God’s Compass
I THOUGHT I WAS BETTER when I joined a DivorceCare group a few weeks ago; it’s been two years since I left my destructive marriage. However, I was still homeless; I don’t mean a building. Instead, I’ve learned that healthy connections with others are our safe home base. Dr. s Cloud and Townsend say it’s better to get into a group of people who have been through or are going through the same experiences as you for your growth, How People Grow 2001.
For two years, I lived like a wanderer like David when he hid from Saul because Saul wanted to kill him; the devil prowls about looking for someone to destroy and, like a sheep who wandered away from the fold, is easy prey for the wolves to devour, I was lost. However, the Lord never left David alone; God was with him and sent others to help him. My heart was filled with grief, and the anguish within was too heavy a burden to carry alone; I fell apart and cried amongst strangers, but they weren’t strangers. They were the family I needed, and they interceded in prayer for me; they empathized with me because they’ve been where I was. I felt like the afflicted person in Psalms 102 who grew weak and poured my heart out to God and His people. I felt safe to share my heart; I knew God would not be offended by the anguish of my heart. Some cried with me and prayed for me in my distress. Others graciously pointed out my sin of pride, which I did not see at the moment, but eventually saw and repented; I couldn’t allow others to help me. I feared letting go of self-sufficiency. God is merciful and compassionate; He longs for us to come. Sometimes we need others to bring us to God because fear has paralyzed us, like the four men who carried the paralyzed man on the roof, tore a hole through the ceiling, and lowered him on his mat to the feet of Jesus. God uses others as a compass to redirect our perspective to lead us back on His path. I also need your prayers; we can’t do life apart from God and others.
I am thankful to the Holy Spirit for His guidance in prayer, and although the Psalms may not seem to fit your needs, He may be guiding you to intercede on behalf of others when they cannot pray for themselves. It’s not that they don’t know how to pray or that you are more spiritual than they; we are all sinners, and remember, when the enemy has worn you down, the Holy Spirit calls our brothers and sisters in Christ to intercede on our behalf. Sometimes I can’t pray, but I am so grateful for the Body of Christ, who intervenes and cries out to God on my behalf. Only God knows how we should pray, and I thank Him for the prayers in Psalms that help us and His blessed assurance through the Prayers of the Psalms that He hears. If the Holy Spirit gives a Psalm to pray, pray every word because He knows every need better than we do; that is why He says not to lean on our understanding. God wants to help us and fill our needs according to His riches and glory.
Psalm 102: Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. In my distress, I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones. I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake like a bird alone on a roof.
All day long, my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse. For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside. My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass. But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations. You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. Her stones are dear to your servants; her dust moves them to pity.
The nations will fear the name of the Lord; all the kings of the earth will revere your glory, for the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord: “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord. In the course of my life, he broke my strength; he cut short my days. So I said: “Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations. In the beginning you laid the earth’s foundations, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them, and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”
Psalms 102:1-28 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.102.1-28.NIV