The Praus Movement's Ten Tenners initiative is designed to help reconnect men with adventure. Why not join us on our Wild Camp and Hike on 17th-18th November. Find out more here.
Psalm 42:6-7: My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of the Hermon - from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
When I was 17, my stepfather was diagnosed with cancer. He died two weeks later. A fortnight after that, the relationship I was in at the time broke down. And then just a few weeks later, my Grandfather suffered heart failure and died overnight.
That brought me a lot of grief but it wasn't the immediate aftermath that I struggled most in. The hardest part for me came two years later - the calm after the storm. When the fighting for survival had stopped, I was exhausted and left pondering the hard questions: 'What is the point in life?', 'Why did bad things happen to us?' 'Was it my fault?'. 'Where was God?'.
The things that once mattered, no longer did. The strategies I had to overcome tough moments, no longer worked. David articulates the same problem in Psalm 42. He had hit rock bottom and couldn't get back up. No amount of praying, thanksgiving, worship, recounting the good times, stirred his heart back to health.
"Why my soul are you downcast?" It doesn't make sense to him that the things that once brought him up off the floor, were no longer effective.
"My tears have been my food day and night". He is constantly fighting back the tears, often losing.
"My soul is in despair within me". He has reached his low point, with no hope of ever getting up again.
Though it is not the main point of the Psalm, I find it very interesting that David turned to nature to rally himself. "Deep calls to deep". David pictures himself in the Mount Hermon range, somewhere he had clearly been before, remembering the awesome sights and sounds of nature - the thunderous waterfalls caused by melting snow from the mountains highest peaks. He pictures the rapids in the rivers below
and likens his troubles to breakers and waves
that sweep over him.
That which is 'deep' in God communicates to that which is deep in nature. He found solace in that. Nature was the thing that woke him up from his slumber, that gave him hope amidst his hopelessness.
Perhaps it is time for you to change your environment. To step out of your routine and into nature - if only for a few hours - and let it break you out of your pain and slumber. Many great men of the past have done this. Winston Churchill, in the midst of war, made walking in the forests a regular release. William Wilberforce found great joy during his despair in the wilderness that surrounded his house. Theodore Roosevelt healed his heart after the death of his wife in the wild west.
The rolling hills and forests that I lived near at the time provided me with a way out of my slumber and depression too. From summer to winter, I would walk, run, cycle and sit in this area on regular occasions, wresting with the dark night in my soul. It would ultimately be those days with God that set me free.
What is the nearest natural wonder to you? When can you get there? It's time to answer your call of the wild.
P.S. The Praus Movement's Ten Tenners initiative is designed to help reconnect men with adventure. Why not join us on our Wild Camp and Hike on 17th-18th November. Find out more here.
Comments