Re:Verse passage – Psalm 77:1-20 (day five)
The struggle is real. The questions are honest. The doubt is tangible. But the meditation is balanced. The promises of God, the character of God, the actions and activities of God, the suffering we encounter and experience, the abandonment and isolation we sometimes feel, and the skepticism we have are not mutually exclusive. They go together. They live in tension with each other. The psalmist holds on to both sides. It is work. It is hard. It is the long game. And that is how time and perspective are portrayed in the Kingdom of God (eternal). What we feel and what we know are sometimes compatible, and other times at odds with each other.
I like Tim Keller’s words about this tension, “When we meditate, we work the truth down until it affects the heart. This is the key to handling difficulty. The psalmist is not just being stoic and gritting his teeth till the storm passes. Nor is he simply venting his feelings. He redirects his thoughts and feelings towards the truth about God… This is not the work of a moment, and learning it takes a lifetime”.
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