Seek Jesus When You Find Yourself In Turmoil!

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.’ (Psalm 55:22)

Sometimes there is great turmoil, in various shapes and sizes, personal and national.  Some of us are going through a storm in our life, or having exited a storm, or are about to enter a storm.  In the United States, we see turmoil over those who own Tesla automobiles, as there are those who are against Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his assistance in finding and eliminating fraud, waste and abuse through the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’, or DOGE. There are those who support Musk and the operations of DOGE. Then, there are those who simply own a Tesla for its all-electric capabilities and have taken no sides for or against Musk who seem to be stuck in the middle.

This controversy has been thrust to a national level, and is affecting the nation as a whole negatively.  Another nation that appears to be entering a storm is Canada, as it is struggling on how to work with the United States as tariffs are about to be implemented against it, and in turn is having internal conflict with some of its largest provinces, such as Alberta, on its importation of oil and gas resources.  This national storm Canada is facing could be the prelude to a fracturing of the unity of its provinces should it carry out without resolution of concerns Alberta as several other provinces have with the current Canadian national government.

Whether the storm only affects us individually, or as a family, or as a nation; we who are Christian need to remember God is in control, and tells us to place these storms upon Him, for His guidance through the storms, and placing us on His path after their resolution.  We should seek Jesus within His sanctuary when we’re in a storm (Psalm 63:1-3); and look to Jesus for His strength in the running of our daily lives (Hebrews 12:1-3).  We cannot stand against storms in our own strength, but we must rely upon His strength to get us through.

A great Biblical example in getting through storms is a person who had a lot of storms to get through is David.  Psalm 55 is a Davidic Psalm (one written by David) as a ‘maskil’ or limerick that could be sung or spoken like a chant (today that would be called ‘rap’).  It is a lamenting psalm, pleading for the Lord for relief.  In this Psalm, David is pleading for relief from either a friend or close family member who has turned against him. 

Two possibilities of David writing this Psalm exists.  The first is the friend, King Saul, with David’s future yet ‘to be determined’.  King Saul started his relationship with David on good terms; David slain Goliath, then later David came to be Saul’s servant and minstrel, playing Saul calming music.  However, as David became known as a great warrior, the people clamored more for David than Saul, and Saul’s jealousy become evident.  Later, Saul decided to kill David, and this Psalm was possibly written to speak of a time when David was on the run, evading Saul and certain death.

A second possibility is the close family member, namely David’s son Ammon, who raped his younger half-sister and David’s daughter Tamar, causing an interfamily feud between Ammon and Tamar’s full-sibling and another of David’s sons, Absalom.  Eventually, two years after the rape occurred, Absalom killed Ammon, then exiled himself to Geshur before attempting to overthrow his father and ending up killed for his actions.  This turmoil devastated David and his household, and started a feud between the tribes, eventually dividing them into two kingdoms (after David’s passing), between Judah and Benjamin as the Southern Kingdom, and the other ten tribes of Israel as the Northern Kingdom.

These storms in David’s life were major, and he had several others that were equally devastating to him and the Kingdom of Israel.  These storms were often of his own doing, failing to obey God (his failure to act like a king and stay home, eventually committing adultery with Bathsheba and killing her husband Uriah); some were not his fault at all and were caused by something or someone else (such as Saul’s jealousy of David, or his son Ammon’s horrendous act against Tamar).  It could have been easy for David to begin questioning his Faith in God, but instead David, once realizing his mistakes, would turn and seek God’s forgiveness and correction, and resolution of these storms.    

David knew the one constant is God’s Love for His children; those who are committed to Him.  In verse 16, David goes from lamenting his woes to praising God for His unwavering promises, ‘As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me.’  Everything is ‘to be determined’ except for God. David praises God for the rest of Psalm 55, and offers the short verse of encouragement in verse 22.  Good and bad will happen, but with God we are immovable and unstoppable.  Any problem can be solved with God firmly in the equation!

We may not know all that will happen, but we can always rely on this one fact: as a Christian we have our Lord our God in our corner, who will support us and defend us – this we know is already determined!