“I called out of my distress to the LORD,
And He answered me.
I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.
For You had cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current engulfed me.
All Your breakers and billows passed over me.
So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again toward Your Holy Temple.’ “
Listen carefully my soul. What do you say when God, in his inscrutable ways, casts you into the deep? What happens in your heart when you feel expelled from the Lord’s presence? Whether you are engulfed as the result of your own sin, fleeing from the Lord like Jonah, or whether your trial is for no apparent cause, such as Joseph’s experience in prison, listen carefully to what your heart says in that day. O that you would say “Nevertheless I will look again toward thy Holy Temple!” Trials, whether self-inflicted from sinning, or purely from your heavenly Father’s perfect design for your holiness and purity, will come. Such times of affliction are appointed to you. What will you say when you are in such distress? Will you look toward the one who afflicts you, the one who casts you into the deep, and cry out to Him for help? Will you set your face steadfast toward His Holy Temple? Will you remember the Lord and look to Him to bring you up from the depths?
Listen soul; in the day of trouble do not make your struggle worse by turning away from the one who saves. Do not raise a complaint against Him. Cry out to Him, call to Him, look to Him and He will raise you up out of the pit. O that my soul would look to God, even though He strike me. Such fruit of faith, such steadfastness, will produce confidence and strengthen my assurance in God, the God who holds me in His hands. That my heart would look to God in the midst of affliction is in itself a blessing from God, a blessing that demonstrates the preserving power of the God I trust.
But what if I do raise a complaint like Job? What if I turn my face away and declare God unjust in what He has done to me? Beware soul, such a response is deadly; such a response in your heart maybe the very thing God is raising to the surface in casting you under the waves. Perhaps such poisonous thoughts of God were killing your faith quietly, until His afflictions came. So if your find your heart turning away from His Holy Temple in affliction, tremble and repent. Turn your complaint into deeply felt gratitude that your heavenly father is willing to go to any lengths to purify out all dross and faith-killing poison from your heart. Confess your weakness, your faithlessness, your discontent, and turn your gaze toward His Holy Temple. Cry out to Him and hear His answer to you. Know that all His purposes for you are for your good and your eternal happiness. Trust Him in the day of trouble and let your roots grow deep in Him.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD.
For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.”
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