Is the world sucking the life from you?

David wrote this psalm when he was in a pretty desperate time in his life. Saul has just rocked his world. David has been a faithful servant of King Saul and done everything that has been asked of him and then some. Saul has become increasingly jealous of David’s success at everything he does. Finally, Saul determines that the only thing to do with this young man is to kill him.

Saul’s son Jonathan helps David to determine Saul’s true intents and then helps him to escape. David is now on the run. He leaves his own country and goes to Gath, in enemy territory. He realizes that this was a mistake and feigns madness so that they won’t kill him.

David is now a man without a country. His own king is trying to kill him out of jealousy and the enemy wants to kill him because he has been so successful against them. This is a time when David’s emotions and feelings must be all over the place. And yet in the midst of these very difficult circumstances he writes this beautiful psalm. Just a couple of verses before this one he wrote, ‘Taste and see that the LORD is good’. Even in the midst of these difficult circumstances David can turn his eyes to the LORD and see past these ‘things’ and see the LORD and His goodness.

In your life, ministry, or church there is going to come a time, or maybe you are in that time now, when it seems that everyone and everything is against you. The people that should be protecting you are attacking you, possibly for no good reason. And your enemies seem to be multiplying faster than you can count them. It is at those times when we feel the most alone and dry and empty that we need to do as David did and turn to the LORD. Jesus told the woman at the well that He could give her water that would make it so that she would never thirst again.

In Jesus we have everything that we will ever need. But often we will only turn to Him when our need becomes desperate. He wants us to come to Him daily to supply every need every day. If we will do that we stand a better chance of not getting to a place of desperation. Life is hard, and it is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit providing for your every need. The demands of life can suck the life out of you if you are trying to do it by your own power. Allow God to fill you and daily return to the source for refilling by staying in prayer and in the Word. Trust in and seek the LORD and you will not lack any good thing. Jesus, teach us to come to you before we run out of gas.

Read: Nehemiah 9:22-10:39; 1 Corinthians 9:19-10:23; Psalm 34:1-10; Proverbs 21:13