Peace in Difficult TimesChikamu

Author: Tim Sansbury

This is one of those nice verses that stands out all by itself. It speaks to us without needing context; it provides a great reminder that fits any day of the year; it would even fit on a coffee cup to start your day!

That’s all good, but at least for me, in hard times sometimes little sayings can hurt more than they help. Sure, David can trust the Lord, but he’s David. The David that comes to mind is the king, the giant slayer, the conqueror, the survivor, the anointed, and finally the blessed king whose line culminates in Jesus Christ, the eternal Lord and King of all. If I felt like all that, I’d probably sleep in peace, too. But I don’t, and being honest, in hard times I put more trust in the coffee in the cup than I would a verse written on it.

If you’re like me, maybe getting a coffee cup peace verse from the great David doesn’t seem helpful. But before you move on, it’s really important to read this whole Psalm. It’s short. Awesome King David whose life is memorialized forever did not write this verse. Persecuted, human David whose life was often dreadful and marked by huge periods of doubt and depression wrote this Psalm. 

Below, I have included the rest of this Psalm. Look at the David who is writing here. Verse 1 is him calling on the Lord for help (remembering God has been there in the past; this is great practice!). Verses 2 through 5 show David under persecution and attacked by lies and gossip and rumors (and that he is upset about it!). And finally, verse 6 shows us that not just David, but many people were suffering and wondering where God had gone. (And by the way, it’s fair to guess it’s been going on a while, and David has been praying a while, and things are not yet different. David asked without obvious or fast answers to prayers, just like us.)

Only after all of that do we get to the coffee cup verse. David isn’t lying down in peace because he is great David and has no doubts. David is lying down in peace because he is regular David but trusts the great Lord. And you and I? You and I can be just like this David. When you are not at peace, remind yourself of past hard times when God answered your prayers. Pray God will answer them now, remind yourself of God’s power and goodness and his perfect work in Christ, and then read that coffee cup just like David wrote it - trusting because it’s hard.