Tried, Refined, and Purified

Psalm 66

To the Chief Musician. A song. A Psalm.

 ¹MAKE A joyful noise unto God, all the earth;    ²Sing forth the honor and glory of His name; make His praise glorious!
    ³Say to God, How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power shall Your enemies submit themselves to You [with feigned and reluctant obedience].
    ⁴All the earth shall bow down to You and sing [praises] to You; they shall praise Your name in song. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
    ⁵Come and see the works of God; see how [to save His people He smites their foes; He is] terrible in His doings toward the children of men.
    ⁶He turned the sea into dry land, they crossed through the river on foot; there did we rejoice in Him.
    ⁷He rules by His might forever, His eyes observe and keep watch over the nations; let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
    ⁸Bless our God, O peoples, give Him grateful thanks and make the voice of His praise be heard,
    ⁹Who put and kept us among the living, and has not allowed our feet to slip.
    ¹⁰For You, O God, have proved us; You have tried us as silver is tried, refined, and purified.
    ¹¹You brought us into the net (the prison fortress, the dungeon); You laid a heavy burden upon our loins.
    ¹²You caused men to ride over our heads [when we were prostrate]; we went through fire and through water, but You brought us out into a broad, moist place [to abundance and refreshment and the open air].
    ¹³I will come into Your house with burnt offerings [of entire consecration]; I will pay You my vows,
    ¹⁴Which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in distress.
    ¹⁵I will offer to You burnt offerings of fat lambs, with rams consumed in sweet-smelling smoke; I will offer bullocks and he-goats. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
    ¹⁶Come and hear, all you who reverently and worshipfully fear God, and I will declare what He has done for me!
    ¹⁷I cried aloud to Him; He was extolled and high praise was under my tongue.
    ¹⁸If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me;^{(A)
    19}But certainly God has heard me; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
    ²⁰Blessed be God, Who has not rejected my prayer nor removed His mercy and loving-kindness from being [as it always is] with me.

~ Amplified Version

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

Psalm 77

 Psalm 77

Comfort in Trouble from Recalling God's Mighty Deeds.

For the choir director; according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

    ¹My voice rises to God, and I will ^(A)cry aloud;
         My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.
    ²In the ^(B)day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
         ^(C)In the night my ^(D)hand was stretched out ^[a]without weariness;
         My soul ^(E)refused to be comforted.
    ³When I remember God, then I am ^(F)disturbed;
         When I ^(G)sigh, then ^(H)my spirit grows faint. Selah.
    ⁴You have held my eyelids open;
         I am so troubled that I ^(I)cannot speak.
    ⁵I have considered the ^(J)days of old,
         The years of long ago.
    ⁶I will remember my ^(K)song in the night;
         I ^(L)will meditate with my heart,
         And my spirit ponders:
    ⁷Will the Lord ^(M)reject forever?
         And will He ^(N)never be favorable again?
    ⁸Has His ^(O)lovingkindness ceased forever?
         Has His ^(P)promise come to an end forever?
    ⁹Has God ^(Q)forgotten to be gracious,
         Or has He in anger withdrawn His ^(R)compassion? Selah.
    ¹⁰Then I said, "^(S)It is my grief,
         That the ^(T)right hand of the Most High has changed."
    ¹¹I shall remember the ^(U)deeds of the LORD;
         Surely I will ^(V)remember Your wonders of old.
    ¹²I will ^(W)meditate on all Your work
         And muse on Your deeds.
    ¹³Your way, O God, is ^(X)holy;
         ^(Y)What god is great like our God?
    ¹⁴You are the ^(Z)God who works wonders;
         You have ^(AA)made known Your strength among the peoples.
    ¹⁵You have by Your power ^(AB)redeemed Your people,
         The sons of Jacob and ^(AC)Joseph. Selah.
    ¹⁶The ^(AD)waters saw You, O God;
         The waters saw You, they were in anguish;
         The deeps also trembled.
    ¹⁷The ^(AE)clouds poured out water;
         The skies ^(AF)gave forth a sound;
         Your ^(AG)arrows flashed here and there.
    ¹⁸The ^(AH)sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
         The ^(AI)lightnings lit up the world;
         The ^(AJ)earth trembled and shook.
    ¹⁹Your ^(AK)way was in the sea
         And Your paths in the mighty waters,
         And Your footprints may not be known.
    ²⁰You ^(AL)led Your people like a flock
         By the hand of ^(AM)Moses and Aaron.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 77:2 Lit and did not grow numb

