When the problems of the past follow you around every single day, it can get tiring. And when you look at what you’ve got to overcome on a continual basis, the problem seems to get bigger. After a while, you’re looking at your own Goliath and wondering if you have even an ounce of strength for this!

I felt like this when I was in the process of overcoming the past. There were days I didn’t want to feel the emotions of yesterday, or even deal with the things of today, because it all was just too much.

Some days I would have much rather pulled the covers over my head and hid from the world. I didn’t want to deal with it anymore and I wondered why God wasn’t healing me faster.

 I just wanted out of the misery.

There was another person who felt that way too.

King David.

Psalm 22 reads My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?

Psalm 22:1 NKJV

But then, he goes from  his feelings of woe, to praise and thanksgiving.

I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
You who fear the Lord, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.

Psalm 22:22-24 NKJV

Overcoming the Past through the Psalms

Read through the some of the Psalms and mark the ones that especially speak to you about the way you’ve been feeling and note how David turns from his feelings of woe, to praise.  

Then, pick one or two that encourage you and lift you up.

In the part where David turns from his feelings of hopelessness to hope, whether you feel like it or not, start praying or even singing that Psalm of praise back to God. 

As you move forward, keep that psalm of praise on your lips, even when you don’t feel like it, and you will be surprised how just speaking that word out loud and reminding yourself of the truth of God’s goodness will help you to keep taking one more step forward.

You don’t have to overcome the whole past at once. You only need to take the next step, and God will show you what that is when it’s time. Keep praising and keeping the truth of his word in your eyes and in your ears, and he will come through for you. He has promised, and He is faithful.

In His love,

Carolyn

Copyright Carolyn Rice 2019