Do You Know Who To Turn To When You Are Overwhelmed?
Psalms 61:2
From the end of the earth will I cry
unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than
I.
Have you ever felt overwhelmed? I mean really overwhelmed, by life,
by circumstances beyond your control, just listening to the media can bring
overwhelming grief.
The feeling of being overwhelmed is not new, nor is it unknown to
the Christian. Remember even Elijah became overwhelmed, and right after he’d
seen God do a great work. (1 Kings 19:4)
Turning the television on to “catch the news reports”,
or even just to “check the weather” can be depressing, frightening, grievous and
just downright overwhelming. Overwhelming to the point our heart just hurts.
Case in point the senseless murders and other random crimes that
happen on a daily bases. The most recent high-profile case being the shooting
incident at a theater in Colorado, that left 12 dead and many more seriously
injured.
How do you find comfort or give comfort when something
so horrible happens? Really it is near impossible, for any of us to truly
comfort anyone when something so hard happens. Because death is so
final and painful for those of us left behind. It is heartbreaking
to have no words for someone who is truly overwhelmed. It is the same when we
ourselves are overwhelmed, when we are at the end of our rope; we need a glimmer
of hope.
When the David wrote this Psalm he states that “when my heart is
overwhelmed” …”…I will cry unto thee”. He also states in the next verse that God
has been a strong tower and shelter to him.
Psalms 61:3
For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong
tower from the enemy.
This Psalms is comforting because it is saying there
is someone that you can turn to, someone who is unmovable, who is steady.
Christ is all of that he is someone who will never change, or move
from what is true. He is someone we can call out to, at any time
from where we are.
When tragedy strikes unexpectedly as it often will, we
can turn to the Psalms to draw strength and comfort. We can also
point others to Christ by showing them from scriptures those who have been
deeply hurt, or greatly discouraged, but God strengthened and encouraged them.
From Psalms we can also remind ourselves that we are safe, and
secure, no matter how bad things are, when we’ve built our trust, faith and hope
on the Lord. True peace and safety comes only from the Lord.
Even as this corrupt world continues to darken we can know that our
eternity is secure if we’ve truly accepted Christ. It is when we are sure of our
own eternity that we are most able to help those who face the horrible tragedies
that come from living in a lost and corrupt world.
We can fully apply this last verse to our lives when we remember
that whether we live or die, if we are a child of God, our safety is
sure.
Psalms 4:8
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest
me dwell in safety
