Thursday, September 16, 2010

Where Else Can We Go?


To you I call, O Lord my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit. Ps 28:2

We are all a strange mixture of faith and doubt. Even David, author of this psalm, expressed his faith by calling on God, yet expressed fear that He would not listen. In fact, those who claim God always responds to their bidding, are either dishonest, or essentially bragging they can manipulate God to their will.

For us, it is not whether God will hear, but whether He will respond to deliver us, that is mostly in question. But in the Hebrew language, when God hears, it includes the idea of his response to the need. Thus, the psalmist is not just asking if God will hear his cry, but whether He will respond to the need.

It is clear to the psalmist there is no other alternative to God’s response. He may wonder whether God will respond, but he has no doubt there is no other resource to go to. God is his Rock, and if God doesn’t respond, he might as well be dead.

Ann and I are both going through recovery, which is rarely a straight line—often two steps forward, one step back! Of course, there are medical resources to which we can turn, but they are not the source of our confidence. Medicine doesn’t have all the answers.

What we recognize is that healing is part of the body’s mechanism designed by God. Even medical resources originate in God, but when they are insufficient, He is our only recourse. The test of our faith is whether we trust Him to be with us when it seems He doesn’t respond.

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