Day 16
Read Psalm 57
When our daughter Addison was two she went through the normal mood swings of a toddler. One moment she was ecstatic and laughing and having fun, and the next moment she was crying and yelling because she wanted to do something else. One day she loved green beans and the next day she would have nothing to do with them. One day she wanted to wear her shoes everywhere we went, the next she screamed every time we even said the word shoe. It was a bit frustrating but it kept us on our toes. There is never a dull moment with a two year old.
As you read through the Psalms you get that same emotional roller coaster. One Psalm is filled with dread and lament and the next is filled with joy and excitement. One Psalm is filled with doubt and questions and the next is filled with steadfast faith. And often we find these emotional swings in the same Psalm. So, here in Psalm 57 David cries out for mercy, “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge” (verse 1). He’s in a tight spot, “I am in the midst of lions; I lie among ravenous beasts – men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords” (verse 4). And then he goes into praise in verse 5. “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.” And then back to his enemies in verse 6. And then back to praise for the rest of the Psalm.
I am not exactly sure what to make of this. My initial thought is that life is never as black and white as we want it to be. Most of our lives are lived in gray. And as I read the Psalms, and a Psalm like Psalm 57, I get the sense that life is always going to be a roller coaster ride. If the writers of the Psalms of Scripture experienced life in this way, there is no reason to think we won’t. But, there is also this overwhelming sense of being grounded in God. While the Psalmists express all their emotion to God (even doubt and questions), they still always go to God with those emotions. For the Psalm writers, all of life has a God-ward tilt; they are always moving towards Him. He is always the source of stability; even when they don’t quite understand how or why.
Prayer
Spend some time today asking God to show you what it looks like to trust Him more. Then, spend more time listening to His answer.
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