There are days when it feels like you have experienced nothing but the blahs, nothing but problems, as if someone has used you for a punching bag. Do you turn to a self-pity party or do you turn to God? How does turning to God change your perspective? In all these three psalms (86-87-88) the authors find themselves in such straits and offer to us the prescription for those times.
What to do: Center your focus upon God through prayer…the psalmist cries out: God incline your ear to me, be gracious to me.
State the circumstance to God: I am needy, experiencing affliction, trouble, feeling forsaken by friend and foe, and even sometimes feeling alienated, abandoned, alone, rejected, hidden from God’s view.
Be honest: Sometimes even feeling angry at the circumstance, at friend/foe and even God.
Remind yourself of the character of God: God you are good, forgiving, slow to anger (unlike “me”), abundant in lovingkindness (said 3 times which is a good reminder for all of us), great, comforter, deliverer, helper, merciful, gracious.
GOD YOU ALONE ARE GOD!
This is how you get through those times we all experience from time to time. So when you feel like you have experienced the “one-two-three punch” follow these steps and find peace, reconciliation, and a renewed view of the circumstance.