The eyes of the LORD watch over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for help. - Psalm 34:15
David had the answer to all of his afflictions. He sat in his cave and counted his blessings. Blessings are very threatening to afflictions. Troubles tiptoe out of the door when praise bursts in. David began to praise God for being God, which is an excellent idea when you can’t praise him for what he has allowed to happen in your life!
David said, “I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me” (Psalm 34:4). He believed God was near enough to hear his cry. We need to remember that, when trouble comes, God is always within earshot. “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted,” insisted David (Psalm 34:18). A broken heart may feel only its brokenness, not his nearness. It’s what we know of God, not what we feel of him, that brings his healing presence to our damaged lives.
“Where is God when it hurts?” cry the rejected wife, the mourning husband, the lonely teenager. God is near. David wrote in another place, “Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near” (Psalm 22:11). When David insisted on believing trouble was near, God insisted on being nearer.
“But if I could only see him, feel him,” we say. Will you believe he is near when you can do none of those things? If you will, you will be well on the way to growing faith in the soil of your troubles. After all, what is faith for? When we count the blessings of his nearness, sorrow and sighing flee away.
For Further Study: Psalm 34:1-22
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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