"Out of the Depths"

 Psalm 30:1a I will exalt you, Lord,

    for you lifted me out of the depths…

 I didn’t understand the poet until 2:00 a.m. on Easter morning, April 17, 2022.

 40 hours after a stroke, lying in a hospital bed unable to sleep, unable to feel most of my right side, I finally grasped the poet’s meaning.

 In seminary I read a textbook titled Out of the Depths. In all the years since, I hadn’t experienced ‘the depths’ until that morning. Then, out of the depths, I cried out to God, “Jesus, what is the point of going on with my life?”

 Then, out of the depths, Jesus answered. Not with an audible voice, but with an answer my brain, my heart, my soul, heard as clear as a bell. “There’s more work to do, Bill.”

 Understood. My call to work with the beautiful people of Hope Church, feeding and caring for the sheep, was not over. We have more work to do. And I should be there to help.

 I understand what it feels like to be lifted by the Lord out of the depths.

 This is resurrection life.

     Lord my God, I will praise you forever. (v. 12)

Amen.