May 4, 2012

     This morning I discovered an unusual Psalm. The 88th Psalm is the only Psalm without praise. It was written by Heman who was mentioned in I Chronicles as being a musician and a singer. It would suit the personality of an artistic type to have periods of depression. He was also referred to in I Kings as a wise person. As you read this Psalm you can see how depressed Heman was. Apparently he suffered chronically, had an affliction that brought him to the point of death and it appeared his friends had shunned him. He had been close to death many times from his youth on. It appears that someone very close to him, perhaps a wife or dear friend, had shunned him also. The truly interesting thing about this Psalm and Heman is that he     continued to pray unceasingly, everyday, day and night. The only reason he wanted to live was because he knew he would be useless to the Lord if he were in the grave because he could not praise God.

     I couldn’t help but wonder how many times had I been in a position where it seemed that God had moved from my side? Perhaps having a “pity party” with no one else invited except poor pitiful me. Did I remember to pray? Did I only want to go on so I could praise God? Or did I just languish in my pity and wonder, “Why me?” I want to be like Heman was when I am low in spirit. I want to pray all day and know that God is still with me. He will not move from me, but I may pull away from Him. I do not ever want to be disconnected from feeling the     presence of God in my life. That is the only way to live and it is a day by day, moment by   moment process.
     Fortunately, the next Psalm erases all that gloom and doom with verse 1 and following:

I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;

with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness

to all generations.

The last verse says it all:

Blessed be the LORD forever!

Amen and Amen.

     I find myself wishing that Heman had written Psalm 89 showing us that he made it out of that black period. I’m sure he must have at some point.

     It has been a quiet day, lots of rest and reading. My kind of day!
     God bless you and good night,
     Mary Margaret

The big "C" in me is Christ enabling me to deal with the little "c" which is the cancer!

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