Into the Psalms

So, Cokesbury is in the midst of a read-through-the-Bible program, and it has been so meaningful to me! I have especially enjoyed the Psalms, and found new application for my life in almost every one of them. I pour over them every morning as I do my daily reading. I underline so much I am afraid the technique will lose its effectiveness...when every line is eventually underlined! I have written in margins things like "Wow!" and "Yes, Lord!" and "That is for me!" I look forward to giving this Bible to a child or grandchild someday and pondering what thoughts fill their minds as they read my ancient scribbles. The Word of God is living and active. Isn't it wonderful how different parts touch us at certain points in our lives?

I was impressed today as I read Psalm 31. The past five years of my life have been marred by occasional struggles with depression. As I write this, I am working my way through three separate books on the illness and trying desperately to find my way out. I was so blessed to read Psalm 31 and feel King David's sorrow as he wrote things I, too, could write today. Take verses 9 and 10 for instance: "Be merciful to me, o Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak." This is a man living almost three millennia ago describing the emotional and physical effects of clinical depression! And he was the man God described as being "after God's own heart." What strength and reassurance it gives me to know this greatest earthly king fought the same consuming and debilitating affliction as me! I am energized for another day of battle now...with the hope that God will use me and use my infirmity to bless and encourage other believers...both now and for millennia to come!