When you are overwhelmed...

Graphic by Abby at Little Birdie Blessings

Are you feeling overwhelmed today? There is comfort and encouragement in Psalm 142:3.

"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path." (Psalm 142:3)

"The bravest spirit is sometimes sorely put to it. A heavy fog settles down upon the mind, and the man seems drowned and smothered in it; covered with a cloud, crushed with a load, confused with difficulties, conquered by impossibilities. David was a hero, and yet his spirits sank: he could smite a giant down, but he could not keep himself up. He did not know his own path, nor feel able to bear his own burden. Observe his comfort: he looked away from his own condition to the ever-observant, all-knowing God: and solaced himself with the fact that all was known to his heavenly Friend. Truly it is well for us to know that God knows what we do not know. We lose our heads, but God never closes His eyes: our judgments lose their balance, but the eternal mind is always clear."
-- Charles Spurgeon, in The Treasury of David

"I wish you much comfort from David's thought... The Lord is not withdrawn to a great distance, but His eye is upon you. He sees you not with the indifference of a mere spectator; but He observes with attention, He knows, He considers your path: yea, He appoints it, and every circumstance about it is under His direction. Your trouble began at the hour He saw best, -- it could not come before: and He has marked the degree of it to a hair's breadth, and its duration to a minute. He knows likewise how your spirit is affected: and such supplies of grace and strength, and in such seasons as He sees needful, He will afford in due season."
-- John Newton, quoted in The Treasury of David