April 5: Overwhelming Affliction
♫ Music:
Day 35 - Tuesday, April 5
Title: OVERWHELMING AFFLICTION
Scripture: Psalm 102:1-21
Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry come to You.
Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble;
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day that I call, answer me speedily.
For my days are consumed like smoke,
And my bones are burned like a hearth.
My heart is stricken and withered like grass,
So that I forget to eat my bread.
Because of the sound of my groaning
My bones cling to my skin.
I am like a pelican of the wilderness;
I am like an owl of the desert.
I lie awake,
And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.
My enemies reproach me all day long;
Those who deride me swear an oath against me.
For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And mingled my drink with weeping,
Because of Your indignation and Your wrath;
For You have lifted me up and cast me away.
My days are like a shadow that lengthens,
And I wither away like grass.
But You, O Lord, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time has come.
For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.
So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
For the Lord shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer.
This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
From heaven the Lord viewed the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To release those appointed to death,
To declare the name of the Lord in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem.
Poetry:
Hope
by Alice Dunbar Nelson
Wild seas of tossing, writhing waves,
A wreck half-sinking in the tortuous gloom;
One man clings desperately, while Boreas raves,
And helps to blot the rays of moon and star,
Then comes a sudden flash of light, which gleams on shores afar.
OVERWHELMING AFFLICTION
I thought my life was over. Huddled in a closet, heavy sobs alternated with pleas to God. It was not a pretty picture. I was only 26 years old, yet Inflammatory Bowel Disease forced me to the restroom over 25 times a day and often 7-10 times a night. My intestines felt as though they were laced with barbed wire while someone twisted them to wring the blood out. As my body attacked itself, I lost sleep, weight, and hope. Fresh out of grad school, I had sizable student debt and significant medical bills. It all felt insurmountable. The book of Job and Psalm 102 were close company in those days.
While patience and empathy are qualities I consider an important part of my personal character, my capacity for both have been expanded by virtue of suffering. When you are in the pits of despair, your eyes are opened to the troubles of others in ways you could not have previously imagined. It was through that suffering that I grew closer to Christ. When I was tempted to get angry at Him, to accuse Him of not understanding, I remembered that He came to earth to experience our pain––and worse.
There is no escape from suffering in this existence. And yet, we expend so much energy trying to do exactly that. Understandably so––“suffering” does not typically produce positive connotations. But, how do we grow and mature if not through the challenges we face?
In the early days of my disease I asked myself, “What does it mean to carry Christ’s sacrifice in our bodies? In our lives?” The only answer that made sense to me was to embody love. The more I remember what was suffered for me, the more I am reminded of the suffering of those I may never be aware of. In doing so, it pulls me out of myself, and reorients my focus to how I can serve others.
I do not mean to glorify suffering. Nor am I saying we should not work to limit the ills of this world. But, I wonder what it would look like if we held a more balanced perspective of suffering? Is it not a fear of the unknown, a fear of personal suffering, that often leads to acts of self preservation? To behaviors that can often further polarize and divide rather than encouraging reconciliation? Would the last two years look different if we all thought more about the other?
Prayer
Father, please forgive the ways in which I have been selfish. Renew my heart and mind to be more aware of others. You call us to forsake the ways of the world and to be a unique people. In these divisive times, I ask you to help us see others as your children, and to treat them as members of your family. Help us to learn how to move towards one another, not away.
Amen.
Zachary L. Bortot, M.F.A.
Associate Professor of Theatre
Artistic Director, BIOLA Theatre Program
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Waiting from the series Age of Wrath
Oswaldo Guayasmin
1968–69
Oil on canvas
Guayasmin Foundation Collection
Quito, Ecuador
Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guayasmin was dedicated to human rights and justice for indigenous peoples in Latin America. For decades, Guayasamín dedicated his paintings to capturing the grief of the oppressed in Latin America, and dedicated himself to speaking out through his paintings against indigenous exploitation and US intervention. His paintings gave a voice to the voiceless by capturing the political oppression, racism, poverty, and class division found in much of South America. The artist developed a raw expressionist style with which he portrayed the tragedy of life and human suffering.
