O God, you have declared me perfect in your eyes; you have always cared for me in my distress; now hear me as I call again.
Psalm 4: 1 (LB)
Scripture: Psalm 66: 1-15
Trials can be difficult for us to go through. Our attitude as we are going through them is important. This devotion looks at the attitude God wants us to have when we go through trials.
“Come and hear, all of you who reverence the Lord, and I will tell you what he did for me” (Ps. 66: 16 LB).
Let me tell you my story. Things were really bad for me. I had never thought I could have been so low.
Usually, I have a positive outlook on life. You know, a I-know-things-are-bad-now-but-they-could-be-worse attitude. I just count my blessing that it wasn’t as bad off as it could be, and go on.
I would always try to find something that I latch onto that was good. Okay, I always tried to find the comic relief, too.
But this time, something was different. This was worse.
Maybe it was because the trials were harder. Maybe it was because I had thought these problems wouldn’t happen to me. You know, the snobby I-am-too-good-a-person-to-have-this-happen-to-me attitude.
The positive attitude was gone. I could barely get out of bed. Even I was sick of seeing the tears leaking from my eyes. It was all that I could think about. It was all that I could talk about.
So, I did the Hey-Lord-I’m-in-trouble-again-Please-help me routine.
And nothing happened.
Next, I tried the Lord-it’s-getting-worse-I-need-You prayer.
Silence.
Things were really critical (in my estimation), and it didn’t look like they were even thinking of getting better.
So, I prayed the Lord-I’m-holding-on-to-Deuteronomy-31:8-where-You-said-You’d-never-leave-me-WHERE-ARE-YOU!! prayer. (I thought praying scripture back to God might help.)
I was reading along in my Bible and came to Psalm 66: 17.
“For I cried to Him for help, with praises ready on my tongue” (Ps. 66: 17 LB).
And I thought, “hold the phones.” I’ve not cried to God with praises on my tongue. In fact, I haven’t even really cried about Him. It’s been “I’m in trouble again,” and “Have You left me?”
It’s been me! me! me! I had put the Lord of creation in the box of my design that Natalie Grant sings about.
I was looking down for God instead of remembering He looks down for me. I was believing the resistance was coming from God while, all the time, I was putting up barriers between us.
“He would not have listened if I had not confessed my sins” (Ps. 66: 18 LB).
So, I changed my prayer to a You-can-handle-this-problem-I-can’t prayer. Then I added Thank-You-for-using-these-trials-as-punishment-for-my-sins-Please-forgive-me. I finished with a teach-me-what-I-need-to-know section.
I focused on You-have-a-plan-for-my-life. I kept telling God — and myself — You-are-in-control-not-me.
I also added a continual dose of Satan-I-will-not-deny-my-God. I would not let Satan destroy my relationship with my God.
I started the prayer with “Dear Lord” and kept Him my major theme throughout it. That is what He was waiting for.
God was waiting for me to acknowledge that He is the Supreme Being. He was waiting for me to admit that, by myself, I was not even in the same league as Him. He was waiting for me to say, “Lord, You have the helm.”
“But He listened! He heard my prayer! He paid attention to it!” (Ps. 66: 19 LB).
Now I look back and see that I had these trials because God wanted to take me to a higher mountain. Yes, because of these trials, I became a stronger Christian. I was only hurting myself with my attitude. All I needed to do was admit I was wrong, ask forgiveness and change my ways. He was refining me for future kingdom service.
My attitude was keeping God from helping me. What’s keeping Him from helping you?
Dear Lord. We are so self-centered. We constantly think only about ourselves. All we see is this world. All we think about is ourselves. Forgive us when our prayers are filled with “I, I, I” instead of “You, You, You.” Keep bringing us back to the point where when we ask for help in our trials, we should have praises ready on our tongues. Lord, thank You for being so patient with us. Amen.
What do you think? The right attitude can help us as we navigate trials. What strategies do you use to help keep you acknowledging that God is control? Leave me a comment below or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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