Scripture
Psalm 74:1,23
“O God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?”
“Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.”
Observation
Asaph was in a dark place for sure, when he penned these words. There’s no “happily ever after”, no riding off into the sunset. Just the anguished cry of a man who feels abandoned, forgotten, discouraged, and defeated. Asaph’s words are an expression of how he felt in the moment, not a statement of fact-because we know that God did not reject Israel forever. God doesn’t react with anger or shock at the impertinence of Asaph’s words. Instead God saw fit to preserve his words for all time, so that we can read them today.
Application
God is not shocked or angered by what I say when I bare my heart to him. He is not stumped by my hardest questions, not exasperated by my emotional state. Even when I don’t have all the facts right and I’m just reacting in the emotion of the moment, God welcomes my outpouring of frustration to him. Because even in the darkest of these moments–if I keep the conversation with God going, it shows that my trust and my hope is still in him. It is through that conversation between my heart and his, that he is able to continue the transformation he has begun in my heart.
This week, I need to continue the conversation with God.
Through anger
Through discouragement
Through grief
Through depression
Through frustration
Through confusion
Through struggle
Prayer
God, thank you that you welcome my hardest questions, and you love me in my darkest moments. Through the challenges of each day, help me to continually turn to you. May you be glorified in my life, through the hard seasons and not just the easy ones.
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