Overwhelmed!

 

Friday, June 24, 2022

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.  Oh, that God would listen to me!  When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord.  All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.  I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help.               Interlude

You don’t let me sleep.  I am too distressed even to pray!  I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.  I search my soul and ponder the difference now.  Has the Lord rejected me forever?  Will he never again be kind to me?  Is his unfailing love gone forever?  Have his promises permanently failed?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?  Has he slammed the door on his compassion?            Interlude

And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”  But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.  They are constantly in my thoughts.  I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.  O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders!  You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.  By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.   Psalm 77:1-15

It's a very common experience; all too common!  The pressure builds on the job, or in the family, or with neighbors, death, Covid, bills, age…and on into the abyss.  You’ve been overwhelmed; hope has vanished.  Even just listing these gives me a cold chill.  I’ve been there; chances are you have too, or you even live there.

Whether you’re a believer in God, follower of Jesus, or someone who’s not quite sure if God is even there, you’ve probably prayed during those times.  You ask for a solution, or at least some relief, and the heavens respond back quickly with….NOTHING.  There’s no sound, no skies unfolding with answers, not a twinge of assurance suddenly welling-up in your gut; just the emptiness and certainty that you’re on your own, in your pain, and completely forgotten.

The Psalmist, a court musician in King David’s reign, spent a night in prayer over what was happening in his life, and a kingdom in chaos.  Heaven went dark on him.  You can just picture the building sense of Why Bother?  If you’ve watched that develop in a friend, or family member, you know it’s time to collect all the loose prescription bottles around the house and change the combination on the gun safe.  The scenes start playing over and again in your mind of how you can escape such pain.  If you’ve faced this, and lived-through to a revival of hope, you know it was something greater than what was left inside of you that saved you from yourself.  There was a moment when it all changed, or it gradually dawned in your soul, that a genuinely-hopeful light did exist at the end of the darkness.

For Asaph, it was a long history of staying close to God’s family, prayer, and choosing faith over feelings.  He began to recall (out loud in his written prayer) all the historical facts of God’s goodness.  He started listing them, one-by-one, and with each post of God’s unending faithfulness, the light of dawn crept a little closer.  This practiced litany of Israel’s history with God’s lovingkindness became a sermon Asaph penned for other depressed, hopeless ones in Israel.  By the time this court poet was done, his own darkness was glowing with surprising and fierce joy; the next Psalm ends with God’s solidified tenderness and hope:

He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.  Psalm 78:72

For You Today

Is your hope tank on empty?  Take Asaph’s lesson; joy comes in the mourning!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author) 

For other posts on this topic:  A Prayer From the Hourglass and Has God Forgotten to Be Gracious?

[1] 6 Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

 

Hollow Times

 

Thursday, April 7, 2022

Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress.  Tears blur my eyes.  My body and soul are withering away.  I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness.  Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.  I am scorned by all my enemies and despised by my neighbors—even my friends are afraid to come near me.  When they see me on the street, they run the other way.  I am ignored as if I were dead, as if I were a broken pot.  

I have heard the many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by terror.  My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life.  But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, “You are my God!”  My future is in your hands.  Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.  Let your favor shine on your servant.  In your unfailing love, rescue me.  Psalm 31:9-16

I’m not so certain that there can ever truly be a little case of depression.  Depression is the prologue to hollow insides of a human.  Being in the “hollow times” is the draining thing the Psalmist describes, punctuated by grief and regret.  Set apart, like a broken pot behind the garden shed, depression magnifies the hollowness within gnawing at any memory of what life was, once upon a time. 

Strangely enough, hollowness of mind, body, and soul is, at the same time, despised and feared, as well as the embarkment platform of repentance.  The Psalmist describes the cause of his emptiness as sin…drained my strength.  This confession, from the depths of the hollow man can only be genuine, when all strength, reason, and human resources have been exhausted. 

In Jesus’ sermon of the Beattitudes he holds forth the essence of the hollow beginnings of blessedness:

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.  Matthew 5:3

At the risk of skipping over a treatise on humility (poverty of spirit, as contrasted with depression) the “poverty” of a life emptied of any reason to still participate in breathing, can turn God-blessed, a veritable turnkey to the Kingdom’s door.  It is poverty of a depressed soul with nothing to offer, save trusting in the mercy of He who sits on Heaven’s throne.  Hollowness is the launch pad for being filled. 

Have you ever tried to stuff a little more into something that was already overflowing?  Or, have you tried to take a little more out of somewhere that was already completely empty?  The Psalmist’s mantra is a theology of emptiness; the glass is neither half-empty, nor half-full; it is, as he said, reduced to broken shards, thrown-out behind the tool shed.  It can’t receive, nor can it give.  It is depression that is stuck in empty meaninglessness. 

I have known the hollow times.  Sparing the details, it was the kindness of caring souls pointing in the direction of God’s open, merciful arms, which allowed me a ray of hope.  My future seemed like a thick, black curtain, behind which there stood an impenetrable brick wall.  But when I called on him, trusting and leaning entirely on His grace, the curtain dropped, and the depression wall began to crumble. 

For You Today

If life has driven you into the hollow times, and your cup is empty and dry, remember the hot sand on the beach is only a few steps from the cooling waters.

