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May 30, 2023 06:00am

Faith Matters

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(The following is a family devotional guide with suggested questions and scriptures.)

Talk Time

Would you battle lions or bears or a giant?
Think back to some hard lessons you learned as a kid. What were they?
How did you handle stress or worry?
When you realize you are in a funk, do you reach out to others?

Bible Connection

David anointed king.

David defeated Goliath.

David crowned king.

These all sound like incredible moments, don’t they? If social media were a thing during David’s time, these moments would certainly have made his stories or posts! By looking at these moments, we would sure think David had God’s favor and blessing. We would understand why he loved God.

But, they aren’t the whole story — far from it. The moments don’t show us how David faced bears and lions and battled them when they took his sheep. They don’t show us how his mentor, King Saul, relied upon David and his musical abilities to see him through his bouts of madness. They don’t show us how King Saul grew jealous of David and his military feats. They don’t show us how King Saul turned away from David and conspired to kill him. They don’t show us how he hunted David down…for years. They don’t show us one of David’s lowest times in life, a time he took another man’s wife as his own and plotted that man’s murder. They don’t show us a time when his grown son took advantage of another woman, leaving her to a life of loneliness and shame. They don’t show us when one of his other sons plotted against him and tried to overthrow him. And, they don’t show us the time he was adrift from his kingdom and his family.

You see, just like social media, the great mountaintop moments in life don’t show the whole picture of one’s life. It’s easy to have faith when good things happen to you in life. It’s much harder to have faith when life gets hard and nothing makes sense. It’s hard to turn to God when you’re being persecuted. It’s hard to turn to God when those closest to you have betrayed you. It’s hard to turn to God when your heart is breaking. That, friends, is when faith is hard.

And yet, David turns to God in these moments. David wrote of these times in the many psalms he penned during the most painful times in his life. At times, he begged forgiveness. At times, he cried out for help. At times, he was brokenhearted. At times, he prayed for restoration. And, many times, he begged for God to guide him through these times with His faithful love, grace, and mercy.

It wasn’t those mountaintop moments that made David love and praise God. It was the valley moments that strengthened his relationship with God and molded him into a man after God’s own heart.

Psalm 42 is a psalm where David experienced depression, sadness, anxiety, and turmoil. He felt forgotten and overwhelmed by the enemy. He thirsted for God, as a deer would thirst for water. But, he recognized that his feeling didn’t reflect the truth. That is why he forced himself to do a couple of things:

He chose to remember the times God had helped him in the past (Psalm 42:4). And, he also preached to himself amid these hard feelings, reminding himself to: “Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:11).

It’s these two interventions that can help us, too, when having faith is hard:

Remember what God has done for you in the past. Remember His faithfulness.
When our feelings want to lie to us and steal our faith, use the Word of God as your weapon. Pray it. Say it. Believe it.

David did…and God helped him, saved him, forgave him, healed him, and restored him time and time again. It wasn’t always easy or pretty, but God did not fail David. He was faithful. Perhaps that’s why David said, “How happy is anyone who puts his trust in the Lord”.

Faith Connection

Do you feel like God listens to you when you pray? What makes you think that?
What prayers has God answered recently?
When you talk to God, do you act like yourself or do you hold back?
Think of a time in your life when you felt all alone. When you think back to this time, can you see what God was doing in your life?

Life is hard. Faith can be hard. But, remembering what God has done for you in the past and believing that He will be faithful in the future can help you face those times with faith. And most of all — preach God’s Word to you yourself! Check out the verses below to help you during these times. They can give you hope that God is in the details of your situation and is doing more than what you can see.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – whom shall I dread? Though an army deploys against me, my heart will not be afraid…I will still be confident.” (Psalm 27:1-3)

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart be courageous. Wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)

“Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the sound of my pleading. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.” (Psalm 28:6-7)

“I waited patiently for the Lord, and he turned to me and heard my cry for help. He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and they will trust in the Lord.” (Psalm 40:1-3)