Reflections on Lifeናሙና

When your daily experience, your minute-by-minute battle, is living with a chronic illness or facing a health issue with a grim long-term prognosis, it is fair to say that feeling God’s presence when you are suffering is not always a given. Knowing God’s nearness and feeling comforted by His Word can be elusive when you are depressed, grieving, experiencing physical or emotional pain, or distressed by the relentlessness of a bully. Some who are reading this will know these scenarios as excruciatingly real.

Today, as I write a reflection on this verse, I am feeling physically slammed by a long-term health condition which in turn affects emotions and mental well-being. When suffering comes our way, and it will for all of us at some time or other, we can find ourselves wondering whether God has abandoned us.

Fully aware of this, the writer of Psalm 119 points us to God’s Word which is a lifeline in times of despair, doubt, and suffering. In verse 92 he says, “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction” (NIV).

This entire Psalm, the longest single chapter in the Bible, is about God’s Word and the writer’s relationship to it. God’s attributes are described throughout - He is RIGHTEOUS (v. 7), TRUSTWORTHY (v. 42), TRUTHFUL (v. 43), FAITHFUL (v. 86), UNCHANGEABLE (v. 89), ETERNAL (v. 152), LIGHT (v. 105), PURE (v. 140). No wonder the writer says God’s Word brings comfort. Knowledge of God's character regardless of our limited understanding is lifegiving.

And we see it here in Psalm 119 - this same majestic and trustworthy God is invited to be present in our suffering: “My earthly life clings to the dust; Revive and refresh me according to your word.” (v. 25 AMP)

I find it so reassuring that right through Scripture pain and suffering are not glossed over or sanitised – they are part of the story.

This verse, this Psalm, points us to Jesus, God in the flesh, who also knows pain and suffering. When we feel alone in our affliction, we know that Jesus not only experienced physical agony but also the mental anguish of feeling isolated and forsaken. As we rest in Him, He is the greatest comforter we will ever know.

Prayer:

Lord, as I breathe in - I look to you. As I breathe out - I ask for your mercy. I invite you to be present in discomfort and pain. Your Word revives me and brings comfort. I pray for those who face persecution and suffering – may they know your nearness. Today, may I and all those who suffer know your tender love and may we experience the rest of God. Amen.