If you’re reading this you’re probably human (these are strange times we live in). And if you are human, then you have had experiences and seasons that have threatened to take you down. Times when you have woken up with your heart so heavy, you almost couldn’t breathe. Times when your head was hung, your shoulders were drooped, your stomach was in pain and your actual body felt like it was bent over because the weight your heart carried felt physical.
Some of those pains you carried, you were able to share with people, and maybe you got some help. For some of them, however, the people you shared your troubles with had no capacity to help you, save for bringing you before God in prayer.
In the worst of these seasons, you could not even find the words that could capture what you were feeling. Even in prayer, all you could do was groan and hope to God that He understood what your breaking heart was saying. And thank God, He does. Because the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. I think that when we, too, pray in this pattern, we are understood.
I love it when I see older people in church. I watch them as they sing about the faithfulness of God, especially when I’m in the depths of sorrow and pain. I look at their faces and I’m awed by how peaceful and content they look. I’m awed by it because I know that they are human, therefore there’s a 99% chance that they have experienced what is causing me incredible pain in the moment and even more, and yet here they are, singing about a good, faithful, dependable, trustworthy God.
And watching as this is happening, my heart begins to be lifted. Nothing about my situation has as yet changed, but watching them makes me start to think about the kind of God we belong to. A caring God. A close friend. The Father of compassion. The God of all comfort. A God who keeps His Word. A God who will never leave us or forsake us. A God who carries us on His wings. A God who rides across the heavens to help us. A merciful God. A good, good Father.
Whenever you find yourself in deep agony, go to church and watch older people as they sing about their and our God. As you sit there, reckon that someday, this will be you. Put your hope in God again, for you will yet praise Him, your Savior and your God.
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