Thursday, May 6, 2010

Psalm 88

3 comments:

Unknown said...

What a heavy, depressing Psalm! Made me think of a couple things. 1. How grateful we should be for being in a "good" emotional state. Depression is sooooooo dark and horrible! When you find yourself down there in that pit of blackness, you just can't see any light at all and you don't have the strength or desire to try to climb out. Just thinking about it makes my chest get all tight.


When I read passages like this it reminds me that the life of a Christian is not all sunshine and roses. Storms come. The rug gets pulled out from under us just like it does from the next person. Being IN Jesus doesn't mean not having to weather dark storms, it means that we having a navigator who will accompany us through and teach us how to sail in the roughest of seas.

That is our hope and our joy. Not that we will never face dark days, but the knowledge that we are never alone and that the light is always there just behind the clouds.

Unknown said...

oh, I forgot to mention 2! That last verse, "YOu have taken away my loved ones and friends. Darkness is my only friend."

This just brought images of the Watoto children into my head! They lost EVERYTHING and surely the only peace they could ever experience was when darkness engulfed them and they could SLEEP. But The Lord reached out and pulled them out and gave them hope and joy and reason to dance and that just makes my heart pound and tears come to my eyes. I picture those kids with all that joy and dancing and I think to myself that that is the hope and joy that the Lord can bring to a destitute life. May we extend that hope to all we meet!

Jude said...

Amen to all you said about depression and stormy times. It is amazing and encouraging to take note of the first part of the first verse: "O Lord, the God who saves me..." It is grief and depression that is mixed with faith. How strange a combination of feelings and tension of the soul those emotions and faith must make.