When Your Heart Sings

Psalm 3, 4, 13, 28 & 55

Ps 3:3 “You are a shield around me, O LORD;

You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

4 To the LORD I cry aloud

And He answers me from His holy hill.

5 I will lie down and sleep;

I wake again,

Because the LORD sustains me. “

Ps 4:1 “Answer me when I call to You

O my Righteous God.

Give me relief from my distress;

Be merciful to me

And hear my prayer.

3 Know that the LORD

Has set apart the godly for himself,

The LORD will hear when I call to Him.

6 Let the Light of your face

Shine upon us, O LORD.

7 You have filled my heart

With greater joy.

8 I will lie down

And sleep in peace,

For You alone, O LORD,

Make me dwell in safety. “

Ps 13: 5 “But I trust in your unfailing love;

6 I will sing to the LORD

For He has been good to me.”

Ps 28:6 Praise be to the LORD,

For he has heard my cry for mercy.

7 The LORD is my strength

And my shield;

My heart trusts in Him

And I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy

And I will give thanks to Him in song.

8 The LORD is the strength of His people,

A fortress of salvation for His anointed one.

9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;

Be their Shepherd and carry them forever.”

All these words of calling out in the middle of a crisis and God hearing.

And of being able to sleep through the night.

Of trust, and goodness, and mercy.

But also honest words about fear, trembling, being distraught, anguish.  (Ps 55)

In other Psalms this week we read about God loving a broken but contrite heart.

God loves us when we are strong and courageous, but He also loves us when we are weak and fearful and shaking in our boots.  Fear and trembling that makes us long for a dessert stronghold.   That quiet solitary place where nothing can find us or hurt us.  

Ps 55:6 “Oh, that I had the winds of a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest.

I would flee far away

And stay in the desert. 

8 I would hurry to my place of shelter

Far from the tempest and storm.

16 But I call to GOD

And the LORD saves me.

17 Evening, morning and noon

I cry out in distress

And He hears my voice.

18 He ransoms me unharmed.

22 Cast all your cares on the LORD

And He will sustain you;

He will never let the righteous fall

23 But as for me,

I trust in You.”

Even in these darkest moments, on both sides of David’s storm, he is singing and making music.  This language of his soul.  That his creativity should continue to flow and his circumstances inspire very real words to live by. 

David’s honesty about his distress in danger, and his bewilderment in betrayal.  Somehow, he is able to leave it in God’s Hands and sleep in peace.  He is sustained, and ransomed unharmed.  

And this is exactly where God meets us.

When all hell is breaking loose around is.

He walks right into the storm. 

And He is the shelter. 

That sustains us.

These are not easy words.

Right now there are some of us in crisis and the walk is really hard.

The way God shows up for us today is in the knowing.

It’s knowing and trusting that He will sustain us today.

That he will ransom us unharmed. 

And it’s knowing that we will come out the other side.  

And how earth shattering things happen and fracture our hearts

That it is God who holds our pieces and will put it back together. 

Could I lay down in a storm and just sleep?  

I know the Truths.

And I know that God is great.

And God is good.

And He wants what is best for me.

Even when I don’t know what’s best.

He sees me!

He hears me!