Don't Keep Going to the Pity

Grace and Peace!

Today’s uplift: Don’t Keep going to the Pity-Party! Psalm 142:4 “I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.”

The idea of “hurting my own feelings” was an eye opener! Though I had not admitted this to myself until I heard about it, I realized that I had been hurting my own feelings for years.

It often happens after a real, but relatively minor issue. Rather than turning over a hurt feeling to God, letting Him comfort us and then letting it go, we tend to soak in it, feeling more offended each time we circle back around. Our sulking and moping get stirred up with each loop, and we often forget God can rescue us from these feelings.

What a total waste of time and energy! You have to know your tendencies! Some people keep returning to their hurts, blowing them up bigger and bigger, to make themselves feel stronger when in reality they are weaker. We tend to wallow in self-pity rather than walk in the newness of life God offers.

Self-pity is such a difficult problem to detect in ourselves! It is usually connected to real hurt, which needs to be lovingly addressed. But we often ignore its subtle slide toward selfishness, and we can end up wallowing in it. The true danger of self-pity is that it can suffocate a closer relationship with God. In our scripture reference we see an example of how to correctly handle hurt feelings. David experienced so many real hurts. Rejection from his family; jealousy from King Saul and misunderstanding from his wife Michal. Yet he vulnerably poured out his hurt feelings in Psalm 142:4.

In this sad and lonely moment, David could have been tempted to feel self-pity. He could have easily sulked in how rejected he felt and could have magnified his hurts in his own mind. Worst of all, he could have turned away from God to nurse his own hurts in a personal “pity party.” Yet in the very next verse, David immediately reached out in prayer and said to God, “You are my place of refuge. “You are all I really want in life” In Psalm 142:5 David affirmed his source of comfort, provision and strength in God rather than in himself. With all that David suffered, it would have been so easy for him to hurt his own feelings again and again. Instead, David poured his feelings out to God and constantly sought a heaven-minded perspective.

Overcomer, let’s stop hurting our own feelings and invite God to examine our hearts, (Psalm 139:23-24) surrendering to His will. We’ll experience God’s peace faster when we turn our hurt feelings over to Him first. Pray for healing in that area of your life and then let go of self-pity, trusting God to care for our feelings even when we hurt.

Be Optimistic; Be Open Minded; Be an Over comer!!

Love P.