November 24thPsalm 11
Stay where you are
Thomas Edison was determined to invent a commercially viable electric lightbulb. He knew the value it would bring to the average person. Yet after 9,000 failed attempts, his friends and family began to ask if he was ready to give up. A newspaper reporter famously asked Edison if he felt like a failure, to which he replied, “Why would I feel like a failure? I now know definitely over 9,000 ways an electric lightbulb will not work.”
David is facing deep adversity. His enemies advise him to ignore God and flee. The moral order is collapsing so run! But David has a better idea:
4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold, his gaze examines humankind.
5 The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
and his soul hates the lover of violence.
David will not flee from the spot or experience in which he finds himself. He believes that ‘prayer works.’ It is just in such a spot that he - and you and I - are meant to give witness. Even if it seems like the ‘foundations are being destroyed’ remember that both the good and the wicked are being tested. Never forget that God is in full charge of your life.
When Martin Luther was challenged by the Holy Roman Emperor to recant from his views or face imprisonment and possible death, he replied: ‘Here I stand, I can do no other.’
When Jack (not his real name) was challenged (and mocked) in the local coffee shop because of his concern for indigenous rights, he replied, ‘I stand with our native brothers and sisters in their struggle to be heard.’
Wherever we find ourselves challenged, mocked, or confronted by untruth, we too can stand on the ‘promises of God.’
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.