“I am in the midst of lions;
I lie among ravenous beasts –
men whose teeth and spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp words.”

t sure sounds like the psalmist David had been doing some Christmas shopping. Either that or he had been in some holiday traffic jams. Yes, indeed this is a season of jams. Regardless of the highway or the store you will find long lines of people all trying to jam into the same parking lot or cash register. And of course with every jam comes line cutters. You know that driver who comes up the shoulder or the shopper who steps out of nowhere when the cashier says, “Next.”

How do you fare when it comes to jams? I am not speaking just about traffic jams, or jams of people surging toward the blue light special, or holiday jams. I am talking about everyday emotional jams and spiritual jams caused by too many demands, too little time, and too little patience or strength to deal with them.

Do you remain calm? Do you find yourself avoiding jams? Did it ever occur to you that God might have a purpose for you in your present jam?

Ron Susek challenged the readers of his book God Will Answer to make a list of people and might I add situations, that encourage you, help you and love you as well as a list of people who hate you, resist you, and antagonize you and situations that you hate.

The question he raised was, do you see people or situations on your list that God should remove from your life to better fulfill His purpose. While I am sure there isn’t a single reader of that book who answered that book with a resounding YES. Ron stated, “If it was necessary, God would have removed them. The truth is each person or situation is a player God uses to fulfill his purpose in your life.”

Like every jam, every person and situation in your life should be seen as God’s instrument to fulfill his purpose for you.

David, who at the time when he wrote Psalm 57 was faced with a life threatening jam. Saul was seeking to kill him yet he remained calm.

What was his secret? His secret was that in the midst of his jam he praised God. Like David when we are confronted with life’s jams we can turn our thoughts inward to self-pity, outward to revenge, or upward to God.

During our last weekend’s snowstorm a 10-minute drive into New Brunswick to pick up Diane at work turned into a 1 hour and 50 minute drive. It didn’t matter what street I was on, gridlock was causing traffic jams. My sanity was the Christmas music playing on the radio. Lifting my thoughts upward to God. We, when we look upward to God, we look for God’s purpose in each situation.

The following story comes from Desktop Devotions written by E. M. Houtz.

Kelly’s job in an insurance office hasn’t worked out quite as well as she thought it would.  She had the impression when she was hired that there would be some opportunities for her to learn and advance.  But it’s a small company, and those opportunities don’t seem likely to materialize.
She’s an outgoing, capable young woman.  She’s done her job well, even though she knows it isn’t going to be a big part of her life’s work.  A friend asked her recently if she was thinking of looking for another job in the near future. “I don’t know,” she said.  “I don’t think I’m ready to leave yet.  The work isn’t very exciting or challenging.  But you know I really believe that I’m the ‘light’ and ‘salt’ in that office.  I don’t think my work for God there is done yet.

There are no other Christians working in Kelly’s office.  She feels a calling to bear witness for Christ to that group of people.  The actual work she does from day to day is secondary in importance - her priority is to be Christ’s ambassador in that particular mission field. Kelly’s perspective on the relative importance of earthly work-job-related work versus work for God’s Kingdom - is an inspiration to me.

How many working people would be willing to say, “I’m going to stay here to finish God’s task for me” rather than, “I’m not getting anywhere in this dead-end job.  I’m bailing out as soon as I can.”

This is God’s challenge to us in the jams we find ourselves at the workplace, at the market place, at school and at home.  David threw himself into the hands of God to fulfill his purpose. Jesus threw himself into the hands of God to fulfill his purpose. Kelly threw herself into the hands of God to fulfill her purpose. Are you willing to throw yourself into the hands of God to fulfill your purpose, to be ‘light’ and ‘salt’ (Matthew 5:13-16) to the unsaved, the hurting, the lonely, and the empty?

As you consider your present jam ask yourselves two important questions:

1.  Am I ‘light’ and ‘salt’?

It’s a fine line.  But then, no one ever said being a Christian was easy.

Your life cannot bring salvation to the world. God did that already in the birth of Jesus. But your life and mine can take salvation to the world.

Amen