Psalm 119…

“…is where I go to learn utter and utterly appropriate honesty. Here I learn how to open my heart about what matters, to the person I most trust. I plainly affirm what I most deeply love. I’m candid about my deepest ongoing struggles. I express pure delight. I lay the sufferings and uncertainties I face on the table. I cry out in need, and shout for joy. I say what I want, and want what I say. I hear how to be forthright—without any stain of self-righteousness. I hear how to be weak—without any stain of self-pity. I learn how true honesty talks with God: fresh, personal, direct. Never formulaic, abstract, vague. I hear firsthand how Truth and honesty meet and talk it over. This Truth is never denatured, never rigid, never inhuman. This honesty never whines, never boasts, never rages, never gets defensive. I leave that conversation nourished. I find and experience the brightest and sweetest hope imaginable. I hear how to give full expression to what it means to be human, in honest relationship with the person who made humanness in His image.” Powlison, D. (2004). Suffering and Psalm 119. The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Number 4, Fall 2004, 22, 2.