My 7-year-old son, Wyatt, loves chess. I first taught him to play on the chessboard in our local coffee shop, and last Christmas he asked for his own set to enjoy at home. Recently, we were playing after dinner, and Wyatt became infatuated with the knight—the piece that moves two squares, then one more square (like an “L”). His strategy was fixated on his desire to get the knight to move all over the board. So, with his focus fixed on the knight, I methodically moved one pawn (the piece that can move only one square at a time) across the entire board, taking out his pieces along the way.

We’re tempted to fixate on all kinds of things: our image, another person’s opinion of us, our success or our failures. When things go poorly for us (bad health news or relational disappointments or financial woes), we search everywhere and look to anyone in a flailing attempt to figure out how to change our situation. We try very hard to save ourselves.

The psalmist knew serious trouble. He spoke of violent men who were hunting him down, “snarling like vicious dogs” (Psalm 59:6). Their assaults were not merely physical: “Their words cut like swords,” he wrote (Psalm 59:7). Do you feel as if someone is after you or as if some circumstance has consumed you? Are you experiencing a relationship that’s painful, that cuts to your soul?

Rather than working frantically to find your own remedy (which never ultimately works), Scripture invites you to turn to God, knowing that He’s the only One who can rescue you. The psalmist encourages us to quiet our heart, turn fully to God, and proclaim, “I watch for You” (Psalm 59:9 NIV). We don’t watch for ourselves or our friend or our spouse. Our true help doesn’t come from these sources. We watch for God.