Today was an awful news day, with terrible events that left families in mourning.
Jewish tradition has given us the book of Psalms, ancient prayers that address every imaginable human emotion.
Sometimes people are put off by the God-language, which may not align with their beliefs about God. However, if we focus on the Psalms as expressions of human experience, they can offer the comfort that we are never truly alone with our feelings. Whatever I feel, many others have had that hurt or that joy before me.
Here is Psalm 77. The speaker is in agony and sleepless, and he describes it in terms that are still quite fresh. He used to feel secure, but now he does not. On a day like today this Psalm speaks to me:
To the leader: according to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
¹ I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, that God may hear me.
2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Eternal;
in the night my hand is stretched out without rest;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
3 I think of God, and I moan;
I meditate, and my spirit faints. Selah!
4 You keep my eyelids from closing;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5 I consider the days of old,
and remember the years of long ago.
6 I commune with my heart in the night;
I meditate and search my spirit:
7 “Will the Eternal spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
8 Has God’s steadfast love ceased forever?
Are God’s promises at an end for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has God in anger shut down compassion?” Selah!
10 And I say, “It is my grief
that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
11 I will call to mind the deeds of the Eternal;
I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will meditate on all your work,
and muse on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is so great as our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
you have displayed your might among the peoples.
15 With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah!
16 When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
the very deep trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed on every side.
18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
19 Your way was through the sea,
your path, through the mighty waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.
20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Is there a psalm or a prayer that speaks to you during very difficult times? Why that particular one?
Rabbi Ruth,
The Book of Psalms is something I enjoy reading and meditating often. It always brings me peace and a new sense of my belief. One I refer to often for inspiration in joy and in sadness, good time and bad is Psalm 27, especially verse 4:
“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire of his temple.”
Yes, indeed!