanna! Lord, save us!
Pray without ceasing.
H3467 - yāšaʿ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (niv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3467/niv/wlc/0-1/
H3467 - yāšaʿ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (niv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3467/niv/wlc/0-1/
G5614 - hōsanna - Strong's Greek Lexicon (niv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g5614/niv/mgnt/0-1/
https://grammarist.com/phrase/dire-straits/#:~:text=Dire%20means%20extremely%20serious.,a%20high%20degree%20of%20trouble
H6862 - ṣar - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (niv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6862/niv/wlc/0-1/
H6887 - ṣārar - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (niv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6887/niv/wlc/0-1/
H4689 - māṣôq - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (niv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h4689/niv/wlc/0-1/
H6693 - ṣûq - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (nkjv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6693/nkjv/wlc/0-1/
A willingness to pray “God, do what You must.”
If you’re a parent, you’re a ‘fixer’. It’s what we do. Whatever the situation, we’re always at-the-ready to find a solution, make it better, fix what is broken or soothe what is hurt. We hate to see our kids in pain or dealing with hardship. Our hearts hurt to know that they grieve or struggle. When we see it, we jump to try and fix it.
Yet, sometimes we can’t fix it. It’s not that we don’t want to, it’s that we’re unable to. That’s a hard place to be, isn’t it? When our son or daughter is going through a hard time, it’s difficult to watch and we want, more than anything, to make it better. But sometimes it’s beyond our ability. And if our son or daughter is running from God, we can’t change their heart or bring repentance. That’s something only God can do. No matter how much we desire it, we cannot ‘will’ them to change.
We become like the little child, bringing the much-loved broken toy to our Father saying ‘fix it’, ‘heal it’, ‘make it better’. But sometimes the situation and damage requires intervention that is difficult to watch and painful to endure. We don’t want our son or daughter going through pain- we’ve spent our lives working to spare them from it! We don’t want to see things get worse- our entire prayer directive has been that it would be made better.
It’s akin to someone needing a heart transplant. The hope for life and health lie in getting a new heart. But it’s not that easy. First, a new heart must come from a donor, someone who lost their life and was willing to donate their organ to be a life-saving opportunity for someone who is dying. Then, the patient must be willing to undergo extensive transplant surgery. They’re surgically opened up and their old heart is removed and the new one is put in place. It is radical, painful, and dangerous. But the hope for life overrides the fear of pain and the anxiety about the procedure. And the hope for life requires that the patient undergoes the painful process.
Friends, the prodigal has the same need. They need a new heart. Their current heart is damaged and diseased. Their situation will surely lead to death, perhaps not a physical death, but a spiritual death looms.. The enemy laughs and takes delight in the slow demise and the sure destination that a prodigal life assures. The process required to remedy this direction and destination means the prodigal has to die to themselves and be willing to allow the Lord to give them a new heart to remedy the damage that’s been done. It’s a painful process. It’s difficult to watch and we know what needs to happen. But it’s excruciating to see our son or daughter go through difficulty, pain, and suffering. But when we’ve done all we can and there is still no change, we need to step back and allow God to work.
Friends, are we willing to pray, “God, do what You must”?
Are we willing to pray, “God, do what you must”? That’s a hard prayer. It’s an anguished prayer. It’s a prayer of surrender, acknowledging that the rescue is beyond our ability to achieve. This prayer requires that we not interfere with what God chooses to do. We have to squelch the urge to rush in and rescue, to mitigate the painful consequences, to redeem the bad choices, to make it better, because really, we won’t make it better, we’ll only prolong the process. When we truly turn our son or daughter over to God to work as He wills, it is the ultimate act of trust. It’s trusting Him that He can parent them better than we can. It’s trusting that our God loves them more than we do. It’s trusting that His ways are higher than our ways and that He is the only One who can effect change and redeem the wayward heart. It requires full surrender on our part to achieve surrender in their heart.
It requires full surrender on our part to achieve surrender in their heart.
“God, do what you must, and help me to trust You.” It’s a prayer of surrender. Here’s another question…if we’re not willing to pray that prayer, are we fully surrendered to the Lord? Do we love Him more than we love our son or daughter? Do we trust Him enough? It requires some introspection into our own hearts and attitudes. It’s a peeling away of those things we’ve trusted other than the Lord. It’s a purifying of our own faith. We must be willing. But we can be honest with God, too, and tell Him how it scares us, because that prayer does bring fear of what may come. But, brothers and sisters, He is Lord of what may come. We need to rest in His goodness.
