Exodus 5:10-14: “Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.'
The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”
This verse is especially telling because someone I love is quite overwhelmed in his job today. It’s actually been ongoing for a very long time. The slave drivers keep beating him down more and more. What’s worse, I’m helpless to fix or change it. He wants to run. He wants to quit. Pharaoh is just asking for the impossible. He’s trying to squeeze blood from a turnip …
I’m looking into God’s Word for some hope that I can offer this individual. David cried out to the Lord, “I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you. Save your servant who trusts in you...when I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me." (Psalm 86)
That’s the answer! David was able to survive when everything around him was “caving” in - both literally and figuratively - because he called out to God during his distress. His life was in peril when King Saul was hurling spears at him, then chasing him into the desert. Later, David’s heart was shattered to pieces when he fled from his own son, Absolom. Yet, David cried out to God. He clung to Him for his very life.
This complete dependence on God is reflected In Michael W. Smith’s song, "This Is The Air I Breathe."
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread
this is my daily bread
your very word spoken to me
And I I'm desperate for you
And I I'm lost without you
Today I pray that the one I love will depend on God like that. I pray he will desperately seek his heavenly father like the very air he breathes. Even if God doesn’t choose to ease the crazy, impossible demands of the slave drivers right now, I know that God will provide much-needed protection, and healing and peace.
In Psalm 63:8, King David told God, "My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me." This is a pretty amazing statement given that David penned it while running through the desert from his son, Absolom, who was hunting him down with plans to kill him.
Linda Dillow (author of A Deeper Kind of Calm, the book my women's Bible study is reading right now) asks us to remember a time when we experienced "clinging," and to describe those feelings. Well here's an example of NOT clinging:
When I was five years old, I was at my friend Sandy's house down the street, playing on her backyard swing. I was doing what all children do on swings: leaning back, pumping my legs, and looking up at the sky. "If you let go," her older brother, Larry, said, "you can fly!"
Me being the gullible idiot I was, I let go. Bam. That hard ground felt like cement. A burning pain seared through my body. After I caught my breath, I began to cry. In fact, I walked home, crying all the way. My collar bone was broken. But what's worse, my trust in people was broken too.
What was going on inside that 5-year-old head of mine? Who knows. But one thing I do know is that if I had held on tight (and clinged) to that chain swing, I would have kept soaring higher and higher. I wouldn't have been hurt. I would have been free and happy. Instead, I chose to listen to - and believe - in the world's lies.
"Let go...and you can do this ...on your own..."
Lord, please help me to ignore those lies. Help me cling to You with all my strength. I know You will never steer you wrong or let me fall. Amen
I read Psalm 65 today, and was overwhelmed by how good God is to us. This "harvest Psalm", written by David, glorifies God (the Creator) through reflections of nature. Nature helps us understand God's character. It shows His generosity. He gives us more than we could ever need or deserve.
"O God, our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power...
who stilled the roaring of the sea...
those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades, you call forth songs of joy...
You care for the land and water it, you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water...
You drench its furrows...You soften it with showers ...
You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance...
the grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness...
the meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing."
It just doesn't get any better than that. David was definitely a "nature" guy. After all, he spent his formative years shepherding sheep. I love what he later wrote about gratitude: "because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of food." (Psalm 63:3-5)
Lord, your love is the only thing that truly satisfies. Help me to eat, drink and breath your love, your presence, and your abundant blessings. Help me to be completely satisfied in You, Amen
