‘Why do You stand afar off, O
Lord?
Why do You hide in times of
trouble?’
Ever
think or feel like this? David, the Psalmist did, as noted in Psalm 10:1. Even
if you never thought or felt this way (or perhaps would not care to admit it),
honestly, I have. But through experience, prayer and meditation, I am s-l-o-w-l-y
learning that, with trouble, the ‘presenting problem’ is not necessarily
the real problem, much like the symptom we tell a doctor about may not
be the root of the medical problem. I am learning to perceive the hidden
purposes of trouble -- whether to trick me into focusing so intently on trouble
until all else, including God and His awesome promises to me, pale into
insignificance; or to jump-track me out of deepening trouble, and into
prayerful focus on God’s promises and deliverance.
Consider
taking this challenge. Search and study what The Bible says about God testing
mankind. Then meditate on this: God's tests and satan's temptations may often be two
sides of the same coin. The test may well be to overcome the temptation to
fail the test. God, like our teachers and professors, remains quiet during
tests. Accurately perceiving the test vs. the temptation comes with spiritual maturity
and learning to recalibrate your focus based on a broad and deep knowledge of
God’s nature and Word promises to us.
So the
next time you think or feel like God is standing afar off, or even hiding in
times of your trouble, consider whether you may have been similarly duped into magnifying
the problems and misperceiving the test, rather than focusing on the answer(s) to
the problems, Who is Christ. When we ask God what’s going on, perceive
His answer: Who Am I? Our ‘What?’ questions are best answered with
‘Who?’
As you recalibrate
your focus, you will clearly see, as other psalmists wrote:
‘God is my/our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore I/we will not
fear...!’ (Psalm 46:1-2)
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