My Soul Refuses to Be Comforted

Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next few weeks, we will be meditating on Psalm 77 together. As we study these truths together, we’d love you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you dig into God’s Word each week with us! 

“You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.” Psalm 77:4

READ:

I didn’t want to fall asleep. I didn’t want to stay awake either… the reality of her absence weighed so heavily upon me, at times I couldn’t breathe. But to fall asleep meant that I would wake to another day without her. Another day that moved farther and farther away from the moment when I heard her heartbeat, or held her in my arms, or had the hope of a life with her in it. Grief was inescapable and unrelenting. Asaph, the psalmist that penned Psalm 77, could empathize: I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. We see repeatedly that the psalmist was active in his grief, looking to the One that could assuage the pain. He cried out, he sought the Lord, his “hand is stretched out” (an expression of desperation). He is so overwhelmed and nothing will calm him down. He expresses that well when he says, “my soul refuses to be comforted.” Rather than an obstinate heart that refuses to be helped, he is simply expressing that he is so overcome by the weight of his sadness and the situation that he cannot calm down – his soul cannot settle. It is noisy with lament. This is an expression of faith – he believes that he is heard by the Lord. And yet when he thinks of the Lord, he feels restless and weak. As we moan and stretch out our hands in grief, let us resolve to allow the Lord to be the object of our emoting. Let us direct our cries and tears to Him, knowing that He alone can assuage the pain of sorrow.

REFLECT:

• As you read verses 1-4, to Whom is his grief directed? 
• When you think of the Lord, how do you feel? 
• Do you believe that God hears your prayers? Why or why not?

Erin Cushman is the founder of Hope Mommies. She is married to Blair and has five children: Gwendolyn, who has been with Jesus since October 20, 2010, Malacai, Gemma, Baby C, who is also with Jesus, and Savannah. She loves photography, gardening, cooking, reading, playing with her children, and especially loves when all those things combine.

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