Feeling better today, but that lightheadedness and just overall meh still remains.
I decided to finally head out and visit a doctor. Got a recommendation from a mentor. Got asked the usual questions during registration. Among other things they took my blood pressure, which was normal. So it isn’t that.
Had my chat with the doctor, actually went as far as to tell her about what I fear this is, to which she emphasized a further need for a blood test… which I’m going back to, this Monday morning. Until then, she gave me pills for the head, vitamins, and something in case the dizziness and fever persists.
So that’s where we stand so far. Well, on top of the usual – God is good, God is faithful, God is true, He is with me here and now; I will lay down and sleep, knowing that He keeps me in perfect peace and safety; And, just throwing it in there, I am assured that He will restore what I have lost, 7 times over.
(Which makes me think… With all I’ve been blessed with during the 2010’s, has that already been 7 times what I lost? Aaaaaand is our God so gracious to keep restoring what we lose? Questions to meditate over.)
Thank You, Father, for the reading of Your Word.
Psalm 3
The LORD Helps His Troubled People
A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.
Context – David sinned against God by way of taking Bath-Sheba from her husband, Uriah. One of the consequences God mentioned was that there would be trouble within his family… and trouble came in the form of Absalom, a son of David.
Amnon, another one of David’s sons, dishonored Absalom’s sister. Absalom arranged for the murder of Amnon. David eventually forgave Absalom, but Absalom had other plans – He declared himself King in Hebron, and decided to go against his own father, and to take Jerusalem.
David fled from Absalom, and I suppose that’s when he wrote this Psalm.
1 LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.
2 Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for him in God.”
Selah
Selah, indeed. Look at David’s choice of words. Of all the things the ‘many’ say against him, he chooses to write how they say, ‘There is no help for him in God.‘
No, not ‘We have him on the run, and we shall surely overtake him‘, not ‘Favor is now on our side‘; Not ‘We will now avenge our honor‘, ‘Vengeance is now ours‘, not even ‘We are now exacting revenge as God wills it‘ or ‘This is judgment from the Most High‘; Because surely, the scandal of his previous sin was clearly known by this time.
Side note: I’m currently hopped up on food after a fast of a minimum of 18 hours, food supplements, meds, and caffeine. Feeling better, sure.
At this time I’m reminded of Cain murdering Abel. I’m reminded of how the Lord responded, and how He rebuked Cain – He told him, ‘…you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.‘ (Genesis 4:11-12)
Cain and David were presented with the dire consequences of their actions.
David responds by lamenting of how, Absalom, his son, has joined the ranks of the people who trouble him, and of all the things they say, he specifies, ‘There is no help for him in God.‘
Cain reacts, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” (Genesis 4:13-14)
I’m not the only one with a whole bunch of things happening in his life right now. Having been blessed with the ministry role I’ve been given, I’m also treated to the lamentations of others, regarding what’s happening to them.
We’re all suffering from the consequences of our own actions, and we aren’t necessarily reacting all the same.
Cain was concerned about his own well-being. David was concerned about what his enemies were thinking.
We more or less react the same way – thinking about saving our own skin, or thinking about what others are saying; Or, sure, we may be thinking about the well-being of others who may be impacted, or how what we did hurts our finances, our belongings, etc.
But… well, praise the Lord, for His guidance upon David… because we could react with impulse or respond with some intention, but we would do well to eventually pause. To Selah.
Selah, indeed.
You know, on top of all the physical struggles I’ve had as of late, I’ve been confronted by both my Mom and my brother, who rebuked me as follows in the past days: ‘You have such a chip on your shoulder‘, and ‘You’re thinking too much, Jabes.‘
My point in all of this so far is that I – WE shouldn’t be too fixated on making the right reaction, or the proper response to each and every thing that’s happening in us and through us. No, to supplement the point made by the fellow who said that the only thing we have control over in this world is how we react or respond – For us in the body of Christ, we shouldn’t be surprised if we ultimately find that our best response is to Selah. To pause. To breathe, taking in Christ and His finished work.
Because, see, David jumped into this composition with his wailing… but after his first Selah, his focus was back to the Lord. Read:
3 But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
4 I cried to the LORD with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill.
Selah
Breathe. Move your focus. Be redirected. See that the LORD is good and great, for us and not against us, with us, never leaving nor forsaking us, no matter what happens to us and around us.
Take Christ in, and do not be surprised if you are brought to Selah again – this time, in awe.
5 I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me all around.
7 Arise, O LORD; Save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8 Salvation belongs to the LORD. Your blessing is upon Your people.
Selah
Looks like it really is all about the Selah today for me. With all that happened today, with all that’s happening tomorrow, with all we’re going through….
To be?? …or NOT to be?
**sigh**… that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to SUFFER the SLINGS and ARROWS of outrageous fortune…
Or to take ARMS against a sea of troubles, and by opposing END them?!
To die—to sleep, No more!
and by a sleep to say we END the HEARTACHE and the THOUSAND natural shocks that flesh is heir to… **sniff** ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d!
To die, to sleep!
To SLEEP, perchance to DREAM—ay, there’s the rub!
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
David, Hamlet, and Calvin’s living dinner were all calibrated.
With all that happened today, with all that’s happening tomorrow, with all we’re going through….
Selah.
God bless you.
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