When you’re confused and disoriented, God is busy rescuing you

Here’s a sweet thought from a short phrase in Psalm 81:5-7 “When He went out against Egypt, we heard a language we did not understand.”

In his song, the Psalmist is connecting two memories. The one is of how God came into Egypt to rescue His people from slavery. And the other is the memory of how they felt at the time – he sings “we heard a language we did not understand“. That’s his poetic summary of the difficult season in Egypt and its a profound way of expressing human emotion in difficult times – like being in a strange land, hearing a strange language, feeling confused and disoriented.

Some seasons in life are victorious and fruitful, but others are tough and confusing. In the rough and tumble, we try hard to figure out the causes of our pain, and try to understand why things are happening. Sometimes we know we are to blame, and then guilt can eat away at our faith if we don’t remember that we stand blameless before God at all times in Christ’s righteousness rather than our own.

What this Psalm tells you is that the time of confusion, when you “hear a language you do not understand”, will pass away as a fleeting memory, and soon you’ll see what was really happening: that God was working and He was busy rescuing you. Psalm 81:6-7 goes on: “He says, “I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. In your distress you called and I rescued you.”

The Father set the seasons of Creation in place and He guides our lives through changing seasons so that our souls can grow healthy and remain dependent on Him. This is true even when we’ve messed something up.

If you’re in a rough season feeling confused and disoriented, know that you have a faithful and loving Father who is at work. He is rescuing you. And He’s doing it in a way that “removes burdens from your shoulder”, pulling thorns out of your heart so that you can live in greater freedom and deeper experience of His Presence.

He always responds when His children call to Him in their distress. So do that, and then wait and trust.