Our daily reflections follow the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan, designed for those who want to read the whole Bible in one year. Each reflection focuses on one of the chapters from that day's readings. Darllenwch rhain yn Gymraeg.
Lord, prepare me to receive your word. Clear my mind and warm my heart. Assure me of your loving purposes for me, and speak into my life today.
One of the characteristics of the book of Psalms is a deep honesty about human experience. There's grief, anger and pain in the Psalms, but also joy and hope.
'How much longer?' is a question most of us ask at some time (verse 2) when we go through sorrow and trouble. The psalmist tends to speak in terms of 'enemies'. These might be real people, but he might also be personifying things that are more abstract, like illness.
When there's no end in sight, the future can look very dark and grey; sometimes all we feel we can do is to keep putting one foot in front of another, without much hope that anything will change. We do need to be honest – there are some situations, for instance when someone is living with an incurable condition, that only death will resolve. Usually, though, we find that through the passage of time or the support of a loving Christian community, light breaks through and we recover our joy in living.
But here, the psalmist speaks of God's 'constant' love (verse 5). It's not just that he loves us when things get better; he loves us when they're at their worst, and we're still asking 'how much longer?' Perhaps we don't see it until much later, but we are never abandoned and never alone. Even when times are very hard, we can still pray, 'I will be glad, because you will rescue me.'
'I will sing to you, O Lord, because you have been good to me.' God, help me not to doubt in the darkness what you have shown me in the light.
This reflection was written by Mark Woods, Bible Society's Editor
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