Day 19 - Issue 27
Psalm 91:1 NLT
'Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.'
Learning to live in “the shelter of the Most High” has taken me some years. There is an implicit understanding and appreciation of God’s provision for me, yet so often an inability to rest in such provision in tough times. Those down days may be practical realities or simply the terrors stress stirs up within my imagination. I know the truth, yet appear unable to access the reality of the truth I affirm.
Sadness is an isolating emotion. It directs my attention inward and focuses upon myself. I lose perspective; or more accurately, my perspective is consumed with myself and my own circumstances. Here the mind has free rein to create innumerable phantoms of terror that deepen the cycle of inner depression and despair.
Worshiping alongside others I can, if I so choose, see a myriad different perspectives as people engage life’s challenges in different ways. Again the reality and necessity for the community that is church emerges, yet not a community that demands adherence to a narrow ‘perspective’. When this is the case, I may recognise that I no longer fit the criteria of membership and once again am left to address my sadness alone.
God invites us to journey towards wholeness. Life is never static. I am either engaging God or abandoning God. My sadness can so dampen my inner resolve that I choose to abandon God. Yet, he is always present, even in my sadness, even as I want to shut myself away from everything and everyone, even God.
Sadness will affect you at different times and in different ways. You may associate it with loss, disappointment, even boredom. Life doesn’t just happen to you. You are invited to take hold of life and make of it what you will. There are many approaches on offer and sometimes failure to realise a chosen approach is itself the source of your sadness.
QUESTION: How can others help you best when sadness comes to you?
PRAYER: Lord, my heart and soul will find its rest and shelter in you. Then I can say that “all is well with my soul”.
