Coffee With The Lord

Here’s one of the reasons I LOVE the Psalms… Feelings!  They address human emotions that people struggle with in the “rough and tough” of life.  Theology is there – it’s included, its important – but it’s not the first thing you usually encounter… You get FEELINGS!

Like Psalm 13…

The Psalmist has been through it.  He has prayed, he has cried, he has tried, he has trusted… No answer!  No help!  No deliverance!

“HOW LONG, O LORD?  Will you forget me forever?  HOW LONG will you hide your face from me?  HOW LONG must I take counsel in my soul [i.e. try to figure out why I don’t get an answer] and have sorrow in my hear all the day?  HOW LONG shall my enemy be exalted over me?” … FEELINGS!

The Request?  “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!  Light up my eyes…!”

Then the affirmation of faith in God’s character… “But I have trusted in your STEADFAST LOVE [Your ‘Hesed’ – your ‘reliable, faithful, covenant love’]!  My heart SHALL rejoice in your salvation!  I WILL SING to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me!” (From Psalm 13 ESV)

There it is… the whole journey of a believer going through a severe “faith trial” – The feelings, the prayer, the faith affirmation – but also a song of restored confidence in the Lord’s “Hesed” [His steadfast covenant love)!

There’s theology there – the Lord is always faithful!  But you also get the gut-wrenching feeling of the person going through a trial – feeling almost abandoned – forgotten!  Been there?  I have!  I identify completely with the Psalmist!!!  I’m glad I can!!!

It didn’t’ take long for him to start complaining… it never did.  That was his reputation – a complainer!  He complained about his job, his boss, the benefits, the people he “had to work with.”  He complained about the government, the state where he lived, his community (its leadership and its services), and his neighborhood.  (Anyone who would pause long enough to listen would get the unwanted and undesirable “scoop”).  And the school where his kids attended… He griped about everything – the school board, the principal, their teachers, their coaches, the traffic before school and after school, the lunch program… He complained almost every time they went to the grocery store or a restaurant (the food, the service, the cost)… Oh, and he griped at home – at his wife, at the kids… And then there was the weather… Complain, complain, complain!

Get the scene?  Oh, you know this guy?  WORSE PART, HE CLAIMS TO BE A CHRISTIAN!!!  Everybody in town knows him!  TERRIBLE TESTIMONY!!!

Read about a whole bunch of people like him this morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord”… (Two occasions – Exodus 15 & 16, and right after a wonderful miracle of salvation at the Red Sea!)  And believe me, these weren’t the only times – the record of their grumbling appears over and over again in the chapters that follow.

“And the people grumbled against Moses, saying ‘What shall we drink?’ (And God provided a miracle of provision at Marah)…

And then just a little bit later in the wilderness, “The whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.  And the people of Israel said to them, ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!’”

And Moses reminded them, “The Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against Him – what are we?  Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord!”  (From Exodus 15 & 16)

And there it is – the tragic bottom line – a “grumbler” like that, especially one who claims to be one of “God’s people” is really “grumbling against the Lord!”

Is it any surprise then, that Apostle Paul in writing to Christians about the importance of their Christian testimony in the 1^st Century said… “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world!” (Philippians 2:14–15 ESV)  Instead, may I be thankful and grateful – positive and optimistic – because of my faith in God and gratitude for what Christ has done and is doing in my life!  Remember the little children’s worship song… “This little light of mine, I’m going let it shine! …”

“God’s chosen people!” Ha!! It seemed like everything and everyone was against them!! It was laughable that they were “chosen” in the eyes of the broader culture!! First Assyria abused them, then Babylon defeated them, destroying their proud city and dismantling their temple – finally leading them off into captivity, exile and slavery!!

Ever feel like the words “chosen” or “elected” have a hollow ring to them somehow? One failure after another, mistakes galore, problems, difficulties, rejected and even ignored by others… your spiritual and personal self-concept completely dismantled?

I read these wonderful words today originally spoken by God’s prophet Isaiah to the people of Israel (but let them speak to you personally and let them also perhaps be God’s word to the group of God’s people you are a part of)…

“The LORD called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name… He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.” I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the LORD’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.” And now the LORD speaks— the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him… He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49.1-6 NLT)

The Lord has a purpose for you! He has a mission for your church!  Regardless of how you feel right now, He can and will fulfill it!  Try this one on for size in the New Testament (and observe is was spoken first and foremost to a church, but is more often than not applied to us personally)… “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in [or “among”] you will bring it completion at the day of Jesus Christ!” (Philippians 1:7)  Hey, more is being accomplished than you imagine!! Take heart!!