Out of the Deep

The sorrows of my heart are enlarged: Oh! bring Thou me out of my distress.–Ps. xxv. 17. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping: the Lord will receive my prayer.–Ps. vi. 8. In the multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed my soul.–Ps. xciv. 17. Each heart knows its own bitterness; each soul has its own sorrow; each man's life has its dark days of storm and tempest, when all his joys seem blown away by some sudden blast of ill-fortune, and the desire of his eyes is taken from him, and all his hopes and plans, all which he intended to do or to enjoy, are hid with blinding mist, so that he cannot see his way before him, and knows not whither to go, or whither to flee for help; when faith in God seems broken up for the moment, when he feels no strength, no purpose, and knows not what to determine, what to do, what to believe, what to care for; when the very earth seems reeling under his feet, and the fountains of the abyss are broken up.