Suffering is part of our earthly life. We push her away, we groan when she knocks on our door. In these unbearable moments, the Psalter can help us to better understand the mystery of our ordeal and to get through it.
At certain times in our lives, when disappointments, difficulties, difficult relationships with those we love, personal failures or health problems accumulate, we can become completely discouraged. Sometimes, it’s the start of real depression, which requires medical treatment (this doesn’t just happen to others!). But more often, it is a temporary ordeal. How to get back on track? How to regain confidence ? The psalms open a way out of the night for us.
1 HOW LONG, LORD, WILL YOU FORGET ME?
“How long, Lord, will you forget me?” ( Ps 12 ). When God seems so far away that we almost doubt his existence, we are tempted to give up prayer. We think that prayer is only good if we are overflowing with love and gratitude… and when our heart is sad, we no longer pray because only bitter words come to our lips. So what ? Why not tell our bitterness to the Lord? How could He “turn our mourning into a dance and our funeral garments into an adornment of joy” ( Ps 29 ) if we turn away from Him? The Bible is full of these cries of distress and anguish. Did not Jesus Himself cry out before dying: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ( Mk 15:34 ).
2 CAST YOUR BURDEN ON THE LORD: HE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU.
“Cast your burden on the Lord: He will take care of you” ( Ps 54 ). God wants to relieve us of all our burden. He only asks one thing of us: that we let Him do it. May we not be ashamed to give Him everything, including what humiliates us, what seems contemptible, even repulsive to us. A single rotten fruit can contaminate an entire crate of healthy fruit: a single germ of rot that we have not dared to present to the Lord is enough to fill us with sadness and bitterness.
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3 CLEANSE ME ENTIRELY FROM MY SIN, PURIFY ME FROM MY OFFENSE.
“Wash me completely from my iniquity, purify me from my trespass” ( Ps 50 ). God does not only expect us to give Him our good deeds, to cast off our crosses. He also wants us to give Him our sin, because His joy is in forgiving us. One day, the Lord asked Saint Jerome for his most precious possession. Saint Jerome then listed everything he gave to the Lord: prolonged fasts, long hours of prayer, acts of love, etc. But the Lord was expecting something else and Saint Jerome no longer knew what to offer Him! “And your sin? Jesus asked him. Why don’t you think about giving it to me?”
4 DIRECT YOUR PATH TO THE LORD, TRUST HIM, AND HE WILL ACT.
“Direct your path to the Lord, trust in Him, and He will act” ( Ps 36 ). When we no longer know where we are and anxiety plunges us into darkness, let us apply ourselves more than ever to “direct our path towards the Lord” by fulfilling his will step by step, through the little things of life. everyday life. Let us strive to live fully in the present moment, without worrying about the rest. The only thing that matters, the only thing that depends on us, is that we do God’s will here and now. The rest is His. Let us not torment ourselves unnecessarily! Let us seek the Kingdom of God and everything else will be added to us.
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5 I WILL BLESS YOU EVERY DAY, I WILL PRAISE YOUR NAME FOREVER AND EVER.
“I will bless You every day, I will praise Your name forever and ever” ( Ps 144 ). Every day, even when everything is going wrong, we can say at least one “thank you” to the Lord. Even the darkest day has its golden fringe: it is the smile of a child, the beauty of a landscape, a gesture of tenderness, an unexpected encounter… Let us not fall asleep without saying “thank you” to the Lord . Not an empty, vague and impersonal “thank you”, but a precise “thank you” for something specific. The more we thank, the more reasons we find to thank. Praise opens our hearts and our eyes to the wonders of God.
6 LORD MY GOD, YOU LIGHT UP MY NIGHT. FOR THE FIGHT YOU FILL ME WITH VALOR.
“Lord my God, You light up my night. […] For the battle You fill me with valor” ( Ps 17 ). God does not suppress the night, He enlightens it. He does not exempt us from fighting, He gives us everything we need to fight valiantly until victory. Whatever the opacity of our night, whatever the struggles of life, let us be sure that in the resurrected Jesus, we already have victory. Let us trust Him without reservation and soon we will sing: “Yes, You have come to my help I cry for joy in the shadow of your wings” ( Ps 62 ).
Christine Ponsard
