Briefing: There are bad days, then there are those days that stomp on you. There are times when the wind is knocked out of your sails. Then there are those storms that destroy the boat and hit you with waves that break over you and shove you under the water until you almost drown. You look up and search for the light but can’t find it. What do you do in these times?

Dispatch (Assignment): Read Psalm 43.

On the Street: David finds himself in a really dark place. This seems to be a continuation from Psalm 42. That Psalm ends with the verse, “Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” He has not come out of the muck and mire yet.

Horatio Spafford lived in Chicago in 1871. He lost his son to pneumonia and his business in the great Chicago fire that year. In 1873, they planned a trip to Europe. Horatio stayed behind to solve an unexpected business problem and planned to take another ship and catch up with them a few days later. While crossing the Atlantic his wife’s ship sank killing all four daughters. When his wife reached England she messaged him with, “Saved alone.”

Spafford set off to England to be with his wife. When his ship got to the spot where his wife’s ship sank, the Captain called Horatio and let him know where the ship went down. While on this journey Horatio wrote, “It Is Well With My Soul”.

“When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul”

This is the kind of season David has found himself in. What do we do in these times? We follow the example of Horatio Spafford and King David. We cry out to God and we put our hope and trust in Him even though we don’t understand.

2 Corinthians 4:7-9, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” What is the treasure in jars of clay? Verse 10 says, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” The treasure is salvation through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The jars of clay are our earthly bodies. We have, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27.

This Psalm ends the same way Psalm 42 ends, “Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.”

Investigational Resources: Colossians 1:24-29.

Officer Safety Principle: Sometimes it takes an act of faith to know if you really trust or not.

from Psalms Through the Eyes of a Cop, Volume 1
©by Charles Gilliland. Used by permission.
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