TRUST THROUGH TRAUMA
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Opening Prayer
Father in Heaven, help me to make today one of true worship, to praise you with words and deeds.
Read PSALM 13
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
Reflect
‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’1 In quiet, become attuned to God’s presence.
When I was sixteen, I experienced a deep crisis of faith. I tried to pray to God but didn’t see how I could when I was doubting his very existence. I stopped praying and walked into a spiritual wilderness for several years. If only I had known about the ancient Judeo-Christian tradition of lament, of which this psalm is a classic example. The psalmist is experiencing a painful crisis. He feels forgotten and abandoned by God. Yet, instead of turning away, as I did, he shouts out to God in his pain, frustration, and, perhaps, anger (vv. 1, 2). He then demands that God remember him, speak to him, and deliver him (vv. 3, 4). Do we dare to address God in such ways? Do we allow others in our faith communities, including conflicted teenagers, to express their honest questions and doubts? Or do we assume we must bring our best selves to prayer and worship—and bury our less presentable feelings?
The psalm ends by affirming trust in God and deciding to praise (vv. 5, 6). This might seem like a surprising switch in tone, but it is typical for psalms of lament to end in this way. Indeed, the whole psalm is only possible because the psalmist trusts God. He trusts God enough to fling all his pain and frustration at God, knowing that none of that can diminish God’s ‘unfailing love’ and capacity to save (v. 5). We see this in Jesus, who suffered with us and for us, despite the worst that we could give—and rose in glory on the third day. Thank God, he revealed his gracious life-giving presence again to me. May we all have the capacity to trust him with our worst feelings and the grace to know his love and salvation, whatever we are going through.
Apply
Reread verses 5 and 6 (aloud if you can) slowly and repeatedly. Make this your prayer, no matter what your current situation.
Closing prayer
Loving Father, regardless of my circumstances, help me remember that your love for me is beyond measure. Each day, please help me trust you and offer you praise, knowing that you are ever mindful of me and always at work on my behalf.
1 1 Kings 19:11.
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