“God, do what you must, and help me to trust You.” Continue praying that prayer. Every moment, every day. Breathe it out. Remind yourself that God is Sovereign and He can do whatever He wills. He WILL do whatever He wills. We can either accept and support it, or fight it and be miserable. We must trust the Great Physician. He is able to give the prodigal a new heart and a surrendered spirit. Ezekiel 11:19 “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:12-14
Today, write out a prayer of surrender and trust to the God who is able to do more than we could ask or imagine. He spoke all of creation into existence. He subdues nations. He rules over every power and principality. He can turn a heart of stone into a heart of flesh, tender and surrendered to the Lord. Trust Him. Ask HIm to work mightily and to show you that He is working and moving. Remember, His timeline doesn’t mirror our own, but He is Lord of the clock, Lord of the calendar and Lord of the one He created… He loves the prodigal and longs to see them return. Trust Him.
God is not done working!
Pray without ceasing, friends.
Focused on the Storm or the Savior?
Most people have heard about the miracle of how Jesus fed the five thousand with just a young boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fish. He gave thanks and then broke it apart…and apart, and He kept going until there was enough to feed over five thousand people…with leftovers collected afterward. If we were witnesses to that, we’d all likely be marveling for days afterward. The disciples were front row witnesses. Yet, despite that and all the other miracles they’d seen, their short term memory seemed fragile when they faced something scary, something out of their control.
That’s where we pick up our passage, Matthew 14:22-32. Watch how the disciples react and respond; take note of the underlined portions.
“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.””
There are six things we can learn from this passage that can encourage us as we parent and pray.
First:
“and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.”
How many times do we feel buffeted and beat up by life because it seems everything is against us? Life is hard. Circumstances are painful. Other people are difficult. The wind of life is often working against us and we’re pushed back, pushed down and pushed to our limits….but, friends, Who is the maker of the wind? Our Lord and Savior Jesus…we need to remember that.
Second:
“they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.”
Remember, the disciples had just been with Jesus a short time before this happened. Yet they panicked. They suffered short term memory issues. They forgot that the Master of the Universe and the Lord of Creation was just a shout away…. We’re more like the disciples than we often care to admit. When we are afraid, we often default to panic and the immediate need to fix or control the situation. Instead, we need to call on the Savior.
Third:
“But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.””
Jesus sees our struggle. He understands our fear. He knows that we are mortal and fragile and we are overwhelmed and intimidated by things that are out of our control.
When our children feared something and cried out, we didn’t wait until they’d suffered an acceptable amount of time. We didn’t allow them to ‘tough it out’ to help them learn. No, we would quickly move to comfort and soothe them, tell them we were there with them and tell them there was no need to be afraid. Look at Jesus’ words above!! Isn’t that just like a Good Father?. God doesn’t wait until we’ve suffered long enough in our fear…He reassures us immediately. He reminds us that He’s there with us and He tells us we have nothing to fear.
Fourth:
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
Ah, Peter; don’t you just love impulsive, energetic, passionate Peter?! Take note of Peter’s first words….Lord, if it’s you…..
There was some doubt there and a bit of a challenge too. But Jesus didn’t reprimand him. Jesus didn’t ask Peter what his motives were. He didn’t ask him whether he was qualified. Jesus welcomed him. He knows our hearts. He sees our doubt and skepticism. He understands our fear and our mistrust. He sees that we want to believe, but our humanness gets in the way. Jesus welcomes us anyway. Step out and bring Him your doubt and fear. Go on.
Fifth:
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Peter took a few steps, then realized where he was and what He was doing….and he began to sink. Yet, instead of wringing his hands and wondering what on earth he should do, he cried out to Jesus.
He got it right. He didn’t try to solve it on his own. He didn’t tell the Lord to wait until he figured it out. He didn’t push away the hand that was there to save him, insistent he could do it himself. He cried out, “Lord save me!”
Here’s the thing, every time the disciples took their eyes off of Jesus and focused on the situation and circumstances surrounding them, they became doubtful and fearful. Peter saw the wind. He felt the waves. He looked down at the water instead of into the eyes of Jesus. He succumbed to the situation rather than surrendering to the Savior.
When circumstances start to pull us under, all we need to do is cry out to Jesus “Lord, save me!”
and then…
Sixth:
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Jesus IMMEDIATELY reached out to save Peter. He reached out and caught him. He saved him. He rescued him, not because he deserved it or earned it, but because Jesus loved him.
