Journal Ps 6-7 (all references are from the ESV; changes in punctuation and notes are mine)
Scripture: I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.
(deep breath…) My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.
(straighten up my shoulders…) Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. (Ps 6:6-9)
Observation: David didn’t dismiss his feelings and expressions of anguish, sorrow, heartache, pain, and distress easily. He cried out to the Lord.
Question is: Do I dismiss these emotions and thoughts and go right to the punch line of having a prayer answered and miss the benefits of the toil to get there?
Application: I must make no mistake: there is a benefit in wrestling with feelings of anguish, etc. If there isn’t a benefit to be obtained, how is faith perfected?
If I skip the work, where will I get the muscle memory when I will need it?
There is a reference that lines up with this. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” I can instantly align with rejoicing with others, but I fail to weep, opting otherwise to convince them to see the goodness of God.
How many of those folks have I tried to do this with and how many have seen right through the insincerity behind it? For I have tried to major in the praise and rejoicing part (positive thinking) and have minored (if not failed) in consolation to my brother by just keeping my mouth shut and letting my own tears flow.
I remember Alan, going through the beginnings of his marriage breaking up, and just sitting against the building with him. I paid attention to the Spirit and just put my arm around him when my heart was warring within me, “Say something. You are supposed to minister to him!! Find, dredge up within you a holy statement that will make him feel better!!” All the time I was sitting with him I was looking for a scripture bullet to load in my holy six gun to shoot.
I didn’t succumb for with effort I placed productive faith in “weeping with those who weep.”
That is testimony about serving another. What about when my world comes crashing in the dark, when sleep isn’t found because my mind is filled with anguish, sorrow, and torment?
This is the testimony of David in Psalms 6. It serves me well to understand that David isn’t trying to escape the emotion of dread; he acknowledges them in detail.
And then, not too quickly but firmly says, “Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.”
In another Psalm, David says it this way, “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…” (Ps 42:5) I have this personal picture of picking my soul by the scruff of the neck and shaking it, speaking this psalm to it.
I am wandering in this post today. I can’t help but think I want to be like Jesus. He was a man of sorrows—but didn’t stay there. He wept over Lazarus even though he knew he was going to raise him up in a couple of hours.
Dealing with personal sorrows biblically and thoroughly is like an exercise regimen conducted by the Holy Spirit. Do your spiritual pushups, don’t skip, so that you will be strong when called upon.
Prayer: Father, I think I am becoming aware that when I am confronted with anguish and you allow me to cry out like David did, you are doing a number on my pride, diminishing it tendril by tendril.
AMEN.
Ricky Two Shoes