Psalms Are Good

King David is a man after God’s own heart. He was a worshipper first and foremost. What glorious praise and honor he would bestow upon Jehovah! Yet this man said and went through, quite possibly, some of the most profound, deeply wounding, painful statements ever to grace the pages of the bible. And he is not alone in the 66 books we turn to for comfort (or at least we should turn to comfort). Jeremiah was known as the lamenting prophet. I mean, the brother wrote a book called, “Lamentations.” I mean, come on. What of Paul? He himself wrote to one of the churches of all the problems and pains he and his crew were going through in bringing the gospel to the then world. You know, Jesus wept. Jesus had sorrow so much that He was nigh to death in the garden. And wouldn’t you know!...Jesus had his best friends around him! The men he had loved for 3 years, day and night, through thick and thin!...oh, how they rushed to His side when he prayed, “Father, not my will, but thy will be done.” NOT.

Jesus was solo at His moment of greatest need. Moreover, when that situation worsened to Him being tried, beat, and crucified all His close buddies split. Let every Christian, every believer, every child of God hear this and hear this well: There will never come a time, at least in my short life thus far, when you can firmly and confidently rest assured that there will be other persons to lean on in times of trouble, tribulation, or suffering. I’ve seen church folk come to church (and not just in Singapore which, mind you, is only 2 out of 31 years of my “church” experience) and fall in the arms of other believers for comfort, talking about issues they face, getting help, advice, prayer even to guide them through their life stories. This is a good thing – it is what the family of God is about. If we don’t have each other, what have we? Well that’s my point: “You’ll never know God is all you need until God is all you have.” In the garden of Gethsemane our Lord faced imminent death. All that He had done in His life up to that point was indicative of His love for mankind. And yet, His life ended with Him being alone, cold, bloodied, and forsaken on a piece of wood stuck in a ground with His “friends” nowhere to be found. What shoulder did He have? What “gathering” was there for Him? He didn’t care about any of that stuff…He had a mission, a purpose. You and me. This love kept Him on the cross.

It is interesting to me that we would desire and recognize the need to follow Jesus’ example in everything except bearing our cross. Did He not command us to bear our cross and follow Him? Yes, the Son of God did many examples – healings, feedings, resurrection, etc. – while He was alive. This is all fine and good. But it wasn’t until He died that the full recompense of all that pain manifested itself to the world. As He said:

Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. Now is my soul troubled…
(John 12:23-27)

My point is simple: I’ve observed that one could mistakenly think the seasons of traveling along life’s journey solo would one day give way to walking hand in hand – or shoulder to shoulder – with others on the same path and NEVER have times of lonliness, or misunderstanding from others, or just bearing the pressures of life alone again. What a silly thought. If that were true, I suppose we could wipe out about 1/3 of the psalms of David. What a weak man he was to complain, wail, cry, and admit his troubles! (Now who in their right mind would say such a thing...)

Ahh, but we cannot stop here. We must read the other 2/3 of the book. This is what makes life worth living – that at the end of the day, at the end of our strength, at the end of all things there will be our Jesus who paid the cost for our redemption. And when we see Him…when I see Him…I know what He’ll say: “Been there, done that. Come ‘ere kid…” (I’m sure He’ll say lots of other things, but I hope that’s one of them. With eternity on our side, I’m sure it’ll come out sooner or later…if there is a sooner or later in eternity.)