A Psalm For A Suffering Soul

Psalm 13:1-2 – How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?

There are in scripture only a few brief glimpses into the very center of a soul. It is a rare thing to be privileged to take such a journey with another, for often the center of a soul is filled with suffering and sorrow and sickness, and it is often the innermost part of a person that is well walled off from the outside world and often walled off from the individual so completely that its very existence is often questioned. But there are moments that we are invited by another to that secret place and hear from the heart the pain and the plight of another. Jesus took us to that place one night in a garden called Gethsemane. He privileged us by pouring out his soul in such a way that we might see to the very center, and there we hear how he gave his very will to God for the great adventure unfolding before him, an adventure that would cost him in suffering and sorrow and torture and trial, and then, finally, death and destruction.

The Psalmist invites us on this journey today as we are welcomed into the depths of his prayer and petition before God. He speaks aloud in our presence the very thing we dare not speak even in the darkest and deepest recesses of our soul.

Prayer: I trust in your steadfast love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. Even in the suffering of my soul, Lord, you have been good to me. Amen.

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