Cross references:

1. Psalm 77:1 : Ps 3:4; 142:1
2. Psalm 77:2 : Ps 50:15; 86:7
3. Psalm 77:2 : Ps 63:6; Is 26:9
4. Psalm 77:2 : Job 11:13; Ps 88:9
5. Psalm 77:2 : Gen 37:35
6. Psalm 77:3 : Ps 42:5, 11; 43:5
7. Psalm 77:3 : Ps 55:2; 142:2
8. Psalm 77:3 : Ps 61:2; 143:4
9. Psalm 77:4 : Ps 39:9
10. Psalm 77:5 : Deut 32:7; Ps 44:1; 143:5; Is 51:9
11. Psalm 77:6 : Ps 42:8
12. Psalm 77:6 : Ps 4:4
13. Psalm 77:7 : Ps 44:9
14. Psalm 77:7 : Ps 85:1, 5
15. Psalm 77:8 : Ps 89:49
16. Psalm 77:8 : 2 Pet 3:9
17. Psalm 77:9 : Is 49:15
18. Psalm 77:9 : Ps 25:6; 40:11; 51:1
19. Psalm 77:10 : Ps 31:22; 73:14
20. Psalm 77:10 : Ps 44:2, 3
21. Psalm 77:11 : Ps 105:5; 143:5
22. Psalm 77:11 : Ps 105:5; 143:5
23. Psalm 77:12 : Ps 145:5
24. Psalm 77:13 : Ps 63:2; 73:17
25. Psalm 77:13 : Ex 15:11; Ps 71:19; 86:8
26. Psalm 77:14 : Ps 72:18
27. Psalm 77:14 : Ps 106:8
28. Psalm 77:15 : Ex 6:6; Deut 9:29; Ps 74:2; 78:42
29. Psalm 77:15 : Ps 80:1
30. Psalm 77:16 : Ex 14:21; Ps 114:3; Hab 3:8, 10
31. Psalm 77:17 : Judg 5:4
32. Psalm 77:17 : Ps 68:33
33. Psalm 77:17 : Ps 18:14
34. Psalm 77:18 : Ps 18:13; 104:7
35. Psalm 77:18 : Ps 97:4
36. Psalm 77:18 : Judg 5:4; Ps 18:7
37. Psalm 77:19 : Is 51:10; Hab 3:15
38. Psalm 77:20 : Ex 13:21; 14:19; Ps 78:52; 80:1; Is 63:11-13
39. Psalm 77:20 : Ex 6:26; Ps 105:26

Courage...

OUR Lord teaches us not to shrink from the consequences which we may see to be involved in any course of duty which we have undertaken. He leads us to accept the results of any high choice as they open to our mind,--to regard trustfully, in every act of self-dedication, in every resolve we are led to make, whatever possibilities there may be of coming trial, foreseen or unforeseen,--to realize in calmness the future, whatever that future may be. If the calling of God is clear, if the sense of duty become the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, ever leading onward, the vision of the cross ought not to hinder our going forward. For one who has put his hand to the plough to look back is to become unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven. And equally so it must be to disobey God, if distrust of His upholding us in the course along which He would guide our steps, whatever trial may meet us in the path, becomes a stumbling-block or hindrance to our faith.

T. T. CARTER

Holy Spirit Have Your Way With Me

You Can If You Think You Can!

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don't.

If you like to win, but you think you can't,
It is almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost,
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow's will.
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But soon or late the man who wins,
the man who thinks he can.

~ C. W. Longenecker ~

Half-Hearted Hoping

God is wholly good, if good at all, and those who hope in Him will be wiser if they hope with all their hearts than if they hope with only half their hearts.

William R. Huntington

Discovery From Trials

"Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me."

--Job 10:2

Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star--not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of His children's graces, to make them shine the better.

It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast saying, "Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith." Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?--for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why He is contending with you?

