March 8 – When Distress Reigns (Psalm 55:16-23)

“Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.”(Psalm 55:17)

IN WORD:
Problems can consume us. When trials strike, we can find ourselves completely preoccupied with how to deal with them. We obsess about their outcomes, and we strategize ways to run from them. We go to sleep thinking about them, and we wake up thinking about them. We think we cannot rest until they are resolved.
The context of this psalm of David is the treachery of a friend. Someone had betrayed him, and the betrayal caused others to oppose him. David felt surrounded, overwhelmed, discouraged, and defeated. We can relate. We have exactly the same reaction when life gets tough.
God hears. That’s comforting. It’s even more comforting when we consider other translations of this passage. “I will complain and murmur, and He will hear my voice” (NASB). Or “I utter my complaint and moan and sigh, and He will hear my voice” (AMP). The implication is that even when we whine & grumble, God still hears. He doesn’t necessarily like our complaining, perhaps, but He knows and is sensitive to our pain. His grace tolerates our attitudes. We don’t have a trial that God isn’t concerned with. We cannot stumble without evoking His compassion. We can’t be overwhelmed without His knowledge and without His appeal to cast it all on Him. Whatever we’re going through, God hears.

IN DEED:
We’ve all heard that before. For some of us it’s a reality, for others, just words. Some of us have heard that promise as often as we’ve heard that Jesus loves us, and though we know these things are true, we have grown numb to them. They just don’t sink in, and we aren’t affected.
Wake up to the fact that the almighty, overwhelming God is listening. Even when you complain, He cares. More than that, He hears with a plan to act. He is not passively listening, He is preparing to answer. Wouldn’t you love for Him to step into your situation? According to the Bible, He will. Watch & wait. Your distress is His concern.

“God will never permit any troubles to come upon us unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.” -Peter Marshall-