When Life Loses It's Sparkle
Do you have an ache inside of you today that is almost too much for you to endure?
Perhaps you are unable to actually pin the ache on any event or on any particular circumstance … but it is there none-the-less.
And it is tormenting you … a constant groaning of the soul.
Is there a painful emptiness in the gut of your being that perhaps has been caused by brokenness … by disappointment … or by rejection?
Are your sighs becoming epic in length and massive in sheer number?
Does every plodding day seem to fade away in the grayness of a foggy morning mist that the sun is unable to penetrate?
Have you lost your will to sing … to dream … to hope … to move forward?
Perhaps you can relate painfully well to the words of the Psalmist,
“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?” - Psalm 13:1 & 2
There will always be times in life when the days are drab … when the hours are meaningless … and when the minutes are achingly mundane.
Not every day was designed to be the first day of Spring … or a Fourth of July parade … or a time of celebratory gift-giving.
Some days are March-like in length and in gloom. There actually might not be anthing wrong … but it seems like there is nothing much right, either.
Gray. Mundane. Aching. Malaise. Flavorless.
No sparkle. No music. No smile. No flowers.
In those moments of nagging doldrums and throbbing melancholy, I must embrace a strategy.
I must enable a strategy that brings hope … that erases disquiet … and that lessens emotional debility.
In the days of visceral fog and stark despair, I must pre-determine my default. It is essential that I stop listening to my soul and review, once again, the pre-planned determinate.
The Psalmist reminds me what this determinate should be …
“But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.” -Psalm 13:5 & 6
And in this historic and beautiful psalm, we have found the plan. We have discovered a 4-step process that is so healing and so powerful that it has endured the test of time.
I have trusted!
When you don’t understand … try trusting.
When you are down in the dumps of life … try trusting.
When you live in the pit of despair … try trusting.
When your life has boiled down to absolutely nothing … try trusting!
Try putting all of your trust in a God Who is loving and kind. Stop listening to your emotions and then endeavor to live a life built upon the delight of trust and hope.
It matters not one bit how difficult or how disappointing your life has become because the loving and kind God has not changed.
He is perpetually good and He is eternally kind. Now … I can trust a God like that!
My heart shall rejoice!
You need to find your happy heart.
Talk to your heart and tell it what to do: “Heart … it’s time to rejoice!”
The reason you can command your heart to rejoice is because your heart was never meant to rejoice in circumstances but it has always been called to rejoice in God.
Start singing an internal song even when you don’t feel like it.
Let the song of your heart soar above the storm and above the fog.
There should be no disappointment bold enough to silence the song of your heart.
The song of your heart was given to you so that you could sing loudly and majestically … without pause and without whisper.
Your personal song is most clear and is at its resolute strongest when it is sung in the despair of human existence. Trust me. I know.
I will sing!
You know that song that was birthed in your heart and bubbled up in spite of your circumstances? Well … now it’s time to open up your mouth and let that melody out for the entire world to hear!
You and God are the only ones who are able to enjoy the song of your heart … but the world will be dynamically changed and miraculously amazed by a believer who sings defiantly in the face of disappointment and despair.
Sing when you don’t feel like it.
Sing when your soul is in pain.
Sing when the war is raging.
Sing anyway.
He has dealt bountifully with me!
What joy there is in that declaration! I serve a God Who has given to me beyond what I deserve!
I trust a God Who gives … and gives … and gives again!
My heart rejoices in His goodness and in His grace!
I will sing and I will honor Him!
So there, circumstances!
Take that, emotional fog!
In your face, discouragement!
And wait … what is that I hear? Do you hear it, too? I detect a sound echoing across eternity … it sounds like laughter!
Could it possibly be that when I choose Him … it brings joy to His heart?!
Could it be when I trust rather than panic … that it enriches His existence?
Could it be that when I rejoice rather than weep … that He smiles?
Could it possibly be … that when I sing in spite of personal pain … that He sings along?!
Could it be?!
