Some Observations on Psalms

 

Do you feel discouraged today? Does it seem everyone else gets all the attention or has all the good ideas or possesses much more talent? I recently had a young man tell me he felt worthless. As I watched him blinking back tears, I was happy to be able to tell him that God doesn’t think he’s worthless. But we all have these kinds of thoughts from time to time because that is part of the human condition.

One of the things I love about teaching English is that I get to read and discuss great literature with young people. And one of the things I love about discussing great literature is discovering the way different writers through the years have presented the human condition. Since Adam and Eve made their fateful decision in the Garden of Eden, we have all dealt with sin and sorrow alongside joy and hope. Each of us is living out a story that illustrates God’s work in human history as well as in individual lives. Literature is really just a collection of variations on a theme.

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29, the poet expresses his experience of despair. He feels disgraced and inept. He looks around and sees others who are better looking and more talented. He even feels that God has stopped listening to him. Then the poet remembers someone who loves him. Here’s how the end of the poem goes:

                Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

                     For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

                     That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

 

When we read this poem in class, I always tell my students that, even if they can’t think of a single person who loves them, they can count on God’s love. For proof, I take them to Psalm 27:10—“Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.”

Even the writers of Psalms were subject to thoughts of discouragement and gloom. In Psalm 119:17-24, we see a section that might express how you feel at times. The psalmist seems to feel alienated, that people hold him in contempt. He says, "[R]ulers sit together and slander me" (23). His antidote for this near-despair is to seek God’s favor and to find refuge in his word. The writer's prayer in these verses is for the LORD to reveal the word to him. He seeks to find guidance and comfort in God’s message.

In the next section of Psalm 119, we see a very similar situation described. Here the writer’s prayer is again for God to “strengthen [him] according to [the] word.” He goes on to say, “I have chosen the way of faithfulness. I have set my heart on your laws” (28 and 30). This seeking to know and understand God and his word is a choice—a choice that leads to help and healing. At the beginning of this section, the writer was “laid low in the dust.” Now he is clinging to God’s truth.

This pattern of sorrow followed by seeking God followed by increased understanding and contentment is found in many of the psalms and is, I think, evidence that it’s not uncommon to need encouragement. I personally find comfort in knowing that I am not alone in my occasional bouts of insecurity or anxiety.

 I am thankful for great writers of every age who help me understand myself and my fellow humans better, but I am most thankful for God’s word that speaks to every struggle I have—and I know it will do that for you as well.

--Sherry Poff