| “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” |
| —Psalm 5:1-3 |
Lent is a time of repentance, fasting, and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is based on the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, as recorded in Luke 4:1-14. When faced with repentance, one of the more common emotional expressions is the sigh. Do you find yourself sighing during Lent?
The sigh is one of the most effective and most annoying forms of non-verbal communications. The very nature of the vocal mechanics that produce a sigh virtually guarantees that the sigh will call attention to itself.
“What’s the matter?”
“What? Why?”
“You sighed—a big one. What’s wrong?”
Sound familiar? Especially between married couples, or close friends, or workplace colleagues, the sigh holds a potency that almost defies measurement.
Throughout the course of our daily lives, we sigh many times. Sometimes the sigh comes from frustration. Sometimes it comes from annoyance. Sometimes it comes from heartache or despair. Sometimes the sigh represents failure, depression, or even grief.
Whatever purpose any particular sigh may have in your life, or in mine, a sigh certainly had a place of honor in the life of King David.
In the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, David prays earnestly and fervently to God. He asks God to make His ears available to hear the words David intends to speak. He asks God to “consider my sighing…” and to “…listen to my cry for help…” David knew that God willingly offered to bend His ear so that He could hear the soft whisper of that potent non-verbal sigh.
How do you suppose you would react when you sighed if, in the inner voice of your mind and heart, you heard God respond, “Yes, my dearly loved child. I hear your sigh”?
I imagine His answer would startle you. But I also suspect that when you thought about it for a while, the very fact that God answered your sighing would give you comfort and even joy.
The God who created us—the One who chose us before the foundation of the earth to belong to Him—does indeed “consider our sighing.” He watches over us with even greater attention than the very best loving and caring guardian. He longs to receive our communications. And, He remains eager to speak to us, to have a conversation with us.
That’s why it is so important to set aside a specific period of time each day to read God’s Word and pray. Making room in our daily schedule to build on the foundation of our relationship with the God who loves us is always time well spent.
No matter what trial, temptation, discouragement, or concern you may face today, please remember you do not have to greet that trouble alone. God is with you. If you belong to Him, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. God waits patiently so that He may “consider your sighing.”
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| 1 adapted from Wilson, Dean K. Blog: "Suppressing-the-Fire" dated March 26, 2012. Copyright ©2012. Used with Permission. All Rights Reserved. |
