Dealing with Grief: Crying Out of the Depths

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy.” Psalm 130:1-2

Have you ever had a bad swimming experience? When I was a going through swimming lessons as a kid I found out that there are two kinds of swimmers: those who float and those who sink. Can you guess to which category I belonged? Yep, Sinkers!

In this Psalm, the writer uses the phrase “out of the depths” to describe his heart’s condition. This is a picture of a person sinking deep in water, and needing God to come through for him. Have you ever been in a place of deep emotional pain? Would you believe me if I told you the day after I got married my dad died in a car accident? Talk about going from wonderful “high” to a terrible low!

Because we live in an imperfect world there will be things that cause us to sink: life’s troubles, poor choices, and/or the way others treat us, but this Psalmist had a couple secrets when dealing with grief:

·         He turned to God in his trouble and not away from God. We can be tempted to point a finger at God and be harsh with Him when we face trouble. I think He understands those moments. But ultimately we need to run to Him (“I cry to you”) when we are struggling.

·         Also, He knew something about the power and character of God: God is good (perfect and loving) and God is great (powerful). He cries out for “mercy” (aka “HELP!”) because God is a good, compassionate Father and because He can actually do something about it. Matter-of-fact, Jesus actually knows your pain! Remember, He embraced the cross!

So in your grieving, are your turning toward God or away from Him?

Also, are you choosing to believe that even though terrible things happen, God is still good, and that God is still in control, and that God is able to help?

I invite you to pray the same words as this Psalm.