This is one of my favorite verses because it represents a great thing that happened in my life......
But me he caught—reached all the way from sky to sea; he pulled me out Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos, the void in which I was drowning. They hit me when I was down, but God stuck by me. He stood me up on a wide-open field; I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!Psalm 18:15-17
I don't know how easy it is to express a time in a person's life when it seems you're going nowhere. That you're struggling - feel damaged and confused about life and the future. For me it was so exact. I almost stopped literally in my life during my late 30's after I'd had a tragedy happen, decided everything was hopeless and I became beyond despondent. I rode my bike around a huge field track one day and wondered how I could just 'give up' trying in life. It was all too hard.
I was in trouble and felt completely lost. I thought God (if he was there at all) had not only forgotten about me, but did not care.
This next couple of verses also expand on my personal experience of God and explain in retrospect what happened in my life.
Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart.
There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor (Trouble) to be for her a door of hope and expectation. And she shall sing there and respond as in the days of her youth and as at the time when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
Hosea 2:14-15
That time, and now more than ever, the sense of kindness, of God reaching out to me when I had given up hope. When I was in the valley of trouble, and stuck there - a sort of life time wilderness.
How can a person drown in a void?
A person can be dying, losing life's oxygen when there is nothing - no hope! A person can die in the wilderness... a harsh barren place with no food, comfort, life or water. These are perfect metaphors for an individual hungering for comfort, for strength, to have joy again.
There was a D O O R of hope in the middle of my chaos -
in valley of my troubles
God reached down .... He pulled me, He stood me, He spoke tenderly to my heart. How does this happen in the real world?
All I can say is that I sensed a gentle whisper all around me as I rode and rode, as I walked - like a magnet to my heart this sense that I needed to pray, to talk to God and read the Bible - My beaten up heart began to soften day by day and week by week.... as the year turned my ears began to open and I started hearing whispers of goodness and feelings of love that seemed supernatural. I realised I couldn't save myself. I looked outside the void and into the sky... awaiting help. And here I am years later knowing that it was a turning point...
I read, I prayed and asked for help and meanwhile God was already reaching out to me.
I do sing, I do have my joy .... I can only thank God for all he has done for me.
