Week 33: Midlife heart health

Reflections on Psalm 51 and how God wants to renew our hearts in midlife

Have you noticed how many advertisements there are for health remedies? Nutritional supplement ads fill my Facebook timeline and interrupt my YouTube videos, each one expertly targeting my insecurities. My vitamin wish list is getting longer by the minute!

Aging doesn't just affect our physical health, however. It also impacts our soul's health. At midlife, we often become more aware of soul health as we have more time to reflect on how we have lived our lives and how we want to finish. How is your soul health, friend? Is your heart weighed down and discouraged today?

David's psalm of confession and rededication offers us a remedy for weary hearts. Penned after his midlife affair with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband, David's song shows us how to be real with God about sin, disappointment, and despair.

To be clear, I'm not equating a sin like David's with being tired and discouraged in midlife. But let's be honest: All the things we are struggling with in midlife are the results of sin, whether it is our sin, another's sin, or just the general brokenness of the world around us. We wrestle with evil every day of our lives . . . David's prayer shows us how to stay fresh in the fight.

Heart exam

David begins with an honest assessment of his own failings:

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

Psalm 51:3, NIV

Please hear me, midlife mom: David is not taking responsibility for other people's decisions. He's only confessing his. Much of our midlife mom worry can revolve around the choices our adult children make, but that's not what David is assessing here.

In David's heart exam, he is identifying the ways his own heart has drifted from the holy and righteous standard God has given to His people:

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict

and justified when you judge.

Psalm 51:4, NIV

If your heart is discouraged, my friend, start with a thorough heart exam. Be honest with God, and bring your own failings before him with humbleness so He can begin the treatment.

Heart surgery

After David and God have diagnosed the heart problem, David starts the healing process. I am fascinated by the verbs David uses in asking God to treat his heart condition:

wash me, cleanse me, purify me, blot out my iniquity, deliver me from guilt

David clearly wants absolution, a fresh start with God. But David's requests go beyond treatment for his own heart. He also asks God to undergo heart treatment Himself:

Hide Your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquity.

Psalm 51:9, NIV

David wants such a drastic procedure performed upon his sin that God will forget what David has done. That's radical surgery when even the heart of God goes under the knife. Yet Hebrews chapter 8 assures us that the new covenant written in the blood of Jesus promises us exactly that:

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Hebrews 8:12, NIV

If God does not remember our failings, why should we go through life dragging them behind us? Friend, we need to ask God for this level of liberation from everything that weighs us down in midlife. If God promises to take the burden of sin off our shoulders and remember it no more, just imagine what He can do with our midlife disappointment and discouragement! Ask God to remove those, too, and to give you the ability to live in freedom.

Heart restoration

Finally, David asks God to rejuvenate his heart:

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 51:12, NIV

This final request of David gets to the heart of our midlife weariness: why are we asking God to heal our hearts in the first place? Is it so we can enjoy life or pursue our personal interests or carve out our little corner of inner peace?

This wasn't David's motivation at all. He wanted to use his heart restoration to share the goodness of God with those around him, to bear witness to God's saving power, and to proclaim God's tender mercy toward all who seek Him.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will turn back to you.

O Lord, open my lips

and my mouth will declare your praise.

Psalm 51:13 & 15, NIV

God does not renew our hearts in midlife just so we can enjoy life a little bit more. I'm not saying we shouldn't care for our bodies, minds, and souls, but midlife heart health is not an end in itself. By God's grace, we still have a job to do! We have a midlife mission, the same one that David had when he penned the words of Psalm 51 after his own midlife crisis. Just as He did for David, God offers renewal of soul and of purpose for everyone who comes to Him for heart healing.

Daily Readings and Reflections:

Monday’s Reading: Psalm 51

What personal failures, disappointments, or regrets are weighing you down in midlife? Based on this psalm, what steps do you need to take to release them to God?

Tuesday’s Reading: Joel 2:12-13

What does it look like for you to turn to God “with all your heart” in this stage of life, especially regarding specific sins or regrets? How does God’s compassionate nature encourage you to approach Him with honesty rather than fear?

Wednesday’s Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-9

Where in your life are you tempted to feel, like Elijah, that you can't go on? How could you, as the angel did for Elijah, care for your physical needs when you are facing extreme stress? What might you need to do to restore your soul's strength so that you can continue the midlife journey?

Thursday’s Reading:  Jonah 2:1-3:5

Jonah made his heart right before God while still in the belly of the fish. If you are going through a trial right now, have you examined your own heart to see where you might need to make things right with God? Where in your life have you resisted God’s call, and how might He be offering you a “second chance” in midlife to pursue a meaningful mission of service for Him?

Friday’s Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15

What “jars of clay” moments in your midlife journey are making you feel fragile or discouraged? How might God be using them to display His power through you to the people around you?

Weekend Reading:  Psalm 130

How might waiting on God’s unfailing love, as the psalmist does in this passage, help you find strength and purpose in midlife?

Want to read more Bible verses about knowing Jesus Christ as Savior? Here's a good place to start:

https://www.gotquestions.org/Romans-road-salvation.html