Psalm 69 begins with a state we
sometimes find ourselves in. “Sinking in the mire.” In our times of sinking, I
find it is easy to sink not only in the mire, but to sink into ourselves. To
feel that everything around us is collapsing and that we are completely and
utterly alone.
But the Psalmist today also says, “The
afflicted shall see and be glad; you who seek God, your heart shall live. For
the Lord listens to the needy, and
his prisoners he does not despise.” As human beings we tend to be impatient and
want an immediate, visible solution to our problem. But often times, instead,
we just need to know that God loves us and cares enough to truly listen to our
plight.
Several years ago, I experienced the
transforming power of this loving presence in the midst of my own mire. I had
just graduated college, and decided to stay in Maryland instead of moving back
home, closer to my support system. Unless you were a student, in the military,
or had enough money and were really into sailboats, there wasn’t a lot
to do in the area. The only job I could find was as a barista in a coffee shop
two doors down from a bar. I hated my job, had little success on my myriad of
interviews, struggled forging bonds with roommates I hadn’t really known well
before, and found the relationship I was in at the time slowly falling apart.
And then the winter hit and our heat
went out. Our landlord was out of the country at the time and difficult to
reach. When I met with my roommates to try to do something to fix this
situation, one was too scared of possibly getting kicked and the other didn’t
care enough about what was happening. I felt truly and utterly alone.
Fortunately, I had been taking EfM that
year. My group had become a mini community for me, and when they heard about my
situation, there was such an outpouring of love, and they offered to help me in
anyway they could.
But it was not the help they offered
that gave me the most comfort. It was just knowing that someone cared. It was
experiencing the love of God through the community of the church. It was knowing,
through the love of others, that God cares about me.
When we least expect it, we find God
there, listening to us when we’re stuck in the mire. Sometimes it is just
knowing that He is there and loves us that gets us through our troubles.
Knowing that He is listening to us with the same love that led Him to come down
and sacrifice Himself for us on the cross. And knowing that He loves us that
much, even in our sorrow, makes all the difference.