Desertion

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Psalms 55:1
It is not an enemy who taunts me—I could bear that. It is not my foes
who so arrogantly insult me—I could have hidden from them. Instead, it
is you—my equal, my companion and close friend (vv.12-13).

My friend is enduring a brutal divorce. His wife
has been unfaithful, and now she’s attacking
his character and draining their savings as
their case lumbers through the courts. Every kind gesture
is thrown back in his face, either with curses or as a way
to wrangle more from the divorce settlement.
And yet something strange—something supernatural—
is going on within him. Even as his marriage and family
are crumbling, he’s drawing closer to God. Rather
than blaming God for his suffering and injustice, he’s
depending on Him for everything—his children, income,
and even his sanity. He’s using his agonizing crisis as an
unlikely opportunity to love God more.

C. H. Spurgeon explained that desertion provides an
unparalleled opportunity to declare our allegiance to
God—for it hurts at the deepest level. He said, “When
you trust God and a friend, there is a question whether it
is God you trust or the friend. But when the friend has left
you and only God is near, no question remains. If you
and I are walking together and a dog follows us, who
knows which is the dog’s master? But when you go off to
the left and I turn to the right, all men will see which one
of us owns the dog by seeing whom he follows.”

This truth is what David discovered in Psalm 55. He
wished for “wings like a dove; then I would fly away and
rest!” (v.6). But knowing that he couldn’t escape from his
turmoil, David chose to bundle up the whole stinking mess and hand it over to
the Lord. “I will call on God,” said David, “and the Lord will rescue me” (v.16).
Spurgeon concluded, “If you can trust God alone, then you are really trusting Him!
. . . Then you are a believer, and there is no mistake about it.”

—Mike Wittmer

more›
Read Job 23:1 to learn how to respond when you feel deserted by
God.

next›
How have you deserted someone who depended on you? What can you
do to begin to make things right? How does it make you feel to know
that God will never desert you?

indeed from shiftworship on godtube.