When Your Mind Gets Stuck

So many minds get stuck in unproductive places. They get into a mental rut and can’t escape. It could be a past regret that is replayed and replayed, or a fear about the future. Or it could be another person’s comment that you take personally, or doubts about your salvation, which means that you are certain you cannot possibly be saved by Jesus Christ. It could be the idea that burners are left on in your house, or you have inadvertently hit someone with your car and that anonymous person is dying on the side of the road. Then the stuck thought releases its grip, followed by a brief lull before it happens again. A stuck mind is a common and difficult thing. You probably recognize obsessive-compulsive disorder in these examples, but you can find traces of it in us all.

The thoughts, of course, are always unpleasant, if not painful. I have yet to know someone who got stuck on a pleasant truth in Scripture that simply would not let go. So we look for strategies that might help. Most are ineffective. At its extremes, alcohol, drugs, or self-inflicted harm are the only ways to dislodge it.

Now let me introduce you to a woman who is joined by thousands of others in a simple strategy. Her list of recurrent miseries has no end. But when she wakes up in the morning and they begin to seize her, she says out loud, “Jesus, you have blessed me.” Sometimes she recounts those spiritual blessings; sometimes these words are crammed with enough biblical content that they are enough. Then she gets out of bed. At night, her last words are “Jesus, you have blessed me.” Every morning and every evening, she interrupts her dark and obsessive thoughts with these simple words of faith. This is the work of a psalmist, and her strategy is one that Jesus himself teaches you.

Consider Psalm 22 because it is well known and Jesus spoke its opening words.

This is the hardest step in interrupting a poisonous thought: you speak to the Lord. Jesus chose these words; you can use these or others like them. “Ugh, help” is articulate enough. If you cannot get past this step, ask someone to help you get there. Or you could read the psalm out loud.

The rest of the psalm is quite agile. The next words are “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One.” A fine interruption, but it doesn’t last. It is followed by “But I am a worm and not a man.” And then the psalm goes back and forth between dueling but true realities: true words about the psalmist’s hardships and true words about God’s promises and mighty acts. The psalmist displays advanced spiritual skills here—he is a few steps ahead of us—but his words can be our own because we share the same Spirit.

The end of the psalm is our primary destination. If the back-and-forth of earthly fears and heavenly realities is too much for us, we can, at least, end here.

The psalm has moved from the rut of affliction to a resting point in God. He does not despise your suffering; he has not hidden his face from you. As is typical of most psalms, you are encouraged to go public with this resting point. Read it to someone who lives with you. Text it to someone.

The Psalms were originally performed at Solomon’s temple in the morning and evening. They opened the temple services and closed them. If you had lived then, you would have learned the daily rhythm of having your thoughts begin with the Lord and end with him. This woman learned that rhythm. Start with words about God, and end with “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” (Ps 103:22), “Revere him, he has listened to my cry for help,” or “Jesus, you have blessed me.” A child can do this, but if you are an adult, expect that you will need the help and prayer of other people to make this a natural part of your day. Your mind can get stuck in hard places. As a stuck psalmist, those hard places are not the final word.