BREAKOUT:

BREAKOUT:

Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;

   no one is concerned for me.

I have no refuge;

   no one cares for my life.

-Psalm 142:4

David was the anointed and divinely appointed king of Israel yet Saul remained on the throne. Saul then drove David into the wilderness. King David hid in caves -fearing for his life- while Saul’s men hunted him down. That’s when and where David wrote Psalm 142: “...no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.”

There are times in life when all of us feel stuck, trapped, confined, imprisoned, forgotten, and even disposable. This may be due to depression, divorce, unemployment, the loss of a loved one... In these times of walking through the Valley of The Shadow of Death we are consumed and joy seems both a vague, distant memory, and an impossible future.

David’s exclusive hope for deliverance in these bleak circumstances stemmed from his relationship with, and faith in, God. We know this with all certainty because David prefaced his sincere prayer of apparent hopelessness with:

I cry aloud to the Lord;

   I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.

I pour out before him my complaint;

   before him I tell my trouble.

The only real difference between hopelessness and hope is God. Apart from a long and rich relationship with God David would have been utterly consumed with his dire and overwhelming circumstances. He might have taken his own life - or been captured or killed after giving up. Instead, we see David -DOING- not just some-random-thing, but the one thing that breaks us out and brings us into communion with God - David prayed. David not only prayed, but he prayed in 4 distinct and beautifully authentic ways:

I cry...

I lift...

 I pour...

  I tell...

David didn’t seek to adopt a worldview of coexistence. David didn’t pray to an impersonal universe. He didn’t crack open a self-help scroll. David didn’t burn incense or rub crystals together in an effort to gain inner peace. David didn’t fire off a random prayer to a random god somewhere in the void of outer space with his fingers crossed.

Instead, David prayed to the God of creation, the God of the Bible, the God who promised to personally redeem humanity (Gen 3:15), the God of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob who promised to bless all the families on earth (Gen 12:3), the God who delivered Israel from 400+ years of slavery (Exodus) to demonstrate He has the power and authority to deliver us from our slavery to sin, Satan, and death.

David prayed to the God who cares for orphans and widows (Deut 10:18), the God who is patient, kind, merciful, and overflowing with grace, the transcendent God of eternity who would not only personally step into His creation as Jesus the Christ, but Who would come to tabernacle/dwell with us - and eventually die for us at the Cross. David prayed to the God who would soon defeat sin and death in rising from the grave on the 3rd day, the God who fulfills His every promise, the God of Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Spirit - who created us to experience life to the fullest, David prayed to the God in whom satisfaction and joy are exclusively found.

That’s who David prayed to. David was delivered in his circumstances to a place of peace. Eventually David was also delivered from those circumstances. Saul died in battle and David was not only restored to the throne, but was given a promise by God that someone from his line would never cease to sit on the throne (2 Sam 7), which was fulfilled in the God-man Jesus.

Therefore, take hold of the hope and life offered in Christ. He is our anchor that holds firm behind the veil (Heb 6:19) - i.e. the veil of current circumstance, the veil of depression, the veil of crushing loss, the veil of lies our enemy buries us beneath in an effort to keep us divorced from our Creator, Savior, Redeemer, and God.

Joshua was Moses’ successor as the leader of Israel. His name means “the LORD saves.” At the inauguration of Joshua’s ministry as their leader - he said to the nation of Israel, “This Torah must not cease to leave your mouth, but rather you are to meditate, ponder, recite, speak it day and night toward the goal of keeping watch...” (Josh 1:8a). The verb “to keep watch” is the same verb God used to describe Adam’s ministry in Gen 2:15 to cultivate and keep watch over her.

Adam failed miserably at this, which led to the woman’s temptation and ultimately to humanity’s epic rebellion. But even then, even after our systemic, universal, comprehensive coup d’état attempt against our loving Creator - humanity’s expulsion from God’s life-giving presences wasn’t the end of the story...

God chose to demonstrate Their perfect trinitarian love for us by expressing what They meant in saying: “let us make them in our image; according to our likeness” (Gen 1:26). God’s likeness is most perfectly expressed by Their selfless altruism and eternal love for one another within the context of eternal Trinity. This selfless altruistic love is the essence and foundation of God’s compassion, mercy, and grace - thus His mission - in restoring, reconciling, and redeeming fallen humanity back into the life-giving presence of The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So when Joshua said, “This Torah must not cease to leave your mouth, but rather you are to meditate on it day and night toward the goal of keeping watch..." He concluded that statement with God’s promise of hope, redemption, and life by saying, “... for then you will BREAKOUT via understanding.”

Study Scripture under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Meditate on it since it reveals the character and nature of God. Keep watch over your thoughts and actions - and those entrusted to your care (spouse, kids, etc.). Then God promises you will BREAKOUT under the light of understanding.

God doesn’t bring evil upon us. The muck of our lives is our’s and our’s alone. God certainly allows us the freedom of that folly because it’s only when we come to the end of ourselves that life in Christ can begin.

You’ve tried the alternatives. Now it’s time to breakout.

Breakout from depression.

from loneliness.

 from incapacitating defeat.

  from the clutches of death.

   from the snares of our enemy.

David’s circumstances were overwhelming and real - just like yours. His deliverance came from the faith and hope sourced in God Almighty; so he prayed. He cried, he lifted, he poured, and he told.

Now it’s your turn. Pray honest prayers from the depths of your hurt and suffering. Cry, lift, pour out, and tell God everything - words are optional. He created you. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He has numbered your tears. God cares.

But don’t let it end there. As Joshua instructed: meditate, ponder, discuss, and share Scripture. In doing so you not only can, but will, BREAKOUT - just as God promised. Not to win the lottery, not to be exempt from suffering and loss, not to float through life immune and disconnected from the ravages and consequences of sin, but rather to experience desperate dependence in Christ and the height, depth, breadth, and eternal richness therein.

Breakout.

That’s what He went to the Cross to make a reality. That is what most clearly reveals the beauty of God’s love for us.

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com