You hide your face, and i was troubled

[Ebn Barbara]

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
The word “afflictions” has several meanings, some of them are: tragedy, befalling, trials, misfortune, damages… etc.



Yes.. it is a real and actual thing, the wars and tribulations that believers are exposed to are many, and this is certified by each one’s experiences and by what we hear from each others, and also by what the word of God has recorded to us:
“I am weary with my groaning; All night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies.”
(Psalm 6:6-7).

“How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? (Psalm 13:2).

“For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears.” (2 Corinthians 7:5).

And if you examine the life of all the men of God, you would discover that all of them without exception suffered from wars, tribulation, and difficult circumstances.. The Lord didn’t promise us that we will not be exposed to this kind of tribulation, rather He said to us:
“In the world you will have tribulation…” (John 16:33).

What I want to meditate on today, is how we face those wars, and tribulations and how we have victory over them, and enjoy what the Lord has done for us, because there are many reasons for our defeat and submission to the pressure of those difficult circumstances, some of them are: lack of faith, not knowing our rights in Christ, not using the authority that the Lord has given to us… etc.

But today I have felt from the Lord to focus on a very important and major reason that stands behind most of our defeats, and I consider it the most important reason; it is the title of this meditation, and what this verse says:
“Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong, You hid Your face, and I was troubled.” (Psalm 30:7).
And here is another verse that says the same thing:
“Answer me speedily, O Lord; My spirit fails! Do not hide Your face from me, Lest I be like those who go down into the pit.” (Psalm 143:7).

Those are two simple verses that do not need much explanation, because their meaning is very clear:
When the Lord is pleased with us we stand strong like the mountains, but when He hides His face from us we are troubled, and we become like those who go down into the pit.

So when does the Lord hide His face from us?
Come let us learn together from the word of God.

In psalm 22, when David prophesied about the suffering of the Lord on the cross when He bore our sins, he said:
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.” (Psalm 22:1-2).

And the Lord Himself repeated those same words when He was on the cross:
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’”
(Matthew 27:46).
For when the Lord hides His face from you, do not try to look for rest, tranquility, peace, joy, victory or peace of mind… but only terror!!!

This is what the word of the Lord says, and it is not an analysis or a personal opinion.
And the only reason for the Lord to hide His face from us this way, is sin!!!

For when the Lord was representing us as a human race, carrying our transgressions and our sins, the Father hid His face from Him.
And when we live in sin, we surrender to it, and we don’t confess it and resist it, the Lord will certainly hide His face from us, and we will be troubled.
And the prophet Isaiah said this clearly:
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you” (Isaiah 59:1-2).

Do you struggle with lots of problems, and you do not find deliverance from or solutions for what you are enduring?
The reason is not that the Lord cannot deliver you or that He cannot find the right solutions for you, nor is it that His ear is heavy and cannot hear, but your sins have separated you from Him, and He hid His face from you and you were troubled, and everything got so complicated.

The Lord said when He was on earth:
“And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” (John 8:29).
The Lord Jesus, himself, has certified this principle that we are talking about, for He said, that the Father who sent Him, was with Him always, and Has never left Him alone.. and the reason is clear and do not need explanation, for the Lord said:
“For I always do things that please Him”.
For when we walk in complete submission to the Lord and His word, and when we are careful not to break His commandments, we will stand strong like the mountains, and no matter how strong is the wind, and great are opposite circumstances, wars, and Satan’s attacks, they will not affect us, because the Lord will be with us always, and will never leave us alone.
Satan came to the Lord when He was representing us on earth, and he put Him through all kinds of trials, and he fought Him with all kinds of wars, but what was the result?
A definite defeat for the devil, and a definite victory for the Lord.
Why?
Because He was always doing what was pleasing the Father, and He said:
“I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” (John 14:30).
Yes.. the devil is coming for the Lord, and the Lord named him by his real name “the ruler of this world”.
For the Lord did not hide from us the reality of the devil’s position, and the reality of his strength..

And this designation has a deep meaning, for the devil is controlling things in this world that we live in, and he has all kinds of temptations, desires, tricks and the like of similar things available, and the word says:
“The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19).
But despite all this, the Lord was victorious over him, and the most important base for this victory is the second part of this verse:
“He has nothing in Me”.
The devil did not have a grip on the Lord, he did not have a foothold in Him, and this is why he could not have victory over Him.. this is how we should be.. we should walk as the Lord walked, and this is what the word of God is asking of us:
“He who says he abides in Him ought himself (i.e. the believer) also walk just as He walked (i.e. the Lord).” (1 John 2:6).

