These last few weeks (months?) have been heavy. Weighty.
This morning, as I headed to work, I really didn't feel ready. I felt the weight of the last few weeks. The heaviness. I thought about my regularly scheduled life, and the thought felt overwhelming somehow. These are not unfamiliar thoughts for me. As I got into my car, I sensed one of those gloomy seasons drawing close, lurking nearby.
I turned the radio off as I sat in traffic, and I listened to the silence. That's when I heard it. A line from a very old song I haven't sung since I was a girl took up a refrain in my thoughts. "Put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, lift up your voice to God ..."
It's very difficult to praise God and stay gloomy. It just is. So, right there in my car, sitting in rush hour traffic, I began to dress myself in the garment of praise. I thanked God for the day, praised Him for who He is, recounted to myself all of the ways He's been faithful to me. And I couldn't help but feel like the the gloom was pushed back.
When I got to work, I googled the phrase "garment of praise." I knew it came from scripture, but I couldn't remember where. This is what I found.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord ,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord ,
that He may be glorified.”
Isaiah 61:1-3
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