Hope vs. Despair

We live in a very broken & distorted world, we encounter all kinds of hurts, brokenness, tragedies and times of down right physical pain.  One of the things that always bothered me growing up, during my adolescence, was this... I didn't completely understand why Christ had to die. In all reality I didn't even realize that God had made man perfect and that man chose to sin against God, subjecting the entire world and all of God's creation to brokenness.  I understood Christ died for individual sins, but I didn't comprehend how we all fall short and are in need of a Savior.  Even if I had known those things, I still didn't understand (my biggest perplexity), "if Christ died for sin and overcame death, why is the world in such a state of disrepair?"  I mean, "was the world just going to continue to be this way?"  The element I was missing was the promise God made that He would return a second time and redeem our fallen and broken world.  What so many refer to bringing them fear (their physical death or Christ return, which ever should happen first), I found hope!  My life has changed drastically since those early years of my life, knowing there is such a hope and that God's love and promises are available to us everyday!  He is with us through the storms of life! But often times, old fears, thoughts, and frustrations rear their head as we face new difficulties or heartaches in our lives.  I came across this "anti-psalm" tonight which is a parody of the Psalm 23 from the Bible.  I believe our fallen world as well as our world's focus on "self" we often fall in the trap of thinking like this "anit-psalm".  Read this first and then compare to the hope found in Psalm 23


Antipsalm 23:

I'm on my own.
No one looks out for me or protects me.
I experience a continual sense of need. Nothing's quite right.
I'm always restless. I'm easily frustrated and often disappointed.
It's a jungle — I feel overwhelmed. It's a desert — I'm thirsty.
My soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can't fix myself.
I stumble down some dark paths.
Still, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.
But life's confusing. Why don't things ever really work out?
I'm haunted by emptiness and futility — shadows of death.
I fear the big hurt and final loss.
Death is waiting for me at the end of every road,

         but I'd rather not think about that.
         I spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.
         I find no lasting comfort.
         I'm alone ... facing everything that could hurt me.
         Are my friends really friends?
         Other people use me for their own ends.
         I can't really trust anyone. No one has my back.
         No one is really for me — except me.
         And I'm so much all about ME, sometimes it's sickening.
         I belong to no one except myself.
         My cup is never quite full enough. I'm left empty.
        Disappointment follows me all the days of my life.
        Will I just be obliterated into nothingness?
        Will I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?
         Sartre said, "Hell is other people."
        I have to add, "Hell is also myself."
        It's a living death,
         and then I die.

The antipsalm tells what life feels like and looks like whenever God vanishes from sight.  Sometimes it's because we shove Him out of the equation (like the majority of our society) or it comes through those dark isolated times when our own focus is so distorted we find ourselves in moments of despair.  BUT, look at what the Scripture tells us of our Savior...

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
  He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,
  he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
   for his name’s sake.
 Even though I walk
   through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
   for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
   they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
   in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
   forever.

We are human, we all face the battle together, but may we experience this hope of  Psalm 23 in our darkest hours!