Psalm 22:6 – “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.”
Psalm 139:14 – “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

I thought that I had finally found a Psalm with self-deprecation, viz. Psalm 22:6, but as I analyzed it, I saw that I was wrong. The context revealed that the psalmist is actually describing how others see him. He is not describing himself. 

It is interesting because the Psalms have emotional bandwidth. Across the 150 psalms, you’ll find the full range of human emotion—some rise in praise and joy, while others, like Psalm 88, descend deep into sorrow. Yet even in the darkest psalms, like Psalm 88, which does not strike even a single redemptive note, the writers never actually put themselves down. Not even once.

This cuts against the grain of our culture, where it is common to hear things like, “I am worthless,” or “I am useless,” or “I am good-for-nothing,” or “I am such a loser!” Or more subtly: “Life sucks. Nothing ever works out for me.” 

But the Psalms though they can be very dark and depressive at times, they never once say anything like the above. Why? Because we are God’s image bearers, and more to the point, we are His redeemed people—new creations in Christ Jesus. That kind of talk is simply not an option for us believers. Really – for anyone, but especially not us.

The Psalms show us that though we can be quite raw with God about our struggles, we still can never deny the dignity He has given us. Even in our lowest moments, we remain His creation, bearing His image. 

Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”