Singing Psalm 22 you are humbled by changing tides
Looking inward, you are sometimes twisted up inside from threats on the outside or uncertainties within.
Unsettled, you waste no time and turn your attention to God’s faithfulness. You become calm.
But then others introduce turmoil and again there’s unrest. You feel beaten. You need the Lord God to be solid in your thoughts but he seems nowhere to be found.
Even then, he wants to hear you express your feelings to him.
“My God, my God, to You I cry; O why have You forsaken me? Why are You far from giving help, And from my agonizing plea? All day, my God, I cry in vain; By night, yet no relief I gain.” ~ Psalm 22:1-2
You can ask these questions and say these things as a child whose father is always there for him, counting on his father to continue to love and support but at this point he can’t perceive it.
These words are filled with sorrow but not bitterness. The cry is one that expresses great need, not incredulity that God won’t ever answer.
There is a long wait and an honest plea that this is hard. But it is in the very waiting that his mind turns from himself to who God always was and still is. He is willing and able to help. He is still on his throne. This child trusts his God in a time of no response.
Thankfully your position among changing tides is clearly laid out for you to ponder with gut-level honesty as you sing Psalm 22 and wait for God who does not change.
“To you they cried, and rescue came; they trusted, and were free from shame.” ~ Psalm 22:5
Singing Psalm 22 you are confident through changing tides
You are sometimes mocked for your confidence in him. At other times, it is contagious.
Either way, whether at once or over time, the Lord causes your confidence in him to grow. Because this is not a desperate counterfeit confidence, the hold he has on you is clear not only to you but to some of those around you.
You learn that time is a tool to use for what matters and is mostly taken up with his majesty in the midst of daily living. Ironically, this draws some to want to know you while others are leery. Regardless, specific praise of him and his ways flow from your lips and pen.
Endurance in suffering becomes characteristic for you. You find that you can go through difficult trials and rejections, endure unsettling feelings and losses that before would have you undone with fear or anger.
Turning your gaze to your maker, you can move quickly from changing tides of involuntary emotional gyrations to a cool mental stability, from not knowing how you can go on to looking forward to what’s around the corner.
Pinching yourself at changing tides that now seem too good to be real, you figure it must be a supernatural assurance, a gift of faith. This is hope you can share with others. This gift of faith is given to all who ask for it, and for some God gave it without having been asked.
It now matters to you more than anything that the Lord Jesus went there before you, is with you now, and is leading you where you need to go. He imparts strength as you go through to the other side as he brings you out from under every trial in changing tides.
Serving Jesus was a belabored chore that is becoming a delight tempered with anticipation. You are becoming a new creation in Christ through the testing of your faith. Although you outwardly look the same, inwardly you are becoming unrecognizable as the same person you were.
“Be not far off, for grief is near; no other helper will appear.” ~ Psalm 22:11
Singing Psalm 22 you rest in changing tides
Certain that you have a firm grip on the Lord’s hand as you go through each peak and valley, the waxing and waning of life through changing tides, you move forward in peace.
You take every threat to your good shepherd. He brushes each one off your shoulders in his perfect timing. You are taken up with pleasing the Lord who frees you from the desire to gain the favor of people quickly over waiting for the favor of God.
Others can see it and some will want to get off the emotional roller coaster to join you in your walk even as you stumble, cry, and in joy mixed with sorrow, continue untriggered on a steady path.
The triune God provides you with mental stability amidst the wind and waves as you sing Psalm 22. He does not change. You and all those who love him are tethered to him in an everlasting way and rest even in changing tides.
“For He has not despised the poor; He has not scorned their wretched state. He has not turned away his face from anyone in trouble great. When any cry to Him in grief, He heard his prayer and sent relief.” ~ Psalm 22:24
August 20-26, 2022
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