Conversations 13-25 How Long? Wait! Trust!

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   13: 1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?

How long will You hide Your face from me?
2How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

25: 20 Keep my soul, and deliver me;
Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.
21Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
For I wait for You. 

I come across interesting conversations as I read through the Psalms. 

Of course these are beyond  "Hi! hey! hello! How are you?" casual conversations, that we are so used to in our daily lives. Conversations which really do not address deeper issues that we struggle with. As seldom are we willing to expose matters that trouble us, or as some would say matters that "eats us from the insides!" Another expression I have heard in Hindi to describe these deeper issues is "Dukti rag par hath rakhna"... or  touching a raw and tender nerve. 

This conversation begins in Psalm 13, and the repetition of the words "How Long?" four times, indicates one such deep, raw, tender, sore point matter. "Forgotten forever" "Having sorrow in my heart daily". I can almost hear the Psalmist sigh, cringe and cry!

In many ways, these deeper cries and conversations are carried across the Psalms, and I can feel the roller coaster ride of thoughts, fears, emotions, consolations, joys as I wade through them. A reason why Psalms are so popular is because we can so well identify with them. 

As I reach Psalm 25 in my reading this week, I can feel the pain reach a crescendo with the verses: 
" 16 For I am desolate and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart have enlarged;
Bring me out of my distresses!
18Look on my affliction and my pain"

What then is the answer to the elemental question "How long?"?

The 25th Psalm ends with these verses, giving not just one answer but four...

20Keep my soul, and deliver me;
Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.
21Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
For I wait for You.

1. I hand over my soul and my deep matters for God to "Keep" till the right time and "Deliver" at the right time.
2. I keep on "trusting" God throughout my circumstances and situations.
3. I continue in my "walk" of integrity and uprightness.
4. I will "wait" for God.

As I meditate on these answers, I feel God's perfect peace overwhelming me. I am reminded of these verses in the book of Isaiah (Chapter 26).

3You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
4Trust in the Lord forever,
For in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.

My prayer for my reader is also God's perfect peace in your life, no matter what the deep matters that are troubling you are, and I share with you this song....

Shalom! Shalom! 
Perfect Peace.




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