Praying the Psalms- Psalm 85

Jenny is on a journey of praying her way through the Psalms.  I was fortunate enough to join at the start.  Each weekend, we pray through one psalm and post our prayer and/or meditations on that psalm as the Lord leads. Check out her journey and join us in Praying the Psalms.


Psalm 85

"Love and faithfulness meet together;
   righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
   and righteousness looks down from heaven.
The LORD will indeed give what is good,"  Psalm 85: 10-12 

On dark days like this one, when a shocked and grieving community gathers at a funeral home to comfort the family of a young husband and father whose life ended sooner than anyone might ever have imagined, I have to force myself to meditate on whatsoever is true.  When friends congregate in the corners of a quiet room, eyes brimming and voices cracking to wonder aloud why God would allow this, I struggle to give a gentle defense.  The truth- that God will work even this for the good of His children and His own glory- is not one that I can see with my human perspective.  


And so I rely on faith- the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen- to get through these moments.  And I pray that her faith is strong enough to endure this kind of pain, that He would stick closer than a brother to her and their two boys, that the community of believers who know them would be His hands and feet.  And I remember that in this fallen world we will have trouble.  But there is a day coming in which love and faithfulness and righteousness will be restored on earth.  The broken will be made whole and the old, fallen earth will be made new.


Father, this is so hard.  We are all in shock.  My dear friend is so very sad.  She needs You now more than ever.  The boys need You.  I need You.  Help me to be a friend, a comfort, a help to this family.  Use even this tragedy to strengthen her faith.  In Jesus' name, amen.