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Loneliness bites the soul like frost degrades and scars the flesh. It is insidious in that it usually comes so gradually that it is unnoticed. Without warning, changes in our lives can be so subtle as to be unnoticed for the moment, but literally wreak havoc over the long haul. As a nation, Israel had gradually drifted away from the source of all real comfort, the Lord God Almighty. Like we do as individuals at times, they were suffering from extreme loneliness in a crowded world! Nothing can be worse than acute loneliness; cries that originate in the lonely heart are cries that indelibly impress those who hear them and those who experience them firsthand.

Here is a plaintive cry of one of Israel’s lonely but vocal citizens: “Hear my prayer, O LORD, And let my cry come to You. Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; Incline Your ear to me; In the day that I call, answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, And my bones are burned like a hearth. My heart is stricken and withered like grass, So that I forget to eat my bread. Because of the sound of my groaning My bones cling to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I lie awake, And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop. My enemies reproach me all day long, Those who deride me swear an oath against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, And mingled my drink with weeping, Because of Your indignation and Your wrath; For You have lifted me up and cast me away. My days are like a shadow that lengthens, And I wither away like grass.” (Psalm 102.1-11). Stark loneliness was behind these cries. Fears of being utterly abandoned fuelled the pain in his heart and the fears in his soul.

However, faith somehow persevered in the face of near despair. Such must always be the case if we are to overcome; faith must trump fears! Read more words from the pen of the same down and out psalmist: “He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, And shall not despise their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come, That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD. For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; From heaven the LORD viewed the earth, To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To release those appointed to death, To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, And His praise in Jerusalem, When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD. (Psalm 102.17-22). Not only did he know that God would hear [regard] his prayer, he knew that there were better times yet on the horizon, even for a people “yet to be created.” Further, the writer looked forward to a day in which those who were “appointed to death” would be released and when the LORD would be served by kingdoms of men. These words undoubtedly looked beyond the present despair to the future Kingdom of God and the Gospel system. It was here, in this coming day of the LORD, that the captives would be set free and those sentenced to spiritual death would be redeemed by the LAMB of God!

There is a point in all of this that we must not miss. While I do not necessarily believe that every cloud has a silver lining, I do believe that many of them do. Even from the deepest depths of despair, there are yet things to which the faithful servant of God can look forward. It may or may not be true with you, but I can remember days that I literally did not see how I could survive the emotional and spiritual pain I was experiencing. However, as I look back on those days and hours, I realize that I was not alone; God had not abandoned me! Faith looks beyond the clouds and sees the rainbow, God's promise that better things are coming!

Questions:

1. What graphic words reveal the depth of despair into which the writer of the 102Psalm had fallen?

2. What hope did the writer hold out, even for the Gentile nations?

3. From what prison has Jesus Christ delivered his followers?

4. What covenant of God is literally represented by the rainbow? What current day comfort can we receive from seeing the rainbow in the clouds of suffering to which we might be subjected?

"Voice of Inspiration" from Andy Castro

Mangled Mind-Psalms 91:15