Answers for a Troubled Heart

6/20/2025

Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed with the “stuff” and pressure of this life? Perhaps it manifests as inner turmoil that you keep inside and try to deal with quietly, while continuing with your work and responsibilities. Maybe it finds its way to the surface and causes you fear and anxiety that at times can be crippling. Perhaps it feels more like a weight that you carry and don’t know how to find relief. Maybe it even drives you to tears and heartache that you have no idea how to deal with.

However, those struggles find their way into your life, I can imagine that we can all say we know what that pressure feels like.

Friend, can I try to help relieve your pressure today? If I could sit and listen to you share your heart and your story today, this Psalm would be one of the places I would take you.

The Psalms are such a wonderful refuge for the pressured and hurting heart. I find so many times that there is a sweet balm for my soul in these Holy Spirit-inspired poems. Look with me at Psalm 42 today, especially focusing on the first five verses.

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance." Psalm 42:1-5

The Psalmist is honestly sharing his yearning for his God here. This first stanza explains that he was being taunted by his enemies. Have you ever felt like the pressures of your life are, in fact, your enemies? Sometimes, the greatest enemy I face in a day is my thoughts! They can be relentless as they try to pull my thinking away from God and His Word. Satan uses our fleshly thoughts to accuse us as well. When I identify those wrong ways of thinking, I can say with the Psalmist that my heart is longing for God and His Word, just like the deer that runs from its enemies is panting so hard from the running and needs water to soothe it. Water is what sustains life for that animal. In the same manner, knowing God through His Word is what sustains life for every believer.

Sometimes that longing comes through tears and struggle. The Psalmist admits that he had spent days and nights in tears and dealing with the accusations of his enemies. Often this happens when we are separated from those who support us, as our church family. Although it is not always possible to be physically with the family of God during great trials, don’t neglect that time with other believers. The encouragement and support that is offered as believers together shoulder the burdens of those who are struggling is one of the gifts of the church. I have spoken to people who say things like this, “I don’t want to go to church. What if someone judges me for my struggle? What if I am not accepted there after what I have dealt with?” The Psalmist reminds us here that there is joy and praise in the house of the Lord. In my experience, I find that I need the church even more when I am struggling in these ways. I need to be around people who are willing to help me and encourage me. If this is where your struggle has taken you, may I challenge you to take the first step and just go find comfort and strength in the church? I know there are imperfect people there who may disappoint you, but remember that we serve a perfect God who gave you the church as a gift to help you through these times of struggle. Don’t avoid it!

The Psalmist closes this stanza with this affirmation of hope that he uses to both question and encourage himself. Do you ever talk to yourself like this? Maybe it’s just something I do, but I see it in the Psalms a lot. When you find yourself overwhelmed in the struggles and pressures of this life, ask the hard questions like the Psalmist did here. “Why are you cast down? Why are you in turmoil in your soul?” Maybe you have to deal with the personal answers to that first, so that then you can echo the affirmation from Psalm 42:5 – “Hope in God!” What is the world without hope? It is lost and without Christ! If you have Christ, you have hope! Then you can choose, like the Psalmist, to handle the struggles and the pressure biblically – “I will praise God for the help He gives in my salvation.” The truth is this won’t relieve the pressure you have in your life, but it will lead you to the One who can help you bear up under those pressures. May God help us to find relief in Christ alone!