Crave

¹⁶    He reached down from on high and took hold of me;

he drew me out of deep waters.

¹⁷    He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

from my foes, who were too strong for me.

¹⁸    They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

but the Lord was my support.

¹⁹    He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me. Psalm 18:16-19

⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Heb. 11:6

Are you beaten down? Fed up? Closed in?

Is the weight of debt bearing down?

Is the certainty of separation terrifying?

Is the pain of suffering exhausting?

Is your resolve evaporating?

Are you wounded? Weary? Worried?

Then you know deep waters.

This Psalm was part of my reading today and it was very timely. You see, someone I love is suffering and has only days to live. The joy I feel for him that soon he will enter into the glory of heaven and the presence of our heavenly Father (whom my friend loves deeply) is tempered by the despair from the inevitable void that will be created when he is separated from us. My friend Bob is like a father to so many fatherless. He is a strong anchor to which we tether our weaker crafts keeping us from drifting into the darkness. And now we must find our way relying on the truth he so laboriously invested in us.

Grief can sometimes engulf us leaving us floundering in the dark, drifting, sinking. King David wrote Psalm 18 after he was delivered from Saul’s hand. He had been driven out to the wilderness by someone who wanted him dead. He was hiding like a criminal in a cave: cold, desperate and alone. David knew despair, he knew deep waters.

Our Savior was no stranger to suffering and sorrow either. But as compassionate as he was about our temporal sufferings, Jesus was most concerned about our eternity. “Christ reached down and took hold of me, He drew me out of deep waters.” Just as air is most precious to a drowning man, the grace of God is most precious to a depraved man. Yet, He rescued me because he delighted in me? Faith delights the Lord. He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. And seek Him we must, lest we drown in our own depravity.

Are you in deep waters right now? Tether yourself to Christ. Even if your circumstances do not improve to your liking, the condition of your heart will. We cannot seek something we believe does not exist. When the heart is pure, the mind is willing to submit, to endure, to overcome. Christ said we would suffer; he did not rescue us from pain. He gives purpose to the pain and in doing so, He gives us hope. After the recent earthquake in Haiti it was reported that the people (80% of which are Christians) were singing in the streets. A pure heart knows hope. When a believer is stripped of all that identifies him as self, then he sees clearly to grasp the only hand that can draw him out of the deep waters.

Update 2/4/2010: Bob went to be with the Lord today. We will miss him terribly, but assuradly we will honor the investment he made in us. Bob, you loved the Lord well and it has been one of the greatest priveleges of my life to call you “friend.”