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Encouragement from Pastor Mofid

Encouragement from Pastor Mofid

Lent - Seek God and His help

From the time God chose him to be a king, King David suffered a lot for the rest of his life. David’s prayer in Psalm 31 shows us an example of his sufferings. No one can tell exactly the time of Ps. 3, but more likely it was during the time when David was running away from Saul (1Sam.23:19-29). 

In Psalm 31, David suffered physical and emotional distress. Some of the afflictions he described were that he was put to shame (v.1), was in a trap (v.4), was afflicted and his soul was in anguish (v.7), was in distress, his eyes grow weak with sorrow, and his soul and body with grief (v.9). Also, his bones grew weak (v.10), he was forgotten as though he was dead, he had become like broken pottery (v.12) and much more. This sounds familiar to what we are going through now, isn’t it?

David’s situation was much worse than our current situation. Yet, he trusted in the Lord and put all his life in God’s hand. He cried to God for help, even though he believed and had experienced the love, care, protection, power and mercy of God before. We see that David started Psalm 31 by believing that God was his refuge. Then in v.2, he asked God to be his refuge. We ought to do the same. Knowing that God can help is not enough. It is important to ask and experience His goodness, like David. 

God of David, Who heard his cry never changes. God is still the same. He heard David’s cry and saved him from his enemies. He also hears our cry, when we seek His help, and is able to save us. 

David in Psalm 31, was a type of Christ. The difference is that Christ suffered in our place. We see a similarity in v.5, for example, which is one of the most famous verses in the Bible, where David says, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” We know that our Lord prayed this verse to the Father on the cross, when He was in distress. 

As we experience an unusual and unprecedented time, we need to cry to God for help, just like David did in Ps.31. The Lent season, also, reminds us of Christ, Who “suffered when he was tempted. We need to lift our eyes on Him, because He is able to help us in our suffering as we are being tempted.” (Heb.2:14). I would like to invite you all to join me as we put ourselves in David’s place and pray Psalm 31 together. God who heard David’s cry is able to hear ours. Remember God is in charge!!! Dr. Mofid