6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. 7 LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
Think about a relationship that you had with a friend or family member? It was a great relationship. They were there for you, and the company they provided always seemed to uplift you in moments when everything was falling apart around you. You claimed this person to be your best friend, and the type relationship you two had confirmed the validity of that title. Everyone knew that they had your back and you had theirs. If you know anything about relationships then you know that problems do occur. It may not be your fault, but problems do occur. Someone in the relationship may not have full understanding of the situation, but problems do occur. An outside source may be trying to cause conflict in you and the other person’s relationship, but problems do occur. Even in our relationship with God, problems do occur. But we can rest assure when problems occur in our relationship with God; it’s never God’s fault.
Sometimes these problems can cause one person to step away from the relationship. When one steps away from the relationship, they’re saying, “I’m fed up.” Often times people remove themselves in order to teach the other person a lesson. Whatever the reason is, someone will be hurt or troubled because of the change in the relationship. When that person who kept you company is gone, it hurts. When the one who you were so use of being around is no longer there, you become troubled. When you can’t see the smiles that once brought you laughter and joy, you feel distressed. If these pains can be felt from the result of someone removing him or herself out of a human relationship, then imagine how one must feel when God hides his face.
In our selected scriptures, we find David in a situation and condition like the ones we just described. You know David, the little sheppard boy Samuel anointed ask King of Israel at an early age. David, the one who took his sling and slew the giant named Goliath. David; Jonathan’s best friend. David; who slept with Bathsheba, and had her husband Uriah killed. Although David had a life of ups and downs, he still was called a man after God’s own heart. This wasn’t because David was so righteous or perfect, but David always sought the Lord no matter what mess he found himself in. No matter how good or bad things were going in his life, David had a seeking heart for God. David always had a repentant heart and wanted to always be pleasing to God. This is even evident in the passages were looking at today. David finds himself in a situation where God has hidden his face from him. What a situation to be in; when the creator of the universe hides his face. When the world is already dark and filled with sin, but God hides his face. When he is all you have to depend on, but God’s face is hidden. Someone may ask, “Why would a loving God do such a thing?” Before a question like that even part someone’s lips, self-examination should take place. I guarantee you that if God hides his face from you, there will be no error on his part for doing so.
What led God to hide his face from David? Our answer can be found in verse 6 when David said, “And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.” What is this? Can David being showing signs of too much pride? Does David really think he’s immune to downfalls? David just finished praising God, and it seemed as though David knew that God was his provider and not he himself. Listen to David’s praise to God right before he made his boastful statement, “1 I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. David not only praised God, but he highly praised God that his enemies didn’t overtake him. 2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. Not only did God hear his cry, but he healed him and David praised him for that. 3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Not only did God save him from the grave by sparing his life, but also from the pit to save his soul and David was doubly thankful for that. 4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. He encouraged others to worship God when his holiness is thought of. 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Weeping all night is common for the restless heart. But when we lay those burdens at the feet of Christ, The Sun of Righteousness, joy comes in the morning to relieve us of that burden.
After praising God in such a way, you would think that David knew that it wasn’t anything he had done, but all the glory and honor was due to God. If we are going to praise God, we need to praise him in everything. Now David is saying in my prosperity, I said, I shall never be moved. David quickly forgot whose hands he was in. Oh what danger we place ourselves in when we forget whose hands we’re in. It’s not clear to which prosperous moment in David’s life this particular scripture is referring to, but maybe it’s when David’s enemies were quiet and his rebellious son was dead and buried. What about the time when David took the census and caused the death of 70,000 men in one day? Our pride will not only take us down, but others can be affected as well. It doesn’t matter which occasion it was, David felt like he was on easy street and he felt after God had lifted him up, he was now standing on his own.
Once God lifts us up, we have to remember that we need his sustaining power to keep us there. Some folks are so proud of themselves that they can strut sitting down. We will find ourselves in terrible situations when we actually believe that we’re standing on our own. God blesses us with jobs and because we’ve been there for years we think that our great communication skills, our ability to create nice powerpoint presentations, and our typing 70 words per minute is keeping us in place. Maybe you been practicing on Lincoln’s gym since you were 5 years old, and now you got some skills on the court, killer crossovers, and people say you may be the next Iverson, but who are you giving praise to? If it weren’t for God on our side, where would we be?
How could David declare that he should not be moved? Because I happen to be prosperous today, I must not fancy that I shall be in my high estate tomorrow. As in a wheel, the uppermost spokes descend to the bottom in due course, so it is with our mortal conditions. There is a constant revolution: many who are in the dust today shall be highly elevated tomorrow; while those who are now raised shall soon grind the earth. Why did God hide his face from David? See, David allowed his self-confidence to turn into pride. Pride can become a sin when you allow it to cover the grace of God. David stood right by grace, and yet he forgot himself. Just like us, grace wakes up in the mornings, grace rides in our automobiles, grace keeps us safe from dangers seen and unseen, but yet we ignore grace and believe we have control over our lives. This is often said, but we truly need to let go and let God. Proverbs 29:23 says, “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” When you make it big, remember to remain low. In football the offensive lineman are the biggest guys on the field, but they are only effective in protecting the quarterback when they get down low. In the big moments in your life or the prosperous times, remember to remain low. Since David’s pride became his sin, it broke his communion with God. God dealt with David by simply hiding his face from him, and David knew it.
In Verse 7 David said, “LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” When God hid his face from David, he became troubled. David quickly got his act together and gave the Lord the credit for allowing his mountain to stand strong. We too are troubled when God hides his face from us, but his face is only hidden because of what we have done against God. Not only is his face hidden, but his assistance and strength is absent as well. God didn’t break out his belt to deal with David’s sin; a hidden face was enough. This proves, first, that David was a genuine saint, for no hiding of God’s face on earth would trouble a sinner. Hebrews 12:6 says, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Secondly, the joy of the saint is dependent upon the presence of his Lord. The next best thing to basking in the light of God’s countenance is to be thoroughly unhappy when that joy is absent. No mountain, however firm, can yield us rest when our communion with God is broken and his face is concealed. In other words, in such a position as this, it is well to be troubled because we are then compelled to return to our God.
I’m getting ready to close, sit down and be happy all by myself but when you notice that the joy is gone because of a broken fellowship with God, do like David did in verse 8. “I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.” To make supplication is to humbly petition God. David realized he had made himself high and he began to make his way back to seeking God’s face. God will never leave nor forsake us, so when his face is hidden, remember it’s because of what we have done, we need to continue to seek his face. I thank God because anything that is hidden can be found! During Easter, eggs are hidden in the field in order to be found. If God’s face is hidden from you, know that he can be found. Just as the children seek and search for the eggs, we have to seek and search for the Lord. He’s not hiding from us, he’s standing with his arms outstretch, waiting for us to return to him. When we cause God’s face to be hidden, we feel as though we are banned from seeking him, but God wants to be sought after. We need to ask for his forgiveness, remember it didn’t matter what David did or didn’t do, he always sought the Lord and asked for forgiveness. I’m so glad that God’s face wasn’t hidden when I was sinking deep in sin………………
