Psalm 31:22 In my alarm I said,
    “I am cut off from your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
    when I called to you for help.

Just about everyone, even strong believers, has moments of panic, when we feel like God isn’t paying attention to our needs. Actually, there isn’t a moment when He isn’t paying attention, but our emotions can really lie to us. David was certainly not immune to such panic, but his repeated times of being rescued by God enabled him to be calm, even when two of his sons on different occasions tried to depose him as king, probably with the intention of killing him in the process. Our lives are probably not as dramatic as his was, but we too have plenty of opportunities to learn God’s faithfulness. He allows difficulties and trials in our lives for precisely that reason, to teach us to trust Him because He is totally trustworthy. The problem comes when our preferred solution, or our timetable, don’t agree with His. That’s when the panic can hit. That’s why waiting in hope, in faith, is so important. I have written and preached many times on the lack in English Bibles of an expression of “wait in hope,” or “wait in expectation,” when it appears often in Japanese Bibles. English translations almost invariably limit it to either “wait” or “hope,” when both are essential, and I am confident, are expressed in the Hebrew. We have trouble with both halves of that! As I talked about this past Sunday, modern society has taught us to demand instant gratification, and patience is becoming a lost virtue. That’s one reason for all the poor parenting we see, because raising children certainly requires patience! However, God wants us, and not just our children, to mature. As Paul wrote, “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4) God desires character in His children, so He doesn’t spoil us. If we never learn to push through, to overcome, we are immature weaklings. However, in that process, we must never forget that God loves us, that He genuinely cares what happens to us, in every detail. When we have that reality firmly in our hearts, nothing can shake us.

This is something that has grown in me over the years, and I am grateful. I still have moments of frustration and irritation, but I know from experience that those are ultimately trivial, and when I yield to them, my repentance is real. The challenge for me, and I think for every believer, is to keep my absolutely faithful, omnipotent Lord in the forefront of my awareness, so that things won’t even start to shake me. God has been at least as faithful to me as He was to David, and my trials haven’t been as severe. He has told me personally to rest, relax, and rejoice in Him, and I need to keep growing in my obedience to that command, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for Your incredible, gracious, faithfulness to me. Thank You for Your presence and support as we attended the “Respect for the Aged Day” dinner yesterday. Thank You that we could sing two songs to point people to You, and that they seemed to be received well. I pray that Your words through me would remain in the hearts of those who heard, causing them to cry out to You while they have the opportunity, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!