Psalm 42:9

Psalm 42:9

God my Rock

In Psalm 18 we looked at the different Hebrew variants of our word for rock. Here in this verse, the word used describes a rock cliff; in other words, God is a towering structure from which His people can look down on their enemies, and outwards to the surrounding country. He is a place for a watchtower where early warning of danger may be given. He is also a refuge from the roaring waves far below. This does appear to be a contradiction for the writer speaks, in verse 7, of having waves and breakers sweeping over him!

Obviously, the psalmist has not lost his faith or his dependence on the Lord, “You are God my rock cliff” however, he is clearly troubled by his circumstances and the lack of response from heaven. On the one hand it makes me wonder if he is goading the Lord, “You are my rock cliff, so why aren’t you rescuing me from the waves and breakers?” Or maybe he is truly troubled by the lack of help from the Lord. We often forget that these heart cries in the Psalms, are from men who depended absolutely in God, they believed in His deliverance and His provision, and so our writer is genuinely confused that heaven is not hearing, that his mourning goes unanswered and his enemies are allowed to oppress him. Such is his trust that it makes no sense, why should the Lord God allow this to continue? 

I ask myself, is my dependence on Him so complete that troublesome experiences are viewed in this way, as if God has forgotten me? Do I just plod on and confer with all of the world’s wisdom instead of pleading with heaven to see my predicament and give me an answer? Do I dare to accuse the Lord God of forgetting me? Am I honest and in the kind of relationship where I can bare my heart before Him?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 4:1 Smear campaigns

Psalm 4:1    Smear campaigns   The background to this Psalm is so familiar; David is being slandered and maligned by his detractors.  It seems that some calamity has befallen the nation and the king is getting the blame! Lies are being told, a smear campaign has begun, and the reputation of the Sovereign is under threat.  As usual, if something goes wrong, culpability is laid at the feet of the one in charge.  David, quite rightly, turns to the Lord his God and prays for relief and for mercy. The Satan is a master of such campaigns and his emissaries gleefully turn on Christians in leadership positions although the whispering campaign can affect all of us. The whispering starts in our own heads, but it can also come from the lips of our detractors. It goes something like this: - You’re the reason it went wrong You messed up again You should have seen it coming Surely you know better You are not worthy You don’t know what you’re doing Someone else ought to be in c
Read more

Psalm 74:16

Psalm 74:16 God established the sun and the moon “ In  the beginning   God created   the heavens   and the earth.   2  Now the earth was formless   and empty,   darkness was over the surface of the deep,   and the Spirit of God   was hovering over the waters. 3  And God said,   “Let there be light,” and there was light.   4  God saw that the light was good,   and he separated the light from the darkness.   5  God called   the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”   And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” These, so familiar, words from Genesis 1 remind us of who is in charge! There would be no light without God. There would be no day or night without God. There would be no earth without God. And there would have been no living things unless God had created order out of chaos. The sun, moon and stars would not be fixed in their orbits without God and you and I would not exist unless He ordered our conception. It is because we see God as glorious, righteous
Read more
Psalm4:8        I will lie down and sleep                Th ere are times, in the life of all believers, when we no longer have control of situations. We can do nothing more. We have given our all, we have tried every possible solution and now it is out of our hands. As someone has wisely said, “It is time to let go and let God.” If we truly trust Him, if our faith will allow us, we can turn our backs on our enemies. We can block our ears to the threats. We can ignore the lies and the deceit and say,  “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone Lord, make me dwell in safety.” I should imagine that the devil, having sent a hurricane our way is not amused, when we settle in our beds in the midst of it all and drift off into a peaceful sleep! But that is our right and privilege once we let the Lord God Almighty take control. These spiritual attacks are like whirlwinds, they blow with terrifying intensity and threaten to turn us upside down; the disciples witnessed one of thes
Read more