When we’re praying for our loved ones, whether our sons and daughters, family members or those for whom we’re burdened, we can become overwhelmed with the circumstances and lose sight of the Savior. And when we do that, we begin to doubt Him, we question His goodness, we become impatient with His timing. We are uncertain of how He will answer and we start to lack confidence in His grace and mercy. We may even lose trust…but why? Because we’re looking at the circumstances and not the Savior.
Just to recap
The storm may be against us, but we serve the Lord of the wind and the waves
We can’t allow our fear to take the throne and control our responses. Let’s remind ourselves of the Lords power and faithfulness. He is able to calm the storm!
Jesus will always remind us that He’s with us, we have nothing to fear if we are trusting in Him.
Jesus sees our doubts. He loves us anyway and He’ll always welcome us to come to Him.
When we’re sinking, all we need to do is cry out for Jesus to save us. We don’t need to fix it ourselves.
Jesus responds to our cries! Always!
Do you feel like you’re drowning in a sea of circumstances? Call out to the Lord. Is your son or daughter in the midst of a storm? Call out to the Lord. Did you get a phone call, a text or a message that shook you? Call out to the Lord. He has a 100% response rate and His strength is unmatched. Trust Him. Let’s not lose sight of the Savior, friends.
“Father, You know this storm (go on, explain it to the Lord) But I know You are Lord of the wind and the waves. Help me to focus on You and not on the situation. Help me not to fear what might be, but be confident in what I know is True. You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Right now I want to pray for (name). You know their needs and their struggles. You see them in the midst of the storm and the wind that is carrying them away from You, from Your safety and refuge. I pray that You would go to (name), Lord. Meet them where they are. Make Yourself evident to (name) today. I pray that in the midst of their turmoil, fear and doubt that Your voice would be loud and clear “It is I, don’t be afraid”. Lord, calm (name)’s heart today and give them courage to trust You. Lord, if they are drowning in the storm, reach out and save them immediately. Draw (name)’s gaze to You. Encourage them with Your comfort, your Presence and Your reassurance. Jesus, they need You. I pray that they would see their need and, instead of trying to fix it themselves, they would cry out to You. I pray that You would stand in the midst of the storm with them and hold them close. Lord, hear their cry and answer immediately. I trust You and I know You can do more than I could ever ask or imagine. I pray that You would be Lord of the storm today and bring peace, calm and rescue. Bring (name) into safe fellowship with You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Do you know someone who is struggling today? Why not share this post with them and encourage them to cry out to Jesus.
Pray without ceasing.
No One Saw What Went on Inside the Fish.
Read Jonah, Chapter 2
Jonah was thrown overboard in the midst of a raging storm at sea and the storm stopped, completely. God used the storm to get Jonah right where he wanted him. Jonah hit the water and the next thing he knew, he was swallowed whole by a giant fish, perhaps a whale. The species doesn’t matter. But no one expected to see Jonah alive again.
Did the sailors see Jonah sink below the surface and disappear? Did they see the fish swallow him? We don’t know; Scripture doesn’t say. What we do know is that Jonah was swallowed and God used Jonah’s ‘capture’ to do a work in his heart. Here’s the thing, no one saw what went on inside the fish. There Jonah was, in the belly of the fish…alive, yet surely doomed...a least by human understanding. But God saw him. God knew exactly where he was and, he was exactly where God wanted him.
Jonah 2:1 “From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.” Jonah prayed. That’s the first time in the record that Jonah prayed. He didn’t pray when the Lord told him to go to Nineveh. He didn’t pray when he was on the ship. He didn’t pray in the storm or when he was confronted with his culpability for the storm and the lives at risk. No, it wasn’t until Jonah could no longer run, that he prayed.
And here’s the thing…no one saw what went on inside the fish. It was between God and Jonah. Spectators were not required. The opinions of others did not matter. No one needed to weigh in on the process to provide guidance or approval. Sometimes God needs to take us to a place in life where all we can do is depend on Him- there is no other way out.
Jonah knew, keenly, that he was at the mercy of his Almighty God.. His prayer is one of confession, humility and acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and might.
In his distress, he calls to the Lord for help, and he’s confident God hears him (v. 2)
Sometimes God allows our sons and daughters need to experience distress so they will call out to Him
He acknowledges God put him in this desperate situation; He threw him into the ‘deep end’ where he was unable to help himself. (v. 3)
God allows desperate situations. We don’t like to see them, but we need to trust Him. It’s all within His power to control and resolve. We are not the ‘lifeguard’, God is.
Jonah knew he was in a ‘no way out’ situation- threatened by the waters, surrounded by the deep and sinking to the ‘roots of the mountains’, and totally dependent on the mercy and grace of God (v. 5-6)
What will it take for our sons and daughters to recognize that without God, they are lost, doomed, sinking into the depths? Are we willing to allow God to bring them to that place?
