A letter from Anthony...
My soul clings to the
dust; give me life according to your word!
When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your
statutes! Make me understand the way
of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me
according to your word! Put false ways far from me and graciously teach
me your law! I have chosen the way
of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.
I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame! I will run in the way of your
commandments when you enlarge my heart! Psalm 119:25-32 (ESV)
It has been a very wet week so far and it seems set to continue. This rain is a blessing to many as we head into sowing season. However, while this rain is well timed for our farmers, the heavy rain falls that have been pouring down on the east coast of NSW have caused major flooding in some areas, and one of these areas is Western Sydney.
And while this is devastating for
those in these areas, as I was watching a news report on the flooding, I had to
laugh because the reporter spoke about the areas that were affected by the
flooding as being in “Western NSW”. And
the “Western NSW” she was referring to was the suburb of Windsor, which is
really only Western Sydney, and it certainly isn’t Western NSW by any stretch
of the imagination.
It reminded me of a phone call that
we had with our telephone provider one day when we were setting up our phone
while living in Forbes. When we
explained to the person from the phone company that we were in Forbes, she
proceeded to ask where Forbes was. We
replied that it was in Western NSW, and then she asked if Forbes was somewhere
near Paramatta or Penrith.
During our time in Sydney while we
were at Bible college, we met lots of people who had never set foot on the
other side of the sandstone divide; and so their perspective of NSW – and the
world – was almost completely shaped by their experiences of Sydney life.
I think most of us tend to chuckle a bit when Sydneysiders speak about greater Sydney as though it is all there is to NSW. But the reality is that we have all been shaped to some degree by our experiences. We all have our likes and dislikes, our preferences, and our ways of doing things. And even though most of us grew up in regional NSW, our likes and dislikes, our preferences, and our ways of doing things are not all the same.
In this Psalm, the Psalmist is
experiencing a time of sorrow – maybe even depression. The Psalmist says his “soul clings to dust”
and it “melts away for sorrow.” We’re
not told what it was that caused this sorrow for the Psalmist, but what we can
see from this Psalm is that in the midst of his sadness he is making the
conscious choice to cling to the way of the Lord, rather than keep clinging to
his despair.
In verse 27 he says, “make me
understand the way of your precepts” and in verses 30 and 32 he says, “I have
chosen the way of faithfulness” and “I will run in the way of your
commandments.”
The sorrow that the Psalmist was
facing as he wrote these words, may or may not have continued after he chose to
seek the Lord’s way in his life. But by
taking his troubles to the Lord, rather than struggling on in his own strength,
he was handing his problems over to the Only One who is able to grow us in our
understanding and love for Him.
May we, like the Psalmist, seek the
Lord’s way rather than our own. So that
whether He delivers us from hardship, or goes with us through the valley of the
shadow of death, He will be enlarging our hearts to trust Him with His plans
for us in Jesus.
In Christ, Anthony
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