People throughout the Bible faced difficult, even dire circumstances. No matter what we are facing God is there, waiting for us to call out to Him. Read the prayers of anguish from Jeremiah and David. As you read the note from the Beyond Suffering Bible reflect on how God has walked with you through the valleys and how you will respond in the future.
“I curse the messenger who told my father, “Good news—you have a son!” Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that the Lord overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts, because he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.” Jeremiah 20:15-18, NLT.
“I cried out to you, O Lord. I begged the Lord for mercy, saying, ‘What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise you? Can it tell of your faithfulness? Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, O Lord.’ You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!” Psalm 30: 8-12, NLT.
Connection Note from the Beyond Suffering Bible:
Jeremiah’s complaints spiraled down into a deep depression, leaving him wishing he’d never been born. He called out to God in the midst of his “trouble, sorrow, and shame.” Not everyone responds to despair in the same way; King David knew dark days as well, but he was able to say that God had turned his “mourning into joyful dancing” (Ps 30:11). David and Jeremiah were both faithful in the way they responded, however, because they both took their burdens to God. Where do you turn in moments of despair and hopelessness? How would you help others who share their personal struggles with depression?
