As you can probably tell, I am using a variety of sources for these prompts as we move through the days. The more question based titles are journal prompts, the ones that are simply words are actually a photo grief journal, but I just use that as writing stimulus. Today we have a prompt from a place that I haven’t used yet, but I couldn’t not use it today…
Psalm 46: 1-5 reads…
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
When we are grieving we need to hear these words. We cling to the idea that God is our refuge and helper in times of need. I love that this psalm, as so often is the case, names the fears. The psalmist tells God what is wrong, what is scaring them. I think it is important when we are grieving to name the pain if we can. To express the hurt in some way, to God and the people around us, and name what is making us afraid.
But the psalm doesn’t stop there, because if we can do that, the hope is we can move to a place of remembering God in the midst of us. In the midst of uncertainty and hurt, God is unchanging, unmoved and faithful. In the midst of grief, I have always found God, in the shadows there with me.
And the reason I couldn’t not choose this prompt for today, is that this is also true for us all at the moment. I was struck as I read these five verses of how relevant these words for the world right now. There is a lot of fear; society is trembling and in tumult, but God is in our midst. God will stay in our midst; we will not be moved.
Lex xx
Lexisms 