“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? ...but I have trusted in your steadfast love, my heart shall rejoice in your Salvation." Psalm 13:1, 5
Juxtaposition. Contrast. Disparity. When two polar opposites are placed closely together, we can more easily see the great difference in their appearance. It makes me think of the classic photos of Ansel Adams. The nothingness of the black standing harshly against the white to create images that are boastfully honest in the glory of God’s creation. And as we consider the great contrast in masterpieces like Adams’ photos, you must also consider the great display of spiritual juxtaposition displayed in the masterpieces that are the Psalms of a Holy Spirit inspired David. For in them we see a man grasp his pen in great turmoil, yet only six lines later end in great praise. A beautiful picture of the contrast of a life as it encounters the glory of the Lord.
David is in dire straits in Psalm 13. No home, no help, no respite. His constant running from Saul leaves him in a vicious cycle of exhaustion, fear, and paranoia. A relentless existence that that will slowly see that life drained of its faith, just as a bucket of water with a hole at the bottom. And in this perpetually draining state, David goes to where a man with a heart after God’s should go. To the Lord to have his bucket filled. It is grand to see the juxtaposition in the beginning of David’s Psalm compared to the end. He starts as a man in a frantic state, questioning the whereabouts of God, questioning the timing of God, and questioning how God chooses to deal with the men that seek to end his life. But even in his anguish, David was wise in his prayer. In verse 3 he asked God to “enlighten his eyes.” He asked God to temporarily suspend his human vision and instead allow him to see his situation through different eyes, eyes that were enlightened by God. And as God does indeed enlighten David’s visional countenance, we see his poetic song shift dramatically. It is here that we see David no longer focusing on his dilemmas in this world, but instead rejoicing in what eternally lays at his feet…the glory of his Salvation in Almighty God.
Today the size of your problems is really a question of focus and relativity. Where will you choose to focus your focus? Will you, with a microscope, home in on the bad, making them the larger, central focus of your prayers to the Lord, or will you instead pray for eyes that allow you to see things differently? Will you focus on the things that bring you pain or instead, with sight provided by the Lord, focus on the miracle of the good? No matter what you’re facing today, recall the “miracle moment” of your Salvation in Jesus Christ and live in it. And if you don’t have that miracle moment in your soul, today is a good day to change your life and your eternity. Admit that you have sinned against God and ask Jesus to save your soul from the death that sin brings. In doing so you will place an irremovable mark on the timeline of your life that will forever allow you to reference it as the contrast point in your journey. And when things get tough, focus on that mark. And as you refocus on that miracle moment over and over and over…praise and worship Jesus Christ every time for saving your very soul.
“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.” Psalm 13:5-6
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