This is a repost from 3/18/2011:
Grief is a normal part of healthy human existence. Without the ability to grieve we wouldn’t have the ability to love, to feel connected at a deep level to someone, something, or even an idea. We can and should grieve the loss of a dream, the loss of our home, or the loss of a person that we love to death or relational mayhem. It is a God designed part of our humanness.
David faces enemies who are after his life and asks for God’s help from a place where he is confident in his motives and actions before God. People who do what is right will have enemies, and they will face persecution. These are the facts of following Jesus. So it isn’t only the result of our personal sin that we encounter suffering. But God has promised us that those who follow Him, who act in obedience towards Him, will be vindicated either now or at the resurrection. This psalm could very well be the prayer of Christian brothers and sisters around the world who right now face persecution, imprisonment and death because of the relationship with Jesus. May we pray along with them that God would “rise up” and bring down those who oppress and bring freedom for the captives. Let’s also pray that the Holy Spirit would bring the truth of Jesus into those situations in a way that would not be able to be discounted or argued away.
the time of day 