Loneliness

Psalm 142

"He wants not friends that hath Thy love” —Richard Baxter

According to the superscription, David wrote Psalm 142 "in the cave" (of Adullum), making it a companion piece to Psalm 52 (Cf., 1 Samuel 22:1,2). David had fled the Philistine camp in which he mistakenly thought he would find a home. Forced out, he found himself on the run again, friendless and alone.

Look on my right hand and see,

For there is no one who wants to know me;

No place of refuge;

No one asks about me (142:4).

I think of those that have reached "length of days" and are unloved and uncared for. Friends and family have forgotten them.

I see them everywhere—in retirement communities, in homeless shelters, on buses and park benches—"silent sentinels of neglect," as someone has said. My heart goes out to them in their loneliness and despair. Three Dog Night was right: "One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do."

Here in this poem, David turns from his loneliness to one who cares for him like no other. One who listens; one to whom he can pour out his soul.

"I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You (and you alone) are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living" (142:5). He finds that God is all he needs for as long as he lives. He is there for you as well.

"What a friend we have in Jesus..."

David Roper

2.20.17

Bale and Boote

Psalm 38

My heart is about to break; I'm burned out,

the light has gone out of my eyes. 

My loved ones and my friends avoid me like the plague,

those who used to be close to me now run away (Psalms 38:11,12 The Message).

The more we need help, the less we attract it. Even our loved ones and friends "avoid (us) like the plague." That's because neediness is off-putting. Hardly anyone likes to be around a deeply troubled soul. Most people have enough trouble of their own. 

There is One, however, who's not put off by our neediness, who never cuts and runs. He understands our sorrow; He hears our sighs (38:9). 

And because He is Himself "a man of sorrows," He is able to sympathize with us and comfort us as no other can.

We should then, "draw near to Him with confidence that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).[1]

"When bale (need) is att hyest, boote (help) is nyest." So goes "The Ballad of Sir Aldingar." And so I pray with David, "Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!" (38:22).

David Roper

2.16.17

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[1] It occurs to me that our friends and loved ones can't help us anyway. They can only point us to the One who is our help.

Unseen

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste it’s sweetness on the desert air. —Thomas Gray

There is a lesson in the flowers: they are willing to offer themselves where there is no one to appreciate them.

Am I willing to serve Jesus in some obscure place? Unknown? Unheralded? Unseen? Living in quiet obedience, loving and praying, and little more?

Am I willing to run that risk for Jesus sake?

David Roper

2.13.7

The Good Life

Psalm 34

"What man is there who desires life and loves many days,

that he may see good? Turn away from evil and do good..."—Psalm 34:12,14

The good life is the good life. Put another way, happiness is doing the right thing, a tenet the wise have always known.

The world is constantly telling us, in one way or another, that happiness is doing things our way, but that's a gigantic lie. It only leads to emptiness, anxiety and heartache. (W.H. Auden writes of children "lost in a haunted wood, / Children afraid of the night / Who have never been happy or good.")

Happiness is doing God's thing His way, a fact that can be empirically verified every day. Just try it and you'll see. That's what David means when he says, "taste and see that the Lord is good” (34:8a).

We say, "Seeing is believing." Show me proof and I'll believe it. That's how we know stuff in this world.

God puts it the other way around. "Believing is seeing" ("Taste and then you will see.") Take Jesus at His word, do the very next thing He is asking you to do and you will see. He will give you grace to do the right thing and more: He will give you Himself, the only source of goodness and with it, enduring happiness.

"Oh, the blessedness (happiness) of those who take refuge in Him!" (34:8b)

David Roper

2.13.17