Eyes fixed, heart dedicated, and mind focused

But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! Everyone who sees me mocks me.
They sneer and shake their heads, saying, “Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him! If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him!” (Psalm 22:6-8)

Have you ever been under attack so badly that you imagined you no longer mattered - that your existence was like that of a worm, crawling defenselessly along the ground, only to be trampled underfoot? That is a pretty low view of one's life, isn't it? Here was David, the anointed king of Israel, bemoaning his life, feeling like everyone and everything was working against him. If the king could feel this way, what makes any of us think we can escape similar feelings on occasion? There will always be times when we face such hardships with a bit of doubt, frustration, and even some whining!

In these moments of deepest despair and depressing circumstances, we have one of two actions - either we give into them and allow ourselves to be beaten down, or we look to the one who will never abandon us or forsake his care over our lives. The outcome is based on the choice we make. There is a principle taught in counseling studies that suggests having a 'plan' to deal with troubling emotions and responses ahead of time will help when faced with those issues in real time. The 'pre-worked' plan actually gives us a means to dispel the worry and fear associated with the issue. If David 'had a plan' in this moment, it wasn't quite clear in the way he was talking, was it?

He is really just telling us how OTHERS saw his circumstances, but maybe he saw them differently. The very next verse begins to tell us exactly how David saw himself: "Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast. I was thrust into your arms at my birth.
You have been my God from the moment I was born." (vs. 9-10) Thrust into God's arms at his birth - his God from the moment he took breath into his lungs. That paints a different picture, doesn't it? He might be feeling a bit beaten down by life and his 'foes', but he was never rejected by his God. We can be beaten down by all the things and people around us, but we should never begin to believe all THEIR actions outweigh God's!

David's 'pre-worked plan"? Trust God with his whole heart, even when the difficulties were mounting, and the future seemed as bleak as it could be. How? We only need look a little later into this psalm to see him "proclaiming God's names to his brothers and sisters" - not allowing anyone to think God's plan and purpose was being overturned. He would "fulfill his vows in the presence of others who worship God", because he had determined to not ever turn his back on God, even when he didn't see him or feel his movement around him. This is the 'pre-worked plan' - keep his eyes fixed, his heart dedicated, and his mind focused. Maybe we could develop a similar plan! Just sayin!