Extraordinary Grace for Ordinary Problems

I used to find the Psalms discouraging. Not because the Psalms themselves were depressing, in fact, quite the opposite! The Psalms are filled with accounts of people who faced unbelievable challenges, and through patient faith in God found themselves vindicated against those who stood against them. In the Psalms we read accounts of people at the lowest point of their lives looking to God in faith and finding Him to be more than sufficient. It’s impossible to read these accounts and not come away excited and triumphant in the power of God to overcome the greatest obstacles we can imagine.

The problem is that the issues I face are far less dramatic. Can I honestly take the extreme examples of the Psalms and apply them to the stress I feel when I get behind on house chores, or fear that the budget is getting a little bit tight at the end of the month? We probably wouldn’t say it out loud, but it feels a little bit lame to go to the Creator of the universe and ask for help with homework, using the words of David when he was literally running for his life. So I used to read the Psalms and be discouraged, because it didn’t really speak to my situation. Or so I thought.

But I’ve had a change of mind recently. God has helped reorient my thinking on the Psalms. It’s true that I don’t face the same dramatic circumstances that are often depicted in these ancient poems, although one day I might. Nevertheless, the point of the Psalms is that the same God who could help David in the most extreme circumstances has the grace and the power to help me in the smallest of problems. God doesn’t want us to walk away from Scripture because we don’t think it applies to us. Satan does. 

I can remember at one point struggling with a trial that I thought was small and insignificant. I tried ignoring it, avoiding it, telling myself it shouldn’t really be that big a deal, and not really dealing with it. At one point I spoke with a spiritual mentor, who challenged me with wise counsel. I don’t remember exactly what was said, but it was something like: “Ben, this is a challenge for you. Maybe instead of wishing for a more impressive trial, you should handle this one as biblically as possible.” That advice was incredibly helpful. God wants me to come to Him in humility and ask for help, regardless of how small the trial is. And He has shown me in the Psalms that He can handle any problem I send His way. If He can help people on the extremes, He is more than able to help my small problems. 

We live in an age where the normal pressures of life seem crushing. The term “adulting” has been coined to describe the struggle many millennials and Gen Z have with the regular pressures that come with being an adult. Sometimes, in response to this, Christians have encouraged those who are overwhelmed to get a little perspective. “Being behind on life shouldn’t be quite so traumatic.” “Your life could be a lot worse, and you need to realize that some of your most dreaded problems could be solved with a fifteen minute phone call.”

I’ve responded that way, to both others and myself, and I think that response is partly helpful. It can be helpful to realize that my problems are not as severe as they seem to me in the moment. But while I think that advice can be helpful, I don’t think that’s enough. We need to let people who are struggling, even with things we think are small, know that God can help them and that He wants to! He tells us to cast all our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7), and there are no limits on that open-ended promise. You can take all of the Psalms and go to God for help, without fear that you will be labelled as “dramatic.”

The good news is that there is no problem too big for God, and there is no problem too small for God. The good news is that God has an infinite store of inexhaustible grace for our ordinary, mundane problems. That grace is available for the most profound sorrow you will ever face, and to help you get through a really busy week of school activities, job expectations, and church services. The God who cared for David also cares for me and cares for you. And so read the Psalms and apply them to whatever situation you are in, because the God who can solve any problem invites you to come to Him with everything. Take Him up on that offer.

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Psalm 46:1-3

 

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him,

Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalm 43:5

 

Ben Hicks is the Associate Pastor at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis. This article originally appeared on his Substack.

Photo by Ahmed Nishaath on Unsplash