Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The Book of Psalms is everybody's favorite devotional reading. Those songs say things to God and about Him that we wish we could say but we don't dare. They are openly honest, laying bare the very deepest emotions in our hearts. No matter how much veneer of "all-is-well" we cleverly put on our surface, inside we wrestle with the same problems that David had. "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" we ask when we are going through our valley of shadows. We read of other people's miraculous answers to prayer, but "O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season .." (22:1, 2). "Our fathers trusted in Thee, and Thou didst deliver them, .. and were not confounded. But I ... " and then David says what you and I don't dare say even though we sometimes feel that way, "But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people "(4-6). (Teenagers need to read the Psalms; kids are the most prone to depression in society.)
But the Psalm of Psalms that defies our understanding most is the one (the only one!) that ends in despair--Number 88. It says the most painful things about God of any of the Psalms. It's the near-death and near-hell category of prayer. Not the death of some old person who might welcome silent rest, but it's the death of a very sentient young person whose bitterness is the most poignant because it is the most deeply felt: "Lover and friend hast Thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness" (vs. 18). David has put into words of prayer thoughts that seethe beneath the surface in hearts: "Lord, You are to blame for my divorce! You turned so-and-so against me when he or she had told me, 'I love you!' and I believed it. There is no bitterness in life so painful to endure as 'lover .. hast Thou put far from me'"! The psychiatrists and counselors can work overtime to heal, but the wound still festers even years or decades later. "God did it, not I! It feels like even He hates me!"
Read that Psalm again (88): David is not bitter, and neither do you need to be. Don't miss the huge comfort that is here: David is a type of Christ who drank a cup of lover-hatred more bitter than any of us can taste. Through David we learn to know Him--as He is.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 31, 2002.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
The Book of Psalms is everybody's favorite devotional reading. Those songs say things to God and about Him that we wish we could say but we don't dare. They are openly honest, laying bare the very deepest emotions in our hearts. No matter how much veneer of "all-is-well" we cleverly put on our surface, inside we wrestle with the same problems that David had. "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" we ask when we are going through our valley of shadows. We read of other people's miraculous answers to prayer, but "O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season .." (22:1, 2). "Our fathers trusted in Thee, and Thou didst deliver them, .. and were not confounded. But I ... " and then David says what you and I don't dare say even though we sometimes feel that way, "But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people "(4-6). (Teenagers need to read the Psalms; kids are the most prone to depression in society.)
But the Psalm of Psalms that defies our understanding most is the one (the only one!) that ends in despair--Number 88. It says the most painful things about God of any of the Psalms. It's the near-death and near-hell category of prayer. Not the death of some old person who might welcome silent rest, but it's the death of a very sentient young person whose bitterness is the most poignant because it is the most deeply felt: "Lover and friend hast Thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness" (vs. 18). David has put into words of prayer thoughts that seethe beneath the surface in hearts: "Lord, You are to blame for my divorce! You turned so-and-so against me when he or she had told me, 'I love you!' and I believed it. There is no bitterness in life so painful to endure as 'lover .. hast Thou put far from me'"! The psychiatrists and counselors can work overtime to heal, but the wound still festers even years or decades later. "God did it, not I! It feels like even He hates me!"
Read that Psalm again (88): David is not bitter, and neither do you need to be. Don't miss the huge comfort that is here: David is a type of Christ who drank a cup of lover-hatred more bitter than any of us can taste. Through David we learn to know Him--as He is.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 31, 2002.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
