Psalms for Healing
Sometimes in the darkness of death, I don’t know what to pray. This is such a time–when mothers, fathers, friends, teachers, caregivers and neighbors mourn and bury their children. This is when I reach for the Psalms and listen to the voices of God’s people who have cried to God for over 2,000 years. Cries upon cries upon cries. Words that have been spoken in the depths of despair, and at the heights of joy also. Words that have been given to us when we have none. Let us join with the voices of all those who struggle in exile by praying Psalm 46 for all those who need refuge from pain.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. ‘Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.’ The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Jenifer is a volunteer Christian educator and co-author of Call On Me: A Prayerbook for Young People.