Read Psalm 94:16-23. 16Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? 17If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. 18When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. 19When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. 20Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute? 21They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. 22But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. 23He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out.
The psalmist has done what all of must learn to do. He has allowed his experience of testing (discipline v.12) to produce in him an experience of God and his character. The Lord has become the answer to all of his questions. How long (v.3)? Who rises up (v.16)? Who stands up for me (v. 16)? The Lord helped him. The Lord held him up. The Lord’s consolations cheered his soul. The Lord is his stronghold, his rock of refuge. The Lord will wipe out his enemies.
Do your trials and testing produce this kind of purified faith? And not mere intellectual ascent, but an experience of the consolations and cheering of the soul as the psalmist describes.
If not, I understand. And it’s OK. When we struggle to experience God in this way, with such great faith, we are reminded that every psalm is a prayer not only to Jesus, but also from Jesus. Place this psalm in the mouth of Christ as your substitute. Jesus, the victim of the greatest injustice by statute ever, the only truly innocent slain by the wicked, never lost his faith in the resurrection power of the Father. Even as he hung on the cross Jesus knew, and in him we can know too, that we will not be abandoned to the land of silence, our foot will never slip, and injustice will not reign on the Earth.
How can we be sure? Because Jesus has prayed this psalm for us. Jesus’ faith and his faithfulness have become our own. To live is Christ places this inspired prayer of the psalmist, this prayer of Jesus into our mouths (whether we fully trust it or not).
You: Do you struggle to pray prayers of faith during seasons of suffering?
You in Christ: How is verse 22 true for you in Christ?
Christ in you: Christ in you is praying this prayer even when you can’t. How does this comfort you today?
Pray: Father, I want to be able to pray this prayer. I really do. Help me to trust it. Help me to believe in your steadfast love for me. Cheer my soul with the truth of my future resurrection with Christ. Amen.
To Live is Christ 