You Are Not the Only One

#Troubles #pain #Restoration #Chainbreaker

Psalm 71:19-24 KJV

Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.  Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.  I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.  My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.  My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.

David wrote this Psalms during a time in his life when his loyal friends betrayed him. His son plotted against him to take the people away from his and when people whom he thought were his friends lied to, and about him. The same thing will happen to us. It happened to David and Jesus and it most assuredly will happen to us. Troubles will arise. We were never promised an easy life. Sometimes life will be very difficult. The psalmist stated “Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles.” This was not a one time life event. It was not even one event in the psalmist’s life. He experienced trouble more than once. They were not trivial either. They were “great and sore.”

Have you ever been betrayed by a close friend? Lied to by a close friend, or had your trust taken lightly by a close friend? Relationships are hard to establish these days because we have placed a burden on others that do not belong to them. We expect other people to make us happy.  True happiness comes only from God. We also expect other people to be more perfect that we are – it is human to err. 

During David’s times of troubles, what did he do? Blame someone else? Lied about someone else? Did he place the blame on the people who surrounded him or his counselors? No, he trusted God to “increase [his] greatness, and comfort [him] on every side.” His son lied about how he lead as a king? His closest friend and his own son [Absalom] were disloyal to him.  Have you had employees who have lied about your leadership style behind your back? know someone who was in a position of leadership who was betrayed at the highest level by their closest advisors and friends. The deception and betray took its toll and they ended up in a deep state of depression.  That type of darkness is difficult to come out of. David did not becry their deceit or betrayal. So, here we see a lesson on how to handle betrayal. Let God deal with the people and the problem will be solved without you destroying your name. This is a great example of conflict resolution.

Prayer: Lord, show us how to trust you to handle our troubles in your own time.