Thursday, September 19, 2013

Despair to Praise
By Tracy Smith

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Psalm 13:1-2 (NIV)

Have you ever felt like David did in the verses above? I have, and it’s not a fun place to be. Living with an anxiety disorder sometimes means time of wrestling with my thoughts and feeling like the enemy is triumphing over me. Discouraging, to say the least. David doesn’t stop there, though; he finishes his psalm this way:

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me. (vs. 5-6, NIV)

That is the part I forget when I am discouraged and wrestling with my thoughts. I forget to stop the worrying, stop the despairing, and rejoice in the Lord that has been so good to me. I forget to stop and rejoice in the Lord, His salvation and His unfailing love for me.

This is a common pattern in the psalms David writes - - he starts out struggling, discouraged and questioning where God is, but he ends those psalms with rejoicing and expressing his trust in the Lord.

I want to follow David’s example: When I am feeling discouraged and feeling like God has forgotten me, I will praise His name and remind myself how good He has been to me!

GOING DEEPER:
1. What situation in your life makes you feel like David in the beginning of Psalm 13?
2. What steps can you take to get to the praising of the end of Psalm 13?

FURTHER VERSES:
Psalm 22; Psalm 3

Along with being a wife and mother to two boys, Tracy is an administrative assistant at Oakwood, serves on the Women’s Ministry Special Events Team and leads a great group of Junior High girls.
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