IMAGO DEI: November 17, 2016
www.imagodeicommunity.ca
I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, like a mute, who cannot open his mouth; I have become like a man who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply, I wait for You, O Lord; You will answer, O Lord my God. Psalm 38:13-15
Most of us live in a fog when it comes to any real sense of God’s presence in our lives. Like the Psalmist, we find ourselves more deaf and mute than we would like to be regarding the quality of our communication with the Lord. There are, of course, those rare and wonderful occasions when the clouds part and we experience a moment of clarity in this relationship. But, for the most part, like the Psalmist, we tend to see, hear and speak dimly.
Psalm 38, however, affirms this condition as normal. As the Psalmist matter-of-factly confesses, “I am like a deaf man who cannot hear, like a mute, who cannot open his mouth.” It might seem like a hopeless position from which to cultivate a relationship—like being in a foreign country where you cannot speak or understand the people you are trying to communicate with—if not for the faith that God understands our human predicament. Such is the confidence of the Psalmist. Rather than despair over his inability to pray, he offers the very condition of his lostness as the basis of his prayer.
Those rare times—when the sky opens up and we once again know clarity in our communications with God—are what provide faith for us that, if we simply keep returning to prayer, these times will surely return. Such hope is certainly the Psalmist’s inspiration when he says to God, “I will wait for you, O Lord,” and then adds his confident assurance that “You will answer, O Lord.”
Maturity helps us accept the limitations of our creatureliness when it comes to initiating communications with God. But experience also teaches us that, if we wait long enough—if we persevere, and not give up on prayer—the Lord, in His time, will answer us. From His own gracious initiative, clarity will return to us. The fog will lift, the clouds will part, and the sun of truth will shine on us once again.
Rob Des Cotes
Imago Dei Christian Communities
(written for July 10th, 2014)
FOR GROUP DISCUSSION
- How would you describe your own experience of feeling deaf or mute in your prayers? Have you ever used this condition as an excuse to leave your prayer?
- What happens when you accept the “fog” as normal for the spiritual life rather than seeing it as a sign of failure on your part? How is your faith especially purified during such times?
- When you are in such a fog, how does God instil faith in you that spiritual clarity will eventually return? What posture does the Lord invite you to assume during such times?
FOR PRAYER: Accept your feelings of deafness or muteness as a normal part of the creature’s relationship with its Creator. Consider the Psalmist’s stance whereby he simply prays, “I will wait for you, O Lord.” And then rest in the confident assurance he then models that “You will answer, O Lord.”