Submission, Not Fretting

His heart fretteth against the Lord. PROVERBS 19:3

I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. PSALMS 119:75

AND my soul complaineth not,
For no pain or fears dismay her;
Still she clings to God in faith,
Trusts Him though lie seem to slay her.
'Tis when flesh and blood repine,
Sun of joy, Thou canst not shine,
JOHANN J. WINCKLER

IMPATIENCE and fretting under trial does not increase our suffering, whereas meek submission sanctifies all suffering, and fills the tortured heart with peace amid its anguish. Worship Him in every sorrow; worship Him in deed and word, but still more in humble and loving acceptance of each pang and heartache. Be sure that your mere silent willing endurance is a true act of adoration; and thus, come what may, weariness, pain, desolation, destitution, loneliness, all will carry on His gracious work in you, and, amid the sharpest pressure of suffering, you will be sending up to His eternal throne the precious incense of submission and trust.
ABBÉ GUILLORÉ

The Just Shall Live by Faith

The Bible says the just shall live by faith. The "just" is not a special category of specially gifted or inspired saints. It is the people whose hearts are turned toward God. The people who know that their own righteousness doesn't count for much and who therefore have accepted God's. I belong in that category. Therefore the rule for me is the rule for all the rest: live by faith. So I have been pondering, up here in this quiet room, what it means for a writer to live by faith. It was easy enough to come up with some things it doesn't mean. It does not mean that my intellect need not be hard at work. It does not mean that I trust God to do my work for me, any more than for a housewife to live by faith means she expects God to do her dishes or make her beds. It does not mean that I have a corner on inspiration...

The great prophets of the Old Testament lived by faith, but they were certainly divinely inspired. Does this mean that God alone and not they, too--was responsible for the work they did? Even though they were acted upon in a special sense by the Spirit of God as I don't ever expect to be acted upon, they had to pay a price. Each of them had to make the individual commitment when he was called, and to offer up then and there his own plans and hopes (and surely his reputation) in order that his personality, his temperament, his intellect, his peculiar gifts and experience might be the instruments through which the Spirit did his work, or the console upon which he played. All this, even though I am no prophet, I must take seriously.

But there is one other thing that living by faith does not mean. This is the thing that makes me furrow my brow and sigh, because I can't help wishing that it did mean this. If in fact I have sided with the "just," if I am willing to work as hard as I can, if I arrange things physically to contribute to the highest concentration and if I discipline myself to sit down at the typewriter for X number of hours per day (even when the fresh perfume of the balsams comes through the windows, calling me to the woods; even when the lake glitters in the sunshine and says, "Come on!"), may I then expect that what I turn out will stop the world, bring the public panting to the bookstores, shine as the brightness of the firmament?

I may not. There are no promises to cover anything of the kind...

Then I think of Abel. And here's comfort. Abel's name is listed in the Hall of Fame of Hebrews 11. Like the others in that list (and a motley assortment it is), he is there for one thing, and only one thing: the exercise of faith. The demonstration of his faith was his offering. The thing that made his offering acceptable while Cain's was unacceptable was faith. Faith did not guarantee the "success" of the sacrifice. In human terms it was no help at all. Abel ended up dead as a result of it. But the manner in which he offered his gift--"by faith"--made it, the Bible says, "a more excellent sacrifice" than Cain's, and qualified him for the roster of Hebrews.

For me, then, for whom writing happens to be the task, living by faith means several things.

It means accepting the task from God (taking the "risk"...). Here is a thing to be done. It appears to be a thing to be done by me, so I'll do it, and I'll do it for God.

It means coming at the task trustingly. That's the way Abel brought his sacrifice, I'm sure. Not with fear, not with a false humility that it wasn't "good enough." What would ever be good enough, when it comes right down to it? "All things come of Thee, O Lord, and of Thine own have we given Thee." All that distinguishes one thing from another is the manner of its offering. I must remember that the God to whom I bring it has promised to receive. That's all I need to know.

It means doing the job with courage to face the consequences. I might, of course, write a bestseller. Most of us feel we could handle that kind of consequence. (God knows we couldn't, and doesn't suffer us to be tempted above that we are able.) On the other hand, I might fail. Abel was murdered. Jeremiah was dropped into a pit of slime. John the Baptist got his head chopped off. These were much worse fates than being delivered into the hands of one's literary critics ("Much worse?" one of my selves says, and "Oh, come now--much worse," answers another. "Come off it. You're not putting yourself in a class with those towering figures, are you?" "I guess I was for a minute there.") Is the faith that gives me the courage I need based on former literary success? Not for a moment. For each time I sit down to begin a new book I'm aware that I may have used up my allotment of creativity. It's another kind of faith I need, faith in God.

