Up or Down

Psalm 13:2 how long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Psalm 13:5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.

Dear Friend:

I want to tell you a story about a young man who lived at home and worked hard for his dad. He helped a lot around the house. He had 7 older brothers, who really did not like him and gave him a hard time. His mother was very busy with her life; she loved him, but had many things to do for this big family. The dad was hard on him expecting him to work hard for him. One day the brothers went into their community center to have a meeting. The community was looking for a solution to a problem they were having that was affecting everyone. The young man’s dad sent him to bring lunch and check on the brothers at this community meeting. When he arrived in town he overheard the problem and got to thinking that he has a solution. In fact he thought to himself that his whole life he had this training to solve the problem for the people. He had this confidence and courage that no one knew about. He always had this secret in him that he was born with and never told anyone. Not one of his family members considered him for the solution. In fact when his brother saw him in town he said in front of everybody “you are conceited and evil. “ Here was a young man that minded his own business and did what his dad told him and now his brother is picking on him. He didn’t deserve this treatment at all. But at the same time the problem at hand needed to be resolved quickly and so with all of his own determination that he was born with he went to the leader and said he wants to help.

Stop!

This is as far as I am going to go with this story. It is a bible story and I want you to guess who the young man is.
It is the story of David. David goes on to be a King and is in the direct bloodline of Christ. When David was about 25 years old God was looking for a man after His own heart. He selected David. Why David? Because he created him before he was even thought up by his own parents. God wanted David to be born. His family did not know this. When Samuel was sent by God to anoint someone from the house of Jesse to be King of Israel, Jesse sent all of his 7 sons except David. David was overlooked in the family often. But that overlooking caused him to fill his loneliness with God. God became his focus and it was God who trained David to be a warrior and shepherd. He killed lions, tiger, bears with the strength and confidence of God. God began a work in David and David gave God his full attention. David never felt alone. This training was David’s secret and David bubbled over with enthusiasm when it was time to release the truth of what was inside him. David killed Goliath, the giant. He goes on to be a great warrior to win many battles for God.
Is your life like David’s filled with loneliness, rejection, false accusations, being misunderstood, having talents in you that no one understands, being picked on, overlooked and others may be jealous of you? Maybe you have one or two of the above that you can connect with? Do you take the frustrations named above and become angry and bitter? David decided to let go and let God be his all and all. Where others failed to love, God had unfailing love. You can go down or up! David went up! He wrote the most beautiful Psalms. Words expressed that are amazing. It is so cool! He frequently starts writing going down and he ends his writings going up.
Which way will you go?

Let’s pray: Father in heaven I confess that I do not go to you enough with my thoughts. Lord I give you permission to reveal the healing that needs to be done in me. I declare and receive the rest I need in your unfailing love. I choose to go up. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Up,
Elaine