Does your life feel like a country song?
I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. Psalm 69:2
Redeeming Lord,
My friends and I confess,
sometimes our lives feel like woeful country songs—
Loss upon loss; sorrow upon sorrow:
Dying dogs,
hearts beating errantly,
parents declining,
children struggling,
grandchildren rebelling,
friends and family leaving us—
some to live elsewhere
some to live with you in heaven.
We feel like David,
who cried out to you in his agony:
“Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck” (Psalm 69:1).
Help us to see that your redemption
of our trials and traumas is far better
than “playing a country song backward.”*
Indeed, you do “answer” us,
because “your steadfast love is good” (Psalm 69:16).
You turn your face toward us in our distress;
you redeem us,
you know our shame and struggles.
You deal justly with all evil,
and you save us from all our enemies (See Psalm 69:22-28),
both physical and spiritual.
You set us on high,
raising us to be with Christ (See Psalm 69:29; Colossians 3:1).
You revive our hearts,
You hear the cries of the needy (Psalm 69:32-33).
Yes, Saving Lord,
you entered the suffering foretold here (See Psalm 69:26),
bearing reproach and persecution for us,
that we might live to “praise the name of God with a song,”
“to magnify him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30).
What great hope we have in you,
hope far better than reversing
all of the sorrows we face in this life:
One day soon, Jesus will return,
and all broken things will be made new (See Revelation 21:5).
How we long for that day. Amen.
Read Psalm 69.
*If you are unfamiliar with the song by Rascal Flatts, you can hear it here .
