We can do it!

When you are happy, it is easy to sing praises to God. But, what about those times when you ask yourself if God is still there? When everything is going wrong – whether it be your health, your job or in your private life? David experienced this, but nevertheless he praised God in the same breath as he opened his heart to God and poured out his frustrations before His feet.

Yes, David tells God exactly how he feels: he is depressed, exhausted, at an end, he can't any more. But, he still finds the strength to ask God, if He has forgotten him. And David is honest. He brings his bitterness to the fore, accuses God – and still remains full of trust and exaltation towards God.

David knows that only God can help him and challenges God with his cry for help and a response. “God help me, because no-one else can and otherwise I am finished!”

An interesting thing here is that David doesn't lose the plot and also doesn't tell God how He should fix everything – I find myself, in situations like these, explaining in detail to God how I would like Him to help me...

David asks God to give him courage and joy to help him through the deep pit into which he has fallen and then David does something unbelievable and most surprising: he trusts God so much that he starts praising Him! David reminds himself how God has lead him in the past and therefore He praises God – not because that is what one does, but because God stands above these things. David does not remain in the pit, he allows God to change his heart, allows himself to be filled with courage and new found strength.

To praise God so honestly and so openly as depicted in Psalm 13, is something I wish I could do – and I still need to work on this; but, I know: with God's help I will accomplish it! And every one of us needs to pray daily to accomplish it.

Yes, we can do it!

Joseph Gehr