It’s strange, isn’t it, how something that is not physical can feel so physical? I experienced several losses last year and each one somehow hurt deep within my bones. My heart ached. I felt weak and worn. I could relate to the psalmist, “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief (Psalm 6:6-7).
If you’ve been a believer for any length of time, you too have probably found solace in the Psalms when the heartaches of life have overwhelmed you. Perhaps you’ve written down a Psalm or two to give you comfort during a trial. Maybe you’ve found great hope in the fact that the psalmist felt the same levels of despair, fear, or abandonment that you felt.
John Calvin wrote that the Psalms are “an anatomy of all the parts of the soul.” I think that is an appropriate description. Every emotion that we experience in this life is reflected in those 150 poems. From joy and gratitude to grief and sadness; from horrifying fear to the pit of despair; from confession over sin to crying out for help; the Psalms cover it all.
But the Psalms do more than just mirror our own heartaches. They aren’t simply there to provide catharsis or help us know that we aren’t the only ones who have suffered...to read the rest of this post, visit Ungrind, my writing home today.
