Sometimes weariness comes. It comes when the night has been long. It arrives when there is no sign of it ending. An overwhelming helplessness arrests one’s soul. You call out to others for some sort of remedy. The only thing is they are in the exact same place that you are. They have nothing to give. They too, desire an end to the night and for the arrival of a new day. A day that restores hope and life.
I’ve been reminiscing over the last year. 2020, a year that I know when mentioned to anyone, it would stir up their emotions. It would bring up memories on how everything turned upside down in what seemed only a fleeting moment. Who knew that it would last as long as it has. Here we are over a year later. Things have changed so much. I have found myself missing things. Especially, being able to do normal things. Like being able to see my grandma by going to her house. Because of restrictions, visiting her is not an option at this time. In the past year there has been a sadness in watching others suffer. I have friends who have lost their loved ones. It was a sudden and unexpected loss.
Since the pandemic started it seemed like more and more people had flocked to the internet. Our world became even more centered around being connected through the internet. It seemed great at first. But now, I have found that real conversations are far and few between. It has been dwindled down to comments, thumbs, views and emojis. The depth of real connection is almost non-existent. It brings a sense of loneliness. Or a sense of isolation. Fear has become rampant. Oh no, there has been nothing normal about the year 2020. And everyone has experienced it! There has been a barrage of anxiety, fear, hopelessness, despair, loss, stress and anger. All due to circumstances beyond one’s control.
So, I suppose by now you may be thinking why is she saying all of this? Is she bringing it up to depress me? I want to assure you that I am not writing this to depress you. I feel like encouragement has become a foreign word. I am writing this because I want to encourage you. If I were sitting with you now, I would tell you that you are not alone.
I want to share a Bible story with you. Sometimes, we can think that people in the Bible never went through anything terrible. But when you go through the Bible you will find that there were different ones who went through some really difficult things. I want to highlight one of their stories. It is found in Psalms 42. To give you a little background of this particular chapter, it was written by King David. It was at a time in his life when he was kept from returning to Jerusalem. He was hindered from being able to go to the sanctuary where God’s Presence was. There were two possible reasons that he was not able to return. One was because of King Saul. King Saul wanted to kill David because God had chosen David to take King Saul’s place. King Saul had been disobedient to the Lord. Because of his disobedience the Lord, was giving the kingdom to David. The other possible reason was because of David’s son Absalom. Absalom betrayed his father David, by stealing the throne from him. Absalom declared himself as king.
The two scenarios paint such a grim picture. Whichever one it was, it was truly disheartening to King David. He writes in Psalms 42 verse 3, Day and night my tears keep falling and my heart keeps crying for your help, while my enemies mock me over and over, saying, “Where is this God of yours? Why doesn’t he help you?”
In that moment, David did not have a lot of people around him to support and encourage him. At that time the manifest Presence of the Lord was only found where the ark of the covenant was held in Jerusalem. Jesus had not yet come and made a way where people could dwell in His Presence at any place and at any given moment. David was cut off from being able to go to where the Lord’s Presence was. God’s Presence was a vital necessity to David. Then David says in verse 4. So I speak over my heartbroken soul, “Take courage. Remember when you used to be right out front leading the procession of praise when the great crowd of worshipers gathered to go into the presence of the Lord? You shouted with joy as the sound of passionate celebration filled the air and the joyous multitude of lovers honored the feast of the Lord!”
He begins to remember what it was like to have the joy of being in God’s Presence. He recalls who God is and how much God means to him. Then in verse 5 David says, Why are you cast down o my soul?
I want to share with you a Bible commentary about verse 5. It is a commentary written by Charles Spurgeon. It says this.
As though he (David) were two men, the psalmist talks to himself. His faith reasons with his fears, his hope argues with his sorrows. These present troubles, are they to last forever? The rejoicings of my foes, are they more than empty talk? My absence from the solemn feasts, is that a perpetual exile? Why this deep depression, this faithless fainting? To search out the cause of our sorrow is often the best surgery for grief. Self ignorance is not bliss; in this case it is misery. The mist of ignorance magnifies the causes of our alarm; a clearer view will make monsters dwindle into trifles. “Why art thou disquieted within me?” Why is my quiet gone? If I cannot keep a public Sabbath, yet wherefore do I deny my soul its indoor Sabbath? Why am I agitated like a troubled sea, and why do my thoughts make a noise like a tumultuous multitude? The causes are not enough to justify such utter yielding to despondency. Up, my heart! What aileth thee? Play the man, and thy castings down shall turn to up liftings, and thy disquietudes to calm. “Hope thou in God.” If every evil be let loose from Pandora’s box, yet is there hope at the bottom. This is the grace that swims, though the waves roar and be troubled. God is unchangeable, and therefore his grace is the ground for unshaken hope. If everything be dark, yet the day will come, and meanwhile hope carries stars in her eyes; her lamps are not dependent on oil from without, her light is fed by secret visitations of God, which sustain the spirit.
“For I shall yet praise Him for the help of his countenance.” Salvations come from the favorable face of God, and he will yet lift up his countenance upon us. Note well that the main hope and chief desire of David rest in the smile of God. His face is what he seeks and hopes to see, and this will recover his low spirits, this will put to scorn his laughing enemies, this will restore to him all the joys of those holy and happy days around which memory lingers. This is grand cheer. This verse, like the singing of Paul and Silas, looses chains and shakes prison walls. He who can use such heroic language in his gloomy hours will surely conquer. In the garden of hope grow the laurels for future victories, the roses of coming joy, the lilies of approaching peace.” Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” In the rehearsal of his sorrow, he finds after all no sufficient ground for being disquieted. Looked in the face, his fears were not so overwhelming as they seemed when shrouded in obscurity. “Hope thou in God.” Let the anchor still keep its hold. God is faithful, God is love, therefore there is room and reason for hope. “Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”~Charles Spurgeon
So maybe you have been feeling down for quite awhile. Or maybe there have been many burdens laid upon you. Perhaps you had some unexpected things happen this year that have been tremendously disheartening. I get it. In this last season, there have been moments that I wish had never come. But, if I stop, really stop and look again I see something different. I see a God who has never left me for one millisecond. He has been there on my best days and He has been there on my terrible days. Do you want to know what the amazing thing is though? He has never changed His mind about me. Nor has He withdrawn His love for me. He has been and will always be My Faithful Friend. My Biggest Supporter. The lover of my soul. And Healer of my heart. And even though I don’t understand why things happen the way they do, He does. Isaiah 53:3 says that Jesus was a man of sorrows. He is acquainted with grief. Sometimes it’s easy to think that Jesus is the last person who would understand what we’re going through. But He was fully God and fully man. He was a man. He went through times of sorrow just like us. He understands. As you look to Him, you will see that He will not leave you in your sorrow. In the midst of sorrow and heartache, He is the glory and the Lifter of our head. Psalms 34:17-18 says, When His people pray for help, He listens and rescues them from their troubles. The Lord is there to rescue all who are discouraged and have given up hope. Hebrews 13 says, for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!”
Let Jesus be the one you put your hope in. And may you say like David did. Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become restless and disturbed within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.