[If you are suffering from depression there are caring professionals available to help.  If you have not found one, don’t give up.  I invite you to send me a message (RBrownworth@gmail.com).  I can listen or point you to help]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

The Providence of God

 

Friday, August 21, 2020

I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart; I will sing your praises before the gods.  I bow before your holy Temple as I worship.  I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.  As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.  Psalm 138:1-3

The Psalmist lets us in on a little key ingredient to faith; you’ve got to keep going.  I’m not talking about really tough times when you don’t know whether or not you’ve got it in you to take one more step; in times like that He carries you.  Rather, it’s more the times when you just don’t feel like taking any steps that you’ve got to keep taking those steps.

·       Did you ever just not feel like saying that prayer?

·       Have you ever felt like it was a waste of time to go to another worship service?

·       Has there been a time when you felt too angry to pray?

·       Did you ever feel like it was useless to forgive that guy….again?

Hear the Psalmist again: 

As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.

Faith isn’t spooky, doesn’t require a medium or fortune teller, and it certainly isn’t hiding anywhere.  Faith is constantly available, and the problem isn’t that God has made it only for the superstars, like Moses, Peter, or Paul; the problem is, frankly, sometimes we just don’t feel like it.  And this is the point at which we find that faith. 

If you have developed a habit of praying, giving, worshipping, helping others, or any other spiritual discipline, there will be times when you don’t feel like it.  Those are the times to put aside feelings and remember it is a discipline, and the strength God gave you to form that discipline, will be the same strength that shows up in that discipline.  This is so, because of another little key the Psalmist let slip…it’s not about us, or our feelings; God’s providence, His care for us, is all resting on the honor of God’s holy name.

In a discussion with a dear friend we were talking about this same issue, and I had the thought that many times I don’t really want to get up as early as I do.  Sometimes, even when I manage to drag my aging carcass out of the bed, stumble to the desk with my first cup of coffee, and begin to read, I do not feel like writing another devotional (perhaps just like you sometimes don’t feel like reading another devotional).  But, when it has become a habit, you do it anyway. 

And one of two things happen:

1.     Somewhere in the process, like the Psalmist, you realize that entering that time of prayer, or service, or devotion, God has encouraged you, replenished your strength, or resolve, or grown your faith.   The technical term is providence – the Lord has provided. 

The other possibility is:

2.     You don’t feel anything but bored, or tired, or angry, or, well…fill in the blank.  And, in this case, it isn’t that God can’t provide what you need; you’ve bumped into the need for a vacation….or a nap…or a nap on vacation.  You get the idea.

Your tank of human strength has run low, and God wants to replenish all of you, not just your spiritual side, He wants your mind, emotions, physical being, and relationships to flourish.  And, you’re not your best self when those feelings begin to control every decision, action, or word that drops from your tired, bored, angry lips.

For You Today

There are times to take a break, step back, and regain strength, or perspective; it’s time to let God replenish whatever is running on empty. 

Don’t be afraid of that.  It’s providential…one of God’s promises!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

VIDEO

Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on activating your faith, see Faith Finding the Path to Do Right

 

The Song of a Worm

[1]

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob, don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you.  I am the Lord, your Redeemer.  I am the Holy One of Israel.’  You will be a new threshing instrument with many sharp teeth.  You will tear your enemies apart, making chaff of mountains.  You will toss them into the air, and the wind will blow them all away; a whirlwind will scatter them.  Then you will rejoice in the Lord.  You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.  “When the poor and needy search for water and there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I, the Lord, will answer them.  I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.  I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus.  I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.  I will fill the desert with pools of water.  Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.  I will plant trees in the barren desert—cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.  I am doing this so all who see this miracle will understand what it means—that it is the Lord who has done this, the Holy One of Israel who created it.  Isaiah 41:14-20^(NLT)

Regarding the kingdom of bugs, to the best of my recollection worms do not tear their enemies apart, tossing them into the air like insignificant straw for the garbage heap!  Neither are the poor and needy movers and shakers, and water doesn’t flow upwards to high plateaus, nor pools of water normally sprout in the desert; most definitely parched ground isn’t a place to find forests of trees that need water.

By definition, all that stuff falls in the realm of miracle, where the laws of nature and science are suspended and the opposite of those laws happen.  It takes a miracle to fall upwards to the sky!  It takes that for the lowly to turn the tables on the mighty!

There are “worm seasons” in all our lives, time when we feel powerless, or like our time to contribute is gone.  I feel like a worm most Mondays, worn-out from giving out whatever I’ve got in ministering on Sunday.  Conducting a couple of worship services after an hour’s drive to get to the church can leave one feeling pretty worm-like the next day.  This isn’t what the brochures said about retirement!

But on the other hand, God’s word to Israel wasn’t about retiring; the little worm-like nation only felt like a worm.  In the mighty hands of the Almighty it is of little consequence what the world thinks of you, or even how you see yourself, when God says even the natural order of the universe will be no obstacle to what His will is for you! 

And the reason God does stuff like that – taking lowly Israel and elevating them beyond anyone’s imagination – is because He wants there to be no doubt about Who it is that did such a thing.  He wants to make certain it is clear:  God is the author.

For You Today

Eating dust lately?  Feel a little worm-like?  Powerless?  Remember that there is a kingdom coming that seems pretty far-fetched to those without faith.  Everything will change when the Holy One of Israel is behind it.  And if you are His, nothing will stand in the way of all He has planned for you.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com