Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; 
My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also. 
For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing;
My strength has failed because of my iniquity,
And my body has wasted away.
Because of all my adversaries, I have become a reproach,
Especially to my neighbors,
And an object of dread to my acquaintances;
Those who see me in the street flee from me.
I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
For I have heard the slander of many,
Terror is on every side;
While they took counsel together against me,
They schemed to take away my life.

But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD,
I say, “You are my God.”
(Psalm 31:9-14)

What heart-wrenching words of David we read here.  I am challenged and encouraged, however, to pay closer attention to how I respond and to what “I say” when I am in distress, when all I can do is sigh from sorrow and despair, or when I feel surrounded by adversaries. 

Even then ~ especially then ~ may we take our cue from David and affirm that our trust is in Him alone. May we remember to look up, acknowledge “our times are in His hand” (verse 15), and say, “YOU ARE MY GOD.”