The Psalms reflect that “life is bipolar.”
Yesterday I had such a sweet time with my son and his wife and children — deep soul-satisfying conversations after a wonderful church service.
Then I came home to an e-mail that one of my dearest friends has cancer spread throughout her body.
Author William Brown says, “The psalms capture, better than any other corpus of Scripture, the bi-polar life of faith.”
First, in your quiet times in the next three days, connect with God. Look carefully at the song, the book, and the Scriptures. When you are ready, let’s hear your thoughtful reflections on the first three questions — and then, by Tuesday, let’s see if we are ready to go on to the rest of the questions. Take your time and ask God to help you to see.
Sing the first verse of “It is Well with My Soul” by heart and let it talk to your soul about trusting in sunshine and in storms. Begin memorizing the second verse.
If you have The God of All Comfort, read pages 12 through 14 and answer:
1. What did Philip Yancey have to learn about the psalms before he could use them correctly? (For those of you who don’t have the book, I trust your sisters will articulate this for you!)
2. Finish reading Psalm 18. How did God come to the rescue of the psalmist? What word pictures penetrate your heart?
3. Share a time when God came to your rescue — the sun came out, and you wanted to dance and sing!
4. Now read Psalm 88. How does this psalm end? This is where some of you are right now. The sun has not come out — and you wonder how you are going to make it. What word pictures penetrate your heart from Psalm 88?
5. Can you think of a time when Jesus might have felt like this?
6. What do you think about talking to God as the psalmist did in this psalm?
7. When we honestly express fear or despair to the Lord, is He angry? Base your answer on what you see in Scripture. What guidelines do you see for speaking to the Lord in Scripture? Think about what made Jesus angry repeatedly in the New Testament. (This is a challenging question, so cry out to a holy God for wisdom. (I will share — but want to hear from you first!
8. In The God of All Comfort, on page 14, I share my testimony on what I learned through the psalms. What was it? Have you experienced this?