Being Built Up

O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah”

(Psalm 7:3–5, ESV)

Old brick walls are fascinating to me. There is always so much history in them … so much they have seen, so much they have gone through. They are rarely made to be beautiful, but I find a beauty in their simplicity and pragmatism. I often can relate to them … with the bricks of my life being uneven and in need of repair, with my mortar oozing out in some places and yet lacking in others, with attempts made to cover over my blemishes and yet unable to hide them.

In reading Psalm 7, I see David praying for the Lord to deliver him / to bring victory. And, yet, he pauses in these verses, allowing God to reveal his true character. Does David truly deserve the deliverance he asks for? I often pray for God’s help and strength but fail to align my character with His.

Many of us are battling in life right now. We are facing anxiety, hurt, grief, loss, trauma, judgment … we want God to deliver us, but maybe He is at work in us and in our circumstances. Let us not try to merely get out of these struggles but to trust and follow God through them. He may be doing something big! He may be preparing us for something significant!