It means giving it everything I've got. Now I have to acknowledge that I've never done this. I've never finished any job in my life and been able to survey it proudly and say, "Look at that! I certainly did my best that time!" I look at the job and say, "Why didn't I do such and such? This really ought to be done over." But "giving it everything I've got" is my goal. I cannot claim to be living by faith unless I'm living in obedience. Even the miracles Jesus performed were contingent on somebody's obedience, on somebody's doing some little thing such as filling up water pots, stretching out a hand, giving up a lunch. The work I do needs to be transformed. I know that very well. But there has to be something there to be transformed. It's my responsibility to see that it's there.

~ Elizabeth Elliot

Rejoice in the Lord

17Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,

18Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation!

19The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]! For the Chief Musician; with my stringed instruments.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (Amplified Bible)

Working Mothers

The director of a center for women's concerns said, "Men have always been able to be involved in creative, self-actualizing work." She would like to see more women released from traditional women's work "to be involved in creative work." Creative work, in this lady's view, does not seem to include homemaking and mothering. Why not? I would like to ask. And who, for heaven's sake, is going to do the homemaking and mothering? The lady says she felt confused and frustrated when she was doing it, and "struggled with fulfillment." Many women feel as she does. I meet them often. What I long to help them to see is that if homemaking and mothering are the tasks God has assigned to them at present, it will be in the glad offering up to Him of those tasks that they will be truly "creative" and find real fulfillment.

There's an eternal spiritual principle here. It ought to be enough reason for anybody. Is there any other reason why I am always telling young mothers to stay home? Yes, two absolutely unarguable ones, and a third interesting one which you can argue about if you want to.

First, the Bible clearly tells me (an older woman) to teach younger women "how to work in their homes" (Titus 2:5, JB), or to be "busy at home" (NEB), or be "domestic" (RSV).

Second, children need their mothers. They need quantity time. None of this "quality time" nonsense. Any time which a Christian mother who loves her children gives them should be "quality."

Third, it's very possible that a working mother's income is not nearly so "extra" as may at first appear. Take a look at a study done by Wayne Coleman of Austin, Texas. I think his estimates are very modest. From weekly earnings of $175, subtract:

$17.50...tithe
35.00.....withholding tax
11.00.....Social Security
20.00.....transportation (.20 mile, 10 miles to job)
7.50.......lunches (these will have to be dieter's specials!)
12.50.....clothes, shoes, dry cleaning
35.00.....child care for one
5.00.......hair and cosmetics
1.00.......office collections, gifts, entertainments
2.00.......coffee breaks, miscellaneous
10.00.....extra for bring-home meals

Net income weekly: $18.50. If you subtract from this the things a woman may buy which she would not have bought if she didn't have "her own income," or that she may feel she deserves because she's working, how much "extra" is there for the necessities that convinced her she needed the job?

Here's a testimony from a young woman in Texas who has no children yet. "The struggle I'm having is even though I work only part-time, there doesn't seem to be time to keep house, be with other women, reach out to the needy and lost. I know the pressures of the world, pushing for 'upward mobility,' figure more into the picture than I realize, making my struggle quite a fight. A part of me wants to quit the job, another part of me isn't that free yet!"

Please--if you're a mother of young children, considering getting a job, will you consider these questions first?

• Will your income really be worth it?
• Will it increase your husband's tax burden?

Are you giving your best to your family and/or your employer? Former premier of Israel Golda Meir said that a working mother is torn apart--when in the office she's thinking of all she didn't get done at home, and when at home she's thinking of all she didn't get done at the office.

Would your husband be able to do a better job at work if you were doing a better job at home? What are your real motives for wanting to work? Could it be social pressure, boredom, acquisitiveness, pride, and unwillingness to do humble things? Are you trying to prove something?

I know some mothers of young children who in the face of genuine economic necessity have asked God to show them work they can do at home. Then they've gone to the library and read about businesses that can be engaged in at home, or they've been given an "original" idea. It's amazing to hear the answers God has given. "Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things."

Doubting Prayer

WE doubt the word that tells us: Ask,
And ye shall have your prayer;
We turn our thoughts as to a task,
With will constrained and rare.

AND yet we have; these scanty prayers
Yield gold without alloy;
O God, but he who trusts and dares
Must have a boundless joy!

George Macdonald