I Like Big Buts and I Cannot Lie

Often, as people of faith we are discouraged from acknowledging or admitting our struggles. It is taboo to tell people about the hardships we are enduring. People see it as a sign of weakness or a lack of faith. However, the Bible is replete with examples of individuals that endured hardships, struggled with their faith, and even questioned God. 

Our devotional text is one such example. The psalmist begins by putting God on trial. He is not wondering if he has been forsaken; he is wondering why he has been forsaken. Those of us reading this text have the benefit of hindsight and know that Jesus promised that He would always be with us [Matthew 28:20] Yet, as we navigate the human experience that collides with our faith there are times that we feel like God is not there. There are experiences that can be so difficult to understand that it shakes our confidence in God and ourselves. This is an unspoken reality for many that identify as Christians. 

Feeling forsaken is not at issue. God never censures the psalmist for expressing his feeling. Just as God did not censure Jesus when He expressed the same sentiment on the cross. “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses...”[Hebrews 4:15 NKJV] (Which is why it is concerning that there is such a lack of empathy from believers). God is not turned away by our struggles, frailty, or sometimes lack of faith. 

The good news is that the hardship is not nor has to be the end of the story. Verse three of our text shifts the focus of the psalmist from the gravity of his problem to the greatness of his God. And it is done simply by using the word but. But is a disjunctive conjunction that has two functions: 

So, the significance of but in this text is not that it eradicates the difficulties of life. Rather that it emphasizes that God is greater than the problem. Here the psalmist says God is holy or different - suggesting to us that what feels like a problem to us is a an engine for promotion from God. God sees your struggle, He just doesn’t see it the way you do. He is perfecting His strength in your life through the weakness you feel. 

So feel what you feel and cry your tears because they that sow in tears shall reap in joy [Psalm 126:5] Endure your cross, there is joy set before you. Amen.

Monday - Job 23:8-10

Tuesday - Luke 22:31-32

Wednesday - 1 Peter 5:8-10

Thursday - Psalm 30:5

Friday - Matthew 26:39-44

Saturday - 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3