Psalm 77

Many of our hymns, old and new, have been written when the author was in despair. (Examples: Abide with Me, Henry F. Lyle; It is Well with My Soul, Horatio G. Spafford; Blessed Be Your Name, Matt Redman). The author of the letter to the Hebrews defines faith as, “the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1). The prose of these hymn writers, and the psalmist, express faith securely resting on the Word of God, not emotions and feelings.

In the first ten verses, the psalmist is focused only on his feelings and his circumstances. I counted nineteen personal pronouns in those ten verses. It is perfectly alright to express your anxiety and feelings of depression to God. We learned in Psalm 56 that God keeps our tears in a bottle; He is for us. But it is not a good thing to stay focused on our feelings. There comes a time when we need to say, “Rain on my feelings!” (Bill Gillham, Lifetime Guarantee). What matters most is what God has said in His Word, not my feelings.

How do we come to that place where we trust God’s Word in our lives? How do we find our way to the place where we are content to rest in God’s smile of affection for us? I think Mother Teresa answers those questions best when she said, “You’ll never know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” You will never come to the place where Jesus is all you have until you first exhaust your confidence in your own power and resources. We can only be dependent on God after we have come to the end of our own independence.

Don’t confuse dependence on God and resting in God’s love for you with passivity. God created each of us with our soul, which is our mind, will and emotions. Becoming dependent on God is a matter of allowing our mind to be grounded on God’s word, training our will to be conformed to God’s will, and choosing to believe God’s Word about who we are.

Sē’lah

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What word or phrase in today’s reading of the Psalms

 attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

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How does this passage touch your life today?

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Reading for July 18, 2012          Psalm 78