Songs Out of the Deep Caves (Lent) - Wednesday, March 28
"When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way…
You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living…
Listen to my cry for I am in desperate need."
Psalm 142:3, 5-6 (NIV)
This past year, I wrote a song. The soul of the song came to me one day when my heart was groaning deeply. I have been singing in worship bands most of my life but have written only a few songs. Why a song now?
In thinking about this, I came to realize that this last year has been one of the most difficult and challenging years of my life, both in ministry and in my personal life. There have been many blessings but also much hardship. It has driven me to the Book of Psalms, seeking comfort in David's poems and songs.
The Psalms bring comfort because a real person with real issues in real life wrote them. What I often forget is that David wrote many of his powerful psalms and songs out of deep, dark caves that he lived in for years while the king was trying to take his life. David wrote on the run during hard and desperate times.
I am certainly not comparing myself to David’s challenges. but I do know that out of my hardship a song also came. Rather than letting the difficulty overtake me, which was possible, like David, by God’s grace, I cried out to Him, and He gave me a song. It was only my part to write it down. It is now a song that our worship band recently recorded.
God uses our hard experiences to teach us to trust, to learn more about His love through His Word, which by His grace prompts us to cry out to Him with a song, a poem, or some other expression that praises His name! Our difficult times are powerful healing and growing experiences in Christ. God may want to take the pain in your life and use it to inspire you to do something beautiful, to encourage yourself as well as others, just like David.
Dear Lord, help me to see the beauty and hope of your resurrection even while going through hard times. Remind me, O Lord, that you are there even when life is hard and that deep healing can come when I sing and worship, even in these times. Lord, help me to sing a new song and to see that in dark times you are often doing your most important work in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.