Devotional - 8/11/03
“Worship From the Pit"
Psalm 69, select
verses
1 Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
3 I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God.
10 When I weep and fast,
I must endure scorn;
14 Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
from the deep waters.
19 You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
all my enemies are before you.
30 I will
praise God's name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
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It's pretty easy to worship the Lord when everything is honkey-dorey, but what about when it's not?
Have you ever been in a place of utter despair, loneliness, or oppression? If you have, how important was it for you to worship God at that moment?
I've met two people who I know have made it a priority. One is King David, who wrote this Psalm while in one of his many misadventures early in his career. The Books of Samuel outline his troubles in detail, but suffice it to say that he was very often in fear of his very life. Somehow during this time he managed to carve out time to pen some songs that made it into the book of Psalms. And people have used them to worship God for thousands of years since.
The second is someone who I have seen coming to worship faithfully even while oppressed with many internal and external circumstances that have called his very faith into question. Even in doubt that would shake the very foundations of his allegiance to the Lord, he makes his way to worship anyway. And even though he feels nothing and senses no presence of the Lord, he appears and waits for the Lord to come. Week after week after week.
If you can relate to either of these men, I have no cute words of wisdom to cure your present malaise. To you, pithy comments would surely only backfire. All I can say is that even though you feel you are alone, you are not. David was there over 3000 years ago, and there are those that are there even now. For whatever reason, God is holding onto you even now, in your pit. I believe He'll hold on long enough for you to be rescued. Meanwhile, you continue to "praise God's name in song, and glorify Him with thanksgiving," just like he's prompting you to do. Your obedience will not be in vain. Probably not today, maybe not tomorrow, but certainly in the End.
- Dale Haas