BROADCASTS.com

1\xa0Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
2\xa0From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.
4\xa0I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

Selah

5 For you, God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6\xa0Increase the days of the king\u2019s life, his years for many generations.
7 May he be enthroned in God\u2019s presence forever; appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.
8\xa0Then I will ever sing in praise of your name and fulfill my vows day after day. (Psalm 61)

\xa0

Feeling far away from God, nearly overcome, the psalmist cries out.\xa0 \u201cCan\u2019t I just go home to your presence already, up to that place of refuge where you will shelter me?\xa0 I cannot withstand the tempest that blows around me nor the foes that threaten: give me a place to hide, to be safe at last\u2014a place to rest.\u201d

All the ways that our little church community has been slammed by death and heartache within and the pressures of a world in turmoil without, I can very easily see this psalm as our own.\xa0 After much weary weeping, our hearts grow faint.\xa0 After much tragedy, it\u2019s easy to feel like God is far off or that we are\u2014to feel like we have to shout from the ends of the earth to have even a hope of crossing the divide.\xa0

Out spills the heartache and the helplessness.\xa0 Out comes the admission of need\u2014the desire to just be done with it all already.\xa0 \u201cLead me home, Lord.\xa0 Take me under your wing and care for me like my mom used to.\xa0 I just haven\u2019t got the strength today.\u201d

The weeping, the weariness, and the wanting for home all plop out in a great exhale of exhaustion before God.\xa0 And then: silence.\xa0 In the Hebrew, the word \u201cSelah.\u201d

It\u2019s hard to say how long the silence lasts\u2014how long life stretches on in the in between time from the cry of dereliction and need to the response of a faithful God who loves us.\xa0 Perhaps it\u2019s supposed to last as long as Holy Saturday did.\xa0 That day after the first half of our salvation on Good Friday\u2014the exhale, but before the second half on Easter when fresh, crisp air comes rushing back in.\xa0

Holy Saturday can stretch on for ages sometimes before Easter comes\u2014before we even know whether Easter will come.\xa0 But the Gospels tell us that Easter does eventually come.\xa0 God responds to the cry of dereliction.\xa0 Life is made new.\xa0 Jesus reaches across all the divides of time and space, even of death, to catch us up under his wings and take us home. \xa0

Finally the silence of \u201cSelah\u201d breaks into the heritage of those who fear the name of the Lord.\xa0 It breaks into the days of the King: the days of joyfully responding to a reunion and homecoming that makes our hearts to sing in the presence of Jesus and all those we long to hold again.

\xa0