About the Artist:
Oswaldo Guayasmin (1919–1999) was a Latin American master painter and sculptor whose work is characterized by its cubist-style depictions of Latin American people. Guayasamín showed a passion for art from an early age, and went on to attend the School of Fine Arts in Quito. The artist’s subsequent rise to prominence came about with his exhibition at the Salón Nacional de Acuarelistas y Dibujantes in 1948. This was followed by shows at the Sao Paulo Biennial, the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, and the Palais de Glace in Buenos Aires. Guayasamín is considered by some to be a national hero. His legacy includes the completion of La Capilla del Hombre, a chapel remembering the mistreatment of indigenous peoples in Latin America. During his life, Guayasmín befriended the famed writers Gabriel Garcia-Marquez and Pablo Neruda. His murals can be seen at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and at Adolfo Suárez Airport in Madrid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswaldo_Guayasam%C3%ADn
https://www.latinamericanart.com/en/artist/oswaldo-guayasamin/
http://www.artnet.com/artists/oswaldo-guayasam%C3%ADn/
About the Music:
“My Days Vanish Like Smoke (Psalm 102)” from the Psalmody Collection
Lyrics:
Hear my prayer, Lord;
Let my cry for help come to you.
Hear my prayer, Lord;
Do not hide your face from me,
from me,
from me.
For my days vanish like smoke;
My bones burn like glowing embers.
My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food,
I forget to eat my food.
Hear my prayer, Lord;
Let my cry for help come to you.
Hear my prayer, Lord;
Do not hide your face from me,
from me,
from me,
from me.
In my distress, I groan aloud,
I am reduced to skin and bones.
My enemies taunt me
They use my name as a curse
I eat ashes for my food.
I eat ashes for my food.
Hear my prayer, Lord;
let my cry for help come to you.
Hear my prayer, Lord;
Do not hide your face from me,
from me,
from me,
from me.
I eat ashes as my food,
And mingle my drink with tears.
Because of your great wrath,|
My days are night like the evening shadow;
Like grass, I wither away,
Like grass, I wither away,
Away
Hear my prayer, Lord;
let my cry for help come to you.
Hear my prayer, Lord;
Do not hide your face from me,
from me,
from me,
from me.
About the Performer/Composer:
Graham Gaines is a singer/songwriter and one-man multi-instrument band that combines layers of trumpet, vocals, keyboard, and percussion with influences from jazz and indie electronica.
https://www.facebook.com/grahamgainesmusic/
https://www.psalmody.net/psalm133
About the Poet:
Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875–1935) was a poet, essayist, diarist, and activist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to mixed-race parents. Her African American, Anglo, Native American, and Creole heritage contributed to her complex understandings of gender, race, and ethnicity, subjects she often addressed in her work. She graduated from Straight University (now Dillard University) and taught in the New Orleans public schools. Her first book, Violets and Other Tales (1895), was published when she was just twenty. Her second collection, The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories (1899), explored the lives of Creole and anglicized characters. A writer of short stories, essays, and poems, Dunbar-Nelson was comfortable in many genres but was best known for her prose. One of the few female African American diarists of the early twentieth century, she portrays the complicated reality of African American women and intellectuals, addressing topics such as racism, oppression, family, work, and sexuality. She taught at Howard High School, Delaware State College, and Howard University. Dunbar-Nelson was politically active, organizing for the women’s suffrage movement in the mid-Atlantic states and acting as field representative for the Woman’s Committee of the Council of Defense in 1918; she also campaigned for the passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill of 1924. In her later years she published poetry in Black newspapers such as the Crisis, Ebony and Topaz, and Opportunity.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/alice-moore-dunbar-nelson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Dunbar_Nelson
About the Devotion Author:
Zachary L. Bortot, M.F.A.
Associate Professor of Theatre
Artistic Director of the Biola Theatre Program
Professor Zachary Bortot is the artistic director of Biola University’s Theatre Program. He last appeared as Sebastian in Rebel Run Studio’s science fiction film adaptation of The Tempest. This season for Biola he is directing Sarah Ruhl’s play entitled Eurydice and serving as a producer for Dear 2020: A Process; Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley; and Waiting for the Host. His professional interests include immersive theatre, Theatre of Cruelty, and the use of augmented and virtual reality in theatrical performance. He has a passion for enabling other performance artists to explore the creative vocational endeavors to which the Master Artist has called them.