Today is…

an excellent day to ask, “Is this me?”

“How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?”  Psalm 13:1 NIV

The list of memorable individuals who are mentioned in the Bible is quite long.

Through its many insightful pages we encounter hundreds of individuals, dozens of them whom we come to know rather intimately. The times in which they lived are different; the experiences they had are different; the lessons we learn from each are different; and yet each one of them had one thing in common: with the exception of Jesus Christ, not one person we meet in the Bible is perfect.

Each one has his or her flaws, as do each one of us.

One of the greatest figures in the Old Testament is King David. There are many lessons to be learned from King David’s life. Many of them are positive, but there are lessons to be learned from the less-than-perfect side of King David as well.

As we know, King David is responsible for the writing of many Psalms; almost half of the 150 found in the book of Psalms, in fact. Often, David would begin a Psalm by saying that God was not there when he needed him or that He took too long to react or respond to David’s plea for help. In each case, David first resorts to doubts and fears but ultimately ends by asserting that God always helps and is always there.

From this, we must learn not to be like David when we are first confronted with problems in our lives.

Do we initially think that God is not aware of our situation? Do we jump to the same conclusions David often did initially, that the Lord is not concerned about what happens to us?

What is our answer if we ask ourselves the questions, “Is this me? Do I do what King David did?”

We should endeavor to always trust that the Lord is aware of our situation. We will not always understand why certain things happen, but we must always take care to pray to God for His help in understanding and coping with whatever we are confronted with.

Faith in God is not a faucet to be turned on and off at will. Faith should flow in a constant stream from us. Paul reassured the Corinthians that we are never alone.

“We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get mowed down, but we are not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:9 NLT).

Work daily to strengthen your faith so that if you ask, “Is this me?” the answer is “No! I know that God is always with me!”

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson