When you go through an experience of pain, you will find Psalms 129, 130, and 131 helpful. Using three pictures, they help you chart a course through the darkness of suffering.
- Open wound: “Plowmen have plowed my back, and made their furrows long” (129:3).
- Anguished cry: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord” (130:1).
- Weaned child: “I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother” (131:2).
What is the connection between these three pictures? Imagine you have just finished eating a meal with your brother and his family. The adults are sitting around the dinner table, while the kids have gone downstairs to play.
You hear a loud thud followed by a scream, so you rush downstairs and find that your pre-teen niece has tripped and hit her head on a table. She is in trouble. Your brother trained as an EMT and he gets the bleeding under control. So you head over to the ER, and after a couple of hours and more than a dozen stitches, you are back home. Think about the three pictures.
- Open wound: Something terrible happened that no one saw and it resulted in an open wound.
- Anguished cry: You heard a scream. Someone was in trouble and desperately needed help.
- Weaned child: Your niece is at the airport, holding her mom and dad’s hand, eating a smoothie. A few days later you get a picture of her. You can’t believe how much the swelling has gone down. You are relieved that she’s content and on the road to recovery.
When was the last time you saw someone suffer like this?
