Listen to YouTube ‘Great in power lyrics’
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!
All those who hear, brother and sisters draw near, praise Him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, above all things so wondrously reigning;
sheltering you under his wings, and so gently sustaining!
Have you not seen all that is needful has been sent by his gracious ordaining?
(Joachim Neander 1650-80 translated by Catherine Winkworth 1829-78)
Spend a few moments praising God - perhaps start by trying to describe Him!
In the gospels Jesus tells his followers that after he has gone away they are to wait in Jerusalem for the gift Father God would send them. We know they ‘only’ had to wait 10 days, but they weren’t told how long they would have to wait. 40 days is a reoccurring time-span throughout the bible, so perhaps that was in their minds – though I’m sure others were expecting it to happen instantly, and now 3 days after Jesus’ ascension they were perhaps hoping that once again it would be an event which happened ‘on the third day.’
There was another problem these followers of Jesus had, they weren’t sure what this gift was – an advocate? a Counsellor? a helper? – was someone going to appear out of the desert like John the Baptist? Those followers of Jesus had no option but to wait & hope that they didn’t miss the arrival of this gift from Father God.
For us today waiting for a gift to arrive often involves looking at a map on our phones and seeing the delivery driver getting closer and closer to us – only 5 stops away – only 12 minutes to go – before we then receive the expected delivery. But when it comes to receiving the gift of help from God we find that technology can’t help us. Instead we need to look for help where perhaps those followers of Jesus found help while awaiting God’s gift of ‘the Counsellor’ – we look in the Psalms.
We start with a short psalm written by David, we aren’t sure what the specific situation was – but we can read of his frustration at having to wait for God to ‘deliver’ the answer to his prayer – Read Psalm 13.
Listen to a beautiful paraphrase of this psalm. Youtube: ‘Alisa Turner Psalm 13 Lyrics’
One of the most important thing to recognise in this psalm is that while David is in despair about some situation, and doesn’t understand why God hasn’t caused his circumstances to change, he never doubts who God is (v.5). He is frustrated by what he perceives as God’s lack of action, but he will continue to trust that God loves him and cares for him.
This psalm isn’t unique, there are many which start with the psalmist speaking honestly to God about how they are feeling, and these psalms usually also reveal that while the psalmist is still feeling frustrated, he will continue to declares his trust in the goodness of God.
Many of us enjoy singing the song ‘As the deer pants for the water’ which is based on psalm 42. The tuneful melody can cause us to miss the fact that the psalmist is shouting out to God because he can’t ‘feel’ God’s presence - have you ever felt like that? Read the whole of Psalm 42.
Once again in his frustration the writer of this psalm still holds on the truths he knows about God. In fact, it is a chorus in this psalm - see verses 5 and 11. The songwriter paraphrases this chorus using the challenging words
‘You alone are my strength, my shield - to You alone may my spirit yield.’
Yielding – submitting, conceding, giving way to – perhaps aren’t actions valued by people today, but previous generations and in other parts of the world there is a recognition that if someone has greater wisdom, more knowledge or a greater ability then the intelligent thing to do is to yield to them. Take time over the coming days think about what it means in your life to yield to God’s will.
Another of the psalms which start with the psalmist crying out to God for help, appears to have been written because the writer recognises what a mess he has made of his life. Read Psalm 130.
Once again this psalmist, like the other two, recognises that his only hope lies in who God is – and so he will wait for God who is full of wisdom, grace and mercy to show him the way forward.
Listen on YouTube: ‘I will wait for you lyrics Shane & Shane’
Spend a few moments thanking God for his patience, mercy and salvation.
I look forward to hearing anything you might like to share about what ‘yielding to God’ means to you. I will write again on Wednesday – Stephen