Another Inspirational Moment from the desk of my pastor, Dr. Aaron L. Parker - Zion Hill Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia A DIET OF TEARS The author of Psalm 42 in the Hebrew psalter wrote these lamentable words: “My tears have been my food day and night” (3a). This was his poetic way of saying that his troubles continuously plagued him. Without any regard for his wellbeing, they mounted a perpetual attack upon his body, mind and spirit. It expresses a depth and breadth of inner turmoil that cannot easily be overcome or dismissed due to its turbulent longevity and deep severity. This writer was by no means getting a break from his heart-wrenching complications; they repeatedly pounded and battered him like wind-tossed waves against the sandy seashore. Day and night he cried with a cast-down soul; mournfully he labored under the oppression of gloating enemies. And although he remembered better times in his life, those times seemed painfully distant. He existed, we might say, on a diet of tears. Sometimes we pass through similar melancholy seasons in our lives, wherein troubles come, not in isolation, but in rapid succession – the difficulties are doubled; the miseries are multiplied; the hardships are heaped upon us in a most unmerciful fashion. As the psalmist intimates, we cry, internally and/or externally, because of the plethora of obstacles in our path. Consequently, we experience excessive levels of anxiety, frustration, weariness, and tension. We are uneasy, worried, fearful, and apprehensive during most of our waking moments, which become more numerous every day. If we dare examine our own inner condition we seem to be coming apart at the seams. We have been relegated to a diet of tears. Under such conditions, the crucial question becomes: “How do we change our diet?” How do we abandon the depressing ration of tears for healthier spiritual nutrition? How do we reduce our intake of sadness, sorrow and pain and increase our supply of relief, joy and peace? The author of the 42nd Psalm refused to continue on his diet of tears. Instead, encouraged himself with these powerful words: “Hope in God.” This is what he told himself to do as he labored under some particularly harsh circumstances: Hope in God. Hope, by definition, will not let the mind or spirit become preoccupied or obsessed with present difficulties. Authentic hope, not mere optimism, takes seriously the current troubles, but refuses to allow those troubles to define the totality of reality. With an ability to envision a better situation, hope protects a person from utter despair and permits that person to strive for a way out of a harrowing and hurtful predicament. But the hope about which this psalmist speaks is a special kind of hope, for he recommends that those troubled in body, mind and spirit hope in God. He realized that hope in anything or anyone else might end in devastating disappointment. He understood that trust in a source other than God could very well result in his complete demise. With the utmost confidence he placed his tortured life in the hand of the Almighty, whom he staunchly believed would provide adequate help and turn his bad fortune around. For those whose adversity has seemed unceasing, whose trials have appeared endless, whose spiritual diet has been nonstop tears, we recommend better nourishment, more satisfying sustenance, more fortifying cuisine; we urge hope in God – not in material possessions that may run out, or in other people who may forsake, or in the self who may disappoint, but hope in God – the ultimate Creator, the compassionate Sustainer, the bounteous Supplier, the strong Deliverer: “O taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8a) Pastor Parker
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 14:54:50 +0000
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