The Land of Silence

As a creative person and someone who feels things deeply, the Book of Psalms really speaks to me. I've been reading through the psalms at a snail's pace since September. This morning while reading through Psalm 93, verse 17 stood out to me:

If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. 

How often do I stop to think about what life would be like without God? If he wasn't holding me together when life tried to break me? If I didn't know I could turn to him for truth and encouragement in dark times? If I didn't trust his purposes and plans through the daily rhythms of my life? If I didn't have his joy and healing restoring me day after day?

It was life's tragedies which initially led me into the arms of the Father and opened my eyes to my need for Jesus. Life is certainly not perfect and painless with roots planted in faith, but the presence of the Lord in the darkest times has kept my soul from living in the land of silence, as the psalmist says. His love restores me to joy despite my sorrow, makes me braver in the face of fear, and keeps my heart tender when the world tries to make it hard.

The psalm later says:

When I thought, "My foot slips," your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.

Whatever loss or challenge we may face, the Lord is right there to help. 
He is constantly working to keep our souls from silence. 
He has a plan for us through any suffering we may experience.
 He will show us beauty, love, and truth through whatever life holds by being our help.  

Photos are my own, from Wallowa Lake State Park.

Linking up with:
Monday's Musing
Teaching What is Good
Coffee for Your Heart
Quietly Through Thursday