But GOD! Help for us in times of trouble.

“But God…”

If you hang around with me for more than a minute, it becomes obvious how much I love the Psalms. This collection of ancient prayer-poems models such emotional range and all of it in conversation with God and with a community of support. The Psalms have changed my life and been a huge part of my spiritual development.

Psalm 64 gives us a glimpse behind the scenes in the life of a big-time influencer. King David, an ancient Hebrew king, encounters a crisis of loneliness. During his crisis of loneliness, all the problems of the past come rushing back at him. Conspiracies, gossip, labels, trauma, and fear enter the crevasses of his heart.

We all have had crises of loneliness, dark nights of insomnia, or days laid out in bed because of illness. On the outside everything may look fine, but in the crisis of loneliness, as the conspiracies slap us in the face, we find ourselves powerless and helpless.

BUT GOD! When there’s nowhere else to turn, you can reflect on what God has done for David and what God will do for you. When there is nowhere else to turn, you can find a refuge in relationship with God. Strength can come from being grounded in relationship with God.

The Psalms reassure you that the Lord is on your side. Not you against someone else, but FOR you. Night and day. Day and night. You have a loving, generous offer of refuge in the swirl of circumstances and the overflow of catastrophizing in your mind.

Sometimes you feel powerless and helpless. When you turn those feelings into conversation with God, you pray a Prayer of Lament. Laments are prayers for troubled times.

Are your troubled times leading you into a Prayer of Lament? Or are you letting them pile up and build a wall of hostility?

If you don’t know how to make that pivot from fight/fright/flight/freeze into conversation with God, it’s not because you are bad, it’s just because you haven’t been mentored in the process. If you need help to find your, “BUT GOD,” send me a message today. Steeping yourself in the Psalms and in conversations with a Spiritual Director are the pathway for walking out this kind of spiritual development.

Do you need a Spiritual Director amid your Lament? Companionship on the journey of lament gives you the support you need for challenges that arise. Grace and peace to you during the swirling circumstances, the abundance of conspiracies, and the refuge that God creates out of relationship with you and for you.

Jennifer