For Weary Travelers

 

The psalmist begins here with a journey through lament and into a distinct setting of sight on God’s character and beckoning for deliverance.  The psalm ends with praise.  

 If I’m honest, I’ve been weary of being weary for a long time.  My eyes are often dry and my mind can spin and spin.  The darkness is not merely the absence of light nor is bereavement marked by only sorrow.  I just keep doing the next thing.  I can preach truths to my own soul that still land on a heart that doesn’t always accept those truths stored up in my mind.  Sometimes I muscle through the very next thing, waiting on the sigh of relief or breath of fresh air, only for it to feel as the tiniest pip and trod on waiting for the next.  

 Darkness doesn’t always beget a redemption story at every turn around the bend.  Darkness is sometimes just dark.  I miss my kid and I struggle to let him linger in my mind in the space of sweet remembrance most of the time.  Most of the time it leads to gut-wrenching triggers that steal me from the present.  How am I to be present while living again through the treachery of Haddon’s death, my mind and body revolting against my sheer will to avoid the remembrance of details that would leave anyone shuddering?  If that were that the only layer of difficulty, my life would be much simpler.

 The truth is that verse, “Oh death where is your sting, grave your victory,” just doesn’t always land well.  I know it to be true, yet my experience tells me something other than that truer truth, that Glory is ahead.  This post is full of weight, perhaps more honest than most desire to engage, and that is okay.  All are welcome to move along.  This post is for other weary travelers.  

 Here’s what I want to get to.  Our present suffering, it just isn’t it.  No matter how much we feel convinced that it will remain, Home is just over the horizon.  Doing the very next thing in front of you can be the act of worship that so gladdens the heart of God, for He truly knows the weight that you carry.  Turning our eyes to Him in our obliterating grief is an honor to Him, and He will satisfy and quench our aching, yearning souls.  He provides the means to endure, the whispers on our deaf ears, and the steadfast love that awakens us to the goodness outside of our present reality, Himself.  

Taste, see, look, wait...the truths within the Word point to the Savior who waits, pursues, and appeals to the wandering, lost, and broken.  I am the latter.  If you are with me, come to Him, weary and heavy laden as you are.  He will provide rest for your soul.  In His timing, He will bring praise to your lips.  

Sweet Jesus, You are welcome here.  Do Your bidding.  

Psalm 22

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 

2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. 

3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 

4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 

5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 

6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 

7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 

8 "He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!" 

9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts. 

10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God. 

11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. 

12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 

13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 

15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 

16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet- 

17 I can count all my bones- they stare and gloat over me; 

18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 

19 But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! 

20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! 

21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! 

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 

24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. 

25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. 

26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever! 

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 

28 For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. 

29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. 

30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; 

31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it. 

 

 


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