The Tug of War: Time, Stress & Priorities VS. God, Eternity & Joy

Recently someone noted that he felt overwhelmed with the stresses of life (yes, I think you overheard this, too - but probably not from the same person). That got me thinking about our life in this world and the next. Inevitably, we get bogged down with the incessant demands of activities, relationships, work projects, hobbies, events, schedules, home life, church life, maintenance, technology, and so many other things. All of this can rise to a toxic level as we find ourselves out of  focus, out of sorts, and seemingly out of options. This appears to be a universal experience, especially for those of us who live in the Western world.

In such a state, we find it almost impossible to get our scattered minds settled on the Gospel. Prayer and contemplation become luxuries we feel we can ill afford. Bible study turns into a quick glance at a Psalm - or perhaps nothing at all. We begin to count on the preacher's sermon to get us through the week, and we rely on a few restless moments of sleep to carry us through the steadily advancing days. But those hours are gone too quickly and each day's new mercies get buried under the clutter of our busy-ness.

Yet for each of us there comes a time of true rest, eventually. That rest will be chosen by us through a painful decision to cut off things we enjoy but don't need, or it will be forced upon us by circumstances and ill health and mental strain and the unexpected breakdown which finally forces us to pause. We might be angry when this happens. But at the end of it all is God, calling us to Himself in a voice that is at once quieter and more persistent than all of the earthly demands. His sheep know His voice, and we follow Him. If not, He binds our legs together and slings us over his shoulders and carries us. We seem to be out of commission, but we're actually in a wonderful place of trust-building dependence. These are hard lessons to learn, but necessary to our growth under the difficult reality of being time-bound and priority-driven. It will be wondrously freeing to enter eternity, and be swept up in an intent God-focus that cannot be turned even slightly by the raging distraction of less worthy things.

Till then, this is a wretched and uncomfortable life, filled with sorrow, trouble . . . and flashes of imperishable delight whenever He shows His hand or reveals His smile. Mercy and grace are drawing us up to our eternal rest, even as this world wraps its tentacles more tightly around our feet. We may feel pulled in two different directions, but let us lift our heads and smile up toward the One Who holds our hands more tightly and tenaciously than this world's distractions ever could. He won this tug of war before we knew it.

Psalm 32:4 - Dried Up

"My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah." (NASB)
"My strength was dried up (Heb. changed) as by the heat of summer. Selah." (ESV)
"My moisture was changed as with the drought of summer. Selah." (ASV)

I was employed by an orthodontist for several years and often had the privilege of putting braces on peoples' teeth. It was interesting work, to say the least. If one learns anything working in an orthodontic clinic, it's that bonding metal onto teeth requires extreme dryness. We went to great lengths to ensure that the teeth we were working on stayed dry, often resorting to elaborate setups that included cotton, bursts of air, suction, plastic lip retractors, and even chemical drying agents. All of this paraphernalia was deployed with the intent of keeping the teeth extremely dry. If a patient happened to move his tongue and swipe a tooth, the whole process had to be started over again. For me, this was a bit frustrating at times. But after a brace has been bonded to a properly dried tooth, a great deal of force is required to remove it. It typically requires a special pair of plyers to take the brace off, followed by high speed drilling at over 20,000 RPMs to clean up residual adhesive. In many cases, braces will remain in place for 2-3 years before being removed. However, if the slightest bit of moisture is allowed to remain, the brace will usually fall off within a few minutes. If you think about it, most bonding processes involve some type of drying. Paint, caulking, glue, paste and flooring adhesives are all good illustrations of this. Heat is also commonly used in bonding processes such as hot laminating, window sealing, automotive finishes, etc. And most bonding process involve the application of firm pressure at some stage.

What does all of this have to do with Psalm 32, you ask. It's a great question. To answer it, let's consider the elements of verse 4: A heavy hand. Heat. Moisture evaporating. Drying out. Sound familiar? Could it be a bonding process of sorts? Is it possible that God's work in David's life during the time of tormenting guilt was preparation for a stronger bond between the two of them? Was God perhaps transitioning David from a mere taped-on attachment to an orthodontic-style union? Was God pressing him, heating him, and drying him out in order to make his repentance stick? Perhaps I'm applying a modern concept to a primitive text, but the parallels are unmistakable.

David felt like he was dying. He sensed his life and strength draining away. His feelings reflected a sobering reality: every step away from God is a step in the direction of eternal death. God takes this seriously, and if He has lain His hand upon you it is with the purpose of uniting you to Himself and keeping you near Him forever. He will let you die a thousand humbling deaths in the knowledge of your iniquity if that will ultimately draw you closer to Him. We appreciate grace much more when once we have lived for a season without it. Even as believers, we may have these experiences where grace seems absent. In reality, we know we have not been abandoned, but we nevertheless feel the sting of what could be if we were lost eternally.

As one of the great Puritan authors noted, "Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet." (Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance)

Dear friend, if God has allowed you to die under the weight of your guilt, believe and know that His intent is to draw you to Himself, to sanctify and transform you, to securely fasten you to Himself. What blessedness there is in this! Take hold of this truth and flee to Him now - with the resolve illustrated by David in the next verses of Psalm 32.