MAY 4, 2024
Psalm 38:21-22
Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!
I realize that David prayed these words but the sentiment expressed could be appropriated to many of us, if not all. How many times have we felt that we are abandoned and vulnerable to the whims of our adversaries? As for me, it is has happened more than I'd like to admit. But let's also acknowledge that, though our emotions taunted us with this feeling, the reality is that God was and is always there. We have the promise that He will never forsake us, even when it sometimes feels that He has. As David reminds us though, He is not far from us.
That being said, there are those times when He allows us to endure spans of time when things aren't going the way we would like for them to go. There are times when He seems to step back and see what choices we will make in certain situations, and sometimes, our choices are not so good. That seems to be what David is conveying through his prayer — he realized that he had made some poor choices and was reaping the rewards. In a previous verse he said, “I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me.” How many of us can identify with this sense of defeat — feeling as if we can't take another step and that all is on the verge of collapse?
But that is why David called upon the Lord to help — not a person or human agent of assistance but the Lord Himself. Sometimes the Lord does send a person to offer assistance to those in need but, frankly, the assistance can be as short-lived as the agent himself. That is why David prayed that the Lord would bring salvation; if the Lord is the One coming to our aid, the salvation is complete and permanent. Isn't that what we all want? Admittedly, the Lord knows just what to do on our behalf and He knows when it's the appropriate time, nevertheless it is good that we should pray, “Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!”
