Courageous Language

It is a real encouragement to me that we are able to find alternative ways to gather and to grow in Christ together, and to be nourished with hope, even as we continue to face uncertainly about what the upcoming days and weeks are going to be like. 

Where can we turn in moments of challenge and when we feel anxious and unsettled? We can’t really maintain faith, hope, and love out of our own natural resources. So where do we turn? Of course we turn to God. But in particular, in the Scriptures, we can turn to the tremendous resources of the Psalms. There’s something particularly helpful about these songs in that they help us merge together the difficulty we might be facing in the world, our longing for help from God, and our desire to express our need to Him.

I love how Eugene Peterson puts it. In speaking of the Psalms he says, 

I need a language that is...courageous enough to explore all the countries of sin and salvation, mercy and grace, creation and covenant, anxiety and trust, unbelief and faith that comprise the continental human condition.

The Psalms are this courageous language. Everything that a person can possibly feel, experience, and say is brought into expression before God in the Psalms. The Psalms help put language in our mouths for how to pray, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. 

This Sunday we will continue our Eastertide sermon series in the Psalms, looking at Psalm 23 as a song of confidence.