Psalm 34:14-18 Living Bible
14 Turn from all known sin and spend your time in doing good. Try to live in peace with everyone; work hard at it.
15 For the eyes of the Lord are intently watching all who live good lives, and he gives attention when they cry to him. 16 But the Lord has made up his mind to wipe out even the memory of evil men from the earth. 17 Yes, the Lord hears the good man when he calls to him for help and saves him out of all his troubles.
18 The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins.
Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
In my younger days I struggled to express sadness or fear, thinking they made me look vulnerable and weak.
A wise teacher told me, “Emotions are like busy little children. If you don’t acknowledge them, they get louder and louder to grab your attention. Once you acknowledge them, they feel seen and calm down.”
This slowly helped me to see my emotions as valid and to understand myself and my needs.
I remember a former preacher sharing his own struggles with anxiety.
His honesty and reliance on God’s strength gave me the courage to face my own feelings without shame.
This was a powerful reminder that even the people we look up to can experience emotional challenges.
A late friend once confided in me about struggling with depression.
That friend’s openness helped me slowly realize that sharing our emotions with trusted friends can bring comfort and support. Being honest about our feelings can lead to healing and deeper connections. James 5:16
Psalm 34:18 reassures us that God understands our emotions and is present in our struggles. Normalizing our emotions means acknowledging them, sharing them, praying with people we trust, and seeking God’s comfort and guidance.
Feeling a broad range of emotions is normal and healthy. When we embrace our emotions, we can grow wiser, mature from our toughest experiences, leading to greater emotional and spiritual well-being.
Achy Breaky Body and Wildly Disquieted Souls
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Psalm 32:3–4
Those who work in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and social services are often confronted with a strong correlation between what is happening in a person’s heart and mind and what is being displayed in that person’s body.
God’s word speaks into this connection and then goes deeper, for it tells us that there is a connection between the state of our body and the state of our soul.
Psalm 32, David speaks very personally to God, acknowledging the heaviness he experienced when he hid in the shadows and refused to confess his sin against Bathsheba and devised the murder of her husband, Uriah (see 2 Samuel 11).
And through David, the Spirit teaches us that there is a link between a tortured conscience and lack of repentance, and our physical wellbeing.
Those who were in David’s immediate company may not have been aware of what was going on inside him spiritually, but they could not have avoided the obvious indications of what was happening to him physically.
The description he provides adds to the account he gives elsewhere:
“My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off” (Psalm 38:10-11).
It’s a quite devastating picture.
David recognized his condition for what it was: a punishment.
The Bible makes it clear that there is a natural outcome to lust, excess, and a disregard for the commands of God (see Romans 1:24-25)—all of which David was clearly guilty of.
Frailty, weight loss, sleeplessness, a sense of rejection, melancholy, anxiety, despair often haunt individuals who are seeking to hide their sin from God and deny it to themselves.
What restored David was not a health kick or getting to bed earlier but rather dealing with the root cause—his sin:
“I acknowledged my sin to you … and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).
God kept His hand heavy upon David until David placed his sin into God’s hands and asked Him to deal with it.
It is a blessing to us when God does not allow us to forget our sin—when we feel chronic physical heaviness because of our spiritual sickness. It is His means of bringing us to do what we most need: to confess it and ask for forgiveness for it.
Are you harboring sin?
Do not cloak it; confess it. David experienced liberating relief from his pain and distress when he sought God’s forgiveness.
You too can know that joy, for the promise of God’s word is that
“if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
IF ….
IF …
IF …
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Praying …
Psalm 46 Living Bible
46 God is our refuge and strength, a tested help in times of trouble. 2 And so we need not fear even if the world blows up and the mountains crumble into the sea. 3 Let the oceans roar and foam; let the mountains tremble!
4 There is a river of joy flowing through the city of our God—the sacred home of the God above all gods. 5 God himself is living in that city; therefore it stands unmoved despite the turmoil everywhere. He will not delay his help. 6 The nations rant and rave in anger—but when God speaks, the earth melts in submission and kingdoms totter into ruin.
7 The Commander of the armies of heaven is here among us. He, the God of Jacob, has come to rescue us.
8 Come, see the glorious things that our God does, how he brings ruin upon the world 9 and causes wars to end throughout the earth, breaking and burning every weapon. 10 “Stand silent! Know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation in the world!”
11 The Commander of the heavenly armies is here among us! He, the God of Jacob, has come to rescue us!
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 