Put your hope in God

What an awesome God we serve. Great is His Name, and greatly to be praised. Not to us, oh Lord, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory.

I don't want to tell you guys too much because you don't need to know. But suffice it to say that Lana and I were going through a really tough time last night and this morning, and God brought us through it in an amazing way.

She skipped lunch today to spend time in the Word and in prayer, and invited me to join her. Of course I wanted to be there for her sake, but I didn't anticipate the work God was going to do in me.

Having gotten out of class before me, she had already been spending time with God for a while when I got there. I sat down beside her, feeling as miserable as I had -- well, as I had for a while already that day.

After a while, Lana started humming -- bless her wonderful propensity for humming and singing; I couldn't have married a girl who wasn't like that! -- and the song was "As the Deer", based of course on Psalm 42, which I have previously referenced on this blog. The Psalm was already on my mind from yesterday, when I read from it during our morning worship at church. But as I began to read it now -- along with Psalm 43, the two Psalms having originally been together as one -- I don't know. It's difficult to explain. I have identified with so many of the Psalms at various times, but I've never had the feeling that I could have written one of them word for word, that the connection between it and me would be that strong.

Well, this morning I felt like I could have written Psalms 42 and 43. I won't post them here, though I encourage you to look them up yourself. But the key verse, which is repeated twice, is 42:5: "Why are you downcast, my soul? Why so troubled within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God." I have identified with those words so many times, but have never felt them burning in my core as they now did. The Psalmist knew the answer to the questions he was asking in this passage, and so did I. "Put your hope in God..."

I did exactly that, and began to feel the burden lifting off my shoulders. In its place, a nearly manic joy. I had gone from being depressed to being happy in a matter of moments, all because of the amazing Word of God.

I joked to Lana later that I had learned two things today (neither of them in class, incidentally, but that's a part of the joke that only she would fully get): God is awesome and the Bible is true. Seems elementary, basic, milk-type stuff, doesn't it? But we can't truly comprehend how correct those two statements are. This very day, many people doubtless considered them, assented, and yawned; I found a new sense of awe and a new depth in my relationship with my heavenly Father. And for that I thank Him.

That's not the whole story, of course; the experience also inspired a series of thoughts about the divine art of life that will probably make it to a CtB article in the future. And I'll leave it to Lana to tell you, if she desires, what God did for her. But for now, I want to tell you, again: God is awesome and the Bible is true. Two little facts; eight words; the capacity to forever alter your life.

So, discussion time: the Psalms. Do you read them a lot? Do you closely identify with any (or all) of them? Which ones are your favorites and why? Have you tried praying them? Are there any that you find hard to understand or hard to reconcile with faith in God? Let us discuss.