Where We Settle In Our Emotions Is Most Important

Where we settle when going through our realities in the course of life is arguably the most important part of the process. There is a cycle of emotions we all tend to go through. How fast we move from our typical human pain to settle into the realities of our Creator’s presence and wisdom varies.

I am impressed how Psalm 77 captures the process so clearly. Usually, the cycle of emotions begins with some sort of trauma or disappointment. It could be a diagnosis, a death of a loved one, loss of a job, really anything that happens in the course of a lifetime. The unrestricted human response is to cry out. Tell me, does Psalm 77 sound at all like your experience?

¹ I cry out to God; yes, I shout.
    Oh, that God would listen to me!
² When I was in deep trouble,
    I searched for the Lord.
All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,
    but my soul was not comforted.
³ I think of God, and I moan,
    overwhelmed with longing for his help. Interlude

Is there anyone who has not experienced that sometime in life? The cycle of emotions only builds when we leave it unchecked. And this is not really a bad thing. It is all part of the human grieving process. The psalmist is addressing God but cycles to addressing anyone or anything he hopes will listen, but is this were we want to settle?

⁴ You don’t let me sleep.
    I am too distressed even to pray!
⁵ I think of the good old days,
    long since ended,
⁶ when my nights were filled with joyful songs.
    I search my soul and ponder the difference now.
⁷ Has the Lord rejected me forever?
    Will he never again be kind to me?
⁸ Is his unfailing love gone forever?
    Have his promises permanently failed?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he slammed the door on his compassion? Interlude

When we don’t understand, going back in time often seems safer. We ask all kinds of questions that seem to hang in the air. And when we think God does not hear us we tend to anger and despair. But wait…

¹⁰ And I said, “This is my fate;
    the Most High has turned his hand against me.”
¹¹ But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
    I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
¹² They are constantly in my thoughts.
    I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

Do you see it? the psalmist is drawn back to his experiences with the living God. He turns his gaze from the pain to the life giver.

¹³ O God, your ways are holy.
    Is there any god as mighty as you?
¹⁴ You are the God of great wonders!
    You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.
¹⁵ By your strong arm, you redeemed your people,
    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude

We are reminded of the history of God with His people. Here the Psalmist has shifted from crying out through blame to remembrance then a description of The Presence.

¹⁶ When the Red Sea saw you, O God,
    its waters looked and trembled!
    The sea quaked to its very depths.
¹⁷ The clouds poured down rain;
    the thunder rumbled in the sky.
    Your arrows of lightning flashed.
¹⁸ Your thunder roared from the whirlwind;
    the lightning lit up the world!
    The earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Your road led through the sea,
    your pathway through the mighty waters—
    a pathway no one knew was there!
²⁰ You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep,
    with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.

Notice the description of the waters, the clouds, the wind and the earth. All of them were altered by the presence of God responding to the need. God heard them all along, but they were not yet ready to accept the answer to their prayers. It was a pathway no one knew was there!

Can we trust that God is in the process? And we trust that there is always a way through that we may not be able to see yet? And can we trust that the answer may be ‘unconventional by our finite standards?

This psalm acknowledges all our emotions as valid. These emotions help lead us through a process from pain to faith. The process is not always as tidy as this, however, no matter the route, where we settle is what matters.

“Your road led through the sea,
    your pathway through the mighty waters—
    a pathway no one knew was there!”