I've always read Psalm 51:6 and thought it meant God wants us to be honest with Him. And maybe that is what it means. But I read the second half of the verse this week and saw something I hadn't thought of before: "....and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom." Sometimes the hard part is being honest with yourself. I don't have a hard time telling God what I think is the truth. I have a hard time knowing if what I am telling Him really is the truth. I've never told God anything He didn't already know. But He's told me a LOT that I didn't know. Maybe this verse is as much about letting God be honest with us as it is about us being honest with Him.
It's easy to get a little motion sick along the twists and turns of life. But God is unshakable. His love, grace and faithfulness to His children doesn't fluctuate with circumstances of the day. And that's what He wants for us. While we cannot control our circumstances, the fallen world we live in, or even our own sinful nature entirely, we can trust it all to Him and grow to share more of His nature, including the gift to be unshaken by the day to day ebb and flow of life.
One of the hardest parts things to do as a Christian is aligning our priorities with our beliefs. We believe Jesus is the most important thing. We believe He knows what's best and will always do what is best. But we like to add two more words to that sentence, and they wreck the entire thing: "for me". What's best "for me" may not be what's best for Jesus. And how we respond when those don't line up shows who really comes first in our lives.
We often want God to work in our lives the way we want Him to work. Our to-do list, our goals, our problems, etc. He has His own list. Which do you think He's focusing on? There is no split control arrangement with the Lord. He wants it all. All of our heart, all of our trust, all of our concerns, cast unto Him, to handle His way. It's not always easy. But it is always right.
We face many challenges in this world. Many of our own doing, some brought on by others, and sometimes we just get caught in the circumstances of a fallen world. Some of those times, we may not even know what causes our troubles. Is God testing us? Did we mess something up? We shout for answers like Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men. But sometimes we don't get them. The Bible says the just shall live by faith, but we forget sometimes how difficult that is. To rely solely on faith sometimes means we don't get the answers. They aren't owed to us, and we might not understand them even if we had them. Faith requires us to lean on God, trust in His righteousness, and know He loves us, even when we don't feel it.