"At Their Wits' End"

Have you ever been there? It is a Biblical phrase, you know. I took my Strong's Concordance down today and looked it up. I knew it was in Psalms but couldn't come up with the chapter and verse but right there in chapter 107:27, were these words: "They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and at their wits' end."  I smiled when I read the verse, actually I chuckled a bit on the inside. "Why?", you might ask, " doesn't seem like a humorous verse to me." It will if you imagine the picture I am about to paint from an episode that happened to me on Sunday morning.

I have, by the grace of God, never tasted alcohol and been drunk but I think I know a little how it feels since Sunday morning. Around 6:15, my usual arising time, I got out of bed with the intention of taking a shower, cooking breakfast, and preparing myself for worship down at the church house but when my feet hit the floor, someone turned the merry-go-round on at a speed of about 100 mph and all I could do was grasp for and hang onto one of the horses that I since have named Bed Post. It took about two minutes and some kind guy who stands at the bottom of the ride (remember him when you were a kid?), cut off the ride and I was so glad. I am not sure but I don't think I have ever been on a ride quite like it. Thankfully, after two days of holding onto walls and having some blood work done, I am feeling much better. Thank you for your prayers.  I must confess, though, that the thought of this being a "new" symptom, (maybe neurological :( )of a very "old and wearisome" disease, made me feel for a couple of days that I was at my wits' end. Reading and meditating in Psalm 107 this morning, I concluded that it really isn't a terrible place to be. I can be at my wits' end but not be at my faith's end and I am not. The word for wits, Strong's informs me, is wisdom or skillful. My wisdom fails me and I wonder at times just where I am supposed to turn and ultimately, I always know the answer- vs 6,13,19,and 28. "Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses."

I recently read this quote from an unknown source. "The best exercise for keeping stress from becoming distress is kneeling often." John MacArthur notes from this Psalm four things- man's predicament, man's petition, God's pardon, and man's praise. And if  you would allow me, could I continue with the alliteration with these words? They were a people who were in wanderings, in want (lack), in weariness, and in wonderings. I won't point out the verses but you will see them as you read the chapter and I encourage you to do so. In vs 23-27, I relate as one who sees a great and mighty God working in ways too far above "searching out."  Matthew Henry said "Let those that would learn to pray go to sea." I love to watch the ocean, if for no other reason than to see and feel the magnificence of it and thus realizing its Maker far surpasses the creation. One song had the line-"I hope you still feel small beside the ocean." Another comes to mind as the singer sings these lyrics-"How small I am, how great YOU are!"  Jeff directed me to Psalm 88 this week (I recommend his blog concerning this subject), and the lament begins and ends this Psalm. He says "the waves" just keep coming, Lord. In 107:25, we read these words :" For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof." Sometimes, dear one, it seems before we can catch our breath, another wave has knocked us down and we taste the salt water again, doesn't it?  But, in all their and our predicaments, we still believe in God's pardon and providence. The Psalm even begins with these words: "O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever." Four time in the 43 verses, we read these words "Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"

I praise Him today for He is good! He has been good to me all the days of my life. Goodness and mercy are following hard after me, so says the Shepherd, David. I believe God and believe His sovereign plan for me is best. I rejoice that on days that I am at my wits' end, that He never is! He has no dilemmas!!  My prayer for me and you, Christian brother and sister, is that in this school that He's placed us into, I would learn to respond with Job who said "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return: the LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." And that I also, with Job, could say with confidence in the One Who gave His life for me "But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."   "For He performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with Him."  "Job's resignation to God's sovereignty faltered at times in practice, but he returned to it repeatedly. It is the great lesson of the book. Trust sovereign God when you can't understand why things go badly in life."  - John MacArthur

I leave you with two verses from Ps. 107 that minister to my heart even now as I read and write this morning.  "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven."  What is my desired haven, I ask myself today? To be found at rest and quiet in my sovereign Savior's care and to know that one day we will be eternally in His presence, sorrow and sickness and sin left behind.  Thank You, Lord!

Looking up, Deborah

Hope this blog is understandable as I am coming off some anti-merry-go-round medicine. :)