'No One Cares'
Dave Faust
No devotional book ever written can surpass the book of Psalms. For nearly 3,000 years it has provided guidance for individual believers and songs of praise for the gathered congregation to sing. All of God's Word points us to Jesus, but the Psalms also speak to our emotions.
Ups and Downs
The Psalms are humanity's spiritual journal—150 chapters of praise for God amid the ups and downs of life. In Psalm 3:1 the mood is up: "I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart." In Psalm 10:1 the mood is down: "Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?" Psalm 12 affirms, "O Lord, you will keep us safe," but the next chapter begins, "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?" (Psalm 13:1).
We appreciate the calm assurance of the 23rd Psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing." But we also have tasted the loneliness that opens the previous chapter: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1).
A poet named Asaph cheerfully sang, "Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart" (Psalm 73:1). But in the very next chapter he groaned, "Why have you rejected us forever, O God? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?" (Psalm 74:1).
Still, the railway of praise winds its way through the Psalms' peaks and valleys. Sometimes prayers seem to go unanswered and we feel that God hasn't listened, or worse, that he doesn't even care. But God's promises remain steadfast even when our emotions do not.
Caved In
The subtitle of Psalm 142 says David composed it "when he was in the cave." Talk about feeling low! He was literally and figuratively in a pit. The honored king of Israel and vanquisher of giants complained, "No one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life" (v. 4).
No one cares? Really? Remember the night when the disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee and a furious storm came up? While the waves poured over the deck and the wind threatened to capsize the boat, the panicky disciples baled out the water and adjusted the sail. Meanwhile "Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?'" (Mark 4:38). For a few terrifying moments the disciples thought no one cared. Even the Lord himself looked too sleepy to help.
No one cares? That's how it seemed—but not how it was.
When the time was right, Jesus spoke and the stormy sea became smooth as glass. The life-threatening storm provided an opportunity for Jesus to demonstrate his life-saving power, and to teach some important lessons about faith.
Depression is a dark room; faith is the window that lets in the light.
Depression is a deep valley; faith is the path to the mountaintop.
Depression is the soul's desert; faith brings us to the oasis where flowers take root.
Depression is the strong wind that threatens to capsize the boat; faith keeps us listening for the Lord's voice to calm the storm and lead us to the safe harbor.
When everything caves in, God is still beneath us, above us, around us, within us. And nothing—even our emotional ups and downs—can separate us from his love.
This column first appeared in The Lookout on Feb 1, 2004.
No More Mr. Nice Guy
You might be surprised to learn that the word nice never appears in the Bible. My dictionary says it derives from the Latin nescius ("ignorant" or "foolish"). Nice used to mean "wanton," "coy," or "finicky," although in modern times it's come to mean "pleasing," "virtuous," "respectable," or "polite."
No Ouchless Answer
A couple of evenings ago, I accidentally touched the wrong key on my computer keyboard and lost some writing projects I've been working on for months. My quick, thoughtless flick of the Delete key was followed by hours of frustration and regret. "How could I be so careless? Why did this happen? How can I recover what I lost?" Thankfully, it wasn't a total loss. My friend Bob the computer genius came to the rescue and retrieved many of my files. But for a while, I identified with the witty person who remarked, "Now I know why they call that computer program 'Windows.' You get so frustrated, you want to throw your computer out one!"