This Psalm is heavy.
David is feeling condemned, sick, frail, and worn out from weeping. He is falling apart. “My eyes of faith won’t focus anymore, for sorrow fills my heart. (vs 7).”
I’ve been there.
I love the inclusion of this psalm in scripture. It tells me the Lord know’s how we talk when we are down.
This week as I have been meditationg on this psalm, the lyrics of Rita Springer’s song Defender, keeps playing in my mind.
“You know before I do
Where my heart can seek to find your truth
Your mercy is the shade I’m living in
You restore my faith and hope again.
When I thought I lost me
You knew where I left me
You reintroduced me to your love
You picked up all my pieces
Put me back together
You are the defender of my heart”
Jesus doesn’t just pick us up and put us back together, He fills us with His glory. According to Brian Simmons, “Paul uses figurative language [in 2 Cor.] to say that we are common clay jars (created from dust/clay) yet we possess the brilliant light of God’s glory, Jesus Christ, and carry him as treasure in our being. The outward vessel is not as important as the glorious treasure within. The metaphors here may allude to Gideon’s clay pots that had burning torches inside.”
“For God, who said, ‘Let brilliant light shine out of darkness,’ is the one who has cascaded his light into us—the brilliant dawning light of the glorious knowledge of God as we gaze into the face of Jesus Christ.
We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that the extraordinary overflow of power will be seen as God’s, not ours. Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out. We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity. We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
So, then, death is at work in us but it releases life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:6-12