Navigating Pain w/ God (Psalms of Disorientation)
Scripture Focus
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
(Psalm 42)
Psalms of Disorientation Teach Us:
Healing comes through honest vulnerability with God
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God… (V. 1-2)
- “I feel spiritually empty” … “I’m desperate” … “I’m exhausted”… “I can’t find You, God!”
My tears have been my food day and night (V. 3)
- “I can’t stop crying” … “I’ve lost my appetite”… “My grief follows me everywhere.”
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? (V. 5)
- “I’m anxious” … “I feel so lost” … “I don’t even understand what’s happening in me.”
. . .
Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. (V. 7)
- “I’m overwhelmed” .. “the pain just keeps coming” … “I don’t know if I can keep my head above water.”
I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? (V. 9)
- “I thought you said you’d help me, God!” … “I can’t feel You, God!” … “I feel like you’ve abandoned me.”
As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” (V. 10)
- “This hurts to my core” …. “I’m questioning everything.” … “I feel alone”… “Everyone probably thinks the worst of me.”
Reflection Question:
What pain have you been carrying silently that God is inviting you to finally put into words?
Psalms of Disorientation Teach Us….
The Power of Rememberance
These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.
(V. 4)
My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
(V. 6)
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
(V. 11)
Reflection Question:
What evidence of God’s faithfulness from your past do you need to remember today before your pain convinces you to forget it?
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
(Psalm 42)
CLOSING BENEDICTION:
May you have the courage to bring your whole heart to God.
May you never believe that your tears, your questions, or your fears are unwelcome in His presence.
May the Lord meet you in the depths of your sorrow, and remind you that honest prayer is never wasted.
When your soul grows weary, may He bring to your remembrance His faithfulness, His promises, and the countless ways He has carried you before.
And when your emotions cannot see His goodness, may your faith hold fast to His unchanging character, knowing that the God who was faithful yesterday will be faithful again.
May Christ be your hope, His presence your comfort, and His steadfast love the anchor of your soul.
We pray in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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