Articles

You are in the middle. The aging parent. The work. The church. The friend who needs more than a text. The mathematics does not add up. You are not failing. The structure is impossible.

In Psalm 42, the psalmist repeats the same sentence three times in two psalms. Put your hope in God. The help is not the lifting of the flood. The help is the presence of the God who is with you in it.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. The psalmist's prayer is the prayer of an exhausted person. The help he needs is not at his level. He cannot, by his own effort, reach it. He needs to be led.

You have been waiting for the water to recede. Psalm 24 says the earth is founded on the seas. God does not wait for the chaos to evaporate before he builds. The ground was always meant to be built on the deep.

The lie of suffering tells you that your collapse is unique. You are on the train, or in the supermarket queue, and everyone else looks untouched. They are not. You are not alone in your boat.

The new song is not performed on a stage. It is sung in kitchens, in cars, in 3 a.m. rooms — by bodies that have decided to keep going. You have been singing the whole time. Part four of Singing in the Flood.

Let the sea resound. The same sea that was roaring in Psalm 93 is now being commanded to join the worship. The storm is not the thing that disqualifies you. The storm has been invited into the choir. Part three of Singing in the Flood.

The new song is not the old song with new lyrics. It is the music of wounded hope — quieter, gritter, a steady heartbeat that says I am still here. Part two of Singing in the Flood.

Sing to the Lord a new song. The instruction feels cruel when you are drowning. The old songs no longer fit the voice you have now. The new song is not the old song faked — it is something else entirely. Part one of Singing in the Flood.

You will not, if you keep going at this pace, last. The Saviour of the world walked away from people who needed saving so that his own soul could be tended. If he could, you can.

Psalm 93 holds a tension our worship songs cannot. The waters are loud. The throne is older. You do not have to calm the storm to be faithful — you only have to remember whose throne stands above it.

The believers the church has often considered disqualified are the ones the church most needs to lead. The risen Christ kept his wounds. The scars are the credential. Part five of Radical Hospitality: Creating Room for Mental Wellness.