END OF MY ROPE

PSALM 142:1-7:

1 I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. 2 I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. 3 When my spirit grows faint (exhausted) within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare (trap) for me. 4 Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. 5 I cry to you, Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”6 Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7 Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.

King David is at the end of his rope and is exhausted by his circumstances. He has resorted to hiding in a cave, running for his life, while being unfairly hunted by evil, bloodthirsty men. Go back to verses 3-4. David is wrestling here with the concept of evil and cries out in essence, ‘no one cares about me and no one is on my side.’ We’ve all been there, right?

Here is the essence of human nature: We choose to love or to hate, do good or do evil. The record of human history bears eloquent and chilling testimony to the fact that we humans have, of our own free will, actualized the reality of evil through our choices.

GOD ALLOWS THE POTENTIAL FOR EVIL (FOR A TIME) BECAUSE HE CREATED HUMANS WITH FREEDOM OF CHOICE.

So how do we apply this? Because of the fall, this world is sin cursed. That is blatantly provable and testable. Christians are not immune from evil. This world is also not our permanent home. God gives us a bigger, eternal picture to look at:

The things that happen to us either draw us closer to Jesus or they make us angry and bitter. The #1 goal for our lives is not comfort and happiness. The #1 goal is to be more like Jesus, and He will use the tough times in our lives to make us more like Him. Our relationship with Him is all we will take into the next life. As with King David, it is in the tough times that we learn and grow with God the most, right? Do we learn and grow in the easy times? No, not really. However, we can look back at the challenging times and always see His Hand (even if we may not want to because it can be quite painful). We can fully trust in our Lord because of His proven character.