March 17, 2006
Psa 119:88 KJV Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
As of verse 81, this prayer follows a litany where the author seems at wit’s end, even dying. To read this as pure poetic language would wrong the intent to describe his condition. The only way for us to be able to withstand and keep the faith to such an extent of suffering without cursing God (Job 2:9), is to claim on His lovingkindness to grant us more life.
Life is hard for many of us. We wish things were different. We wish this sickness, which affects our lives in ways we didn’t plan, would just disappear and go away. We wonder why our finances are not steadier, or even more abundant. We complain that we never have the time we want to devote to a certain hobby or study. We realize that we have made many mistakes with our children and we blame ourselves for the results. We come to mid-life with the feeling that life passed us by, denying us the dreams of our precocious years, that all these things are here to stay, and that there is nothing we can do about it. This leads to bitterness, discontentment and a loss of faith, most dangerously subconsciously, as it eats away our faith when we aren’t even aware.
I have known many who have let the difficulties of life eat away at their faith in spite of God’s absolute love for them. I see this because it happened to me. One morning, 15 years ago, during my regular prayer time, it dawned on me that I had let a 16 year old chronic illness rob me of my belief that God loved me as much as anyone else. I realized that the end of that road was in the statement Job’s wife gave to him, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die.” This realization led me to a desperate prayer of repentance.
The only way to keep safe from this cunning device of the enemy is to pray this prayer of the psalmist, asking God in his lovingkindness to give us the life and strength without which we are not even able to keep the commandments of His mouth.
Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Patrick Lumbroso
For past issues of the daily devotion go to my blog at:
http://hearthstoneministries.blogspot.com/
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