A couple of years ago, one of my kids gave me a piece of candy, and then he sat back to watch me, while I ate it. That should have been my warning, but because my son gave it to me, I ate the candy anyway. It was I think a warhead, and for the first thirty seconds, it was incredibly bitter, but then something happened. The bitterness began to fade and the sweetness began to come through.
In short, the bitter became better...
Many of us think that we would like to be David when we read the first four verses.
"I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me.
O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning."
What most of us do not consider is.
David had to be down, to be lifted up!
In order for him to be healed, he had to be sick!
To give praise to be kept alive, his life had to be in danger!
Then David tells us to sing praise to the Lord and he sums it all up in verse five;
"For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning."
What can we learn from this?
The first thing I notice is that it lets us know that there will be times of bitterness.
To get to the joy, you’ve got to go through the weeping.To get to the morning, you got to go through the night.
Now, I don’t have time this morning to do it, but I could take you through the scriptures and show you time and time again, that many of God’s people are not exempt from trouble!
The question is not IF you going to have trouble, but how are you going to respond to it?
Look at verse one, we can see how David responded to it; "I will extol You, O Lord"
Now, Let's Look at how God described the making of the two cherubims on the mercy seat of God in Exodus 25:18
"And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat"
Those were physical representations of Spiritual beings, but he wanted to make sure that we understand that they were BEATEN into the PROPER SHAPE.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory."
1 Peter 1:3-8
But all of that comes while you are in “heaviness through manifold temptations."
"See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
1 Thessalonians 5:15-18
And of course the classic verse;
"And he said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
And naked shall I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
I’ve said it many times before, God is not nearly so concerned about the present circumstances of our life as He is concerned with how we respond to them. Our proper response is ALWAYS worship.
God isn't nearly as concerned about our present situations, as He is about Eternity!
Where are those that say, “His presence is more important than my problem!”
Go ahead and raise your hand...
When a problem arises in your life, there are essentially two things going on ....
The devil is trying to get us to look at our flesh and give up.
God trying to get us to look at Him and praise up!"Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”
Job 2:9-10
In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Remember, I am only here by God’s appointment, in His keeping, under His training, For His purpose, and For His time!
And my only response is going to be worship!
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him."
Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him."
Brian Monzon Ministries