In the Wilderness With No GPS

"Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my supplications!" (Psalm 143:1). I have turned to the Psalms tonight, in an attempt to encourage myself, as David did.  Ironically, these are David's words here in Psalm 143. A lot of the time, David was literally running for his life.  I am so thankful that he was a writer as well as a fighter, because we have most of the Psalms as a result.  In the not too distant past, I have practically lived in the Psalms, reading over and over of God's faithfulness. Tonight, like David did, I have started out my prayer like this chapter starts:  "hear my prayer!"  

"For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.
Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart is appalled within me." (verses 3-4).

I find myself crying these very words out to God on my behalf tonight.  Sometimes the battle gets so intense, I feel I can take it no longer. These are the times I run to my Father, who is truly faithful. "I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Selah" (verse 6).  It's not only hot outside these days, it's hot in this spiritual desert where I find myself.

There are no highway signs, no GPS to guide me through this valley.  Just the loving guidance of my Father, and I cry out to Him, with David's very words:   

"Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.
Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies; I take refuge in You" (verses 8b-9). 

There's a lesson to be learned here.  I am always greatly enriched by these times, though they seem so lonely and desolate while I'm in the middle of them.  I trust in God, though, and He is always faithful. 

"Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; 

Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me.  

In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies  

And destroy all those who afflict my soul,
For I am Your servant" (verses 10-12).

Some of you might think I'm weak, and lack direction, since I go running to God crying so much.  I would answer you, yes, I am. I am weak, and I can't find my way sometimes.  But He--my God--is strong, and He alone knows the way through this wilderness.

Before GPS, we had to pull over sometimes and ask for directions, if we weren't too proud.  While I might be able to use my GPS to navigate in this earthly realm, God alone can navigate me through the hot, dry desert I sometimes find myself in spiritually.  

I'm not too proud to ask anymore. 

New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation