How to Beat the Downward Spiral “…give me life according to your word!” Click the Bible for your resource.
How to Beat the Downward Spiral
Ever notice that people, circumstances, and influences like TV and social media bring a constant stream of pessimistic news and suggestions? People have a bad case of unbelief; it’s rare to find a true encourager. Sensationalizing every trivial event diminishes the impact of truly newsworthy events and activities, leaving us with a sour psyche from the day’s news. Old and young alike have many complaints, especially about the aches and pains that visit our self-abused bodies, fed with calorie-rich, nutrition-poor meals, one after another. Even nature indicates that everything deteriorates and returns to dust all too quickly. And then, there are the relationships we suffer through as we try to fit all these ideas together and fail to minister to one another as we ‘turn back to dust.”
In the face of these experiences, the Psalmist gives us ground to identify with the experience, “My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!” Psalm 119 gives us twenty-two eight-verse thoughts on life and God. In the Hebrew, each verse begins with the same letter. In this case, the letter “Daleth” leads verses 25 through 32.
Stack up the “dis” words to feel what he writes—discouragement, disappointment, disillusionment, disease, and others. He writes, “My soul clings to the dust,” his way of identifying with the down days we all deal with. His suggestion comes next, He doesn’t necessarily say, “Turn off the TV.” “Put the Smartphone down.” “Stick to the friends that bring good news and build you up.”
They’re all good suggestions, but then, when things get quiet around us, they tend to get noisy within us. If we don’t have the noisy external voices, we have plenty of self-incrimination we use to beat ourselves up. There must yet be a better answer.
How to Beat the Downward Spiral
“give me life according to your word.” The old English word used in the verse is “quicken,” which means revive my life, resuscitate me, and save me. Your body may be aching and aging, but your soul doesn’t have to. Life comes through the word.
Spend your time in the scriptures every day and meditate on the promises all day. As the gravity of circumstances and people tug you downward, look up and stay up on the promises of God, the greatest of which is life in the Word of God. As we understand, the Word of God is none other than His son, Jesus. The good news we all need comes through the reality of a risen messiah. Jesus came that we might have an abundant life. How best do we get to know Him and what it means to enjoy the life He means for us to have? How do we beat the downward spiral?
The Psalmist says, “My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!” Psalm 119:25
