Text: Psalm 140 (Read it here.)

CC Image Courtesy of jeanbaptisteparis on flickr.

I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. (Psalm 140.12, NIV)

God Can Do It Better
Author: Carter Shuman

The summer months are busy in student ministry. When trying to balance trips, activities, and classes with life you can start to feel buried.  This is when I absolutely need to lean on the gifts of others, recognizing that more hands on deck gets things done better than I can alone. I love being able to look at someone with teaching skills and say, “You can teach better than I can.” I look at leaders and say, “You can run a camp better than I can.” I can look at our ministry assistant and say, “You can organize better than I can.”

In times of trouble when we need rest can we confidently say, “God can do it better than I can.” That is the spirit that drives David in this Psalm. It is sometimes far outside our understanding to know what action to take when it comes to dealing with life’s problems. We can draw up the plans for what we want to achieve but fulfilling those plans is far beyond what we can do. In the moment of reaching our limitations we have to remember this foundational truth, “God is in control, and fearing him leads us to wisdom and knowing him to understanding (Proverbs 9:10).”

The truth is, we can all use a vacation. Most of us need this because we rely on ourselves to make everything happen. We are the commanders of our destiny. We control every aspect of our own lives. Vacation requires the ability to step away from all of that and give it to God. We need to place all of our problems, our stress, our fear, at the feet of God and be able to walk away with faith that he can do it better than we can.

Can you take a vacation? Can you walk away from your day-to-day troubles, trusting that God has them in the palm of his hand? Do you believe he has the power to overcome any enemy and clear any path that needs to be taken?

Look to him today and say confidently, “You can do it better than I can.”

Questions:

In our world where we tend to allow all faiths and ideals to coexist with one another as long as they did it peacefully, who do we identify as “evil doers” or “the wicked?” In what ways have you sensed “the wicked” making attacks on you?

What examples can you give that shows God a “strong deliverer” and one who prevents the plans of the wicked from succeeding?

As you think about all of the stories we know from scripture, which ones demonstrate God’s securing justice for the poor and upholding the cause of the needy? In our own world, how have you seen these things happen? What specific ways can you think of that you, your family, your small group, or your congregation as a whole might help secure justice for the poor and uphold the cause of the needy?