Oct 1 - Psalm 43:2,1

For you are God, my only safe haven.

Defend me against these ungodly people.

Psalm 43:2,1

 

In my Bible reading this morning, I was reading about Elijah. The story is familiar. And a pattern repeats. 

 

·         According to the word of the Lord, Elijah declares a drought. 

·         The he runs and hides from an angry King Ahab. 

·         And God provides for Elijah in the wilderness. The ravens feed him. Then a widow's miraculously bottomless jar of meal feed him. 

 

·         A few years later, Elijah, by the word of the Lord, brings trouble to King Ahab again. He challenges. Queen Jezebel's priests to a "duel" on top of Mount Carmel. Which god -- the real God or Baal -- can set an altar on fire. 

·         When the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jesus prevails, Elijah runs again from these angry monarchs of rebellious Israel.  

·         And again, God provides for Elijah in the wilderness. This time it was an angel who fed him. 

And then -- after my scripture readings in 1 Kings -- I turned to the next Psalm in our sequence. And while this Psalm surely wasn't written about Elijah, a pattern repeats. 

 

Psalm 43 is very short. I'm going to invite you to read the whole thing. 

I'm going to invite you to invite you to imagine that they were written specifically for Elijah -- because in a sense they were. The Psalms are written for every one of God's children, encouraging, alternately, courage in the midst of trials, hope in the face of despair, and praise in seasons of blessing and joy. 

I'm going to invite you to contemplate being like Elijah: 1) Confronting evil and lies; 2) expecting opposition from wrong-headed authorities; 3) trusting that God will provide for you his servant when you have stood up for his name; and 4) praying this desperate Psalm, pleading for God's rescue and victory to finally reign. 

I'm going to invite you to read this whole short Psalm ...

1 O God, take up my cause!

Defend me against these ungodly people.

Rescue me from these unjust liars.

2 For you are God, my only safe haven.

Why have you tossed me aside?

Why must I wander around in darkness,

oppressed by my enemies?

3Send out your light and your truth;

let them guide me.

Let them lead me to your holy mountain,

to the place where you live.

4There I will go to the altar of God,

to God -- the source of all my joy.

I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!

5 Why am I discouraged? Why so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will praise him again

-- my Savior and my God!

In Christ's Love,

a guy who wants to be known as Elijah

-- standing up for truth regardless of the consequences

... and trusting just as boldly in God's provision