Walking the unwanted way of suffering
Psalm 129 as an antidote to affliction
129 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
4 The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.
When we’re young, we live with the illusion that affliction isn’t universal. We can be tempted to think that the trajectory of our lives will be upward and onward to greater and greater heights of glory.
Yet suffering comes to us all. And it is largely how we respond to suffering that is the making of our life.
The Psalmist models for us how to walk the unwanted way of suffering. He begins by acknowledging his suffering. His life has been marked by it since his youth. How many of us suffer and yet expend massive energy suppressing it, keeping it below a veneer of wellness as though to suffer is something to be be hidden.
Acknowledge your suffering. Embrace it. But in your suffering don’t lose sight of the Lord. The Psalmist is consistent in noting his affliction and in pointing to God. The Lord is the one who has enabled him to prevail. The Lord has overcome the wicked and confounded them.
The Lord provided for the Psalmist in his affliction and he will provide for you in yours.