Once, when a friend sensed in my voice some pain, he sent me Psalm 61, written for the chief musician and for a stringed instrument. He knew I’d like that. He also knew, as I do but sometimes forget, that we all long to shout: “Hear my cry, God. Listen to my prayer.” My friend is wiser than he sometimes lets on, for he really knows what it means to say: “I will call to you when my heart is overwhelmed.” We all feel overwhelmed from time to time, and for those times, God gives us the Psalms.
I needed my friend’s prayers and this Psalm, and some day he may need mine. This is what makes us Church, the body of Christ, broken yet unbroken. It is this mutual love and care that leads us to a rock higher than we ever could reach on our own. Together and separately we seek refuge there, dwelling under God’s tent and huddling beneath his protective wings, baby birds open-mouthed and hiding from the storm. Singing.
There we stay, sometimes hiding, sometimes peeking out, but always enthroned in the nest of God’s hands. Seeking to be fed. Always singing a psalm of praise or pain, assured that God hears both.
Ask yourself in silence: Do I have the confidence to cry or sing out to God, even in my darkest times?
My late husband loved the 23rd Psalm, and when he died I chose it for the back of his
funeral card. I read and reread it countless times. As I read the beautiful words, I realized how true the Psalm was for me and my life. How God had done all these things for me. As I looked back, I saw the hand of God in my life and it gave my courage
for the days alone that lay ahead. It is such a beautiful prayer and, the truth.
Thank you, Annie, for sharing this. There’s a reason that so many people are touched by the Psalm and why it is so often read at funerals..we all want some sense that we are being shepherded abd led home. God bless.
I have not been in the best mood in the past weeks due to sad events in my life. I have been trying – not always succeeding in trusting God’s help – reading this particular psalm reminds me once more that God is always hearing my cries and he always answers me but most probably I am still not attuned to his words.