Verse 7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.”
It wasn’t until Jonah was in a no-way-out situation, his death was imminent, that he humbled himself before the Lord. Psalm 139:16 “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before any of them came to be.” All the days ordained… the life of our sons and daughters is well-within the hand of the Lord, even if they are not surrendered to Him. Unless it’s the day God ordained for them to die, they will not. He is capable of sustaining them through even the most dire situation and use that to turn their hearts.. Do we trust Him?
Jonah repented. He surrendered to God. verse 9 says, “What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” And once Jonah repented, God completed the rescue, and gave Jonah a second chance to obey.
Jonah’s rescue was a two-stage event. First he was swallowed by a fish, because Jonah needed to be in a no-way-out situation so God could get his attention. He was swallowed whole- certain death, but in that certain death, Jonah found life in his Lord God. The second stage of the rescue was when Jonah was brought back to land. God didn’t just let him remain in the fish because God had more for Jonah to do.
Friends, sometimes God will take our sons and daughters into desperate, life-threatening situations. And we are afraid. We plead and cry out for them. We throw everything overboard in an attempt to save them. But that storm? It’s all in the hands of God. He is the Lord of the land and the sea (Jonah 1:9). He is the master of the wind and the waves, and they obey Him (Mark 4:39-41) You see, the wind and waves obey him, but his children often do not. We can trust Him that He controls everything our sons and daughters experience and He uses it for His purposes. The wind and waves obeyed God and did His bidding. The fish obeyed God and did His bidding. We might fear the storm, we might not see what goes on in the belly of the fish, but we can trust that the storm and the rescue are all in the hands of our loving Heavenly Father.
Today, let’s pray for our sons and daughters, that God would not necessarily calm the storm, but would use it to draw them closer to Him. Let’s pray that God would bring them to a place where they have no other option but to cry out to and trust Him. If God calmed the storm before Jonah was in the sea, he likely would have continued to run. Do we want calm….or do we want authentic surrender? If Jonah hadn’t been thrown into the sea, he wouldn’t have ended up in the fish- his no-way-out place of surrender. If we just want God to end the storm, we might forfeit the rescue and repentance that would result. Let’s pray carefully, focused on the Master of the waves and the Maker of our sons and daughters.
“Father, you see what’s going on in (name’s) heart and life today. You know whether they are surrendered to You or running away. Lord, I pray that You would use circumstances and other people to point them back to Christ. I don’t like to see the struggle, Lord, but I know you can use it. I would jump in and save them- it hurts to see them struggle. Yet I know You use the struggle to get their attention. Please work in them. I trust that You are the Lord and Master of the wind and waves…and they obey You. I know they will not consume (name) in defiance of Your will. I know You can provide rescue. Help me to trust Your work. No one saw what happened inside the fish, Lord. And I know that I don’t need to watch the process and weigh in on what You choose to do and how it unfolds. I just need to trust You. Lord, I’m willing to step back and allow You to work. I won’t cling to methods and plans of my own. I pray for mercy and grace. Lord, work in (name)’s heart ahd life today. Bring them to a place of surrender. Guide them to salvation in You and bring them to a life of obedience in Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Pray without ceasing.
Trouble
Psalm 144:7-11 “Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you, to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers his servant David. From the deadly sword deliver me; rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful.”
Don’t we wish we could reach down and pluck our sons and daughters out of trouble, out of bad situations or out of bad relationships? When life is unfair, when others treat them with malice and gossip about them, don’t we wish we could sweep in, lift them up and carry them away to a place of peace and safety?
Unfortunately, as much as we want to rescue them, we often cannot. If the difficulty is of their own making, perhaps we should not. God uses difficult circumstances to teach us, refine us and make us more like Christ. That’s the thing- Christ suffered. People lied and gossiped about Him. They deceived and were treacherous to conspire against Him. They ultimately exchanged his life for that of a murderer and then celebrated His death.
Our parent heart may want to shield our sons and daughters from all of this, but 1 Peter 4:13 says “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” We are called to share in Christ’s suffering because that can and will lead to rejoicing because we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29)
Notice how David rejoices in spite of his trials. He knows the Source of his strength, protection and deliverance. His joy was not in avoiding the hardship, his joy was in knowing Who walked with him through it.
Can we pray today that our sons and daughters know that joy? Rather than seek ways out of hardship or trying to avoid being stretched and changed, pray that they see God in it and through it. Pray that they can rejoice in spite of the opposition because they know Who always wins.
Pray without ceasing.