When I was a child, we used to have a rhyme to describe our feelings. “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I’m gonna (sic) go eat worms.” This psalm written by David sounds just like that rhyme. We all get down in the dumps at times. Have you ever felt that way?
Listen to how David describes his situation.
Verse 1: I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord’s mercy.
Verse 2: I pour out my complaints before Him and tell Him all my troubles.
Verse 3: I am overwhelmed. . .Wherever I go my enemies have set traps for me.
Verse 4: I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.
Verse 6: Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
Verse 7: Bring me out of prison so I can thank you.
Talk about being emotionally miserable, David was in the depths of despair. Most of us would say we have occasionally “be there, done that”. It is a miserable feeling.
Why do we feel this way? Sometimes we go through problems we simply don’t understand. Sometimes it comes from the environment we were raised in. For example, if one or both of our parents were raised in a home where they were made to feel unworthy, they may have treated us the same way. It can happen in school, in church or anywhere else.
David realized the answer was in his relationship with God, but he was not able to console himself before ending this psalm. “Then I pray to You, O Lord. I say, ‘You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life’.” (Verse 5).
Job found the same answer. He spent months questioning God. “Why has all this happened to me?” God never explained the why, but He did speak directly to Job, and Job got past his problems to experience the blessings and renewed relationship with God, including praying for his friends. “When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes.” (Job 42:10). Sometimes our attitudes are wrong about ourselves and others; we just need to change our attitudes by praying for those we think are trying to hurt us.