The sorrows of mine heart
are enlarged: draw
me out of my troubles.
—Psalm 25:17 (Geneva Bible 1560)
It's nice to read the scriptures in a variety of translations. Sometimes it's not so much about which translation is truest to Hebrew or Greek idioms, but which one can help me understand things in a way that I can relate to. I am especially fond of Psalm 25:17 in the old Geneva Bible (the translation the Pilgrims brought with them on the Mayflower). For in my own life, the roots of distress usually lie not with exterior causes, but with my own tendency to worry. Yes, there are genuine sorrows in my life, but they too often become bigger in my heart than they should. I feel cornered, or I flee (usually emotionally, not physically) to a place of safety.
And safety's great, but I can't always function from such a place, and I can almost never grow when I'm unchallenged.
And so like a frightened dog cowering under a bed, I need to be drawn out by a loving Master. That's what it's like sometimes when I let God help us deal with my troubles: God often does it bit by bit so that I don't even realize what's happening. But in the end, I find that I've been drawn beyond my preoccupations—maybe even drawn beyond our own selves—into a broad place of safety and freedom.
My worries have been magnified until I feel that I am in trouble, Lord: Draw me out of my trouble; grant me safety; grant me freedom, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
