Psalm 130 “From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help… O Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love.” Some years back, I was struggling with an issue and asked my pastor if he had any advice. He responded “You should try worship. Whenever I feel out of sync with the heart of God, I’ll just sit in the corner of my room, blast some worship music through my earphones, and sing my heart out. Something about lifting my hands and getting on my knees just wears down whatever is coming against me and replaces it with God’s love.” Well yesterday my dad’s surgery didn’t go as well as we had hoped. I’ll spare the details, but suffice it to say that I struggled with the outcome. To be completely honest, I started feeling all sorts of emotions and thinking all sorts of thoughts that I knew were not of God. Guilt, confusion, fear… I can quote verses from the bible to dispel each of these. But sometimes the distance greatest distance in the world is that between your head and your heart. So when I woke up this morning, I knew I needed to get worshipping. It’s important to declare God’s goodness when things go well, but probably even more so when we experience setbacks. A handful of Psalms including 130 start from the depths of despair, but in the course of singing out to God, the author comes into a place of hope and love. That’s what worship does to you…and that’s what it did to me this morning. Father, thank you for giving us access to you whenever we want. Thank you for your presence. Thank you for worship. I love you and declare that you have hope and a future in store for my dad. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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