Five LoavesBible verses about feeling low
Some days are heavy for no clear reason, and some for many. These seven passages keep company with people who felt the same, and who found they were not left alone in it.
For heavy days, when getting through feels like enough. This journey keeps you company; it doesn't ask you to cheer up. If the heaviness is deep or long, please also talk to someone you trust or a doctor. You don't have to carry it alone.
You don't have to carry this alone. If you're struggling, talk to someone you trust or a doctor. If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (US and Canada) or your local emergency number now.
Day 1 You can be honest
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Psalm 42:5 (King James Version)
The psalmist talks to his own soul and asks it plainly why it is so heavy. He doesn't hide it, and he doesn't scold himself. He names it, and then he turns, slowly, toward hope. God is not offended by your honesty. Many of the psalms were written from exactly where you are.
Day 2 Rest and bread
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.
6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.
1 Kings 19:4-6 (King James Version)
Elijah was so worn out that he asked to die. God's first answer was not a lecture. It was sleep, and bread, and water, and then more sleep. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is rest and eat. God cares for your body, not only your soul.
Day 3 Out of the pit
1 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.
Psalm 40:1-3 (King James Version)
David waited patiently, and God bent down and heard him. Waiting is part of this story; the lifting didn't happen all at once. If you're still in the waiting, you are not forgotten. God hears the cry, and he knows how to set feet on a rock.
Day 4 Not forgotten
15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Isaiah 49:15-16 (King James Version)
When you feel low, it can seem as if everyone has forgotten you, even God. Through Isaiah, God answers that fear with an image: a mother cannot forget her child, and still he will not forget you. Your name is written on the palms of his hands.
Day 5 Strength for weak days
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (King James Version)
Paul asked God to take something painful away, and God said, "My grace is sufficient for thee." Weakness is not failure. On the days you have very little, God's grace is not short of anything. You don't have to be strong to be held.
Day 6 Morning comes
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:21-23 (King James Version)
Lamentations was written in deep sorrow, and right in the middle of it the writer remembers something: God's mercies are new every morning. Not because the night wasn't real, but because God is faithful through it. You don't have to feel hopeful to hold on to this.
Day 7 Nothing can separate
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39 (King James Version)
Paul lists everything he can think of that might pull us away from God's love: death, life, powers, the present, the future. None of it can. Not your mood, not a hard week, not a long season. You are held by a love that doesn't let go.