"I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught." (Psalm 88:15)
This is a most sad utterance. Now maybe you cannot identify with the first part of today's text, but many can identify with, "I am distraught." I feel bad when I hear that word describing a person's state.
Here are some synonyms for the word: "agitated, anxious, confused, distressed, tormented." Yet somehow for me the word, "distraught," is the most sad. One site says, "If someone is distraught, they are so upset and worried that they cannot think clearly." They are in, "mental conflict or pain."
The Latin word means, "pulled apart." Sorry if I labored this, but I can't help but think of people whom I have known over the years who were in such a state. What comes to me today is our King and Savior Jesus Christ saying His Words of Matthew 11, "'Come to Me, all you who labor and are heaven laden (distraught), and I will give you rest....You will find rest for your souls', in Me alone."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray now for any who are reading this who are distraught. Only You can deal with this. Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
