HAS YOUR NIGHTCAP BEEN A CUP OF PAIN?

Psalms 44:3 is the boast of a people who understood that the essence of victory centered on the strength of the Lord: “For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto them.” These over comers applied this truth to their own situation:

“Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah” (vs. 5-8).

This is a picture of the true church with the correct confession serving the Lord. What follows next is a familiar testimony that serves to baffle even the choicest of God’s servants:

“But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies. Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen. Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me” (vs.9-15).

Ultimately this is a portrait of the cross: “Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter” (v. 22). When you follow the Lord and end up in a situation that is humanly impossible, take comfort that your steps have been ordered by the Lord. If you have been exposed as bankrupt to all who would take inventory of you, you are in excellent company. Jesus was naked on the cross before the world with no way of escape.

When all was seemingly lost God was doing his greatest work.

Take heart that when it appears that God is asleep on the job, He is actually taking things into his own hands. The Psalmist did not realize that his accusing God of sleeping was really a prophesy of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. God was not asleep, He was working. Remember that Jesus referred to death as sleep more than once: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep” (John 11:11). Psalms 13:3 strengthens this: “Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.”

“Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise; cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake” (vs. 23-26).

Jesus was “afflicted and oppressed” at the cross because of our sins. As it were, God “hid his face” for a brief moment: “In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment” (Isaiah 54:8). When Jesus died, he rested in the “sleep of death” for two days, but on the third day he answered the Psalmist’s cry: He arose for our help when he was resurrected from the dead ! When all seemed lost God was recovering all that was lost. Sin had “cast us from his side” but through the Blood of the cross Jesus redeemed us back to God.

Does it look like God has forgotten you and is doing nothing on your behalf? Has there been a “shaking of the head” by those who survey your circumstances: “He said God was going to help him. He needs to get in the real world!” Has there been confusion and has your nightcap been a cup of pain?

Lift up your head: God is about to do his greatest work in you!