I don't know where I am

Monday February 28, 2022

I don't know where I am

I don't know where I am. Psalm 88:15

Who among you fears the Lord and listens to his servant ? If anyone walks in darkness and lacks light, let him put his trust in the name of the Lord and lean on his God ! Isaiah 50:10

Heman, the Ezrakhite, author of Psalm 88, is a believer. He cries day and night to the Lord, the God of his salvation, but he is exhausted. In his desperation, he examines his situation. His problems completely overwhelm him, although some may be exaggerated, or even imaginary. He is so close to death that he despairs of living. He feels forgotten by God. Everything is against him and he has no more strength. God has removed from him his relatives who consider him an object of horror. He feels in prison, with no hope of getting out. Worse, he keeps praying, but God, he says, remains deaf to his cries, as if he had rejected him. Anxieties and terrors overwhelm him. Completely shaken, he no longer knows where he is.

We are sometimes in a similar situation, without inner strength, as if a spring had broken. We experience failure after failure : in our couple, our family, our church, our professional activities... We have not lost faith, but we have lost confidence in the promises of the Word, joy in Jesus Christ, the happiness of meeting with other believers.

How could Heman the Ezrakhite help us out of this situation ? His psalm is one of the few that does not end on a note of hope. However, the superscription of this psalm is clear : Song. Psalm... to instruct.

In fact, the first verse of the psalm gives the answer to the question : Heman addresses the Lord, whom he calls the God of his salvation. His cry contains a word of hope, for God is the God of the living (Matthew 22:32).

Job reacted the same way Heman did. Seriously ill, surrounded by friends who vainly seek the cause of his trials in a sin he may have committed, Job pronounces these words : I know that my redeemer is alive, and that he will be the last to stand on the earth (Job 19:25). Job can only rely on his living redeemer and defender.

Trusting in our Lord Jesus Christ, leaning on my God and Father, trusting completely, that is the only resource when I do not know where I am !

Source (Pleasing the Lord)