That's The Worst
“16 But I call to God, and the LORD will save me. 17 Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.”
“22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”
Many of you may be aware of a popular Christian comedian by the name of Tim Hawkins. One of my favorite bits, which I had the privilege of re-watching at the elder retreat recently, because of a conversation piece, is from a set on how we overuse words and phrases and do not actually use them within a genuine context. In this particular video, he pokes fun at the phrase, “That’s the worst.” If you have some time later and you need a good laugh, I recommend that you check it out. Anyway, in the video, he addresses how we use terms like this for silly things, and he uses the example of him and his wife taking their daughter to the mall to go shopping. After they arrive at the mall, his daughter begins to complain because her friends are not there yet and so she says that she cannot go shopping. At that point, his wife turns to her and says, “I know, Honey, that’s the worst.” Tim then proceeds to poke fun at that phrase by using examples of people who had been stranded in the ocean while being circled by sharks, or of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days, who have probably been in some of the worst situations. As funny as this is to watch, there is some truth to it, in that we, especially as Americans, don’t really know what it is to be in the “worst situation.” Granted, I do not want to discredit anyone who has truly experienced the worst situations in life, but we tend to take for granted things that we may perceive as “the worst” and often light-heartedly portray many of life's situations as “the worst.”
When one reads through the book of Psalms, we see that they were written by at least 7 various authors. But using David as an example, he writes in some of the Psalms about literally “the worst” days of his life. These are the Psalms that outline his despair and frustration over being heavily pursued and persecuted by his enemies and about him having the perception of no hope or end in sight. Many, if not most of us, will never know this level of “that’s the worst” situations in our lives. Not only was David on the run from his enemies, but he had limited resources, limited support, and had to live off the land while braving the elements and terrain. Judging by his cries of despair, the physical side of it seemed to be the least of his worries. He was distraught by the idea of broken relationships, the wicked actions of evil people, motives, intentions, and the current state and future of his people and their kingdom. David was in despair because of what he experienced through the wickedness of the human heart.
But, in most every instance of these bleak, depressing, and disheartening cries from the psalmist, we see him return to the only hope he had…God. In verses 16 and 17 of Psalm 55, David says, “As for me, I shall call upon God, and the LORD will save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, and He will hear my voice." (NASB). David reminds us that when things seem “the worst”, (in reality, not when your friends don’t show up for shopping), the Lord is always there to hear our cry. David says that God will truly hear our complaints and murmurs. That’s the sign of a God who cares, a God who loves, a God who recognizes what we are going through and is always there for us in every situation, both large and small.
Further down in Psalm 55, in verse 22, David says, “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." (NASB). Here, the word, "burden", means a "lot”, or “that which is given.” Our situations in life are no accident. Our struggles are meant to drive us to total dependency on God. We may not see the benefit now, but further down the road, our testimony may have a profound impact on another person. What we endure and experience now may be used by God to help provide strength and encouragement for another person in the future. The word, "sustain", means to “support,” “maintain,” “nourish,” or “uphold.” That’s the equivalent of saying, “God’s got this.” He is our strength (Psalm 46:1, 81:1), our refuge (Psalm 46:1, 144:2), our hiding place (Psalm 32:7, 119:114), our fortress (Psalm 18:2, 31:3, 71:3, 91:2, 144:2), our strong tower (Proverbs 18:10), and so on.
When life throws us “the worst”, we have the almighty, sovereign God of the universe to whom we can cry out, and He enables us to put our faith and trust in Him. He will sustain us. Even if things don’t go well, He will be our strength if we press into Him. I think of the account in the book of Acts when Stephen was stoned. In Acts 7:59-60, Stephen cried out to the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit and he asked the Lord to forgive his enemies. In “the worst” moment of Stephen's life, which ended his life, he found his strength and hope in God while being put to death. I pray that we too, including myself, can always have this mindset of pressing into God and having faith that His plan is perfect no matter how difficult our lot in life seems to be. May we always be looking for “the best” in “the worst” of life and use that godly perception to inspire others who may one day experience situations similar to our own experiences.
Prayer
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 ESV
God of All Comfort
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
