Today’s reading is Psalm 42.
I was born in Mountain Home, Idaho. I don’t remember anything about it. We move to England when I was two. I remember a little about that. We moved to Goldsboro, North Carolina when I was 6, I remember that a lot better. Since that time, I’ve lived in 11 different cities for at least six months. In every place I’ve lived (and most places I’ve visited), people have tried to clue me in to what their home is really like. And in every single place someone has said to me, “That’s one thing about this town. If you don’t like the weather, just wait around for five minutes, it’ll change.” They say it like it’s the only place in the world where that happens. But I assure you, where you live is not the only place in the world like that. The world is just like that.
In fact, Israel must have been like that. In the first half of Psalm 42, the psalmist is like a deer panting for streams of water in a drought. But by vs. 7, he’s in the middle of a flood. “Deep calls to deep” brings to mind the chaotic waters at the beginning of creation. There is so much water the psalmist is now overwhelmed by the waves and the breakers. They go over him. He went from dehydrating to drowning in a matter of seven verses.
And that is life. Sometimes we are so drained and exhausted, emotionally, physically, spiritually. At other times, we are simply beaten to death by the rough breakers of life. We are being tumbled over as life hits us with one wave after another.
In both cases, we feel forgotten and abandoned. We think God should be doing more. Or God should be doing something we can see and feel. However, like the psalmist said even in the midst of this flood, “By day God commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.” We may not feel it. We may not sense it. But it is happening.
Hang on to the Lord. He hasn’t left you. You will praise the Lord again.
Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 42.
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Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family
- What are your initial reactions to the psalm and the written devo above?
- Is the weather crazy where you live?
- What is the difference between times of life that feel like a drought and times of life that feel like a flood?
- What advice would you give to others to rely on God during either kind of time?
- What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this psalm and our discussion today?
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