His Response

Posted by Traci at 9:03 PM

This was God's answer to me last night.  And I really needed one.  Demanded one actually (not that I'm proud of that).

Psalms 12

15  For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise," says the Lord; "I will set him in the safety for which he yearns."

Psalms 10

14  But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief, To repay it by Your hand. The helpless commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man; Seek out his wickedness until You find none." 

17  Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, 18 To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

I read this and a devotion by Max Lucado about doubtstorms last night.  I was so upset about all the sweet poor children abused in the world that I started to doubt God.  Serious doubts. As in I want nothing, absolutely nothing to do with you God.  Ever again.  I was fairly desperately yelling for an answer, any answer, when I turned my Bible to the Psalms, because I thought you're supposed to read a Psalm for each day of the month (which turned out to be Proverbs, but God knew where I needed to go).  I read those psalms and the Max Lucado devotion that was on the same page.  Above are the psalms and this is what the devotion said:

"Doubstorms - turbulent days when the enemy is too big, the task too great, the future too bleak, and the answers too few.
 Every so often a doubtstorm rolls into my life, bringing with it a flurry of questions and gale-force winds of fear. And, soon after it comes, a light shines through it.

Sometimes the storm comes after the evening news. Some nights I wonder why I watch it. Some nights it’s just too much. From the steps of the Supreme Court to the steppes of South Africa, the news is usually gloomy ... thirty minutes of bite-sized tragedies. A handsome man in a nice suit with a warm voice gives bad news. They call him the anchorman. Good title. One needs an anchor in today’s tempestuous waters.

Sometimes I wonder, How can our world get so chaotic?

Sometimes the storm comes when I’m at work. Story after story of homes that won’t heal and hearts that won’t melt. Always more hunger than food. More needs than money. More questions than answers. On Sundays I stand before a church with a three-point outline in my hand, thirty minutes on the clock, and a prayer on my lips. I do my best to say something that will convince a stranger that an unseen God still hears.  And I sometimes wonder why so many hearts have to hurt…

“When God comes,” we doubters think, “all pain will flee. Life will be tranquil. No questions will remain.”

And because we look for the bonfire, we miss the candle. Because we listen for the shout, we miss the whisper.

But it is in burnished candles that God comes, and through whispered promises he speaks: “When you doubt, look around; I am closer than you think.”

I, like Job, was speechless.  Thank you for your answer God. Keep it in my heart.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it".

Helen Keller