Ezekiel 24:17
“Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban on your head, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips, and do not eat man’s bread of sorrow.”
Have you ever been around someone who sighs all the time? I have known family members who seemed to feel it was their duty to let people know how hard their lot in life was by constantly sighing. (To tell you the truth, the sigh-ers made me sigh.)
I decided to look up the Hebrew word translated “sigh.” It is damam. As strange as it sounds, it means to be silent, be still, wait, be dumb, grow dumb. That is what we read here in Ezekiel 24.
Back in 1991, when our daughter was very near death, we were comforted by the words “for every sigh there is a Psalm.” What our words can never comfort, the words of the Psalmist can. In Brenda’s last minutes here on earth I sat beside her bed and read Psalm after Psalm. I can still hear her soft words of praise as I would finish a Psalm. She would say, “I loved that one, Dad, read another.”
I read our daughter into eternity. There is no doubt about where she is right now. In my mind’s eye I can visualize her welcoming her mother, Joyce, into that wonderful place of peace and rest. What a time of rejoicing they must be having right now.
The next time you are carrying a heavy load of the burdens of life, rest quietly in the Lord and read from the book of Psalms. You, too, will discover that for every sigh there is indeed a Psalm.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil