Facedown in the Dust

Have you heard that? It could have described King David’s life. Persecuted, betrayed, feeling abandoned by God, he could have turned in despair against his Creator. Instead, in great gratitude to God, he uttered the above words in Psalm 18. But read the words before them that described his desperate situation:

The cords of death entangled me;
    the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
The cords of the grave coiled around me;
    the snares of death confronted me (Psalm 18:4-5).

The exact details of his plight don’t matter. What is of first importance is that David was alive to tell the story. His life-and-death, one-way-street perilous situation from which only God could deliver him wasn’t the only time he was in this dark and terrible place. All he knew was that things were so bad he had no way out. And then, God reached down and drew him up and out of the pit. It’s one of God’s favorite things to do. He loves to prove his faithfulness, to rescue, heal, and restore.

When all seems lost, when God seems absent and silent, that’s often the very time he manifests himself to us in some remarkable way. Tuck this in the back of your mind for today and the days yet to come: God is God and does whatever he wants when he wants. If he chooses to wait longer before coming to your rescue or relieving your pain, it’s for a good purpose—perfect not only for his plans but for you. Read about the blind man in John 9 or the raising of Lazarus in chapter 11.

What do you do in the meantime? How can you wait if you can’t even face this moment right now? If this is how you feel, do what many others have done for centuries: pray for supernatural strength and the energy to wait in trust, to hope for the morning light, and even to overflow with hope in the meantime (Romans 15:13). We don’t have to rely on ourselves. Even if you don’t believe this right now, hang on to this truth. We have a God whom we can trust utterly. Faithfulness is the essence of his character. Not so much then, but now I can look back in gratitude to those who quoted Scriptures of God’s trustworthiness and Jesus’ promises of abiding love.

If you’ve been chosen to travel the winding, unpredictable road of discipleship that leads to eternal joy, understand that it is a crucial reason why you and I are here. Through the valley of despair and heartbreak, we learn the tough lesson of placing our confidence in God for a plight we can’t exit on our own. We learn to turn away from our stubborn sense of self-sufficiency to God’s sufficiency, from our limited resources to God’s abundance. And the best time and place to pass this test is amid the most gut-wrenching, heart-rending, mind-paralyzing experiences of heartbreak and disappointment.

So, for the moment, all you need to understand is that if you keep your gaze fixed on God, he will, in his time, grant you the grace and peace you seek. Surrender your fears to him. Speak aloud and often your inability to trust him fully and ask him to teach you how to remain confident and calm. That’s what Isaiah, the old Hebrew prophet, said (Isaiah 26:3):

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.

So, if you see yourself as facedown in the dust, hear what the Spirit says to you now: “Get up, go forward!” You are being trained, conditioned, and equipped for a greater battle, the life of faith that leads to the eternal city of God.

Prayer:

Father, all this is too much for me. I find it hard to wait in trust. So you’ll have to supply me with it. Come and fill me with an overpowering sense that you are here, will remain with me, and bring me to a place of overflowing hope. Amen.