Troubles

Psalm 90:12-17

12 So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. 13 Do return, O LORD; how long will it be? And be sorry for Your servants. 14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, And the years we have seen evil. 16 Let Your work appear to Your servants And Your majesty to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

Examine / Explain

The psalmist tells us to be mindful and have an accounting of our days here on earth. If we are mindful, we will have the good sense to seek out wisdom in adversity. We are constantly under the heartaches and headaches of a broken world, and God is our only rescue. Let us be satisfied with His grace and lovingkindness. Let us rejoice in our times of trials and troubles. We ask You to let us see His grace in action and let our actions be in good works for Him. We want the favor of God in the things we do.

How do I apply this to my life?

How often do I get distracted by the difficulty of life? This is a recurring theme in my life. The amount of mechanical work on the car I am responsible for seems insurmountable and expensive. I get burned out on the constant repairs and can’t afford to replace them. Distraction! What if, in those moments, I take full advantage and spend time with family members over the project? The problem is that I feel like a burden to them because they are helping me. Life is hard, and we want quick answers to get us out of difficult situations. Because we don’t like to deal with a difficult task. We literally look for the path of least resistance. We want easy, and we want God to bless it. Not that we have to work for His blessing, but we get so focused on the blessing that we miss the one who gave it to us. We miss the fact that the creator of the universe is right there with us in the mess and the blessing. Every good and perfect gift is from the Father. Not some gifts, all gifts. Our small little brain can’t seem to handle gifts. We are determined to earn our way or abuse what was given, even in our salvation. We accept grace and salvation AND continually return to our comfortable sin. Abuse! We are to work out our salvation because of our joy in our salvation. We should understand our place and freedom and want to do the work in it. Because we can, we need the want to. I also need the constant reminder to stay focused on His presence instead of what I need or can get from Him.

What is my response?

Father, I need help! I need to be focused on You. I need to sit in Your presence and take in all Your glory because You are God! I can come to You through what Jesus did on the cross for me. Do I have nice things? Yeah. Is that the goal of my life? It shouldn’t be! My goal is not the American dream! Do I want to work all the time? No. Do I want more money? Yes. But why? What is the end game? So that I can retire and have it “easy?” Easy in a broken world? No, the end game is Christ-likeness. The stewardship of the money and things that have been placed in my charge is only a means to an end. Jesus! All things belong to Jesus, and I get to use them for His good purpose and glory. So please help me not focus on the inconvenience of life and stay joyful in all the trials of life! Amen.