It is so encouraging to see the honesty of the Psalmist, he does not try to cover how he felt. But boldly comes to his God for help. As I have looked back over my life there have been times when I have tried to fix the situation by myself thinking that I could hide it from God. When I think about that attitude it demonstrates that I was deceived when I think that way. It is strange how when we experience tough times that we can think that God is not the answer. The Psalmist had no problem being honest with his God for he knew that God was his only help, may we come to the same conclusion. Verse 6&7 says “The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you “. The Psalmist declares that he was brought low, for him to acknowledge that his situation must have been very bad. But he did not dwell on his low situation but rejoiced on his God’s answer. Whatever the situation we face, God is always the answer to our problems. This is an area where Satan tries to trick us into believing that God is not interested in the situation we find ourselves in. The exact opposite is true our Saviour cares about all the situations we face in life. The Psalmist then gave himself a good talking to, he said “Return to your rest O my soul “, it is so important to recognise what is going on, if we are feeling unhappy tell yourself of the goodness of God in your life. Romans 12:2 instructs us to “Renew our mind” This is a choice that we have to make continually, it is not a single decision we make but something that we do regularly. Our Christian life is not a static experience where some time ago we made a decision and that is all that has happened. I am so blessed these last 9 years as I have lived by myself and have been able to seek the Lord every day. I am so thankful for how precious the Lord has become to me. The Psalmist reminded himself that the Lord had dealt bountifully with him. Even though he had experienced situations that he did not enjoy and did not want to experience again he found the time to acknowledge the greatness of his God. In Verse 8 the psalmist declares: “For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling “. Again the Psalmist tells of the severity of his situation – he does not cover it up. The situation was so bad that he almost died but he did not wallow in what had happened, he concentrated on the greatness of his God. Something that I have learned is that you cannot praise the Lord too much. The situation that he had experienced brought him to tears, this gives a good indication of how he suffered, but he did not stay there, he allowed the Lord to help him. The final thing the Psalmist is that he was thankful because “His feet were kept from falling”, When you keep falling you cannot make progress, you just stay in the same place. God wants us to grow in Him and it is so encouraging in this new season to see Him working in the lives of His people.
Satan hates it when we are trusting God so always put challenges in our way to take our minds of him. Such satisfaction when we praise Him more instead of grumbling but of course we all have our human nature.