DAILY READING
REFLECTION
Lament to the Lover of Your Soul
By Pam Mann
David and his mighty men were already on the run. And now, because the folks in Ziph have ratted David out to King Saul, the heat’s turned up a notch. David finds himself between a rock and a hard place. What to do?
Fortunately, David already has in place a lifetime habit for such tight spots. He sings a lament. He honestly presents to God his complaints and accompanying fears. Then, he confesses to God who it is that David knows God to be. Stated clearly in verse 4, David sings: “Surely God is my help! The Lord is the one who sustains me!”
How precious to our heavenly Father are such words of dependence! Can you imagine how the Lord rejoices to hear His dear children acknowledge our utter dependence on His mercy?
Then, in his next breath, David calls for the annihilation of his enemies! This is an attitude that Jesus turns on its head, calling us to bless our enemies and not to curse them. But we can certainly relate to David’s outrage against godless forces opposing God’s people.
To close the psalm, David looks forward to a better day when he will be thanking God for his intervention and for his deliverance from these present troubles.
Imagine David taking lyre in hand and walking away from his grumbling lieutenants as they fume about the Ziphites. David is no less angry nor less unsettled by this latest downturn of events than these guys. Yet David knows how to lament like a man after God’s own heart.
1) David frankly voices to the Lord his problem and his honest feelings about it.
2) David affirms his trust in God as the Lord and Deliverer of his life.
3) David confesses what he wishes would happen, even if it’s ugly.
4) David finally envisions a grace-soaked future when, through God’s deliverance, this present strife will be past.
We each have our own experiences with “Ziphite” forces complicating our lives. Consider how transformed our lives might be if we, like David, learned to lament about these Ziphites to the Lord.
1) Declare your complaint to God. If you can’t sing and play the lyre, you can speak, write, doodle, or paint your lament. Or share with another believer.
2) Next, affirm who God is as He is at work in your life. The challenge here is to give as much airtime to affirming who God is in your life as Savior and Sustainer as you give to voicing your complaint.
3) Then comes the clincher. Envision God’s deliverance when all individuals concerned in the strife will be in awe of our God at work.
PRAYER
Come, Holy Spirit. Move our hearts and perspectives as well as in the minds and lives of those who are the Ziphites in our lives. You alone are Lord. You alone see all things clearly. Give us the wisdom to trust in your timing, the humility to acknowledge our own wrongdoing, and the grace to love our enemies as peers in need of your forgiveness. Amen.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PAM MANN
I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.
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