I had a moment of insight this morning. I want to jot it down before it gets away.
Read Selected Psalms
I often refer to the Psalms when looking for content to address the raw emotions of loss, despair, sadness, grieving, anger and frustration. And, I also love to use passages of these same Psalms to set the tone of a worship service. Here’s the problem. If you read the passage in it’s entirety it often turns uncomfortably dark. I am usually looking to inspire and encourage people, so I want to use a passage that supports that. For instance, in Psalm 63 it says in verse 3 “your unfailing love is better than life itself, how I praise You!” and in verses 6-8: “I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. 7 Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. 8 I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.” Those are encouraging, uplifting and inspiring words! I would always feel comfortable sharing those with the congregation. But what about the verses that follow immediately after? Do I want to share the sentiment that “people opposing me will die by the sword and become food for jackals?” Wow. what a spiritual downer. I can almost feel those frustrated words dampening down the “spiritual high” I was receiving from the encouraging words previous.
But here’s what occurred to me this morning.
We wouldn’t have these Psalms if David hadn’t been betrayed, hunted and antagonized. Thousands, perhaps millions of people have read the words from Psalm 63 “my soul thirsts for you…in a parched and weary land where there is no water.” and have been encouraged to keep pressing on. They identify with David’s longing for God, and they believe themselves to have felt the way David felt. Thirsting for God, dry and parched and in a desolate part of their lives. I have found inspiration here during times of spiritual dryness, times when I wasn’t sure the Lord was listening to me, (or if I was listening to Him). David’s words repeated back to heaven became a handrail to guide me back to a right relationship.
David uttered them while he was hurting, feeling alone and possibly afraid. God works through times like that in our lives! Our discomfort and doubt aren’t hindrances for God…He can use them to reveal Himself.
Think of it. David was actually IN the desert. He wasn’t speaking metaphorically here, he WAS dry and parched, and in WAS a weary land with little water. God uses even the “dry” times in our lives to spread knowledge of Himself. There’s more! David is crying out to God, thirsting for God and seeking God. Presumably he feels that God hasn’t moved on his behalf as of yet. The reason he asks God to “bend down and listen” must be because he feels God isn’t listening, right? So catch this: David’s earnest plea for help from God, coming from a heart that isn’t sure if God is moved to act, becomes part of the Bible. David’s cry for help, from a place of feeling alone is Spirit inspired.
We learn in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “all Scripture is God-breathed”. The very breath of God is inspiring his beloved disciple to cry out to heaven and say “I haven’t heard from you, and I really need your help”.
That floors me.
My cry for help can be inspired by the Holy Spirit. I always thought that when I cried out for help I was lacking God in my life. It hadn’t occured to me that I could cry out “in the Spirit” for “more of God”. So then, how does the reality of being in the Spirit while saying all these things inform my reading of the “angry” parts of the passage? It stands to reason that the passages that reflect anger with the unrighteous, and longing for them to be held accountable for their actions can also be from the Spirit. David was speaking BY THE SPIRIT when he uttered all these words. If it were not so, then they wouldn’t be included in the Bible.
I need to re-read these passages and not turn a blind eye or deaf ear to the uncomfortable “darker” parts, because they may very well be revealing how God feels. After all, God is the Spirit.
Amazing.
Faithfully,
PR