March 31, 2019

I love things that I can use for multiple purposes. Like the dad in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding who always had a bottle of window cleaner nearby to handle any problems. Have a bug bite? Put some Windex on it. Acne? Put some Windex on it. One bottle of blue stuff that cured all ills.

As I was reading my favorite Psalm this week, I realized that I turn to it time and time again when something needs fixing in my life. God has spoken to me through these words many times when I felt like I fell short or needed encouragement.

Psalm 139 – A Psalm for what ails you

When I’m feeling alone: 1 You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.

When I’m feeling unknown:
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.

When I’m feeling disconnected:
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.

When I’m feeling vulnerable and scared:
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.

When I’m feeling like I’m wandering: 7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

When I’m feeling discontent:
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,

When I’m feeling unprotected:
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

When I’m feeling like I want to hide:
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

When I’m feeling insignificant? ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

When I’m feeling ugly:
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

When I’m feeling like my body is not cooperating:
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

When I’m feeling purposeless:
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

When I’m feeling like I have no answers and don’t know what to do:
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

When I’m anxious and scared:
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

When I’m feeling convicted and sorry:
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Isn’t our God so good to give us encouragement when something ails us? When something is weighing on my mind, He lifts it off with ancient words that heal. When I feel like yuck, His perspective reminds me of His perfect plans.

Lord, your words are a healing balm to my soul. Forgive me for the times my thoughts run rampant with negativity. Help me to focus on you and your sovereign plans for me.