I have been guilty so often of reading the Bible to find out what God says about me and my situation. I think it was on a White Horse Inn podcast, where one of the guys said that we should read the Bible so we see what the Word says about God and His character.
Well today, I read Psalm 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. On a totally subjective level, I feel like a widow because of my husband's exodus and filing for divorce. I feel like my daughter is fatherless because her earthly father is not here. I would love for all my concerns to be taken care of miraculously. Today of all days, I would have loved to latch onto that verse because I had to give a deposition for the divorce this afternoon.
What I am wrestling with is the whole concept of claiming the verse. I believe the verse is true because the Word of God is true. It shows God's character. But, can I say, just because I read it today or because it gave me a certain feeling when I read it, that the verse is for me?
I have been guilty of reading verses and feeling like it was for me only to have God choose a different path. There were so many verses that I had read that I thought surely must be from God indicating He would restore my marriage. But by every indication, that isn't happening. Did God not keep His Word? Not at all.
The comfort that I really need isn't that that the situation is going to change but that God is who He says He is in His Word. His character remains unchanged. The details of how He reveals Himself as the Father of the fatherless and the protector of the widow are up to Him. Things may not go the way I would like them to but in no way does that change who God is.
In The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Burroughs deals with the verse from Psalm 91:10 Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. When he wrote this, the London plague had taken the lives of believers and their loved ones. Isn't that a contradiction of the verse?
Burroughs sums it up so well:
God made a promise to deliver me, or at least to deliver me from all the evil of it; now if this thing does befall me and yet I have a promise of God, certainly the evil of it is taken away. This promise tells me that if it does befall me yet it is for some notable end, and because God has a use for my life, and intends to bring about His glory some way that I do not know of.
So this evening as I am tempted to analyze what happened this afternoon and anxiety would want to rob me of peace, I choose to take comfort in the Triune God, that He has a use for my life, and He intends to bring about His glory some way that I do not know yet.
Soli Deo Gloria
Well today, I read Psalm 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. On a totally subjective level, I feel like a widow because of my husband's exodus and filing for divorce. I feel like my daughter is fatherless because her earthly father is not here. I would love for all my concerns to be taken care of miraculously. Today of all days, I would have loved to latch onto that verse because I had to give a deposition for the divorce this afternoon.
What I am wrestling with is the whole concept of claiming the verse. I believe the verse is true because the Word of God is true. It shows God's character. But, can I say, just because I read it today or because it gave me a certain feeling when I read it, that the verse is for me?
I have been guilty of reading verses and feeling like it was for me only to have God choose a different path. There were so many verses that I had read that I thought surely must be from God indicating He would restore my marriage. But by every indication, that isn't happening. Did God not keep His Word? Not at all.
The comfort that I really need isn't that that the situation is going to change but that God is who He says He is in His Word. His character remains unchanged. The details of how He reveals Himself as the Father of the fatherless and the protector of the widow are up to Him. Things may not go the way I would like them to but in no way does that change who God is.
In The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Burroughs deals with the verse from Psalm 91:10 Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. When he wrote this, the London plague had taken the lives of believers and their loved ones. Isn't that a contradiction of the verse?
Burroughs sums it up so well:
God made a promise to deliver me, or at least to deliver me from all the evil of it; now if this thing does befall me and yet I have a promise of God, certainly the evil of it is taken away. This promise tells me that if it does befall me yet it is for some notable end, and because God has a use for my life, and intends to bring about His glory some way that I do not know of.
So this evening as I am tempted to analyze what happened this afternoon and anxiety would want to rob me of peace, I choose to take comfort in the Triune God, that He has a use for my life, and He intends to bring about His glory some way that I do not know yet.
Soli Deo Gloria
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