Deep Waters

But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high! I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

 Psalms 69:29-30

     I so love the Word of God! I cannot express to you how often the perfect words come into my daily reading, either my personal time or the time that I have with my children... sometimes both! Sometimes I will read a rebuke that will make me squirm; a stern warning that I have been indulging some act of pride or another sin and I need to let it go. These times are not fun, I admit, but they are absolutely wonderful for I know that the Lord disciplines those He loves. At other times, I will find encouragement when I am feeling defeated, reminders to wait on the Lord when I am stamping with impatience, or a rush of excitement when yet another small section of God's magnificence and eon-spanning masterpiece becomes clearer to me.

   As anyone who has been reading my somewhat sporadic documentation of my faith journey will know, I have had a great deal of pain. As a matter of fact, it was the beginning of Psalm 69 that first drew me in to read it repeatedly throughout yesterday and again this morning. David cries out in these verses, "Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me." It so closely echoed the cry of my own heart. It has not only been physical pain that has plagued me lately, but emotional pain of discord within my church body, dear friends moving one at a time for years now, and distance from our extended family. Pain, both physical and emotional, has been a constant in my life for many years now, and lately I have felt that water creeping up to my neck and a growing panic that I may be consumed by it. I nearly cried when I read David's opening verse because it was exactly how I was feeling.

     However, God did not leave David there and He does not leave me there, floundering in rising water and dread. He reminds me of His past faithfulness. If I am to drown in any water, it will be the the Living Water as I die to myself and am made alive to God in Christ. The waters of trial and trouble may rise to my very chin, but they will not overpower me, as I am reminded in Isaiah: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you..." (Isaiah 43:2).  There is no situation, no pain, no difficulty too big for my God to handle. He will allow me to walk through dark valleys and deep waters because it is good for me to learn to trust Him in them as well as in the high and sunny places of ease. I am so thankful for that.

      Yesterday and today, God used the words of this Psalm to remind me that, when I am afflicted and in pain, I am not alone. Though I may not feel His presence, He is there. He reminds me that, despite the pain or the trouble or the difficult situation I find myself in, I am still to praise Him. It is not in my situations that I find joy, you see, it is in Him. He is my joy; He is my strength. And so, when the waters are turbulent and threatening, I have a choice. I can fixate on the troubled waters and the uneasiness of my heart, or I can turn my mind and focus to the things above. My joy, after all, is not found on this earth but in God alone. He is my joy. He is my strength. Even when all the world seems to be caving in around me, I can still sing for my God has overcome the world. Today, despite my weariness and my pain, I will praise His name with a song and I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 

Psalms 34:1-8