A Psalm for Everything
I love reading the Message translation of the Psalms when I need to be sad. Here are a few lines that have made me feel not so alone recently. Isn't it great that these are in the Bible?
"You walked off and left us... God, how could you do that?" -- Psalm 74:1
"'Just my luck', I said. 'The High God retires just the moment I need him.'" -- Psalm 77:10
"I'm up against the wall, with no exit...I've never been this low." -- Psalm 142:3-7
Other Psalms help me have hope:
"He breathes on winter...suddenly it's spring!" -- Psalm 147:18
Psalm 126
"It seemed like a dream, too good to be true,
when God returned Zion’s exiles.
We laughed, we sang,
we couldn’t believe our good fortune.
We were the talk of the nations—
“God was wonderful to them!”
God was wonderful to us;
we are one happy people.
And now, God, do it again—
bring rains to our drought-stricken lives
So those who planted their crops in despair
will shout “Yes!” at the harvest,
So those who went off with heavy hearts
will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing."
In this one, it feels like the Psalmist has an aha! moment. It seems like there are two ways to interpret a big let down. Option 1: They had it great, but now that's all over. God was. But is no more. Option 2: They had it great because God was wonderful. Because God was wonderful, they can trust he will be again.
I find myself dancing between these two options, wanting to believe option 2. We laughed, we sang. Now God, do it again.