Suffering

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; 

Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive 

to my cry for mercy.

Psalm 130:1-2

If you have ever cried out to God, you resonate with the Psalmist in Psalm 130.'

When a loved one is gone.

When a series of bad days turn into weeks and months.

When cancer or MS or arthritis or Alzheimer’s is diagnosed.

When you can’t pay the rent.

When he says that he loves you, but he also hits you.

When you’ve been plunged into the depths of despair, and it feels like death.

In that moment you, and the Psalmist are sharing ashes. The scripture reads “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice.”  It sounds an awful lot like, “Oh God, can you even hear me?”

Be it physical, emotional, spiritual, or some combination, suffering often feels like you’re alone in your misery, and it seems as if God is so very far away.

However, if you read the entirety of Psalm 130, you find that the writer doesn’t feel that sense of abandonment. In fact, the writer speaks of a certainty that God will hear. There is a conviction that God cares. The writer says “I wait for the Lord” with hope and confidence.

The Psalmist knows that the nature of God is mercy. The nature of God is forgiveness. The nature of God is presence in the very times where it would be easy to believe that God is far away. The nature of God is love when and where is it needed most.

The psalm is about remembering the nature and character of God when it is dark. Remembering that our cries aren’t an attempt to convince God to be present in the depths. Our cries are to remember that God is merciful, forgiving, and always present.

Even a prayer born from the deepest despair is heard by God, who is the essence of love. God listens to our cries from the depths of suffering, meets us in our pain, and walks with us through it. Our anguish is shared, and we are guided towards redemption.

Let us pray. A prayer from the Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer -

O God, you come to us in the depths of our darkest despair, in the suffering of Jesus Christ. By the rising your Son, give us new light to guide us, that we may always praise your holy name, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.