Good Morning,
Psalm 71:20-21; "You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You will restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again." Suffer, hardship, troubles, these are words that we would rather not hear in the Christian community. Yet, God reminds us that these things are allowed in our lives, in season for a reason. This verse in the King James translation says, "Thou, which has shown me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me again from the depths of the earth." [vs.20] Great troubles means huge, increased, and many. Sore troubles means adversity, affliction, calamity, displeasure
grievous, sorrow and trouble. That is just to name a few. Why? Why are we allowed to go through troubles and hardships? Let's see what the Psalmist writes. "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word." (Psalm 119:67) "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statues.' (Psalm 119:71) When we go through sore troubles, and we are trusting and believing God's Word, we learn that the promises are really true for us. We have experience to go with our faith. It is no longer the pastor's, the evangelist's, the teacher's or anyone else's testimony, it becomes your own. You have seen the true and living God come to your aid, watch over His Word and perform it on your behalf. The Word that you refused to let go of, that faithful promise you stood on. When all else that you trusted in proves that it is unstable, unfaithful, not lasting, and undependable, then you are left to see God's Word will prove itself.
Look at the power and the benefit of trusting God's Word. "…you will restore me [quicken me] to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth." Quicken is to make alive, nourish up, to recover, repair, to restore and to revive and to preserve to life again. Restore means to give back, to make restitution, to rebuild, to bring back to a healthy state, to make amends or compensation for, to replace in a former state of favor and grace. After we have withstood, we then inherit the promise and receive greater honor. God, our Father delights to lift us up from the deepest abyss of life and bring us up to the greatest place of honor. He did it with David, Abraham, Esther, Joseph, Ruth, Gideon, Moses, Daniel, the three Hebrew boys, the list goes on and on. When all of our dependency is in Him, not in us or the arm of flesh, stand and see the salvation of the Lord. Salvation means, something saved, deliverance, aid, victory, prosperity, health and help. He wants our Source to be Him, for all of His rewards are with Him. Get ready then to be brought up from the places of the abyss and be revived, rebuilt, quickened, brought back to live, really live. Greater grace, greater favor, greater amends and compensation. That first burst of sunlight is awesome, train your eyes to see greater distances. We are rising to new heights in Christ. We have learned through our afflictions, that our God is a mighty deliverer and restorer!!!
Love,
Pastor D.
Daughters of Z 