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Like the man I saw in the grocery store yesterday who apparently skipped a treatment of hair coloring, I know that after this introduction, my roots will be showing. As a younger man in the late sixties, I used to enjoy a CBS TV show called Hee Haw. It was a country variety show with an oversized emphasis on corn pone, corn liquor, and just pure corn! One of the regular items on the show featured the singing of a customized weekly song called Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me. If you're too young to remember it, check it out on You Tube; if you remember it, that's all it will take to bring the tune to your mind and a smile to your lips. Actual despair, however, is certainly no laughing matter! Today's third Penitential Psalm (Psalm 38) depicts the actual feelings of despair that overwhelm a man who truly realizes the awfulness of sin and its consequences.

Catch a glimpse of heartfelt despair from the Psalmist's pen: “For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin. But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong; And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied. Those also who render evil for good, They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good. Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!” (Psalm 38.17-22).

The breaking point of the human spirit varies with each person, but we all have one. It is that point at which we simply cannot take any more; one more burden will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back. That is precisely where the Psalmist was when he uttered the words of this Psalm. However, we as humans are unique in several ways. One way is this: What is an overwhelming burden for one person is hardly even a chore for another. We are emotional creatures upon whom the burdens of the day take different tolls. As for the Psalmist, the burden that pressed him to the point of breaking at the time he penned this psalm was the burden of sin! Note his plaintive cry, “I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin.”

It was this feeling of despair that seemingly forced the psalmist to say at the opening of the 38th Psalm, “O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure! For Your arrows pierce me deeply, And Your hand presses me down.” (Psalm 38.1-2). In the mind of the writer, it was the hand of God that was pressing him down! This is not reality, but it is what seems to be the case; it is God allowing man to express his feelings without fear of retribution for merely speaking what is in his heart. God is like that and I am so thankful for it! In times of despair or near despair, I am glad that I don't have to take the time to accurately and precisely express my feelings so as not to offend my Lord. Sometimes the words just come out with no prompting and sometimes they come out with no stopping! I am thankful that God hears, but I am more thankful that He understands. Because of that trait, he will not rebuke us in His wrath, nor chasten us in His hot displeasure.

Despair is a terrible place to be. It is a place where there seems to be no one who understands. It is, to put it bluntly, a living hell. Lest some get the wrong idea, feelings of despair do not always come as a result of sin; sometimes they come without regard to our choices. However, it is one of life's greatest comforts to know that even in times of despair, we have a true friend. We are not alone! God will never leave us nor forsake us. He loves us even when we feel unlovable and He stands by us even when we feel completely and utterly alone! Now that is a friend in deed! (series continued).

Questions:

1. What is despair? What different conditions may evoke feelings of despair in human beings?

2. Over what did the psalmist say he would be in agony? What does this reveal about his character?

3. Was God's hand really pressing the psalmist down, or was that just the way it felt? What is revealed about the character of God by the fact that he would allow the psalmist to express those feelings and not fear retribution?

4. According to the Bible, is anyone truly unlovable in God's sight? Have you ever felt unlovable? If yes, what does this demonstrate about faith (what the Bible says) and feelings (what seems to be real)?

"Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life" from Tom Kelley

Choking can be Hazardous to Your Eternal Health