“Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law”
Nearly every good spy movie has a scene with a super villain chair-turn-around scene where the hero comes into a room expecting to find something other than their arch nemesis taunting them. The feeling of victory washed away by defeat is necessary for any quality action drama. But as good as that moment feels in the cinema, it something we understandably want to avoid in our spiritual lives.
Often we go to God in prayer most readily when we are in need, or feel lost. Unfortunately, the God we find is often not the God we expected. Much of the world has a view of God as either all-loving who could not possibly do anything but accept me into Heaven or conversely as a disinterested supernatural being with a giant magnifying glass.
In Psalm 119, the Psalmist understands the God we serve is not subject to our expectations but is a real person with a distinct message. Because of this, the 119th Psalm is full of statements like “your law,“ "your promise," “your statutes," “your rules," “your testimonies," “your commands," and “your precepts” which are all present in just verses 153-159. The Psalmist, above all else, was concerned with God and who he was, and then, only then, was he confident to approach him in need of deliverance.
Don't let the Judgement Day (Matthew 25:31-32) be the first time you discover who God truly is. Read your Bible every day. Pray without ceasing.
And let your light shine!