They say, “Misery loves company,” but I don’t know about
that.
The idea is we tend to spread our pain to others as if by
division we can diminish our share of anguish.
I’ve been sad enough to be bitter and make my company miserable,
too. It didn’t help. For each companion infected with despair, the inverse
occurred, and my share of misery multiplied. My misery does not love present company.
But PAST company is welcome.
There is surprising comfort in realizing that my particular distress isn’t particular to me. Someone else has scars in the same place. Others have fought the same battle, lost it like me, survived the loss, fought it again, and survived to share the story.
None of those miserable examples of humanity survived that
moment unscathed, but each of them survived.
They got up --- limping, grieving, chastised and still angry; but they
got up and went on to succeed.
It should comfort our community to open the Bible and read that that we are not the first community of faith to experience this particular combination of anxiety, anger, hope?, resignation, and cynicism about the possibilities of justice.
The Korahites had been slaves, leaders, rebels, outcasts, and worship leaders. One of their songs declares the misery of being citizens of a country defined by sin, led by lies, governed unjustly, and oppressed with impunity.
Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the
enemy? (Psalm 43: 1-2)
The sons of Korah pleaded for a sign, for a Word from the Lord that would make all their praise and worship seem relevant in the midst of national misery.
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God. (Psalm 43: 3-4)
We don’t know what were the specific issues which inspired the 43rd psalm. What were the alternative facts delivered by the deceitful and unjust man? Whose lives didn’t matter to the ungodly nation they nevertheless loved? What were the systemic tools used for oppression? We don’t know how or if the complaints in the psalm were justly resolved?
All we know is their misery.
And we know how they survived, got up, and kept going.
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God. (Psalm
43: 5)
The Korahites worked on themselves internally.
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
They concluded that they could not survive depending on circumstances as the source of their mental health. They recalled that they, like the miserable saints before could endure and progress if they placed their hope in God.
Hope in God
The Sons of Korah decided to reinvest in their praise and worship. To simply DECIDE that their praise and worship was relevant.
For I shall yet praise Him
They decided to remember, to believe, to KNOW that God had brought them through every past battle; and, therefore, He would bring them through the next battles, including the battles with their own misery.
The help of my countenance and my God.
JESUS had no form or comeliness . . . no beauty
that we should desire Him. . . He
was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief. He was lonely because we
hid, as it were, our faces from Him.
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah
53: 2, 3)
Jesus triumphed over death, the grave, Hell, sin, and human
betrayal. This is our God in whose
eternal company we have our most precious hope.
This is the company that misery can love.
Over and over, the Bible affirms: You may not feel alright right now, but you will be alright in the long run.
You will lose sometimes, but you will ultimately win.
God’s people hurt, too.
But God heals His people. Every
time.
May our present anxiety find relief in the great cloud of witnesses who have suffered and triumphed before us.
- Anderson T. Graves II, is a writer, community organizer, consultant and the pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church
Email: BaileyTabernacleChurch@comcast.net
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