Thoughts from Psalm 6 in six parts (Each section begins with the verses I will comment on, followed by a prayer and a concluding verse).
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How long, LORD, how long?
A recurrent theme throughout the Psalms, this sentiment is echoed throughout scripture. The first words we read in Genesis are “In the beginning”; the penultimate phrase in Revelation is “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (it is settled – we only await your coming Lord). We know God started it and have faith that God will finish it but even though God’s revelation is completed and sealed it still awaits the finale. There’s more to come but we must wait patiently. When Jesus was first presented at the temple he was welcomed by the prophetess Anna. She had been married for seven years when her husband died. Now at the age of 84 she saw what she had been waiting for her whole life. Moses, the only man who ever met God face to face, was 120 when the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land only to be forbidden entry. Abraham who alone was called the friend of God was 100 when his wife bore his child of the promise.
You often hear preachers telling listeners to claim their healing, their inheritance, their prosperity, their job or whatever it is they are praying for. These so called anointed preachers claim to have a hot line to God yet their ignorance exposes the truth that they don’t know the God they preach. They wrongly assume that the new covenant, instituted by Jesus’ death and resurrection, means that everything is theirs to claim here and now. They claim to honour Moses and Abraham and are forever referring to them yet they claim that their own experience of God is greater because of their greater revelation. They are modern Gnostics promising a superior relationship with God through revelation. There is no room in their thinking for long suffering, patience, failure, persecution or adversity. They are quacks and peddlers of God’s word, tricksters and illusionists, deceived and twice damned. They preach a false gospel and would deceive the elect, if that were possible.
There is no real answer to the question, ‘how long?’ God doesn’t treat us like pawns and it’s not for us to wait for God as if there is a set time for everything; that if we hold on it will surely come to pass because God has willed it. I no longer pray to know God’s will, I pray for wisdom, help and guidance in the knowledge that I have God’s Spirit within me and as I learn to walk with him I hope our hearts will begin to beat as one. Jesus said that he and the Father were one and that he did the will of he who sent him yet from the Gospel accounts we see a man who is no automaton following instructions but one so close to his commander that no instructions are necessary. Yet in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus submitted himself to God’s will against every other voice to the contrary. The waiting was over; now was the time.
Each of us will have a garden experience where time is no longer the issue – when everything is racing at the speed of light and you are being asked to make a decision that will have eternal consequences. We must learn to use the “how long Lord” times as preparation for when the “what – NOW?” arrives. Life seems to come in teaspoons and buckets and there’s no point in wishing for jugs.
Prayer
Dear Lord I believe that what happened on the cross was complete in itself for you said yourself that it was finished. Yet if you had not risen again we too would indeed be finished. You went to the Father and sent us a comforter because for us the work had only begun. You foresaw hardship in the form of persecution and being children of God we are also disciplined in order that we should be conformed to your likeness. Father please do not test me to my limits for I can bear far more than I care to, but allow me to share in the long suffering of your Son that I may share in his glory.
Verse
When times are good be happy; but when times are bad consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future. (Ecclesiastes 6:14).
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