As believers we find ourselves in this position more times than we care to count: miserable in sin. It is at these times that we feel that we are completely cut off from God. We like to sing “It Is Well With My Soul,” but often our souls, flesh, & health aren’t well or sound as the Psalmist says in verse 3. I see this so much in my life at a medical level. I am physically sick, and all I have to do is go see a doctor, but only when I am on my death bed (figuratively) do I finally drag myself to the doctor. Just as in Lamentations where there’s bleakness & destruction, David has bursts of realizing that new mercies & salvation will arrive (verses 9, 15.) We are looking for Hosanna to come rescue us. Healing comes in reaching for the Lord even when it hurts to stretch our hands or move our muscles (verses 17-18.) At the end of the passage (verses 21-22,) the Psalmist is calling for forgiveness to be made right with God. If we truly understand the meaning and history behind Hosanna it paints a beautiful picture of this as in the old testament (Psalms 118) when Hosanna was a cry for help. Picture this: there was no help/victory in sight, death/the enemy was all around, and someone was drowning and could not escape. The phrase they used was hoshiya na which translates into save us. How many times in our lives do we get to this point where we are so helpless and stuck that we call out to God to come save us. It is easy to look and reflect on the mountain tops and forget the valleys.
—Steven and Stephanie Barrett