Psalm 119:134 Rescue Me

Redeem me from human oppression,
that I may obey your precepts.

Psalm 119:134

Sometimes when we're feeling distant from God, it's not really about God at all.

The things other people do to us can crush our overall emotional state so severely, we're virtually incapable of separating out the true cause of our deep distress.

When ladies in the prison chapel would express their despair at not "feeling" God's presence, what was often really going on had more to do with their general despair about the condition of their daily life. They were dealing not only with the very real oppression of the restrictive rules of the prison system, but also with the grim reality of interacting with hardened inmates and frequent rejection by family and friends.

In such a crushing situation, emotions can be both enlarged and suppressed. People generally react by cycling through times of extreme emotional release and extreme emotional retreat. Tears, anger, violence, and psychological instability; then withdrawal, avoidance of social interaction, despondency, numbness, and self harm.

You don't have to be in prison or living in a totalitarian regime to have your emotions tossed about oppression. I've gone though similar cycles when stuck working under a manipulative and mean boss. Others experience similar reactions when they've experienced a series of financial or personal setbacks, combined with the insensitive and impersonal reactions of people who ought to be helping but only make things worse.

I've learned that when the world is crushing my spirit, the best response is to resist the extreme emotional reactions. They only lead to hurting myself and others, and often end with me blaming God for the mess I've found myself in and the mess I've made of trying to fix it.

The better response is to go to my knees in prayer. Look to him for rescue from the situation. Focus myself on what God wants me to learn from the situation. What experiences is he giving me now that will enable me to help others later?

The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love.Corrie Ten Boom