Read the Psalm 

As we utilize a prayer tool like the Examen, we are reminded that the Lord is involved in our lives. He is present and at work in all things. However, it is vital to also remember that He does not prevent all suffering. Indeed, God does not protect us from all harm that could happen to us but this often leaves us with the question: why? Why doesn’t He prevent harm? Or, why me? There are no answers that our human, finite minds find satisfactory. We may want answers but instead we are invited to trust in the name of the Lord. The last line of this prayer (after all has been said) is: “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” Mercy, aid, compassion is in His name. 

“In His name” is a simple phrase that points us to God Himself. One’s name is their character, the essence of who they are. Pointing our hearts toward God’s name is to look to Him for solace – not an answer that may be satisfactory intellectually. It is in looking squarely at Him (His name/character) that our hearts release the need for logical answers and find instead answers that are about relationship and love. God, who is love and who leads us into love, has reasons for why He does not prevent all suffering, and it is connected in some way to love.

In the moment, those connections are not usually obvious but upon reflection, we can often see how God was loving us and walking with us in the most difficult seasons. Author and teacher James Finley made the observation that “God does not protect us from everything, but sustains us in all things.”

We are sustained by His goodness, grace, and love.

We also find ourselves repeatedly in difficulties.

There is a tension between those two realities. And, if we hold that tension, we discover an invitation. It is the invitation to love and a deepening intimacy with God. For some reason, only sufferings seem to push us there. The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote the following which expresses this tension beautifully:

I am the stillness between two notes 

That don’t easily harmonize

Because the note death wants to lift herself up

But in the dark interval both come

Trembling to join as one … 

… and the song remains beautiful.

As we move into the stillness of holding the tension between those two notes (or, realities), we find that beautiful song. It is the chorus of the song that is Psalm 124: “if it had not been the Lord who was on our side.” That note death would have crushed us if not for God walking with us and giving sustaining us step by step. 

As we experience the sufferings of life (people rising up against us, anger kindled against us), we are invited to notice His sustaining presence … to see the ways that He is walking with us in real time. 

Encountering suffering with the Lord by our side leads us a place of wonder and awe. We don’t have answers but we do have a sense of the holy and that there are things far beyond us. There are two places in the Scriptures where we find the words “things too wonderful for me” and both places speak of experiencing a God that is beyond our imagination or even intellectual capability. First, in Psalm 139, after reflecting on the God who knows all things and that we are always in His presence, the psalmist cries out that these are things “too wonderful for me.” Second, in the book of Job, after Job is humbled by God as he tried so hard to make sense of His suffering, Job cried out to God: “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (42:3)

In the end, we are left with a holy mystery and once again in a place of trusting dependence upon the name of the Lord (the essence of who He is). We rest in the beautiful song: “if it had not been the Lord who was on our side” and this song becomes an anthem or chorus to which our heart returns as we encounter that tension that is part of the human condition.

Reflection questions: How do you see the sustaining presence of God in your life? What is it like for you to hold the tension between God’s presence and life’s sufferings? 

Prayer: Lord, give me eyes to see Your sustaining presence in my life. In Your mercy, may I rest in that beautiful song. Amen.