Trusting God in the Dark

Psalm 106

To trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust Him in the dark—that’s faith.

Spurgeon

Psalm 106 is another remembrance Psalm that walks through the Israelites’ history. The composer of Psalm 106 sits in exile waiting on the Lord’s deliverance. What we will see in the recounting of their history is that when God delivers the Israelites, then they believe in Him. But when things are hard, when they are thirsting in the wilderness, or craving more than manna to eat, when they grow impatient waiting for the Lord, their response is not one of faith. They trust God in the light but fall away in the dark. As the writer of Hebrews testifies, “the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard” (Hebrews 4:2 NASBS, emphasis mine). They lacked the faith that would trust God in the dark.

These things are written as an example for us and they are written for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10:11). Psalm 106 serves as a warning. We see a vivid example of those who claim to follow the Lord, and yet the testing of their faith proves their idolatrous heart. They forget God’s works and don’t wait for His counsel (106:13). They put God to the test, doubting His Word (106:14). They exchange the glory of God for an image of an ox (106:20). They despise the pleasant land and have no faith in His promise (106:24). They murmur and do not obey (106:25). They are rebellious (106:43).

But Scripture gives us many other examples for us to imitate. Yes, we heed the warning of those who have fallen away from the faith, but we follow those who by faith lived courageously for the Lord. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭4‬). We can look to Hebrews 11 and the stories of the men and women who lived by faith to give us models of a living faith. Psalm 106 even gives examples of men, Moses and Phinehas, who lived by faith in the midst of an evil and unbelieving generation.

The dark days of distress reveal the reality of our faith, in its substance and quality. In our trials, will we seek God’s wisdom and remind ourselves of His faithfulness? Will we believe the truth of His Word and trust His promises to us? Will we treasure Christ above comfort, prosperity, revenge, health, or the vision we had for our lives? Will we look to the hope of heaven? Will we obey, live contentedly, and submit to God’s perfect ordering of our lives? Even in the dark valleys?

We, in our flesh, are weak. In our distress we would be like faithless Israel. In our hardships, without the hope of Christ and the promises of His Word, we would murmur and put God to the test. But we must get our eyes off of the difficult times and put our eyes on Jesus (Skepple). “Let your personal weakness, O Christian, be an argument to make you pray earnestly to your God for help” (Spurgeon). Do you feel insufficient to trust the Lord in the dark? Does your faith feel weak? Cry out to Him. He “is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy” (Jude 1:24 NASB).

Psalm 106 ends book four of the Psalms. Book four has an emphasis on “living by faith that God reigns even when all the evidence of life appears to contradict that truth” (Futato). Awaiting God’s deliverance for them from exile, the psalmist reminds the people that God, despite the unfaithfulness of His people, redeems them again and again. On the basis of that, he cries out, “Save us, O Lord our God” (Psalm‬ ‭106‬:‭47‬). So while they wait in exile, God still reigns, and they cry out in faith for rescue. So we too, awaiting the deliverance from the dark valley, look to our Savior and believe that the truth still stands. The Lord reigns. And we live by faith (Futato).

Let’s pray through Psalm 106 to trust God in the dark times.

Give Thanks

106: 1-3 Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all his praise? Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!

Lord, we pray:

▫️Praise would continually be on our lips. We would learn the blessedness of praising You during the trials of life.

▫️We thank You that Your steadfast love endures forever. In love You redeemed us by the blood of Christ and in love You have brought us to this trial, and in love You will be with us and bring us through it.

▫️Even as we suffer, face injustice, experience grief, or ______, help us to continually observe justice and do righteousness. Help us to not dishonor You in our suffering.

Remember me

106:4-5 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people; help me when you save them, that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance.

Lord, we pray:

▫️You would remember us in our suffering and You would act on our behalf. Show us Your favor, even in _______. If it be Your will, we request that You ________ in our situation.

▫️We would rejoice in the gladness of others and not be envious of their times of prosperity. We would rejoice with those who rejoice, even while we have times of weeping (Romans 12:15).

▫️We would glory in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope. And that hope will not disappoint us because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:4-5).

▫️Help us, O Lord, in these dark days. Visit us with Your sweet presence and settle our hearts and minds with Your peace.

He led them through the deep

106:6-12 Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the deep as through a desert. So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy. And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. Then they believed his words; they sang his praise.

