A prayer for comfort....

On a November day in 1963, the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson and Mike Love wrote a song quite unlike the band’s typically upbeat tunes. It was a mournful song about love that’s been lost.

Mike said later, “As hard as that kind of loss is, the one good that comes from it is having had the experience of being in love in the first place.” They titled it “The Warmth of the Sun.”

Sorrow serving as a catalyst for songwriting is nothing new. Some of David’s most moving psalms were penned in times of deep personal loss, including Psalm 6. Though we aren’t told the events that prompted its writing, the lyrics are filled with grief, “I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed swim, I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief” (vv.6-7).

But that’s not where the song ends. David knew pain and loss, but he also knew God’s comfort. And so he wrote, “The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer” (v.9).

In his grief, David not only found a song, he also found reason to trust God, whose faithfulness bridges all of life’s hard seasons. In the warmth of His presence, our sorrows gain a hopeful perspective.

Heavenly Father, life can be so wonderful, but also
so hard. Help us to seek You in the good times as
well as the bad. Help us to always be mindful that
You are our sure hope in a world that doesn’t always seem to care.

A song of sadness can turn our hearts to the God whose joy for us is forever.