WEEK 6 | Emotions | Mystery & Goodness
A PSALM OF PLEADING
Psalm 69:1-4, 16-18, 29
1 Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
4 More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal must I now restore?
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!
29 But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
TO A PSALM OF PRAISE
Psalm 69:30-36
30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36 the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
Psalms go from lament, to praise to thanksgiving.
Have you noticed?
The switch from lament to praise is always abrupt and mysterious?
God never explains the gap or the process?
Why is it abrupt and mysteriously quick?
Could it be that the psalmist has compressed an experience that took a long time to develop into a short statement?
Why does God not explain the gap in the psalms?
There are no steps to healing? No principles to follow? Why?
If we could explain the gap than we could control it and then we would probably start worshipping it instead of drawing near to the one that desires relationship with us.
God longs for faith that struggles and rests in His goodness.
As we cry out to God and lean into him in the gap, what can we expect from God?
God restores us. (Psalm 113:7-9)
God parents us.(Psalm 103:13)
God gives us rest.(Psalm 131:1-2)
God fills us. (Psalm 107:9)
God glorifies us. (Psalm 3:3)
God gives us himself. (Psalm 17:15)
Psalm 51:16-17
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
ENTER REDEMPTIVE STRUGGLE
