Lord be my hiding place when all is lost.

Psalm 32:7-11 NASB - "7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule, which has no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you. 10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him. 11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart."

At times of loss passages such as this are hard to understand.  The Lord did not seem to be a hiding place that preserved the hurting from trouble.  Whatever songs of deliverance were sung seems now to be only illusions and false promises.  

The Lord promises here to teach us the way to go in the middle of the struggle.  HE urges us not to be in an attitude that requires only painful chastisement in order to move us in the right direction.  The suggestion is to be ready to be sensitive to the Lord’s instruction in the same way that a person can know instinctively how they should act to please a loved one. 

Part of the wisdom is to trust in the Lord in the midst of circumstances that seem to contradict the idea that the LORD is ready to surround us with lovingkindness.  We must come to trust the Lord in the dark of circumstances that seem to indicate we are abandoned by the LORD’s protection and guidance.  At such times we cannot be glad in the situation but in the essence of who the LORD is as good, great, and full of grace. 

We can rejoice in the LORD’s character and competence even when there is little or nothing to rejoice in the circumstances of our lives.   Our trust can be that the Lord will work all these losses and sorrows for eventual good. 

Prayer

Lord, help me take joy in you when every other source of joy has been stolen from me.  When nothing in this life seems right and the ones I valued the most are now gone from my life.   When the hopes I have had now are evaporated and I am utterly confused help me learn from you and trust in you in the middle of the most maddening of days  Amen