“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.”
(Psalm 103:13-14, NLT)
The alarm clock jolted me awake. Ugh! Was it morning already? Most of the night I tossed and turned, barely sleeping. I planned to run 16 miles that morning as part of marathon training, but my body was a lead weight.
A barrage of discouraging thoughts weaved their way through my mind.
I really blew it this week. Stayed up too late and ate too much sugar. No wonder my sleep was terrible. And I haven’t done enough to find child sponsors, which is my main goal for this marathon. Why do I keep messing up?
God must be disappointed in me.
Maybe you can relate to believing this lie. You wonder if God is frowning at you, frustrated with your weaknesses. And maybe, like me, you are hard on yourself when you mess up, expecting God to react the same way.
When we believe a lie about God’s character and how He sees us, we are prone to withdraw from God instead of running toward Him. Our thought patterns become entangled in lies of condemnation.
But that morning I chose to pivot from the lies and turned to Truth. Before I even laced up my running shoes, I needed to spend time in God’s Word and hear His voice.
I dragged myself out of bed, poured a cup of coffee, and curled up in my bedroom chair, Bible open. Within seconds tears flowed down my face as I cried out to God and confessed my troubled thoughts. He graciously led me to one of my favorite psalms—Psalm 103.
Verses 13 and 14(NLT) washed over me like a healing balm.
“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.”
In all my dust-like weaknesses and failures, God wasn’t frowning at me in disappointment. He was gazing at me with tender compassion!
I read Psalm 103 aloud, visualizing the Lord’s face smiling upon me, as He “crowns me with love and tender mercies” (vs. 4, NLT). His compassion embraced me like a warm hug and soaked into my weary body.
My thoughts and feelings were slowly transformed from discouragement to hope and joy. And although I hobbled through 12 miles that day, it was one of the best runs of all my training.
Let me encourage you, friend. God knows your weaknesses and failures, yet He doesn’t hold them against you in condemnation. Instead, He says, “Come and talk with me. Seek my face” (Psalm 27:8).
He meets you with tenderness and compassion. And when you experience discouragement, failure, and setbacks, stop the lies from entangling your mind. Instead of turning away from God
Seek His Face—See how He looks upon you with tender compassion
Talk with Him—Trust Him with your fears and weaknesses
Speak the Truth out loud—Psalm 103 is a great place to start!
I am convinced that when we do this regularly, we will be transformed in our mind and spirit. We will experience hope and joy, even in our struggles.
Loving Father, help me truly believe You look upon me with compassion, not condemnation. Thank You for showering me with Your unfailing love and crowning me with tender mercies. When I am weak and fail, You treat me with compassion. Help me to extend this compassion to myself and to others as You do. Amen