A situation recreated in our lives
“I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.” (Psalms 143:5)
Why do a similar situation reappear in our lives? It seems like we have encountered the similar situation before, but why are we dealing with such the similar situation now and again? Of course, if it's a difficult and painful situation, we'll be mindless and we wouldn't think we've encountered the similar situation before at that moment. However, if we wake up a little and think about the situation objectively and quietly, we may think that we were in the similar situation in the past. So how should we think of this similar situation? Should we say it was just a coincidence? It is by no means coincidence. It can't be coincidence. There can never be coincidence in God. In the sovereign providence of God, there is a clear purpose of recreating the similar situation in our lives. What is its purpose?
First, God's purpose of recreating the similar situation in our lives is to make us to meditate and long for the God's work of salvation in the past.
In Psalms 143:5, David remembered his old days and meditated on the “all” the works of the Lord in a dire situation where Absalom's persecution threatened his life. At that time, David must have thought of God's saving grace, delivered from King Saul's persecution before becoming king, the background of Psalms 142. One of the reasons I think this is because the two events are similar. Both in Psalms 142, when David was persecuted by King Saul, and in Psalms 143, when he was persecuted by Absalom after he became king and sinned, David’s spirit grew faint within him (142:3; 143:4). Why were these similar situations recreated in David's life? The reason is because God made David to remember (meditate) the work of salvation that God delivered him when he was persecuted by King Saul, so that he could long for the grace of God's salvation even in the persecution of Absalom, the background of Psalms 143. So David said, “I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land” (v. 6). He prayed for God to answer his prayers quickly in the urgent situation (v. 7).
Second and last, God's purpose in recreating the similar situation in our lives is to reveal our sins, so that we can repent and do the will of the Lord again.
Although David was in the similar situation in both Psalms 143 and Psalms 142, there was a difference. And the difference was that when David was being persecuted by King Saul, it wasn’t because he committed a sin (Ps. 142). Rather, it was because King Saul was jealous of David because the women cheered David more than King Saul after David defeated Goliath in the name of God. On the other hand, in Psalms 143, David was persecuted by his son Absalom for the sin of deliberately killing Bathsheba's husband, the faithful soldier Uriah, in an attempt to cover up the sin of adultery with Bathsheba. That was why David wanted to do the will of the Lord by being taught by His word in Psalms 143:8, 10. When I saw David turning from his sins and now wanting to do the will of the Lord, I remembered the story of Peter in John 21:9 and below. According to the story, when Jesus appeared to His disciples at the sea of Tiberias after his resurrection from the dead, Jesus asked Peter three times, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me (more than these people)?' (vv. 15, 16, 17). At that time, the situation was very similar to when Peter denied Jesus three times. How do we know the similarity when Peter denied Jesus three times, or when resurrected Jesus asked Peter three times, ‘Do you love me?’? We know it by “a fire” in both situations. Do you remember? When Peter denied Jesus three times, this is what the author Luke said in Luke 22:55 – “After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.” I am sure Peter remembered his sin of denying Jesus three times when Jesus asked him ‘Do you love me?’ three times in front of “a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread” (Jn. 21:9). In the end, Jesus wanted to rescue Peter from his guilt by reproducing the similar situation in the past. Also Jesus wanted to give him the mission to fulfill. What a wonderful love and providence of God?
As we live, when a similar situation is recreated in our lives, let us take a moment to quietly think before God. And if the Holy Spirit reminds us that there was the similar situation in the past, let us remember and meditate on the work of God's salvation in the similar circumstance in our past. In the midst of such circumstance, let's look to the God of salvation and pray to Him. As we remember and meditate the grace of God’s salvation in the past, let’s have the assurance of salvation by the indwelling Holy Spirit and boldly go to the God of salvation and pray to Him. And while we remember and meditate, if we remember the unrepentant sins revealed by the Holy Spirit, let’s confess and repent our sins to the holy God, who is rich in mercy, grace and love as we rely on the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ. Let us put all our will on the cross and devote ourselves in doing the will of the Lord. Then, through the situations that the Lord recreates in our lives, He will accomplish His will and will be glorified alone.
Wanting to celebrate God’s work of salvation in a present situation by remembering His work of salvation in the past,
James Kim
(Rather than being led by the situation that hurts my heart, wanting to know the will of God who is in control of that situation)