Oh, my soul

Melissa Logsdon – October 8, 2024 2 Comments

“We live our lives in the mystery of suffering.” 

This is a Jesuit phrase Sharon Chubbuck quoted in her recent teaching on Lament.

This phrase stuck to me.

It felt all at once honest, heart-breaking, and encouraging. 

Honest: because so much of suffering is a mystery

Heartbreaking: to admit it is an unavoidable part of the human experience

Encouraging: because I’m not alone in the suffering; and neither are you–this is a shared, although individually unique, part of our life journeys.

Which brought to mind the psalms and the repeated speaking to oneself to encourage one’s soul in the midst of heartache, and directing our gaze to our hope in God. 

Many modern worship songs utilize this same model. One that’s been in my mind this past week is “Oh, My Soul” by Casting Crowns. Here’s a few excerpts and how they follow this ancient model: 

“Oh, my soul

Oh, how you worry

Oh, how you’re weary, from fearing you lost control

This was the one thing, you didn’t see coming

And no one would blame you, though

If you cried in private

If you tried to hide it away, so no one knows”

–admitting to oneself the pain you are facing

“Oh, my soul

You are not alone

There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know”

–reminding oneself of God’s ready presence to turn to with the pain

“Here and now

You can be honest

I won’t try to promise that someday it all works out

‘Cause this is the valley

And even now, He is breathing on your dry bones”

–acceptance of where one is now, with the hope of God bringing new life to us

And one of the ancient Psalms that comes to mind is Psalm 42 (the “as the deer” Psalm). In the midst of pain and sorrow, the psalmist speaks to his heartbroken soul and recalls God’s faithful love and encourages his soul to turn to God with hope:

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise my Savior and my God.” –Psalm 42:5

May we lead our souls toward God, not just on the good days, but also in the midst of our sufferings.
–Melissa Logsdon, NCF Associate Pastor