Is Your Lamp Still Burning?

Psalm 56: 1 – 13

Is your lamp still burning?

To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A Michtam of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath.

1 Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; Fighting all day he oppresses me. 2 My enemies would hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me, O Most High. 3 Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. 4 In God (I will praise His word), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? 5 All day they twist my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil. 6 They gather together, they hide, they mark my steps, when they lie in wait for my life. 7 Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God! 8 You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? 9 When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me. 10 In God (I will praise His word), in the LORD (I will praise His word), 11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 12 Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, 13 For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

In today’s study verse 3 jumped out at me. It reads, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You”. This verse gets me thinking about how we as humans attempt everything possible to deal with physical, emotional, and spiritual issues before we ask for our Holy God’s help. Have you ever considered this point of view?

Is it any wonder God says to us repeatedly in Scripture, “Do not fear?” Our Holy and Loving God encourages us in everything of letting go of control and trusting in His Holy Son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—every day, every hour, every moment, of every day.

Our King Jesus models for us the practice of letting go of control, earthly power and reputation. He emptied Himself at the cross and trusted in the goodness and love of the Father. God intends that we follow the same path. Yet, in situations both large and small, we find this incredibly difficult. Why?

I think our biggest sin is that we fail to trust God.

We worry that things will fall apart. That is true—at least the things that God never intended to remain in the first place. Regardless, we can only keep our plans and agendas from falling apart for a short time. Our Holy God guides us in this as we learn in Psalm 127 verse 1, “Unless the Lord builds a house, we labor in vain who build it?”.

We worry that we will fall apart. Yes, that is true, and it may be a very good thing. Our false selves, our protectiveness and our striving need to be dismembered and dismantled by the Spirit. When we fall apart, it offers God the opportunity to rebuild us. I presently have this lady who is falling apart while giving her full allegiance to worldly fixes. Sadly, she keeps coming to me begging for prayer and not willing to let our Holy God deal with her problems. She wants God’s help without giving Him the Honor due His Holy Name.

For many of us, things were out of control in our families growing up. We were helpless and, in some cases, victimized. So now, as adults, we resist letting go of our control of life.

I personally know that this idea is not true. I grew up as a street kid being on my own since I was 9 years old. As I look back on my life I can testify that my Lord Jesus was there with me every step of my life.

A young adult recently told me how impossible it is for her to trust God since she was betrayed by so many authority figures in his life. I told her that we people weather Christian or not have the ability to betray. Yet there Is One Who will never betray and that Is our Lord Jesus Christ. You will always be in good hands with Jesus.

We serve a God who loves us with inexhaustible love and with no strings attached. Our heavenly Father seeks our good in any and every situation. Yet many of us relate to God as if he were an angry deity—demanding and consistently frustrated with us. It is hard to let go and trust that kind of God.