The world is crying. Yet we are called to continue, from the depth of sorrow, to give thanks.
Lord, hear my prayer;
listen to my plea for mercy.
I call on You in the day of my distress,
for You will answer me.-Psalm 86:6-7
Thank goodness for the Psalms. There are as many psalms as there are human emotions. A psalm for every season, every combination of sentiments we have inside of us. The psalms give us words to pray and pray and pray again even when we can barely speak, even when we’re not sure if we believe every word, even when we are close to losing hope.
The psalms reflect the wonderful paradox in our faith. We see a broken world. We sit in the hurt of the attacks in Paris. We look for our place in support of innocent Syrian refugees. We know that sin, sickness and death will always exist. Yet we believe in a God who comes into this broken world, who lives with us, walks with us. And we have faith that this God will conquer sin and death. So in the midst of brokenness, we believe in and respond with hope.
This Thanksgiving, in the muck of horrible news and a world in pain, we find words in the Psalms to help us continue to give thanks.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he
is good,
for his steadfast love endures
forever.-Psalm 136:1
This life is Bountiful. And as the singer-songwriter Peter Mayer so joyously puts it:
You don’t just say grace
Before you dig in
You stand and dance and sway
Around the kitchen
And feast your eyes, astounded by
What you’ve been given
Before you even
Sit down
In Bountiful
I am thankful. I cry with the world. I give thanks. I sit down in bountiful.
Keeping Faith Today 