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SIGHTS AND SIGHS-by Heidi McLaughlin

Posted: January 9, 2022

Apparently I sigh a lot. My daughter Michelle informed me of this as I huddled over a very difficult 1000 piece COKE puzzle during the Christmas holidays.  Of course I was sighing, this was a seemingly impossible task. But my sighing turned into joy when another piece found its place. Eventually, by asking for help and calling in the troops, the puzzle was completed and we cheered and clapped.

I know puzzles are a frivolous example, but there are a lot of hardships to sigh about right now. Reading the heartbreaking news of over 1000 homes burnt to the ground in Colorado, the new Omicron variant, harsh winter where I live and tragedy everywhere. Just this week I’ve received news of two more dear people graduating into Heaven.

So much sadness. So much sighing.

 I love the comfort of the verses in Psalm 5:1 “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.” The Hebrew word for sigh is änah which means to “groan (in pain or grief) or to gasp. To groan like cattle and to be in physical distress.”  Isn’t that how it feels some days, gasping for air, groaning like cattle? And that’s OK because we need those sighs. Research says: “When you’re breathing normally, the small air sacs in your lungs, called alveoli, can sometimes collapse spontaneously. This can negatively affect lung function and reduce the gas exchange that occurs there. Sighs help to prevent these effects. Because it’s such a big breath, a sigh can work to reinflate most of your alveoli.”[1]

Sighing is good physically and spiritually.

Especially when we consider the powerful lament in Psalm 5:3 that says: “In the morning O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” God knows the devastating sights we see and He hears our sighs. He knows our disappointment and suffering and He wants us to come to Him in prayer so that he can breathe new life into us.  He wants us to talk to him and “wait with expectation” as to how He will work it out. God has the answers, but he need to ask and wait.

Maybe right now you have more questions than answers. Expectation is not just hoping and wishing things will turn out all right. It’s knowing God is powerful, that we are His beloveds, that He has the rights answers and we expect Him to respond to our prayers. What is causing you a lot of sighing these days? Can I lovingly suggest you feast your eyes on His words of hope, and then breathe and ask Him to meet you at your point of need?

 

[1] https://www.healthline.com/health/sighing#is-it-good-or-bad, January 7, 2022

Posted in: adversity, anxiety, ask for help, ask God, breathing, disappointments, disasters, Expectations, feeling good, God's promises, grief, hurting world, mourn, Omicron, Overcoming Struggles, pray, Prayer, sighing, sighs, waiting