Devotional Reading Plan

How Great Thou Art
*An excerpt from Man Stuff, p.182

“I cry aloud to God,
Aloud to God, and He will hear me.
I sought the Lord in my day of trouble.
My hands were continually lifted up
All night long;
I refused to be comforted.
I think of God: I groan;
I meditate; my spirit becomes weak. Selah
You have kept me from closing my eyes;
I am troubled and cannot speak.
I consider days of old,
Years long past.
At night I remember my music;
I meditate in my heart, and my spirit ponders.
‘Will the Lord reject forever
And never again show favor?
Has His faithful love ceased forever?
Is His promise at an end for all generations?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger withheld His compassion?’ Selah
So I say, ‘I am grieved
That the right hand of the Most High has changed.’
I will remember the LORD’s works’
Yes, I will remember Your ancient wonders.
I will reflect on all You have done
And meditate on Your actions.”
Psalm 77:1-12

I know what the psalmist is talking about. I really do…

I have a friend who lives in Colorado. A couple of years ago he invited me out for an elk hunt. I was very excited about the trip, and my tags and all my gear were ready to go. But a few days before leaving I came down with a head cold. I thought I’d probably get over it by the time I got to Colorado, but as I drove to the airport, I remember thinking that maybe I should cancel the trip and reschedule. I just didn’t feel good, and I couldn’t say that I was getting any better.

As my plane landed in Denver, my left ear completely stopped up. I was miserable; I could hardly hear anything or anyone. But I kept going. As I drove the rental car over Vail Pass, my ear opened up, and I thought that maybe I could do this hunt after all. But as I drove down the pass, my ear closed back up again. That initial excitement of being on an elk hunt had faded fast.

I met my friend and we hunted that evening but didn’t see anything. We got up at 3 a.m. the next morning and headed out to a cabin that belonged to a friend of his, a cabin that ended up being as far away from civilization as I’ve ever been. Later that morning the hunt began, and things went from bad to worse. As we hiked up and down at over 9,000 feet, I went from sweating profusely, to having chills, to shivering all over. I was having a hard time breathing, and my legs were screaming at me to stop. I was completely miserable. We did see a few elk, but they were too far away to get a good shot. When we got back to the cabin, I literally thought I was going to die. I called my doctor, and he thought I might have high-altitude sickness, which affect a lot of people, but without examining me, he wasn’t certain.

To make a long story a little shorter, we finally got back to town, and my buddy took me to a doctor friend of his. The doctor checked me out and diagnosed me with bronchitis, something I’d never had. He gave me an antibiotic that got me through the next couple of days, but we never saw any more elk. I thought the whole trip was a bust.

But that’s the deal with hunting. Sometimes you’re sick and miserable, and you don’t see any elk, and you wish you’d just stayed home. And sometimes you feel great, and the weather is perfect, and you get to take the shot you’d dreamed about. Without the bust times, the boom times wouldn’t mean as much – and neither would have the same meaning without experiencing both. The main thing to remember in the bust times is this: just because things didn’t turn out the way you thought they would doesn’t mean God has forsaken you. He’s still there with you and for you. That’s when it’s important to do like the psalmist did and “reflect on all [God] has done” to get you through.

It can only go up from there.

For Reflection: "How Great Thou Art" - Live From Gaither Studios