When Pain Steals our Voice

I cry aloud to God, and He will hear me. In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted…I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.” I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.

Psalm 77:1-2, 4a, 10-12 ESV

If you’ve ever experienced gut-wrenching, this-can’t-be-happening pain, you will appreciate the Psalmists raw honesty in his words of anguish. Crying out to the Most High for comfort and probably a miracle, yet the continuing pain caused him to spiral to the edge of being unable to even speak. At one point he begins questioning if God is listening at all, and ends up wondering if the promises of God are no longer valid. For him. For his circumstance. Pain so intense, it steals our voice. Even to pray…

Have you been there? I admit I have.

One thing I so appreciate about the Psalms is that they never leave us there. We are onlookers of the raw reality of the people of God wrestling out real pain and heartache, against the backdrop of God’s faithfulness. Read further, and we’ll see how the Holy Spirit enabled Asaph (the one who penned this Psalm) to go from hopeless to the Truth that God is guiding our footsteps, even when encountering the painful and stony paths of real life. And for that reason, there is hope. We are not left to the whims of the enemy or chance or happenstance.

Right in the middle of his anguish, we see him apply mental breaks and choose to reroute his thinking. Nearly forcing himself to remember the past deeds of the Lord, the past record of His faithfulness. Deed by miraculous deed, calling to mind the greatness of our God. This did not cause his trial to evaporate, instead, it enabled him to put it in the proper perspective and regain his trust in the trustworthy God we serve. In spite of all that appeared wrong and painfilled.

Let’s bring this back to our lives, what will we do when our day of trouble comes? Let me encourage you (as I encourage myself) to grab a Bible, open to Psalm 77 and read aloud His Word. I pray we too will walk away knowing that even in this, He is guiding our steps. He is listening to our silent cries and He is aware.

“God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart. When you are so weak that you cannot do much more than cry, you coin diamonds with both your eyes. The sweetest prayers God ever hears are the groans and sighs of those who have no hope in anything but his love.”  – Charles Spurgeon

Oh Father, Help me remember, to purposefully force my focus, onto all that You have done, all that You are doing. And rest that You are the same God today as You were then. I choose to trust You and, in Your faithfulness, whatever the outcome. I bow in worship to You, my Father and my God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

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