For when we walk as the Lord did, and when the devil does not have a foothold in us, he can come whenever he wants with his trials, wars, tribulations, problems, and with all he possesses from power, temptations and the like… then the Lord will be with us and pleased with us, we will stand strong like the mountains, and in one word as the Lord said to him, we will say to the devil: go far away from me.. and he will certainly go..

Beloved: there is a very important matter we have to be aware of after this meditation:
It is not important what kind of difficulties we are going through.. rather what is important is for the Lord to be with us in the midst of this difficulty so that we can be delivered from it, or come out from it victorious, so that it can bring the fruits that the Lord wants, and the enemy does not take advantage of it to destroy us.

David says:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4).
No fear and no danger, even if we walked through the valley of the shadow of death, as long as our Lord is with us..

And the Lord said to Jacob:
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.” (Isaiah 43:2).
The rivers will not overflow you, and the fire will not burn you, and the reason is the same: the Lord was with him.

For if the Lord was not with Daniel in the den of lions, they would have devoured him..
And if the Lord was not with the three boys in the furnace, they would have been surely burned..

But a lot of people say: the Lord is satisfied with us through Christ, and He sees us perfect through Christ, without flaws..
Yes.. but!!!

This is a common error in which most believers fall into..
Yes.. when we believe in the Lord’s redemptive death on the cross for us, and we come to Him confessing that we are sinners, and we surrender our life to Him, we receive forgiveness through the Lord’s blood, we receive eternal life, and we are born again. And we get to the position of children of God, the Father sees us perfect through Christ, He is pleased with us through Christ, and we do not need to repeat the same process again and to be born again every time we sin ..
Moreover, we don’t have a role in this matter at all; such as the works we do, rather we believe from our hearts with a real faith in the work of the Lord on the cross for us..
But the satisfaction of the Lord regarding our daily walk after this experience is a completely different matter, and this is what we will focus on today.

For the born again believer cannot live the life of the people in the world and be careless, violating and breaking God’s commandments or even one commandment, and at the same time have the Lord be pleased with him. He will be disciplined; it will be hard some of the times when he doesn’t really repent, and doesn’t walk in submission to the word of God.

Beloved: the Lord has ended the battle with the devil on the cross, He has crushed his head, He has disarmed principalities and powers, and has given us the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt us. He has made a wall of fire around us, and covered us with His precious blood, and the devil and all his army cannot come near us nor harm us. But if we surrender to sin, do not resist it, break the Lord’s commandments and do not obey His word and examine our life, we will be subject to discipline. Moreover, those sins will separate us from God, He will hide His face from us and we will be troubled, we will become like those who go down into the pit, and we will give Satan the chance to have victory over us and destroy our life; depriving us from enjoying all that the Lord has done for us.. rather than being standing strong like the mountains, victorious, joyful, enjoying a continuous peace, and seeing everything in our life going from glory to glory and from strength to strength..
So which road are we going to choose today?

What is the solution?
“Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning, For in You I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; In You I take shelter. Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your righteous Spirit leads me in the land of uprightness. Revive me, O Lord, for Your name’s sake! For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. In Your mercy cut off my enemies, And destroy all those who afflict my soul; For I am Your servant.”
(Psalm 143:8-12).

It is the same Psalm which its writer started by saying: Do not hide Your face from me, Lest I be like those who go down into the pit…
Its writer continued by lifting himself up to the Lord, taking refuge in Him, and asking Him to lead him to the way in which he should walk, and to teach him to do what pleases Him, trusting that the Spirit will lead him, and get him out of tribulation, and all his enemies will be cut off.. and he concludes by saying: For I am Your servant..
And the word servant, has an expressive meaning, for the servant does not have a personal will, rather he does only the will of his master, and he makes what pleases him, and what he asks him to do.. this is the solution:
To calm down in the presence of the Lord, to lift yourself up to him, and to give the Holy Spirit the freedom to show you where you fell from, and where you drifted away, and He will teach you the way in which you should walk, teach you how to return and do what is pleasing to the Lord. If you really repent of your sins, submit to the word of God and obey it consciously, the Lord will have mercy on you, deliver you from your afflictions, cut off your enemies, and make you stand strong like the mountains, so you can return and enjoy life again, and receive all that the Lord has prepared for you..

To Him all the glory.

[بنت معلم الاجيال]

Thank you

very beautiful