Emotions change - Psalm 6-8

Like a roller coaster our emotions change. One day we can be high on energy from some trivial success and the next so low the bugs trip over us. We are a fickle bunch. It is hard to live with emotional people who's ebb and flow makes you think you on an amusement park ride but without the laughter. We need to learn how to handle and manage these emotions rather than be controlled by them. David writes his psalms for this very reason. David is real. His emotion's are worn on his shirt sleeve. He shares them openly with us. In these three psalms (6-8) you can feel the pain he is in due to the false acquisitions of his pathetic enemies. Yet, in each psalm David allows his emotions to come into check by the lovingkindness, strength and character of God. In Psalm 8 in particular David focuses on the majestic nature of God to throttle the fuel of his emotions. David's Psalms teach us that our emotions can and should be shaped and tempered by thoughts of and meditation on, God's character. When we muse over our own emotional tank we get the first parts of Psalms 6 and 7. But, when we focus on the character of God we experience the latter parts of those Psalms and dwell in Psalm 8. When emotions grip us (and they do to all of us) we need to turn our eyes and thoughts onto the majestic nature of God. We need to temper our emotions with: O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:9). When you emotional tank is overflowing or completely empty, exchange its contents with the character of God.