Psalm 53: How to pray through difficult times - part 2

by Peter Roxburgh


Psalm 53 (NIV)

It was mid afternoon when I went sailing on my own. I was 12 but had been sailing a few times before so was fairly confident. I wasn't trying to cross the Atlantic but just sailing around some inlets on the Welsh coast.

As often happens in Wales, the weather suddenly turned. I found myself surrounded by thick sea mist and an eerie darkness. The wind had dropped and so had the temperature. To make matters worse, my rudder had stopped responding too.

No wind, no sight of shore, no rudder and deepening darkness - a sailors nightmare. With all these enemies camped around me and no way to overcome them, I started to panic.

Sometimes life can feel like that.

David definitely knew about being surrounded by enemies with seemingly no way out or ability to overcome them.

Although David spends most of this psalm describing his enemies, the word that really stood out for me was the word 'when'.

In verse 6 he writes "WHEN God restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad." When! Not, 'if'. But a definite 'when.'

As with my little sailing incident, that 'when' can seem a very long time. Sometimes that 'when' is more like a 'WHEN???!!!!'

After what seemed like many 'WHEN??!!'s and many hours, my rescue came and I was restored back to the safety of the shore and the warmth of hot chocolate and a lit fire.

No matter how surrounded you may feel or how stuck in the thick mist and darkness of life, Gods rescue is surely coming.

The challenge is to change our prayers from the demanding and despairing "When!!??" to the affirming and hope-filled "WHEN God rescues me (and I KNOW He will), I will rejoice and be glad."

Even though we may be surrounded by the mist and darkness of life, simply by affirming and reminding ourselves of the truth of Gods coming rescue we will find our spirits lifted and souls strengthened.