Listening to Jesus from Psalm 13 (Final)
Light and Love For The Fight
Hey Friends,
For the past couple of weeks, we have been exploring the reality of suffering in the Christian`s life using David’s 13th Psalm as our guide.
(If you haven’t read those last two articles, pause this one and read the other two, as it would give this more context.)
We left David asking, “How long will my enemy triumph over me?” in verse two, and we examined the various ways Satan attacks our minds and emotions during trials.
From this point on in the Psalm, the tide begins to change for David, and if you follow in his footsteps, it will start to change for you if we are currently going through a trial. If you are not currently in a trial, one is definitely on the way, and you will be better prepared to handle it.
Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
In the earlier verses, David is pouring out his heart to God, expressing his pain and frustration with God`s “delay”. This is right, good and healthy, and you should do the same.
(If you are suffering and haven`t gone through this phase…pause reading and do so now)
After David has expressed himself, he now turns to God to regain internal peace, strength, order and stability. He is seeking to cause his soul to ascend from sinking in the miry clay to standing on the Rock Eternal. For him (and us) to experience that shift, we need two things from God - Light and Love.
Light - “Give Light To My Eyes”
In verse 2, David's heart was filled with sorrow because of the various thoughts and feelings swirling around in his heart and mind as Saul pursued him. David knows his immediate need is the illuminating power of the word of God, the perspective of God, and the guidance of God, not an army, money or friends.
He needs to view his current situation not through the lens of the flesh, but through the lens of the Spirit.
He is asking for “Light”.
Psalm 119:130 says, “light comes with the entrance of your word”.
But why ask for Light?
The consequence of not getting light is to experience death. (Psalm 13:3)
For David, that would have been not only emotional death through despair, but also physical death by the hands of Saul; the consequence for us is no less real; the death that seeks to threaten us may be death in our marriage, our health, our relationships, our ministry, our finances.
David, you and I need God`s Light (His illuminating Word) so that we can see things from God’s viewpoint. So that the enemy does not bring death to us and rob God of glory through us. A focused and concerted request for Light is essential during your trials.
Two Types of Light
Generally speaking, two types of Light come from God. The first type is the one we tend to ask for the most and put the most emphasis on, but God doesn’t. This is what I call “situational light”. This is where we are asking God questions, such as “why is this happening?”, “What should I do about this?” “What direction should I take?” “When will this thing happen?”.
Now we are free to ask God these questions, and we should. God does care about these questions and He does answer them… sometimes. Other times, He does not. The disciples wanted to know if the time for the restoration of Israel had come. (Acts 1:6). He doesn’t answer that question. Job wanted to know the reason for his suffering. God doesn’t answer that question. Mary and Martha asked Jesus, Why wasn’t He there sooner. He doesn't answer that question.
I find that as we grow up in Christ, God tends to answer these types of questions less and less and our desire to ask them also decreases over time. This is because the Lord is developing our hearts to receive the other kind of light—the one that we seldom ask for, but the one God ALWAYS wants to and will give. It is the same light God gave to Job; this I call “revelational light”.
Revelational Light is when God gives your heart an unveiling, a fresh appreciation, an enlightening and heart-burning understanding of who He is, especially in the Person of Jesus. I would go as far as to say that God allowed the situation that you are in to arise SO THAT He can reveal Jesus to you.
When you are in a trial, there is a particular aspect of Jesus that God the Father wants to show you in The Word through the Spirit. It’s that specific revelation of His Son that holds the key to your victory.
Parents with children who won`t listen need to have Jesus revealed to them as the One who can speak to any heart and turn it around.
Those of us who like to have all our ducks in a row and enter into panic or control mode when things don't go our way need to have Jesus revealed to us as the One Who Sits on the Throne.
Those of us who feel utterly exhausted by the demands of life need to have Jesus revealed to us as the One Who Both Shares Our Burdens as well as the One Who Takes Them Away.
Faith and The Word
When our eyes are enlightened with a specific (rhema) word regarding Jesus Christ, it produces faith. We are then to put our faith in that Christ that is being revealed to us. As we do that, we begin to experience in reality that Jesus in our situation.
This is when we start to taste and see that the Lord is good; it’s here that we begin to taste and experience the powers of the age to come; it’s here that we begin to experience what it means to be seated with Christ in heavenly places.
Just this last week, I was personally going through a period of heaviness of heart, depression and cloudiness of mind that wouldn’t go. I too asked, “How long”? The Father revealed Jesus as the Rock, who trains my hands for war and fingers for battle (Ps 144:1) and Jesus as the One who saves in quietness and trust (Isaiah 30:15) This word powerfully stabilised my inner world and silenced the lies and voice of the enemy, which added to the suffering.
Peace and The Word
It’s the ability to see and trust Jesus as He's revealed that gives you “a peace that surpasses understanding”. It’s not just that the peace is beyond your comprehension, but that this kind of peace continues to work even when you have no comprehension of what is going on, when you have no situational light. This peace doesn’t need to understand the situation in order to work because it trusts and relies on Jesus alone, not on comprehension of the situation.
Experiential Knowledge of God
It’s essential to recognise that the actual situation may change, or not change,or not change immediately - but you will have changed even while still in it!
You will know your God through experience, not just doctrine alone. You will be in a position of ascendancy over your situation (the Rock that is higher than I), and you will be in a position to offer real help to a brother or sister in a similar trial, not just platitudes.
I realised that I have not gotten to love as yet, so let’s do that next Tuesday.
I feel like a preacher who says “and finally” 5-6 times :)
Nonetheless, beloved, ask the Lord to give you light, not just situational light, but revelational light of Jesus Christ, for that is where your victory comes from.
Click Here And Have a Listen - In Christ Alone
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