Light for November

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” ~Psalm 27:13

Confidence is defined as the feeling or belief that you can trust someone or the truth of what they say which is a great description of how you should view the Lord. In Psalm 27, David speaks of crying out to the Lord in distress and how the Lord provides salvation. This is David in the midst of evil plots and fears yet he is confident that the Lord’s goodness will still come. David trusted the Lord, not because his life was easy but because he knew the truth of the Father who provided for him. David had seen God open doors and make ways in the middle of some pretty challenging circumstances and he believed that the Lord’s goodness would come again.

Sometimes, we forget that the Lord’s faithfulness is not a blanket statement for an easy life. Our tough times are a reflection of a broken and cursed world not a faulty God. Don’t let your frustration with sin turn into frustration with God, after all, He warned us in John 16:33 that we would have tough times. In a similar vein, don’t get frustrated when God’s goodness doesn’t look the way you want. Have you ever prayed for something but think the Lord didn’t hear you or respond because you didn’t get the answer you planned? I have literally missed answers to prayers because they looked different than expected. Don’t try to limit the goodness of God to something you can understand because man, oh man, does God surprise you when you allow Him.

Finally, don’t think the Lord’s goodness has passed you by because it doesn’t arrive on your time schedule. I love verse 14 just as much as verse 13 because it says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”. What a great reminder that the Lord is not a genie who has to jump at your requests. Sometimes, we get tired of waiting for the Lord’s timing but often we find that the timing is just as much an answer to our prayer. Don’t let your frustration with waiting make you jump ahead in the story and potentially ruin the outcome. The Lord hasn’t forgotten you but believing that you will see His goodness means you believe it will occur at just the right time. As Isaiah 60:22 says, “When the time is right, I, the Lord, will make it happen”. Trusting God with your life means all aspects… the actual plan, the timing, the method. All of it belongs to Him and is being held by Him… in that you can be confident!