“The waves crash in/ The tide rolls out/ It’s an angry sea/ But there is no doubt/ That the lighthouse/ Will keep shining out/ To warn a lonely sailor.” –Rich Mullins, “Ready for the Storm.”
We live in constant rhythm, like a beach beaten by crashing waves. You cannot escape rhythm. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Day becomes night; night becomes day. Wake-sleep, wake-sleep. Your heart beats. Spring-summer-fall-winter, repeat. Rainy days, sunny days. Sick days, well days.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 might be paraphrased, “To everything there is a rhythm” and examples follow: birth and death, plant and harvest, kill and heal, weep and laugh, mourn and dance, speak and keep silent, love and hate, war and peace, Ecclesiastes 3:2-8.
King David, the great poet, singer, and composer, who also happened to be a military genius and Israel’s greatest king, understood not only the rhythms of music, but of life. His songs frequently begin with struggles, even despair, only to end with hope as he turns his gaze toward heaven and the God he knows will rescue him.[1]
The rhythm of David’s songs is often despair-rescue-despair-rescue. This rhythm is not only present within individual psalms, but between different psalms. Some of David’s songs would seem to be set in a major key, rejoicing in the goodness of God and all the blessings of life on earth. Other songs have a minor sound, with a focus primarily on the deep hurts of life.
If you were to hear these songs performed one after another in a concert, or if you were to read several of these psalms in a row, you would sense the rhythm of life. And there is a message there:
Today may be painful. But tomorrow will be a joy.
There is rhythm. You will not suffer forever:
“Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning” Psalm 30:5.
Read the following psalms, David’s song lyrics, and notice the way his life moves from tragedy to triumph. Isn’t that just like ours?
(TRAGEDY)
“My enemies speak evil of me. They make bets on what day I will die. These ‘friends’ who hate me whisper slanders all over town … Even my best friend, the one I always told everything—he ate meals at my house all the time!—has bitten my hand” 41:4-9.
“God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there were any that understood, that did seek God. Everyone of them is corrupt … there is none that does good, no not one” 53:2-3.
“The wicked go astray as soon as they are born, they begin speaking lies” 58:3.
(TRIUMPH)
“Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy” 61:2-3.
“My soul waits for the Lord … He is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved” 62:1-2.
(TRAGEDY)
“Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of evil, who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words. That they may shoot in secret at the innocent. Suddenly do they shoot him and fear not” 64:2-4.
(TRIUMPH)
“Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered! … A father of the fatherless … is God in his holy habitation … He bringeth out those who are bound in chains … Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits” 68:1, 5-6, 19.
(TRAGEDY)
“Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire … I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God” 69:1-3.
“Make haste, O God, to deliver me, make haste!” 70:1
(TRUMPH)
“I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart. And I will glorify thy name forevermore. For great is thy mercy toward me, and thou hast delivered my soul from lowest hell” 86:12-13.
God, thank you for the rhythms of life. Thank you that things are always in motion, always moving, growing, dynamic. Remind us to seek you in dull times, in hard times, and in the easy, happy times. May we bring you our joys as we bring you our griefs. Thank you for rescuing your children over and over and over. May we love you more and may we read your word with more understanding and insight every day.
ΑΩ
[1] When I taught high school English, I always said nothing would improve a young person’s writing faster than keeping a journal. In addition, keeping a journal of my own forced me to do what David does in his psalms, and turn my gaze toward heaven. I might write a page or two of complaints, but because I had written it down, I could not stop there. I could not walk away from my writing knowing I had been a “quitter,” giving up when things got hard. Journaling forced me to go to God and turn my eyes upon Jesus. In the end, the practice of journaling was a great help to my spiritual journey because it caused me to make the hard, but mature choice to surrender to God my bad attitude, anger, self-pity, or whatever it was. Perhaps keeping a journal will do the same for you.
Household Words: 