Psalm 116:6 – The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
Just like the vast majority of us, Jane experienced serious health issues, death of family, struggles at work, etc. As she got older, experience showed her that all her struggles had actually been a blessing. It is in life’s deep struggles, when we know we will not be able to pull ourselves up, that we are forced to cry out to God to “save me!”
This psalm is one of thanksgiving, for being delivered from some life-threatening situation. It might have been an illness, but the description was open-ended enough to apply to any number of horrible situations in life. No matter what the psalmist’s pain, the focus is on the fact that he turned to God in a time of distress.
The other key to the Psalm is that just as God loved the psalmist, He loves us enough to respond in our moment of deepest need. We are, therefore, valuable to God. In our suffering, the world may not view us as special, or needed, or valuable, but God sees us as we really are: worthy. It is important to view ourselves the way God views us; valuable.
Today, thank God for specific moments in your life when God carried you through deep struggles. Then continue to thank God for seeing you as valuable, even when others do not consider you worthy. Allow God to humbly lift you up and give you the self-worth to do meaningful and worthy things, in God’s name. Judge yourself with grace, as God judges you and me.
Your past may have been dark and ugly but YOU are not!
