S214P5 – The cry in faith: God remains in control

Psa. 22:12-15

Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.

I had a leaky roof, and it caused me a world of stress.  I did not have the money to pay someone to fix it, so I went to the Lord in prayer.  No miracle of God was patching that roof or keeping the rain at bay forever, and no new finances came to my door.  Eventually, I mustered up the courage to confront my fear of heights and go up on that roof because something had to be done.  Unskilled as I am, I tried to patch that leak.  The next time it rained, it leaked like it had never leaked before.  I again prayed for God to stop the rain or at least keep it from falling on my house, but He answered neither of those prayers.  I went up on that roof a second time but with a much better plan.  One day later, the torrential rains came.  What also came was the moment of truth when my patch job would reveal itself to be completely effective.

My leaky roof seems like such a small problem, but it was a huge concern to me.  As I prayed and received no answers, I knew one thing for sure: if God was not holding back that rain, then He was letting it fall for a reason.  What I learned through that experience was that his answer might be to equip me to act instead of just acting himself.  In today’s passage, David is in quite a predicament.  He describes a man who is a nervous wreck.  His body is having a visceral reaction to his circumstance, and he is in dire straits.  Even so, he acknowledges God’s control over this matter.  He does not state that his enemy has lain him in the dust.  He does not state that he has lain himself in the dust.  He states that God has put him there, which is nothing more than a confession that God is still in control no matter how things look.

David knows that, if God has not rescued him from his situation, then God is just fine with him being right there at that time.  There must be a plan afoot.  God has not left him there to perish on his own.  God has not disappeared to take care of some more pressing matters.  David sees God’s apparent lack of response to these prayers as his actual response.  If God says not yet, then that means God is doing something.  If the lions are at his doorstep, God has let them show up.  When we pray, we must remember that the One we seek for our answers is at the mercy of no one.  He is always running the show.  Father, remind us in our prayers that You are in control, allowing what You allow for your reasons and answering us in your timing and your ways.