Songs for the Soul
Last night, I was talking with a friend, and he mentioned that his small group was going through a Bible reading program together. From the words of my friend, it sounds like it has become somewhat mechanical and even a drudgery for the group to be going through this exercise. I’m sure that God’s Word is not supposed to feel like this, but I can understand the feeling having experienced it myself. The problem with going the opposite way (not reading God’s Word regularly) is that we miss out on opportunities to hear God’s voice on a daily basis through His proven Word.
I may have mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again. Being in God’s Word especially when we face life’s obstacles is so important. As I hit a rocky patch a few weeks ago, it was a friend who challenged me to spend time in God’s Word on a daily basis. My friend said, “Make yourself do it!” I knew this was the right thing to do, and I’m so thankful that my friend was willing to be bold with me.
This morning, I continued my journey through the Psalms. I have found them to be helpful and even healing. (My dad reminded me several weeks ago that the Psalms are packed with just about every emotion that you and I deal with as we experience the ups and downs of life.) Today, two Psalms really spoke out to me.
The ups and downs of life can cause us to question God and can cause us to feel down. Both of these passages reminds me to put my hope in God even when life gets rocky.
Psalm 43
1 Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.
2 You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
3 Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.
4 Then will I go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.