This morning was such a time for me. A time of affirming.
As I was praying through Psalm 88 (NASB) for a Christian friend who has experienced much darkness and seemingly little resolution, I was struggling for just the right words.
This is such a sad psalm, seemingly without resolution, much like my friend. A soul full of trouble. If it's not one thing, it's two or more. An anguish of great depth---all exact causes unknown to me.
But God....in His love and mercy showed me, in my NIV version, a notation made by verses 13-14.
The notation 2/17/07 indicated I had prayed this very verse for myself, at a time when there seemed to be no answer from the Lord.
Today is 2/7/17. All those 7s in the same month, for the same verse. It was a BIG affirmation. I could continue to pray with hope because I had been where my friend is---in the pit. But God....was there in the midst working even when I "felt" rejection, as if He had hidden His face from me.
Now I could approach His throne of grace with confidence for my friend---as a friend who had been on the "same side of suffering" and had found God had been in the midst of it all along. I understand where she is---though the struggle may be different, the ramifications of being in a dark place are the same.
May she now see His wonders in the darkness and His hand in the land of forgetfulness. (Psalm 88:12)
There's the wonder of sunset at evening,
The wonder as sunrise I see,
But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul
is the wonder that God loves me. ("Wonder of it All," Adventist hymn #75)
Choosing wonder and awe of the Lord for myself and my friend knowing God's love is there in a place of darkness when one cannot "see" it at the moment!
What a wonder!
What a wonder!
