Paul Yadao

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Psalm 42 Longing for the Streams

Psalm 42 expresses precious insights on the unwavering pursuit of God amidst navigating difficult moments in life. The psalm started with “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You” (verse 1). This is how we should seek God if we want a face-to-face encounter. This inward thirst touches God’s heart. He is ready to answer the hungry with the greatness of His power and the abundance of His goodness. Our spiritual longing for a drink is answered with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is the nature of God, there is just no measure in what He is able and willing to give to His children. He reveals His glory in the midst of our brokenness and our deepest needs.

In the middle of the song the sons of Korah wrote,

“Deep calls unto deep at the sound of Thy waterfalls; All thy breakers and Thy waves have rolled over” (verse 7).

The whole psalm is full of powerful imagery of what happens when we hunger and thirst for Him. And this verse captures a profound truth, that when we pursue Him in times of desperation and danger we are met by His overwhelming Presence- the roaring sound of the waterfalls and the breakers and waves of a mighty ocean. The imagery is captivating yet certainly the reality of His Presence.

The psalm ended with a powerful revelation expressed in an internal dialogue leading into a deep transformation.  “Why are you in despair O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God” (verse 11). We always live in this ongoing tension between feeling trapped in a desperate situation and yet trusting Him, believing that He will breakthrough for us.

We must choose to dive deeper into His Presence no matter what. It is this unwavering pursuit and hunger to see God’s Face and His mighty acts that lead us into a deeper revelation of Who God really is – in us and for us. We are presented with these rich insights in every line of this empowering song. Indeed, there is hope to behold in the midst of our struggles.

Don’t Lose HOPE

The reality that we are most aware of and constantly engaged with, will be the one that we will live in.  This visible realm and the affairs happening around us are all temporary. Jesus lived here on earth FROM the realm of the invisible where there are no sicknesses, storms, scarcity, shame, and sorrows – the realm of heaven. He faced every situation and circumstance with heaven’s reality. He taught us to pray to our Father Who is IN heaven that His Kingdom (His dominion, rule, and reign) will come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is our inheritance and commission as children of the King; to co-labor with Him in our prayers and to bring down heaven’s superior influence to earth’s needs.

Paul the apostle ministered with an awareness that whatever happened around him (prison, persecution, shipwreck, flogging, demonic attacks, rejection, hunger, etc.) only works towards the unveiling of greater glory. As believers, this is our unchanging and unshakeable reality as well. And no matter what may come, the Christ Who is IN US is the Hope of GLORY and His glory is being revealed through us more and more.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of GLORY, while we do not look at things which are seen, but at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are TEMPORARY, but the things which are not seen are ETERNAL.”

– 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NKJV –

Selah

There is a distinct word embedded in some of the Book of Psalms that has tremendous importance in living the Kingdom life. Oftentimes, we miss the word or quickly ignore it just because it’s written in Hebrew. This word is Selah.  This word was mentioned 71 times in the book. We will dive into the meaning of this word and try to understand its significance not just in Hebraic musical arrangements and composition but its metaphorical significance in life in general. May the Holy Spirit open up our eyes to see the beauty and importance of moments of selah in our lives.

Through the years the exact meaning of the word selah remains a mystery.  Scholars vary in their definition and description of it and here are some of the interpretations :

  1. To “lift up and to exalt” :  In Hebrew Lexicon, the word has been defined as “to lift up and to exalt.”  Obviously, this definition clearly put God as the focal point and the center of our praise and worship. Above all else He is the one we lift up and exalt in all seasons of our lives.
  2. “Pause – intermission”  : Some scholars argue that the word denotes an intermission, a pause or silence. In musical arrangement this would be the part that the voices are silent as the instruments express and highlight the mood and the tone of the song.
  3. “Pause – preparation” : Selah could also be a moment of transition from one paragraph to the next. Therefore, in both meanings, selah is a moment of pause and a preparation for the next part of the song.
  4. “Pause – ponder” : Lastly, selah would mean to pause for the purpose of pondering what was just said. It is similar to the emphasis of ‘amen’ in our prayers. I see this as a profound meaning to grasp. Selah is a moment of recognition and agreement to Who God said He is and what He has promised as revealed through His Word and displayed in His mighty deeds.

We hope to explore the facets of the word selah in the light of soaking in the Presence of God.  May the Holy Spirit take us deep into His Presence as we learn to pause and to position ourselves to be in awe and wonder of Who God is.

Hope in Times of Pain

The book of Job is one of the most difficult portions of the Scriptures to read. It talks about affliction, or what we would call the dark night of the soul. While it wasn’t God who caused the misery of Job (it was the devil), but in His sovereign wisdom, He used it to be the platform to unveil Who He is to Job. In a very personal way, in the midst of pain, anguish, confusion, and doubt, God gave Job the greatest gift of life, that is to see His Face, and not die.

Job’s excruciating pain in his heart was deeper than the boils all over his body or the loss of his loved ones and the destruction of his possessions and his people. It was deeper because it was God’s Presence that seemed to be absent amidst all these. Questions and reasons and complaints and doubts flooded his mind and drowned his heart to numbness.

Where is God? I have been faithfully following Him and believed in Him fully and have given my offerings without fail. 

I have been good to the people around me so why is God punishing me? 

Where can I find refuge and comfort and healing and rest to my soul? 

Job’s anguish pierces through our hearts. His words are raw but God understood him completely. It wasn’t his articulation that captured God’s ears but his desperation and intention. Perhaps, at some points in our lives, we have asked these questions. These are questions that reveal our humanity before Him and our frailty without Him. And like Job, it is during these moments of brokenness, humiliation, nakedness, and sorrows that He comes and reveals Who He really is to us.

Job had moments of revelations and realizations in the midst of his pain that eventually brought him to a place of hope, deliverance, freedom, and restoration. Responding to the searing accusations and crushing words of one of his friends he said:

“Oh, that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! 

That with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!

As for me, I know that my Redeemer (Vindicator, Defender) lives, and 

at the last, He will take His stand on the earth.

Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God.

Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another.’ 

Job 19: 23-27 NASB

God is doing a deeper work within our hearts during the dark seasons of our soul. There is an unveiling of God’s face in the most painful stripping of our hearts. There’s a gift to behold and to embrace when we walk with our Shepherd through the valley of the shadow of death – His Presence. The deep works He is doing in us today is the key to the greater works He will do to us and through us in the next season.

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