When you dare to “go there” with God…when you’re willing to be uncensored with him in your little and big moments of suffering, you discover the depth of his love & comfort…and somehow, it becomes enough
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One[d]
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
Psalm 42:1-4 NIV
We push it away
We explain it away
We downplay
We play the blame game
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:5 NIV
You can claim hope in suffering when you
God is both
Psalm 56:8 says “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”
When you’ve allowed yourself to be KNOWN by God and you KNOW the God to whom you speak – you realize you’re placing your hope in the capable and caring hands of the infinite and intimate God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
By day the Lord directs his love,
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 must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
Psalm 42:6-10 NIV
Bring your
“Father if you are willing please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Luke 22:42).
I need God more than I need an answer.
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:11 NIV
Speak hope to your soul again and again
Our hope is in a
Speaking hope to yourself without being fully known by God falls flat. It feels fake. Speaking hope when you’re fully known … when there’s nothing hidden between you… THAT is HOPE.
Additional Notes: