Just Like Me

Just Like Me


One of the blessings of the Word of God is that God, with his knowledge of who we are, has included every life situation.  It is possible, if our hearts and ears are open, to find an author who speaks to our struggles.  When we do, it is as if God is assuring us that we are not alone.  Our struggle is not so unique that we must walk this path alone.  Someone else has struggled as we are struggling and has found rest in God.  
There is something about finding out that you are not alone.  It is why support groups have been so successful.  Here is my weird story.  God has not blessed me with a beautiful body.  It is, like all bodies, marvelously and wonderfully made but in the eyes of men, it is not beautiful.  One of my issues is that I have bony, white legs.  I did not receive the Italian dark skin of my mother but I received the white Yugoslavian skin of my dad.  So, wearing shorts is an adventure in fear of man issues.  One day, at church, a well known evangelist came to speak.  He was well liked, a president of a big christian college, and a cool guy.  In his message he was giving an example and he spoke of how he would never wear shorts because his legs looked like two pieces of white rope with a knot tied in the middle. Everyone chuckled but, for me, I found someone who was just like me! It honestly made a big impression.  
That, on a very small scale, is what it is like when we struggle with something and find that God has recorded that struggle in his most precious book.  He placed that story in his book so that it would speak to my heart and remind me that I am not the only one.  God knows and works in my life, even in the midst of that struggle.  That is a precious gift.  The Psalms are the greatest collection of these struggles in the Bible.  They remind us that we are not alone and that there is a path to worship in the midst of the struggle.  I have stolen the list below but it is a partial list of God’s reminders to us that we are not alone in our struggle and that there is a way to walk obediently with him.  This list also includes positive emotions that can replace those negative thoughts.

1.  Love: “I love you, O Lord, my strength” (Psalms 18:1).
2.  Awe: “Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him” (Psalms 33:8).
3.  Sorrow: “My life is spent with sorrow” (Psalms 31:10).
4.  Regret: “I am sorry for my sin” (Psalms 38:18).
5.  Contrition: “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalms 51:17).
6.  Discouragement and turmoil: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me” (Psalms 42:5)?
7.  Shame: “Shame has covered my face” (Psalms 44:15).
8.  Exultation: “In your salvation how greatly he exults” (Psalms 21:1).
9.  Marveling: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalms 118:23).
10.  Delight: “His delight is in the law of the Lord” (Psalms 1:2).
11.  Joy: “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Psalms 4:7).
12.  Gladness: “I will be glad and exult in you” (Psalms 9:2).
13.  Fear: “Serve the Lord with fear” (Psalms 2:11).
14.  Anger: “Be angry, and do not sin” (Psalms 4:4).
15.  Peace: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep” (Psalms 4:8).
16.  Grief: “My eye wastes away because of grief” (Psalms 6:7).
17.  Desire: “O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted” (Psalms 10:17).
18.  Hope: “Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you” (Psalms 33:22).
19.  Brokenheartedness: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalms 34:18).
20.  Gratitude: “I will thank you in the great congregation” (Psalms 35:18).
21.  Zeal: “Zeal for your house has consumed me” (Psalms 69:9).
22.  Pain: “I am afflicted and in pain” (Psalms 69:29).
23.  Confidence: “Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident” (Psalms 27:3).
24.  Loneliness: “I am lonely and afflicted” (Psalms 25:16).