The Psalms: A Roadmap to ResilienceSample

Reframing Resilience

Resilience is a mark of maturity. Think about it. We don’t expect toddlers to have the fortitude and capacity to recover quickly when something doesn’t go their way. They are building a block tower and the next piece they try to place causes the tower to partially collapse. What’s happening next can only be described as mass destruction!

How often have you been in a situation that felt like a partial collapse? Maybe it was a project at work, a conflict in a relationship, or a diagnosis that came out of nowhere. Whatever it was, it felt like that part of your life was falling apart. And you arrived at a moment of decision. Do you do the always hard, often slow, and sometimes painful work of rebuilding? Or do you succumb to the chaos, and what happens next can only be described as mass destruction?

Over the course of the next seven days, we’re going to talk about how to build resilience by walking through the Psalms. And before you leave this Plan because you have no idea what a bunch of pretty poems have to do with the messiest moments in life, let me introduce you to David.

This dude’s experiences make up 75 of the 150 psalms, and interestingly, his life was basically anything but pretty and poetic. Yes, he was the kid who killed Goliath, but not long after that, his father-in-law started hunting him down to take him out.

He fought in battle after battle, and eventually became a warrior king whose own kid led a rebellion against him.

Partial collapse. Again and again. And yet, somehow, David is remembered as Israel's greatest king and a man after God’s own heart. It’s almost as if the mess was when David was at his best.

He was resilient. And more than pretty poems, the Psalms are deep wells where we can draw from his wisdom for building resilience in our lives. Let’s dive in.

Resilience (noun): The capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me. So many are saying, “God will never rescue him!” (Interlude)

But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain. (Interlude) Psalm 3:1-4 NLT

Resilience is not your new pair of rose-colored glasses. David’s ability to withstand difficulty was not about denying reality or even “ignoring the haters.” The start line and the finish line of David’s resilience was the character of God. Not a denial of reality, but a deep knowing of who God really is.

This is of utmost importance, because the ceiling of your capacity to deal with setbacks and screwups is the lies and limiting beliefs you hold about God.

In these four verses, we watch David, not floundering in emotional distress, but intentionally leading himself through his situation truthfully.

O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me.

This is a statement of reality. It’s just what’s happening. David was running for his life from his son Absalom, who was trying to take over the kingdom and take his dad out in the process. Resilience doesn’t require us to deny reality—it actually requires that we look at our situation honestly.

So many are saying, “God will never rescue him!” (Interlude)

Here, David calls out the lie about God that he could be tempted to believe. This is so important, because when we bring the lie out of the dark and into the light, we begin to see it for what it really is. Resilience is built by exposing the lies and calling them what they are.

Stop and consider:What lie about God is being spoken over your situation?

But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.

After exposing the lie, David recenters on the truth and what he experientially knows about the character and nature of God. This isn’t the first time David has run for his life from a jealous family member who was upset about his anointing. Which is wild! David knows that recovering from difficulties is a whole lot easier to do when you embrace the truth. The truth is that you don’t have to do the rebuilding all by yourself. The truth is that your glory—your worth and value—never came from that thing that’s falling apart. You have a good Father who loves you and wants what’s best for you, so shame doesn’t need to have a seat at the table. In the biggest setback and worst screwup, your Dad is holding your chin up, looking into your eyes, and saying we can rebuild it together.

I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain. (Interlude)

Finally, David rests in God’s responsiveness. So often, we think resilience and fortitude is about scrambling to clean up before anyone notices the mess. And that’s not actually true. It takes grit and strength of character to own what’s yours in the mess, ask for help, and rest in the recovery process. Think about healing from an injury. If rest isn’t part of your recovery protocol and you go on trying to keep using that part of your body like normal, it will NEVER heal properly. Resilience is as much about patience in the recovery process as it is about bouncing back better than ever.

Stop and consider: Is there an area of your life where patient resilience (perseverance) is required? Are you rushing past that place? How can you rest in God’s responsiveness?