~ written by Connie Dunmyer
What happens when you are having a bad day? Perhaps you’re just “out of sorts” or a bit grumpy. And you’re not even sure why. Often, if I’m having that day, or worse, if my husband is having that bad day, I tend to speak nothing but negative things. But I am learning that when I’m “feeling” negative, the last thing I should do is “speak” negative. Words mean things, and there is power in words – both positive and negative.
To that end, I’d like to go through some verses in Psalm 66. I think the words in this psalm – this song of praise – can be helpful as we deal with the various stresses and negative thoughts that tend to spin us out of control.
1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praise to your name.”
When Jesus gave us a pattern for prayer – the Lord’s Prayer – what’s the first thing He said?
Where did He begin?
Did He begin with the problem?
Did He begin with the negative thing in my life?
He began with praise! He began with a reminder of who God is and His sovereignty. And this psalm does the same.
If I am feeling negative, then I am not “centered” on the Father – so my words need to steer away from what is negative in my life and instead turn toward and center upon the Sovereignty of the Father and His attributes. And my words will naturally begin with praise. For who can truly look upon God and not sing His glorious praises?
That is not to say that our feelings will catch up immediately. But the power in those words of praise will take us out of our downward spiral and put us into a position for healing.
I love verse 3. So great is God’s power, His strength (which is the same strength He will give to us) … His power is so great that His enemies cringe before Him. And if our Sovereign Father has that power, and through Jesus He actually grants that strength to us … then it stands to reason, our enemies (be they human or circumstance), will have to cringe before us because of Him.
That is not to say people and trouble won’t continue to work against us. They are still “enemies”. But they cringe.
Definition of Cringe: “To recoil in distaste. To shrink in fear.”
My problems, my fears, my turmoil, my negativity MUST (not may) – it must recoil, it must shrink in fear – in fear of the Father. Whatever is going on inside that is making me negative, that is spinning my life and emotions out of control, it cannot stand up against that which is the Father’s – you and me. Not if we speak His praise. “All the earth” – that means everything and everyone – “bows down” to God. To the Name we call upon. To the Name we speak.
8 Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.
This is very personal. Almost too personal to touch. For what I have learned in all the refining process – all the pain – is that my praise needs to stay consistent throughout that process. Because if it doesn’t, if I stop praising, then my mind and heart is filled with that pain, and my thoughts are far away from God. It’s kind of like the breathing technique for natural childbirth. If I focus on the BREATH, it helps me GET THROUGH the pain. It does not remove the pain - - - believe me! But it helps me get through.
If I focus on THE BREATH OF LIFE, He will help me get through the pain.
Verse 9 is seriously too wonderful – through the pain, through the testing and refining, through the bondage and burdens and pain from other people – through the fire and the flood – through ALL of it, God PRESERVED OUR VERY LIVES . . . AND . . . He kept our feet from slipping.
While I am being refined – and God is refining all of us – I have a tendency to focus on the hurt, the pain, the suffering. I try not to. But often I just go back and forth, focus on pain, focus on God, spinning wildly at times. And as I stated before, when I put my focus on the negative, my heart is not near God – certainly my thoughts are not on God. BUT, even then, maybe especially then, the Father, in His tremendous agape love, reaches down and protects me, preserves my life, keeps me from falling or slipping away.
This week I had a new experience. Black ice. We were driving on I-71, and then without any provocation, speed or breaking, we hit a patch of black ice. The car went into an immediate spin. My husband tried to correct out of the spin, but we kept going back and forth across 3 lanes of traffic. We were headed for the guard rail – and then back away from it. I expected to be broadsided by any number of cars. But when we finally stopped spinning – facing the wrong direction I might add – we found that there was no traffic to be seen. Seriously – we were all “alone”. And since we never actually hit anything or anyone, we just turned and continued on our way. It was miraculous! And we haven’t stopped praising God yet.
But as I was praising God the next day, it occurred to me that I have spent so much time praising God for this one occurrence because I noticed it. But what about all the days when I don’t see or even notice God’s preserving of my life and keeping my feet from slipping? What about all the days that He does that not merely for my physical preservation – but for my spiritual preservation? Where is my praise on those days? Where are my thoughts?
I guess what I’m saying is that yes, bad stuff happens. I can spin out of control in my car and in my emotions. I can be certain that I am about to hit the guard rail or be slammed by someone else, who may also be “spinning out of control”. And yet God intervenes. My gracious Father, who does refine me, who does allow bad things to happen, who even allows others to “ride over my head”, who takes me through “fire and water” . . . promises to keep my feet from slipping, to preserve my life, and to bring me into abundance.
Yes. Abundance can be things. And it can include feelings. BUT of more importance is the abundance of the Holy Spirit – the connection with the Kingdom of God, both here and now, and that which is yet to come. My mind cannot contain this. It’s all too overwhelming.
So on those rough days – the days when the negative seems to be all I see as it spins all around me – I am reminded that I am being protected, preserved and refined. And that I have already been gifted with the greatest abundance possible, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Rather than speak the negative, I shall rather speak about His goodness, sing of His sovereignty, and dance with His amazing agape love.
Words are power. Let’s spin them wisely.
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© 2025: Connie F. Dunmyer, All Rights Reserved.