Prayer: Our Emotions + God's Truth || Psalm 42

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Below are some thoughts I took away from Psalm 42 regarding prayer, begun a couple months ago in my journal and fleshed out here! :)

It's so insightful how the psalmist goes back and forth with himself in this prayer. He starts out "panting" for God, "thirsting" for Him, crying out in anguish day and night – for one, apparently distressed because unbelievers around him are questioning God's very existence, as circumstances seem to indicate (in their minds) He's not showing up to help; and second, because the situation he is in is apparently a really difficult one, hence his desire for God's help. So he "pours out his soul within him” (v.4), remembering a time when he was surrounded by the faithful and grieving his current situation.

He begins v.5 by rather upbraiding his own soul, reminding himself that he needs to hope in God – praise God – "for the help (or saving acts) of His presence." God has, in other words, already proven Himself trustworthy, so “why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?” He’s grounding his emotions in truth here. No matter how dire circumstances are, the truth is that God is absolutely always present and faithful and leading His children. But even though the Psalmist knows this, he is also honest in his pain, and acknowledges to the Lord that still, "O my God, my soul is in despair within me." That is really powerful. Even though he knows what is objectively true – that the all-powerful God is present and cares and is fulfilling His will – he still frankly acknowledges to God exactly how he is feeling. What a reassuring and beautiful lesson concerning our prayers to our Father! It's okay to come to the Lord with our deep heartache, fear, longing, and uncertainty – and we can do this while still believing in His omniscient nature. Trust in Him does not prohibit us from pouring out our hearts to Him in our uncertainty, and what’s more, He actually wants that from you and me! He doesn’t grow impatient of our finite understanding, nor does He view our pain over things we don’t understand as a lack of faith in His care of our lives. It's astounding, that level of compassion.

The thing is, the Psalmist never just stays in this place of distressed outpouring. In fact, because of the despair he feels, he immediately refers again to God’s power: "therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan, and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar."(v. 6) God, he says, has come through before and He has not suddenly lost His power now. And as he speaks of his pain, saying "all Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me,"(v. 7) he yet grounds himself with the TRUTH that "the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; and His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life."(v. 8) God will not forsake him –providing His lovingkindness in the daytime – and His song (a prayer, an avenue of communication) at night. Wow. So not only do we have assurance of the Lord's constant help and presence, but on the one hand, we see His compassionate patience and desire for our honest communication with Him – and on the other, we see complete faith and trust in the one praying. It’s a great example of the type of prayer mentioned in James 1:6, in which there are two parts to the equation of a prayer that WORKS: first, a God who is generous, compassionate, and gives without reproach, and second, a child of God who, full of faith in his Father, meets Him without doubt.

After all of this internal turmoil, expressing his emotional pain and yet always coming back to God's faithfulness, the psalmist cries out one more time, "why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, while they say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'" It’s interesting – he seems to remind the Lord (again) that his adversaries are mocking the fact that God (in their minds) is not coming to the rescue. He actually seems to be as distressed about this as he is about his own affliction. Which leads me to ask myself – am I that earnest in defending the honor of my God, of Jesus Christ who DIED for me and without whom I would have nothing? Am I that distressed when I hear untrue statements about Him, mocking disrespect of Him, or flippant irreverence toward Him among friends or co-workers? Do the people around me know that I don’t go along with that kind of talk? Christians ... be clear!!

I love that he ends with the simple truth. He has poured out his anguish to God, and at the conclusion of his prayer he comes back to what will never fail. "Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him – the help of my countenance and my God." Amen! Our Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever -- and may He give me the faith and trust to be able to bring this kind of prayer before Him. Y’all have a wonderful week!

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He Giveth More Grace

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I've come across this hymn before when I've listened to singing recordings, but I never really heard the words until a version of it came up in my YouTube feed last week. When I actually read and listened to the message, I felt like I'd been hit upside the head with the incredible and incomprehensible love and care of God. So kind. SO full of care for His children. The idea that His provision multiplies the greater the cross - the harder His child's life, the bigger and more awesome His compassion grows - is so beautiful I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. The great Creator is also (to quote another hymn) our Savior and Friend, and nothing escapes His care. What incredible, merciful love.

He Giveth More Grace

 

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

Annie J. Flint

'And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.'

2 Corinthians 12:9

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❤

On The Choice to Have Faith

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"Abraham's faithfulness was the product of his decision to trust that God always tells the truth. Today, we very much need to get back to Abraham's kind of faith. Far from mere gullibility or blind faith, his faith was a reasoned choice to believe the promises he knew God had made. And unlike those who think that feelings of faith are sufficient, Abraham was obedient to God, even in situations that required great courage. Whether it was in the operation of his intellect, his emotions, or his will, Abrahams's point of departure was always this: what has God said? And all these years later, he continues to be the spiritual forefather of those who take bold, sacrificial steps based on the dependability of what God has said."

