It is a certainty that you, Lord God, are guiding me in making decisions [“Make me to know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul” (Ps. 143:8b)], that you have me where I should be and are giving me significant work to do. I praise you for these good and great truths which hedge my life in, protecting me from evil both without and within.
Praise you, Lord Jesus, my great Shepherd, for the wonderful, profound, powerful and complete security you provide for us. My role is to find my shelter, my help and my way in you (Ps. 91:1). Like David, I must embrace my weakness so I can rest in your greatness. He wrote:
Psalm 22:6 “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.”
[Here David experiences the rejection of those around him, and turns to God for support. This foreshadows what Jesus experienced 1000 years later in an even greater way: rejected by his own people, betrayed by two of His disciples, abandoned by them all, and turned away from by His Father–yet trusting Him.]
Psalm 22:7 “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:”
[This is exactly what happened to Jesus, when even those crucified with Him mocked Him.]
Psalm 22:8 “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
[Again, exactly what the Pharisees said to Jesus, insulting the Creator of all as He hung on the cross. But you, Lord Jesus, saw the greater picture, so you chose not to defend or vindicate yourself to men, instead staying on the cross to save them.]
So you call us to trust in you, to suffer the scorn of men, to know that you will deliver us because you delight in us—but not in ways that the world would expect, or that we might want. We praise you, Lord God, that your ways are higher than our ways, that you truly see the big picture and will work things out in your perfect understanding, timing and wisdom.
Thank you now for how you will answer various prayers that I’ve been praying for years without visible response from you. I can trust you in your faithfulness to be working in deep ways to bring these to pass at the right time and to work out what is best. I praise you now for answers unseen, unrecieved, but prepared for timely delivery.
