Psalm 25:17
17 The troubles [tsarah] of my heart
[lebab] are enlarged [rachab]: O bring thou me out [yatsa'] of my distresses [matsuwqah]. KJV-Interlinear
17 The
troubles of my heart are enlarged; Bring me out of my distresses. NASB
There are only two
environments within which we can live.
There is the environment
of the world, and then there is the environment of the spiritual.
The current ruler of the
world is Satan and his government is called, cosmos diabolicus, and his policy
is called, evil. His mission and purpose
is to confuse and distort truth so that his objective in defeating God will be
accomplished. We are pawns and we are
expendable in that effort.
For every principle of
truth there is a counter principle of evil. And actually, for every principle of truth
there are several counter principles of evil.
In the world, if you do
not have doctrine operating in your soul, then you have evil operating in your
soul. And more than likely, you have a combination
of both, but your tendency will be in the direction of evil.
For example, you know the
difference between right and wrong.
Understanding right from wrong is a principle of truth, but when you
operate in life without a functional spiritual life, then your views will be
skewed toward the carnal and evil aspects of life.
Sooner or later you can
be or will be swayed to compromise your truth principles and water them down
with evil views.
And so, we have our
current verse.
Troubles of the heart,
refers to the various difficulties that the world will impose on each of us. Troubles do not necessarily have to be bad
things. You can be very wealthy and your
troubles will be of a different nature than those of a poor person.
With wealth you can
believe that you do not need God. You
may spend your time working overtime to keep what you have and trying to get
more. You may or may not be generous. You may or may not be empathetic toward
others. You may or may not have social or health or other problems.
But in any case, you will
have troubles of one sort or another.
As a poor person or
someone that is less than wealthy, which probably includes most of the rest of
us, then our troubles come from all directions.
And when you combine the
phrase, ‘troubles of my heart,’ with the phrase, ‘out of my distresses,’ then
you combine one trouble with another.
When a person focuses on
a problem, then other problems begin to settle up next to that one problem and
then the natural laws of association take control and our problems begin to
overwhelm us. And this all leads to a
downward spiral into many mental problems, such as distress, anxiety, worry,
sorrow, poor me, fear, various phobias can enter into the mix, and with all of
these potential negatives, then you can see that life can get really messed up.
Bring me out, then is the
plea to God to help prevent these things from taking over our life.
And God does help. He helps with doctrine, and more specifically
your knowledge of doctrine, or doctrine in your soul.
Bible doctrine is the building
and finishing material of the soul.
Without it, you are on your own and no one and nothing, not wealth, not
drugs, not booze, not even hustle, nothing can help you.
Review the first part of
this chapter and see how all of these things are coming together to help you
see and understand the importance of doctrine, for it is truly the substance
and resource and support for life.
