21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Psalm 73
By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.
Psalm 42
I need to be absolutely real with the Lord. There's no other way. God sees the truth hidden in our hearts.
So I must confess the way I feel about the suffering going on. It's astounding how much tragedy is unfolding before our eyes.
In previous wars it has never been as graphic as today, when the Internet propels scenes, as they happen, in traumatic clarity.
At these times I grasp at the desperate prayers in the Psalms. They reflect my own emotions and the way I turn from my "why's" to prayer and trust.
The only way to approach such terrifying situations is to take the long view.
People may taunt "where is your God?" and laugh at the hope we have in our hearts, BUT GOD will have the final say. He WILL right all the wrongs that are happening.
It's true, I don't understand why the Lord doesn't act immediately. But there is an end for the wickedly callous:
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
Psalm 73
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