Obeying the Gospel, Gary Henry

Excerpt from March 12th

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When the Blossom is Over

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For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away. 

Isaiah 18:5

At the beginning of October, I did some major pruning and weeding in my garden to get everything ready for wintering over.

It's therapeutic, getting down in the dirt among my flowers, cutting away what is dead, pulling the weeds out, and cleaning up -- preparing. 

Because when spring returns, so will the flowers blossoming and the green things blooming out -- and I have to make ready now so they will have a fertile place to thrive when the time is right.

Life is exactly like that sometimes -- a place of pruning and more pruning, of cutting back and tearing out, of preparing with the hope that someday there will be a spring.

And there are times that this season can seem everlasting, full of more painful pruning and weeding than you ever thought you would need, and the grief of it can take hold and threaten to overwhelm everything else in your life.

But that is the time to remember ... that the place of pruning and weeding and tearing out is always a place of preparation.

Preparation that submitted to will bring forth a beautiful spring in God's perfect time. A time when we too will be able to THRIVE.

So in the place of waiting for spring ...

in the place of pruning where the pain has taken hold, the joy is hard to grasp and it feels like the ache inside is all there is to life anymore --

remember God's gracious promise of a spring. If not here, than surely an eternal and everlastingly joyful one in His presence if we hold on to the promise to the end.

Where He will be the light -- and the pain will be gone forever -- and the pruning will have a joyful end.

Come, Lord Jesus.

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The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:10

Small Endings and Beginnings

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Summer is coming to a close ... and with it, blackberry season.

This is the signal that it's time to get a pie on. :)

Smoke from the wildfires this year has been the worst I can remember. 

Thankfully, the rain has finally come again and the air has been washed clean!

With the rainfall, a hint of coolness has suddenly appeared, which for Kinsi = HAPPINESS. ;)

And Lightning is as excited as we are ...

... to light up the first fire of fall. :)

It's a beautiful sign of the changing season ...

And just like that ... it is Autumn again.

♥♥♥♥♥

The Sunken Garden | Walter de la Mare

Speak not -- whisper not;

Here bloweth thyme and bergamot;

Softly on the evening hour, 

Secret herbs their spices shower,

Dark-spiked rosemary and myrrh,

Lean-stalked, purple, lavender;

Hides within her bosom, too,

All her sorrows, bitter rue.

Breathe not -- trespass not;

Of this green and darkling spot,

Latticed from the moon's beams,

Perchance a distant dreamer dreams;

Perchance upon its darkening air,

The unseen ghosts of children fare,

Faintly swinging, sway and sweep,

Like lovely sea-flowers in its deep;

While, unmoved, to watch and ward,

Mid its gloomed and daisied sward,

Stands with bowed and dewy head

That one little Leaden lad.

::lavender::

::chamomile::

::lemon verbena::

::rosemary::

::calendula::

♥

Hope for the Righteous | Psalm 14

 "For God is with the righteous generation. You would put to death the counsel of the afflicted, but the Lord is His refuge."

Psalm 14:5-6 

 David begins Psalm 14 with an apparently hopeless statement, "There is no one who does good." In verse 1, all the world has seemingly turned aside ... they are corrupt, committing abominable deeds ... there is not even ONE who does good. What a desolate thought. Reminds me of Elijah's heartache in 1 Kings 19:10 ... "The sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left ..."

But hang on, David! As the Lord "looks down from heaven to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God," (v.2) David has an epiphany, declaring, "God is with the righteous generation," (v.5) and "the Lord is his refuge"! (v.6) There is a remnant, just as God reminded Elijah later on in that great man's despair. He was - and we are - part of a righteous generation that God has left alive and it is well and truly living. It might be tiny. It might be hard to find amid this generation of sons of men (just as it was then) who say "there is no God." (v.1) But it is there - hallelujah!

David goes on in v.7 to express his longing for the salvation of Israel. Well - it has come. It has come with a new Kingdom, one that cannot be shaken or crushed. And the spiritual Israel can be glad, for Jesus has already overcome its enemy and WE are living in that age of redemption. What an incredible time to live. The age David hoped for - the age the prophets desired to see - we are the ones privileged to live in it, within the blessings of the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God, the One who ultimately delivered Israel and reigns now until the end of time. What a truly awesome reality.

And because it is reality, I am encouraged today. I do get fainthearted like David and Elijah. I am tempted often to feel incredibly alone and hopeless. But just as David realized when writing this psalm, that is never completely the case. And because of the power of the Son of God, my life will never be hopeless even in my deepest pain: "for God is with the righteous generation ... the Lord is his refuge." Praise the Lord.

♥