In the past three lessons on VICTORY IN TROUBLES, we’ve seen that God asks us to blindly trust Him that everything will work out for the best, He asks us to completely surrender a problem to Him so that His peace is ours and the solution can be sure, and He suggests that when we keep our eyes fixed upon Him instead of the trouble around us, then this total surrender will be so much easier!
But we all know this isn’t an easy thing! And so often we find ourselves truly worn down by the trials. But God, in His mercy, has given us yet another tool to use. Today’s lesson comes to us from the Bible:
“Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? … I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; They fail because of all my foes.” (Ps 6:2,3,6,7 NIV)
We do not know for sure when Ps. 6 was written, though some believe that it was written by David while he was suffering some kind of grievous disease after his night with Bathsheba. But whenever it was written, the writer is obviously very upset, and he turns to God with his feelings.
Notice how defeated the writer feels: “I am worn out from groaning”, “I am faint” “my bones are in agony” “My eyes grow weak with sorrow, they fail me because of my foes.” There is absolutely no hope left in this writer’s mind. He is overpowered and overcome.
Have you ever felt this way? I believe we all have, at one point or another, and some of us may feel this way the majority of the time. Everything is going wrong. The world seems like it has turned against us. God seems to have abandoned us. There is no hope, and all we do is drench our pillows with tears.
But the Psalm doesn’t end here:
“Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.” (Ps 6:8-10 NIV)
The defeated has become victorious! The hopeless has regained hope!
Why?
For the answer to that question, we must look to the middle of Psalms 6: “Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.” (Ps 6:4 NIV)
Here, in vs. 4, we find that the writer is not content to just sit back and complain about his problems. Instead, he does something positive: He gives his problems to the Lord! And when he does so, hope is regained, he becomes victorious!
Friends, whenever we are faced with problems and various trials, we always have two choices: We can let them defeat us, or we can be victorious.
When we adapt the “defeatist” mentality, then we become “worn out from groaning”, “faint”, “in agony” and “weak with sorrow” and it is interesting that this is so often the human tendency!
But there is another choice! We can be victorious! We can stand up and say, like the writer of Ps. 6: “Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace”!
And when we do, we can rise up in victory!
Doesn’t Jesus tell us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28-29 NIV)?
Aren’t we told: “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:57 NIV)?
Isn’t it recommended that we: “… stand firm. Let nothing move you …” (1 Cor 15:58 NIV)?
Then why do we continue to live in defeat?
Let’s rise my, my friends! Let’s claim our victory in Jesus! Let’s say like David, “Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace”!
God bless each of you as you take your victorious stand in Christ! I can guarantee you despite whatever problem you are going through at the moment, you will not only have peace of mind and heard, but you can be assured that your victory is on the way!
This is the last lesson in VICTORY IN TROUBLES. If you have missed any of the former lessons, please find them published online by clicking here, or email me here. May God bless you abundantly as you claim victory over whatever situation you find yourself in at the moment!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Mother of two teens, Speech-Language Pathologist, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries.
(To access the entire “Victory in Trouble” Mini-Series, please click here.)