Recovery Workout

Psalm 119:154
Revive me with your word!

Last week was a rough week for me, physically speaking. I did two CrossFit workouts that were some of the toughest I've done. That was followed two days later by three days of mountain biking doing a total of 44 miles. On the last day of biking, I hit the wall, my legs just wouldn't go any further. My body was spent, and I was considering not doing any physical workout for the next week, however, a couple of my friends and my coach said I need to do a recovery workout with-in 24-48 hours of my last ride. So two days later I went to do a CrossFit recovery workout. Let me tell you, it was painful! The result? I was kind of shocked. My body felt as if it had a little more life in it and my legs weren't as sore. The next day I felt even better!

The psalmist also knew what was a good "recovery workout" when he was spent. The word of God! The word "word" in Psalm 119:154 in Hebrew is "imrah" which means the word of God or the Torah (which is the first 5 books of the Old Testament). No matter how down, how defeated, how near death the psalmist felt, he knew that the word of God, the imrah, would revive him. The word of God has power! It has power that we will never fully understand. However, one thing I DO understand is that it DOES revive me when I'm struggling. 

One of the things I will do when I feel spiritually spent is start reading the psalms out loud. Now I won't read all 150 psalms at one time, I spread it out over a few weeks, so that each day I'm reading 2 to 3 psalms. When I start out I feel like it is a chore, much like starting out a recovery workout. However, after reading psalms for a few days, I feel life coming back into me! 

I give you a challenge: when you feel spiritually spent, or you are suffering, start reading the word of God. If you don't know what to read, start with Psalms.