Psalm 142:11–For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!

When we consider the general theme of love and service within a relationship, the thought of being alive so we can “enhance” the life of someone else, is ideal and should be a goal.  But the reality of trying to love unconditionally through people’s sins and imperfections can cause us to become hardened.  Reserving our desire to improve another’s life and instead live for ourselves…

Marriages start with the burning desire to try and make someone happy, or be the perfect compliment to the other, yet can become a disappointment of not feeling appreciated.  Parenting can have the same ideals, with the desire to be sacrificial and unconditionally loving.  But eventually be met with the lack of appreciation we feel our sacrifices should warrant…

When these happen to our efforts in loving others, it is a test of whether we fight through our base nature to be selfish.  The Psalmist desires for God to preserve him, not to live for himself, but for him to continue living to serve the Lord!  To want to be preserved for the sake of the Lord, is not for us to get in a “mess” living for ourselves, and pray for the Lord to get us out!  But to be preserved, so we can continue living for His purpose and exalting His name!

If we look at ourselves as children of the Lord, we know Christ sacrificed His life in order for us to live. So “life” has to be defined, not by being preserved “to do our own thing”, but preserved to live for His name sake!  In essence, it is the evidence of living out our thanksgiving for His ultimate sacrifice!

In His Love, LD