BEEN DOWN SO LONG…

Psalm 42

I used to love to watch Rick Flair wrestle. He was one of the best, right up there with Hulk, and Andre. They were all good for a laugh during the interviews they had every week. Rick would always say at some time during the interview; “If you want to be the man”, “You have to beat the man”, then he would follow it up with his trade mark. “WOOOOOOOO”.
He also boasted about being the 15 time world heavy weight champion.
15 times?
Doesn’t that mean that he had to lose the championship at least 14 times? But wait a minute; wasn’t Rick supposed to be the man? Rick Flair, like all successful people, failed a number of times, all the time learning for them.
Learn from your failures, or you will fail to learn.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.
11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Many of the psalms of Israel were born in seasons of failure. Out of desperation came this cry. Sometimes we are not ready to see the wonder of God’s wisdom and strength until we are gasping for breath in the exhaustion of our own strength. A recurring story of the Bible is that mountains of faith rise from the valleys of failure. Before discovering the high ground we are looking for, we may need to see the failure of the dreams we hold in our hearts and trust instead in the love, wisdom, and guidance of our God.