If I were to sit down and make a list of all the things that have gone wrong this year, it would be long. All the ways I felt let down, overwhelmed, anxious, and confused could go on and on.
The best remedy for the 2020 blues is to adjust our attitude.
While we can look at all that has gone wrong and allow our attitudes to spiral, we can instead look to what we know. Praying and meditating on Scripture changes our attitudes as it directs our hearts to our Heavenly Father.
We can think on Scripture by writing it in spots we will see it often. Place a note somewhere prominent. We can go a step further than simply thinking on the verses—we can pray the Scriptures back to the Father.
Whether you place them around your house, pray through them every day, use these 10 verses to keep your heart and mind with an attitude of thankfulness.
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1. Psalm 9:1 – “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”
The whole heart is the biblical ideal for the whole self engaging with, loving, and praising God. Whether in public or private we praise God with all that we are. This isn’t just giving thanks in a superficial way. This is thankfulness at its deepest level for the things that God has done. Even when we look back and all we see are hard things, we can find places where God has blessed us. The sunrise every morning, our health, the laughter of our children, hope and peace in the midst of chaos. We can thank Him for all He has done.
2. Psalm 16:8 – “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”
We can delight in the presence of God. No matter where we are He is always with us. He is present in trouble and triumph. We can trust in His stability when He is with us. With God by our side and our eyes fixed on Him we will be shaken or moved. This is a truth we can hold firm to in all things and in all seasons. Where I fix my eyes matters, it means the difference between stability and inability.
Related: Listen to our podcast, Teach Us to Pray with Christina Patterson. You can find all the episodes at LifeAudio.com. Here's Episode 1:
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3. Psalm 27:1 – “The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?”
In hard seasons we can be tempted to live in a state of constant fear over what may come. As faithful followers of Christ we must learn to place our confidence in God alone. He is our stronghold, our salvation. Our confidence in Him grows as we walk through hard seasons, times that build our trust. We don’t have to fear, we can be confident that God is in full control and sovereign over all.
4. Psalm 29:11 – “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”
God doesn’t leave us alone and without help. He doesn’t throw us into hard situations and tell us to figure things out. No, He gives us His incredible strength and amazing peace. The strength we need to face difficulties cannot be conjured up by our own efforts. It is only through God’s strength. Not only does God provide His strength, but He provides us with His peace. John 14:27 tells us what this peace is: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
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5. Psalm 34:18 – “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
The words brokenhearted and crushed in spirit are used in reference to a prideful heart being humbled. I cannot think of a better way to describe what 2020 has done to so many of us. We have been humbled before God and He has come close to us. The trails we face are used like fire to refine us and root out places in our lives that need to be broken, and our hearts need to be humbled.
6. Psalm 55:22 – “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.”
The word ‘cast’ used in Psalm 55:22 means to throw. We can throw our cares, or burdens to the Lord. We don’t have to carry a great weight, He is able to carry it for us. This is how He sustains, by bearing up the weight that is crushing us. In God’s good and perfect timing He will reign victorious and make every wrong right.
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7. Psalm 91:1-2 – “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Total reliance on God is the ideal of faith. When we rest in the Almighty as our refuge and strength, He will faithfully guard and protect us. We rely on Him for every need we have. We can rest in Him because we know that He will take care of all things. We don’t have to worry over outcomes or tomorrow because God is faithful. He is the refuge and fortress we hide behind when it all feels too much.
8. Psalm 104:33 – “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath!”
If God is our fortress, strength, carrier of our burdens. If He is close when our hearts are broken, then He is worthy of every bit of our praise. We can sing praise to the Lord even when the world is crumbling around us because He is immoveable, steadfast, never changing, and always right on time. The Psalms put us in a posture to sing praises to our Heavenly Father for the goodness that He rains on us.
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9. Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my patch.”
Psalm 119 is a song of praise for the very words of God that you and I get to hold in our hands. How gracious God is to give us His Word. The words of Scripture are to light our way. We don’t walk in darkness because we have the marvelous Light. Christ is the light of the world. The Word made flesh. He will guide our way every day.
10. Psalm 136:1 – “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”
Psalm 136 tells us twenty-six times that the steadfast love of God endures forever. Forever means just how it sounds. It is eternal. God is so very good to us, even when things don’t look good or feel good, He is faithful, He is loving, He is gracious. This love of God will endure for all time. Long past 2020, and long past any troubles we will ever face in this life. That truth should be just what our attitudes need to chase away the 2020 blues.
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Originally published Tuesday, 05 October 2021.