Lord, we pray:

▫️In spite of our sin, in spite of our own failings which have brought us to the place we are, be merciful and rescue us. Save us for Your name’s sake.

▫️In these difficult days, it can be so easy for us to not consider Your wondrous works, and to not remember the abundance of Your steadfast love toward us. Help us to reject that waywardness and to keep our eyes on Christ and all He has accomplished for us at the cross in order to redeem us and redeem our suffering.

▫️Lead us through the deep valley, save us from the hand of our foe, redeem us from the power of our enemy. Help us to learn to meet setbacks, disappointments, and afflictions with trust, looking to Jesus.

▫️ Have compassion on us; Tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You cast all our sins into the depths of sea (Micah 7:19).

They put God to the test

106:13-15 But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert; he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.

Lord, we pray:

▫️In our suffering we would not forget Your works or ignore You and Your Word.

▫️We would seek Your wisdom and Your counsel concerning our hardships. Help us to wait patiently for You and not grow impatient, angry, or cynical. We do not want to put You to the test with our unbelief.

▫️We have desires and hopes for the resolution of our trial. Help us to submit those to You and trust You to bring about what is right and good, even when it is far different than we imagined.

A mediator

106:19-23 They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

Lord, we pray:

▫️We would not exchange the glory of God for our own idols. The sufferings that we are experiencing would reveal the rival gods we may have and we would forsake those and return to God our Savior with a whole heart.

▫️Thank you, Lord, that we have Christ as our Advocate, interceding on our behalf before Your throne. Thank you that He is a merciful and faithful High Priest, who understands our suffering and our weakness.

▫️When we feel overwhelmed by our present suffering, bring to our minds Your wondrous works and awesome deeds from Your Word and from our lives so that we can again have confidence in Your mighty working power.

Have faith

106:24-27 Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise. They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the Lord. Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness, and would make their offspring fall among the nations, scattering them among the lands.

Lord, we pray:

▫️We would have faith in Your many exceeding and great promises. The promises we would hold on to today would be _____. We feel our weakness, so we pray earnestly to You to help us believe You.

▫️Remove murmuring and discontentment from our hearts. Fill our souls with a satisfaction in You and Your wisdom that far outweighs the difficulty of our circumstances.

▫️In our affliction, give us determination to obey Your voice and yield ourselves to the Spirit instead of living according to the flesh.

Counted to him as righteousness

106:28-33 Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead; they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them. Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stayed. And that was counted to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever. They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account, for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips.

Lord, we pray:

▫️We would come to You with our questions and confusion, not in anger and rage provoking You, but in humble reverence seeking Your hope and help.

▫️Lord, we ask that You would intervene in our situation! Rise up and come to our aid.

▫️Guard us from the danger to be bitter about this hardship. Out of the abundance of our heart our mouth speaks. Help us to guard our hearts and our lips that we would not speak rashly and dishonor You.

▫️Thank you for the hope of the gospel. You made Him who knew no sin, to become sin on our behalf, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our past, present, and future are completely redeemed in Christ.

The snare of idols

106:34-36 They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them.

Lord, we pray:

▫️The relieving of our suffering or the hoped for outcome would not become an idol to us. We would commit our way to You, trust You, and You would give us Your desires and fulfill Your purposes in us and in our suffering.

▫️We would not act as the world does in times of trouble. We would not learn to view You or our hardships through the lens of our culture. Your Word would shape how we think about suffering and how we live in suffering.

He looked upon their distress

106:43-46 Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity. Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he heard their cry. For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love. He caused them to be pitied by all those who held them captive.

Lord, we pray:

▫️As You have delivered us many times in our lives, You would deliver us again. Deliver us now from ______.

▫️Hear our cry from this dark trial, look upon our distress and the anguish of our soul, and give us relief from our sorrow and suffering.

▫️If others are the cause of our distress, cause them to have pity on us and act compassionately toward us. You govern the hearts and minds of all people. Turn our enemies toward us in mercy.

Save us, O Lord our God

106:47-48 Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord!

‭‭Lord, we pray:

▫️We rejoice that You are our God. So personal, tender, compassionate, and kind. We are Your sheep, and You care for each individual concern and worry. You know intimately each one of us and all our worries. Save us now because of Your tender mercy and steadfast love that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise.

▫️We would say to our souls today: “Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14 NASBS).

May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

‭‭Photo credit to karsten_wuerth.

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