Isaiah 50:4-9a, The Living Bible
Rescue me, O God! Lord, hurry to my aid! They are after my life and delight in hurting me. Confuse them! Shame them! Stop them! Don’t let them keep on mocking me! But fill the followers of God with joy. Let those who love your salvation exclaim, “What a wonderful God he is!” But I am in deep trouble. Rush to my aid, for only you can help and save me. O Lord, don’t delay.
Oh, how I love this small
passage, these words.
Right smack dab
in the middle
of a cry for help,
we find the word
JOY,
and an exclamation
of wonder
at our God.
Right smack dab.
And that is life.
At least, it’s my life.
There have been
so many situations
in which I have cried
our for rescue,
an end to suffering.
And every single time,
I’ve been shown
reason for wonder,
for praise,
for minuscule moments
of praise.
Give me eyes to see,
O Lord.
Eyes to see the glory
hidden in the sorrow,
the beauty buried
in the ugliness.
Yes, to be able to praise and find joy even when we are in the depths of despair. So powerful!
Blessings, Diana!
It’s truly a paradox, isn’t it? Yet we all discover the truth of it. “Mourning and dancing touch each other,” as the psalmist says . . .