Tough times

Send me your light and your truth;
may they lead me
and bring me back to Zion, your sacred hill,
and to your Temple, where you live.
Then I will go to your altar,0 God;
you are the source of my happiness.
I will play my harp and sing praise to you,
O God, my God.     (verses 3,4)

Read Psalm 43

The psalm writer cries out to God, ‘Why must I go on suffering from the cruelty of my enemies?’ (verse 2). He wants help. He wants deliverance from his enemies. But instead of asking God to send an army of angels to destroy the enemies, he asks only for God’s light and truth to lead him back to God.

There are many times when we suffer because we have left God. We have gone our own way and not God’s way. And so often when we do, we suffer the consequences of our sin.

But there also are many times when we suffer for seemingly no reason at all. Some of those times will have been sent by God, sometimes to test us, sometimes to strengthen us. But always there is the desire of God to lead us back to him. He wants to teach us that every day we need his love given to us in his Son, Jesus.

Dear heavenly Father, when the time of testing comes my way, lead me always to your Son, Jesus. Amen.

by Gregory Graham, in ‘Living Water for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2001)

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