The Crying Psalms

I am following Selwyn Hughes' Every Day with Jesus devotional. His current series is titled "Being Real in the Psalms".

Writing these notes almost 44 years ago, Selwyn wrote "more of the fact that we think about affects the way we feel and that our emotions are direct results of our thinking."

On the other hand, the world today is advocating using our feeling as our only guide; if you feel like doing it, just do it! Now, doesn't that sound exciting and familiar nowadays?

As I go through the daily reflection, I begin to identify with what Psalms tell us in this regards. There are psalms for every season of our life - of comfort, of thanksgiving and also psalms that are harsh, expressing pains and hurts.

I learned that life is not always about feeling good all the time; the psalmists had many "bad days" too. David had expressed his fears and disappointments in many psalms. He cried his heart out to the Lord many times. These are psalms of disorientation. Many times, we skip these psalms in our reading, preferring the pleasant ones such as Psalms 23, 91, 127, 138 and many of the same.

For a long time, I thought that we who profess Christ, must always put on a positive front, even at the worst of times. As I am a leader in church, I thought that it was my responsibility and duty to remain cheerful and positive always. I felt, like Sewlyn had originally did, that it was wrong for me to admit to my emotions as I go through bouts of doubt, anger, disappointment, loneliness and even despair.

The truth is that, like every one else, I do have my struggles. "Being Real in the Psalms" puts me in a proper perspective. I am learning and I want to share my learning with you.

I will begin my journey into exploring the "uncomfortable" psalms, and together, let's learn how to be real and how to trust Him fully when we go through trials and testings.

David wrote many of these "uncomfortable" psalms. Psalm 51 is a good start for us to begin our journey. I will share what I learned from this psalm next week.

God bless

Steven