We Long for Deeper Healing
Sunday Psalm 9.22.24
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Father God Lord Jesus Holy Spirit We present ourselves before You again this Sunday. Please convict us today both Of our sin and of your compassion. Show us the ways we meet legitimate needs In illegitimate ways—how we look For love and approval in the wrong places. And reveal how You suffer with us in The intensity of our shame and fear. We want to respond to your conviction; To experience your compassion. We long for deeper healing. We need You to calm our restlessness. We want the blessing of a pure heart So that we can see You. Left to ourselves, we lose our way. When we encounter everyday challenges, We overreact, sometimes embarrassing ourselves. And we can be lethargic, unmotivated. For some of us, just getting ourselves Here this morning is a victory. We need You, Jesus. We need You, Holy Spirit. We need You, Forever Father. Please reveal Yourself to us today. We will never not need You. And the more we look, the more we’ll find. And the best is coming, beyond anything We will ever experience here, when your Goodness, Truth and Beauty will fully satisfy. Amen.
Hi Karen,
As always, I love your counter-cultural ways of looking at life; all of which I believe are BIBLICAL ways of looking at life. Like when you ask God to "convict us" (counter-cultural in itself), but to convict us both of our sin AND of His compassion. I LOVE that addition of His compassion.
But what struck me most was your phrase, "Show us the ways we meet legitimate needs / In illegitimate ways."
I was having tangential thoughts just yesterday. The world today offers all kinds of answers to our desires for human flourishing: romance, wealth, stoicism, independence, self-esteem, self-assertion, or even happiness.
The problem is, none of these solutions have worked. We are sadder, madder, and more lonely than 50 years ago. More divorce, more suicide, more depression, more division, and more grasping for distractions.
Yesterday I read Ps. 32 which begins, "BLESSED is the one who is forgiven" (and it went on to talk of the blessedness of confessing sins). I was struck by the odd nature. Who would think that a key to blessedness is confession? We think of blessedness as SUCCESS, not admitting failure!
But as you said, we are looking for answers in all the wrong places. So I though of more "blessed" passages. And multiple "blessed is the one" passages came to mind. But NONE of them said the solution is self-esteem or independence. Instead, all the "blesses is" passages dealt with spiritual mysteries:
--Blessed are the poor in spirit
--Blessed are those whose delight is Your Word (and meditate on it day and night)
--Blessed are the meek
--Blessed are those whose help is the Lord
All that is to say, THANK YOU for pointing us back to the Lord, to looking for love in all the RIGHT places, which is His compassion.
Thanks,
Sam