I think of people I speak to, like Delphina, who had her boyfriend just walk out on her after several years together. She had yielded to this man her body, through sexual intimacy, against her better judgment, and then he had gone after another woman. And in that distress she was deeply afflicted and hurt, feeling like no one will really want her if she does things God's way. And just like the Psalmist, is the reflection that man cannot fix problems of pain. I continue to watch my 16 year old son ignore our direction, our instruction, our rules, and continue to go his own way. Our role as parents seems utterly useless. We don't feel like trying any longer. Lord, we are hurt, afflicted. We believe you O God, but we hurt. It's people that hurt us. People disappoint us. You have created us to be people that value relationships; we need each other, but not to solve life but to live it together, in growing dependence on God.
Paul adapts this statement in 2 Corinthians 4:13 with the words, "But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak." I believe when I said is the idea that I can speak, now, because I believe I can speak and my words are that I am greatly afflicted. He cried out to God because of a real need.
Read These Next
