I
have to admit that I think iPhones are cool. Every time the ads come
on TV I become more convinced that I need one. The message of the app
store ads is clear – whatever your need, whatever your interests,
wherever you are, there is an app for that. Whether you need to check
your train timetable, look up a recipe or just want to kill some time
playing a game, there is an app to suit your need. So what’s
that got to do with the Psalms? Written thousands of years ago, the
Psalms encompass the whole spectrum of human emotion from doubt and
despair to hope and gratitude. What I love about them is that there
are no glib or trite answers. Raw human emotion is laid bare and
there’s no attempt to skirt round the fact that life can be
painful, cruel and downright incomprehensible:
From
my youth I have been afflicted and close to death; I have suffered
your terrors and am in despair.
(Psalm 88: 15)
Find
rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
(Psalm 62: 5)
My
tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day
long, "Where is your God?"
(Psalm 42: 3)
But
I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your
love; For you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.
(Psalm 59: 16)
I
love the fact that there is a God who understands what it means to be
human, who allows us to be honest about how we feel and is big enough
to pick us up when we’re at our lowest ebb. And that’s something
that no iPhone can ever do. So, whatever you’re going through, just
remember - there’s a Psalm for that.
