In Times of Distress

When you're at your lowest point, feeling like you are defeated and distress is all around you, what do you do? Do you call out to Him? I must admit I have been guilty of not always doing so. Taking it to Him has in turn changed my thought process and often times calmed me down about the situation.

In day 2 of our Study, our context came from Psalm 120: "In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. Lord, deliver me from lying lips and a deceitful tongue. What will He give you, and what will He do to you, you deceitful tongue? A warrior's sharp arrows, with burning charcoal! What misery that I have stayed in Meshech, that I have lived among the tents of Kedar! I have lived too long with those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war."

This first Psalm of Ascent was a distress call, and as Beth puts it, "not a bad place to start a journey. Sometimes the best motivation we'll ever have for going someplace new is distress over someplace old." She went on to say that a relationship is what the Lord desires, and not just an emergency response. He wants close interaction with us. I have been guilty of not making a personal relationship priority, but yet expecting God to give and bless my life. But how can we expect blessings when we don't bless God?? (more on that later)

In the NIV, it describes how the psalmist had a "woe is me" moment at the beginning of his journey. ("Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!" Ps. 120:5 NIV) Meshech and Kedar are not common places to us, but as Beth said, they describe a place where the psalmist felt as an alien, far from where he wished to be. The people around him in these places contributed to his feeling this way. The scripture says they hated peace and had deceitful tongues. He wanted out from all that! Do YOU have relationships like that? See what Beth says about this:

"We may have relationships with some people who don't highly prioritize integrity and who fight dirty, but somewhere along the way we've got to quit getting in the mud with them. Part of making our ascent is learning to take the high road. The process can begin by voicing to God the pain you've suffered on the low road. If you need to, have a biblical "woe to me" moment concering some difficult environments you're enduring. Sometimes you just need to get some things off your chest and know someone has listened. We can address God with some virtually impossible circumstances and personalities that surround us as we're trying to keep our spiritual act together. Some of you may feel as if you have so much stacked against you in your daily environment that it's no wonder you've lost your joy -- your holy passion, your effectiveness."

Have you been in YOUR "Meshech" too long? Have you dwelled among YOUR "tents of Kedar" and are ready to move on? If so, let me tell you what she says about doing this: "As you and I seek a higher road to walk on planet Earth, the time may have come to unlearn some things and sign up for some new lessons. Avoiding conflict is not the solution, but learning how to deal with it is. If we're willing, God will teach us. He will use His word, His Spirit, and on a good day, He will use His people. Meshech and Kedar were good places to begin on a journey upward. We must be honest about where we are before we can journey effectively to where we want to be."