Psalm 38:10

Psalm 38:10

Deepest anxiety

So far as I am aware, there are a number of occasions when the heart pounds; the most obvious is after strenuous exercise, and that is good for us. Sick people are aware of their pounding hearts during the onset of a heart attack. Frightened people are also aware of their pounding heart when adrenalin pumps through their bodies and they experience a heightened sense of reaction to the stimulus. Some of us have faced the kind of heart pounding that David is talking about, it comes from panic attacks and anxiety, caused not so much by a fright but a deeper-rooted fear that is often difficult to explain. The fear can be caused by any number of factors, one of which is dread over what we have done and the consequences. I suspect that this is what David is talking about. That kind of fear definitely leads to apathy and loss of energy and an iron grip on our souls that stops us from being able to do anything at all. David was in such a state of terror that he could not see, all was dark around him and the tentacles of death were beginning to wrap around his soul. That decline into complete immobilisation comes from the very deepest of depressions and mental breakdowns, and in today’s world would be treated by anti-depressants and modern psychiatry. If you have been in such a place you will know how lonely and frightening it is and how there is no escape from the darkness, your mind is completely over-run with dread and despair and life simply cannot be lived any longer. It would be better to end it all. All I can say at the end of this verse is, how amazing that God knows all about such darkness and the state that the human spirit can sink down to, and He even records its effects in His Word. He uses dear King David to show us that He knows the causes and effects associated with our darkest moments. All I can say is “Hallelujah!” 

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