You may recall the children’s song, “if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!” We learn early on that a relationship with God is an extraordinary source of happiness, contentment and joy. But day-to-day life in this fallen world also reveals pain. Quite often in the psalms written by David, we get a glimpse of what it means to struggle with unhappiness, or sorrow, anguish… even agony. Does this mean that God abandons us, specifically when we are in our moments of deepest emotional and spiritual need? Certainly not! One of the gifts we glean from David’s very raw and honest relationship with God as displayed in the psalms is that God is very near to those whose hearts are broken and suffering.

Be encouraged by David’s open appeal to God asking him to forego discipline, rebuke and wrath, because he felt so distressed and hopeless. As he mournfully cries out to God in Psalm 6:2, “be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord heal me, for my bones are in agony.” David even describes the feeling of despair that creeps over the human heart when it seems answers and relief are delayed. He laments in Psalm 6:3, “my soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?” Maybe you can identify with David here.

Even as David continues describing the depth of his woes saying that he is “worn out from groaning” and that his bed is flooded “with weeping” and that his couch is drenched with tears, he exclaims with hopefulness, “the Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer” (Psalm 6:9, NIV). Knowing that we can approach the mighty God and Creator of the universe and that he not only accepts our prayer but hears our cries for mercy gives us hope. The impossible situations we face are not impossible with God.

Lord, knowing that you are near to me when my heart is breaking and that you hear my cries gives me hope and strength amid my struggles. AMEN

Joe Pritchett

Extended Scripture: Psalms 5–7