Psalm 30:5-7

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.  Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face; I was dismayed.

I am amazed at how it never seems to matter how often the Lord shows himself faithful and all sufficient…. yet I am so ready to carry my own burdens.  I even realize that I am reluctant to come to Him in prayer until I have identified my specific need, plan of attack, the way it should be implemented, and so on, and then come to the Lord asking Him to give me the strength and grace to have everything turn out as I think it should. Verses 6 & 7 of Psalm 30 show a picture of our struggle with pride; something which is all too familiar.  The Lord has blessed us with many talents; intellect, social skills, physical abilities, and many other thing that enable us to live fruitfully each day.  The problem is we begin to use them in our own strength, and for our own ends.  In our deception, we don’t give thought for our need to dependently walk with Him in areas of ‘our’ perceived strengths.  But the Lord, out of his love for us, will not allow us to continue down the road of pride, which only ends in destruction.  

The apostles James and Peter remind us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  If the Lord himself, the God of creation, decides to hold us back, then all the strength and might we attempt to put together in pursuing something will amount to nothing.  Out of His wisdom, He can place a problem which may seem to be an immovable mountain in our path.  As I have discovered in my own life, it may even be a very small or quite insignificant thing which becomes a huge point of challenge.  Something which looking back I might have said to myself ‘I got this’, even after it gets out of my ability to handle.  Thankfully, in a moment of grace, that mountain can be thrown into the sea and we can experience a new and secure place that the Lord has created for us.  Out of His perfect love and mercy, and at His appointed time, He restores us to joy. And He does it in a way that clearly shows it was Him (not us). 

Lord help us to remember to seek and wait for You. Help us to know that You are Sovereign and You are always at work to humble us, for only then can we see Your face and be renewed. In Your presence is joy. Amen.

– Glen Wilder