Many of us long for an end to our troubles. We long for a stress-free life and feel we would be better Christians if only our circumstances were different. If only we had a better job, different neighbours, a nicer family, more money, a bigger house, then we would give God our full attention and devotion, we reason. Life is just too difficult!
David could have said exactly the same thing. Plucked out of obscurity as a shepherd boy by Samuel, he was anointed king of Israel. He saw great victories (the slaying of Goliath, for example), but the net result of this was Saul’s jealousy and a fugitive life on the run. He spent years in the wilderness dealing with one battle after another, and even when he became king, things were not easy. Some of the problems were his own fault; many were not.
Yet in the midst of trouble, David experienced the love of God: ‘Praise be to the Lord, for he showed me the wonders of his love when I was in a city under siege.’ (Ps 31:21)
We don’t have to wait for answers or find solutions to our dilemmas before we experience God’s love. God’s love, help, comfort and rescue are all found in a city under siege. When we feel alarmed and as though God is far away (‘I am cut off from Your sight!’ Ps 31:22), it is then that God hears and answers us and reveals Himself to us.
We can know God in the wilderness. We can find God in the place where we are besieged. He can provide rescue and refuge, a safe place of shelter, a fortress, even when we see no respite to our troubles. We don’t have to wait for better times.
Jesus quoted this psalm as he hung on the cross (‘Into Your hands I commit my spirit.’ Ps 31:5, Luke 23:46) If he could find consolation and hope in the agony of crucifixion, we can find consolation and hope as we wait for the Lord: ‘Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.’ (Ps 31:24)