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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Psalms For Moms


Psalm 10:11 He says in his heart, "God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he
will never see it."

The Message version of this verse says it this way: "He thinks God has dumped him, he's sure that God is indifferent to his plight."

Wonder if I could get any of you to raise your hands and admit you've felt that way before? It's not exactly the most Christiany way to feel and yet... there are those dark days, those hopeless moments where doubt and fear creep in.

Surely God doesn't see that my family is on the verge of financial collapse or He would move.

Surely He would've healed my marriage but we're further apart than ever.

Surely He doesn't hear me beg for help with losing this weight, with tackling this addiction, with facing this health issue.

Surely He would grab hold of my wayward child and bring him back.

Surely He would give me the child my heart longs for.

The list goes on and on. Have you ever felt dumped by God? I think there is no worse way to feel in the world. I am convinced that much of the misery we see in the world is because people go along through life convinced God has dumped them. They give up on Him because He doesn't move within their timetable; He doesn't answer their requests the way they wanted; He doesn't seem to be listening. So they shrug, announce that He just doesn't care and go off to live life apart from Him.

I am reminded of Jesus on the cross when God turned His back on Him as He bore all of our ugly ugly sins. Jesus screamed "My God, My God why have You forsaken me?" Being separated from God made Him cry out in agony. And yet, many people choose to live life separated from Him, convinced He won't respond anyway... so what does it matter? Hell, it turns out, isn't about fire and demons as much as it's about never ever having the opportunity again to choose Him. Eternal separation from the One our souls long for.

God says, "Return to Me, and I will return to you." (Malachi 3:7) Not because He is standoffish and doesn't want to be the one to make the first move. Totally opposite. If He barged His way into our lives, it would go against the very thing He gave us from the beginning: free will. He gave us the choice to choose Him... or not.

The good news is, He is right there waiting when we do. His plans for us are still in effect whenever we choose to jump into the stream of His grace. And in all of that, our faith and trust grows as we learn to submit to His perfect plans-- even when He seems to have forgotten or seems silent or to have hidden His face from us. I have said before that the best prayer we can pray is "I trust You, I trust You, I trust You." It's not an easy prayer to pray. It's one of complete and total surrender. It's one that many of us fight against. Some of us will walk away. And some of us will press in. (Luke 8:45)

What will you do?
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7 comments:

Shelly said...

Preach it, Sister! Whew! Quite the challenge for me today. To make a long story short, I'm ready to run; however, I feel like I should be pressing in.

What will I do? : )

I'm so thankful I stumbled upon your blog today. God's promises are not empty. And, the one from Malachi 3:7 is so true. We have to show God that we WANT His help. He does not impose on us.

Anonymous said...

Marybeth,
I felt this way this past weekend. But what I have come to realize is that so often we get in that mind set because we have been away from Him. I have been hearing him say to me lately "run to me". So many times we are guilty of the opposite. He is our strength and shield. Our ever present help.
Thanks for sharing in honesty from you heart.

Zibilee said...

There have totally been times when I have felt God has left me, but in time, I come to realize that he is working in his own way and time. I think your message today is very important, because there are so many people who are going through this right now. It can be so hard to trust him when things seem like they have gone to a standstill position, but the only hope we have is to keep on trusting and to wait on the Lord. I loved this post, and hope it is just the thing that other people need to hear right now.

Cheri Bunch said...

Dear Marybeth,
I would love to feature this article on my blog called "Threadbare, Sharing Threads of Hope That Help Hold Me Together" tomorrow. I would just link it to mine and have them jump over to your page. I don't have many readers but I think it would really encourage those who are following. Would that be okay with you? Cheri

Marybeth Whalen said...

Cheri- sure!

The rest of you- thanks for letting me know it spoke to you. Always good to hear...

Cheri Bunch said...

Dear Marybeth,
I featured you on my blog Threadbare. I don't know if you popped over there today to check it out or not. I did not have a good writing day. I had so much trouble getting my post titled "Reading People" free from errors and there might still be some in that post.
I do not know but it was a mess!

I don't have a lot of followers but really felt that if just one of them that do needs to read your words of encouragement then it would be awesome to have your link for them to refer to. Gonna pray that the one that needs it will see it!

I appreciate your wisdom.

Thank you so much!
Cheri

Edwina said...

Marybeth,

What a great devotion! It reminds me of a comment I read just this morning in a Kyria Bible study I'm doing now. The writer said "I can't control my circumstances, but I can control my faith." We have to choose to stick to our faith - we have to choose to say "I trust You."

Blessings,
Edwina