As a second-grader at a mission school in Ghana, I didn’t fare too well. Our two teachers gallantly juggled lesson plans for students spanning seven grades. This academic effort took place in a two-room cinderblock structure with an aluminum roof that began to broil us by noon each day. Distractions waged war on my 7-year-old attention span, and they were winning—handily.

Then Mrs. Titus arrived. Though she came to Ghana for just one year, her passion for the careful, creative use of words forever altered my life. I couldn’t bear to disappoint her. During the months I spent in Mrs. Titus’ classroom, her enthusiasm instilled in me a love for writing that framed my career path.

Long ago, someone must have instilled in another child a love for words, for it took passion and skill to write a psalm as intricate as the 119th. Consider what sort of context would have inspired such a heart-wrenching poem. Consider too the mentor or parent who guided this author in his youth.

The poetic nuances in Psalm 119:25-32 fade somewhat in translation, but the writer’s humanity and need for God remain unmistakably evident. He weaves joy with anguish, apprehension with resolution, praise with fear, all in a desperate candor that reveals a craving for God. “I lie in the dust; revive me by your word,” he wrote (Psalm 119:25). “I weep with sorrow; encourage me by your word. Keep me from lying to myself; give me the privilege of knowing your instructions” (Psalm 119:28-29).

Psalms like this one didn’t come to be in a vacuum. There’s a story behind each one, and they involve the people—as well as the circumstances—that shaped their authors. May God use you to inspire someone today on their own spiritual pilgrimage!

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Acts 20:13-38