How hard is it for you to be selfless? I know that it is not something that comes naturally for most people. It seems that “self” always makes a way to be inserted into our thoughts, our conversations, our actions, our reactions. Can you be self-centered and God-centered at the same time? Can I balance faith and feelings?
Those are some thought-provoking questions, aren’t they? Well, as I was reading Psalm 21 this morning, I was impacted by how selfless King David was. The link is live. Give it a read. See if you notice anything remarkable about this Psalm.
So, did you read it? I surely hope so! I’m including the Psalm below with emphasis on what impacted me.
“Oh LORD, in Your strength the king rejoices, and in Your salvation how greatly he exults! You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.
For You meet him with rich blessings; You set a crown of fine golf upon his head. He asked life of You; You gave it to him, length of days forever and ever.
His glory is great through Your salvation; splendor and majesty You bestow on him. For You make him glad with the joy of Your presence.
For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
Your hand will find out all Your enemies; Your right hand will find out those who hate You.
You will make them as a blazing oven when You appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.
You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man.
Though they plan evil against You, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
For You have put them to flight; You will aim at their faces with Your bows.
Be exalted, oh LORD, in Your strength!! We will sing and praise Your power.”
Talk about an “upward” perspective spilling forth in selfless praise?!
David knew well that “apart from the Lord he could do nothing”, (John 15:5). David also acknowledged that “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change”, (James 1:17).
David didn’t have an easy time of it. God had deposed the first king of Israel and anointed him king instead, and needless to say, the previous king was not happy about that. But through all of the hard times and attacks that came his way, while he felt things like a normal person, he consistently readjusted his perspective from feelings to faith, from inward to upward, from self-centered to selfless.
David was in the position as king because God placed him there. He would be successful because God made that so. His enemies would be dealt with because God is the righteous judge. And because he chose to humble himself and see that everything he had God had given him, his praise was selfless exaltation of the Lord Most High.
So let’s personalize and apply this.
Where does this blog find you? How’s your focus? Are you living according to how you “feel” or according to what the Bible says is true of God?
Are you struggling to see God in the midst of your mess?
God says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you”, (Deuteronomy 31:6). The enemy of your soul wants you to think you are alone in your trial. You are NOT. That feeling is a lie from the enemy!
Are you pacing, instead of peaceful during your hard time?
God says, “...in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world”, (John 16:33).
Are you doubting God’s plan?
God says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”, (Jeremiah 29:11).
Are your circumstances not making sense?
God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts”, (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Are you doubting God’s goodness?
God says, “...though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ”, (1 Peter 1:6-7).
God says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”, (Romans 8:28).
We as servants of God Most High are faced with a choice.
Are we going to live by faith or live by feelings? One promises peace in the midst of the storms of life, and one is like being in a hurricane on the ocean without a boat.
We are charged to “walk by faith, not by sight”. While things may look bad on the outside, you don’t have to feel bad on the inside.
How do we experience that kind of peace?
We experience peace as we recognize that the enemy of our souls wants us to focus inward, not upward. Satan wants our focus on earthly things and situations.
God says that “He has raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”, (Ephesians 2:6).
God says that, “He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms”, (Ephesians 1:3).
God says that “He chose us…He predestined us for adoption…to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One”, (Ephesians 1:4, 5, 6).
Satan knows that he is already a defeated foe, and he will attempt to derail our faith and cause us to not live in the freedom and peace Christ suffered so greatly to give us. So we experience this kind of peace by redirecting our focus away from how we feel and purposefully choosing instead to live according to what God says.
God says, “…we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”, (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Live according to faith and not according to feelings.