Scripture is very honest about human emotion; it's often in the midst of deep grief that some of the highest expressions of praise ring out. This is in fact what happened to me. It was powerful grief and fear that brought me to praise, and, through praise, to a renewed and much deeper love for my Lord. There is of course a difference between expressing sadness (or anger, or fear) and bathing in it to the point that we lose track of the other side of the story -- the one God told Job and his friends, which is that God is God; He knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning: we can trust Him.
With these things in mind, I'd like to share with you another Psalm from the Scottish psalter. At first this one may seem an even more unlikely reflection for worship than the one I shared with you a few weeks ago on the blog page. Yet part way through, the psalmist shifts perspective to remember what's most important, that God is God and we can trust Him.
Like the other recording I posted recently, this is performed by Niall Maclennan (SoundCloud user name Niallags). Unlike the previous recording, though, which I believe was self-harmonized, my ears are telling me there are two voices here. If so, I don't know the other singer's identity, but I am grateful to him and to Niall for this beautiful recording.
Psalm 102 (version 2) vv. 9-15
Niall Maclennan, as performed on SoundCloud
For I have ashes eaten up,
To me as if they had been bread;
And with my drink I in my cup
Of bitter tears a mixture made.
Because Thy wrath was not appeas'd,
And dreadful indignation,
Therefore it was that Thou me rais'd
And Thou again didst cast me down.
My days are like a shade alway,
Which doth declining swiftly pass;
And I am withered away,
Much like unto the fading grass.
But Thou, O Lord, shalt still endure,
From change and all mutation free,
And to all generations sure
Shall Thy remembrance ever be.
Thou shalt arise, and mercy yet
Thou to mount Sion shalt extend:
Her time for favour which was set,
Behold, is now come to an end.
Thy saints take pleasure in her stones,
Her very dust to them is dear.
All heathen lands and kingly thrones
On earth Thy glorious name shall fear.