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.