WEBVTT 00:00:00.380 --> 00:00:01.940 Well, good morning church family. 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:03.160 It's good to be with you online today. 00:00:03.620 --> 00:00:06.500 Glad to see you making comments online. 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:10.440 I was watching before I jumped up here just to see everyone joining on and encouraged by that. 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:12.460 I'm happy to share with you today. 00:00:12.460 --> 00:00:17.590 This is going to be the last message that we're going to go through together on our series on Revive from the book of Psalms. 00:00:18.040 --> 00:00:20.620 And we're going to look at Psalm 42 in particular. 00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:25.660 So if you want to open your Bibles to Psalm 42, we'll get to that in just a moment. 00:00:25.720 --> 00:00:30.500 But one of the things I want to let you know is how much I've appreciated just this series together. 00:00:30.580 --> 00:00:37.600 Before we started into the series called Revive, we had no idea what would be happening in our 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.460 country and around the world. 00:00:39.620 --> 00:00:43.390 And it was just a fitting series for us to jump into together. 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:46.860 And so next week we'll start into our Easter section. 00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:54.890 But as we get to the tail end of our Psalm series, one of the things that I love about Psalms and I hope that you've appreciated with me together, 00:00:55.660 --> 00:00:59.170 is the beauty of the worship that takes place in this book. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:07.400 When you think about the significance of the book of Psalms, what marks it as unique from all the other books of scripture is that it takes a where 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:14.420 man is in connection to who God is and it shows us how to relate the idea of God in theology 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:17.260 to how we live our lives day to day. 00:01:17.720 --> 00:01:19.720 And the circumstances that we face. 00:01:20.160 --> 00:01:27.400 It takes what we say is orthodoxy and turns it into orthopraxy, how we live in our circumstances in connecting 00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:28.320 to God and worship. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:33.180 And together we've looked at a handful of Psalms, we've looked at Psalm 33 in joy. 00:01:33.600 --> 00:01:35.800 We've looked at Psalm 55 in fear. 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:43.160 We've looked at 25 and abandonment, chapter 62 in uncertainty, and chapter one 36 00:01:43.160 --> 00:01:44.590 in gratitude. 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:49.420 And today out of all of the Psalms we've looked at together, I've saved for myself the best for last. 00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:54.590 My favorite out of this series is Psalm 42 and that's what we're going to discuss today. 00:01:55.900 --> 00:02:02.240 You know, the irony of this psalm is really seen in the author the authorship of this psalm. 00:02:03.420 --> 00:02:07.570 Because the author in Psalm 42 is answering for us this question. 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:11.200 It's a question regarding the restless soul. 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:17.550 And in verse five he highlights this question but he doesn't end it here. 00:02:17.760 --> 00:02:22.740 He repeats the same question, he does it again in verse six, only he makes it as a statement in verse six. 00:02:23.140 --> 00:02:30.040 He asks it as a question again in verse 11 and then he mentions it again in chapter 43:5. 00:02:30.100 --> 00:02:37.120 And so most theologians will say that chapter 42 of Psalms and chapter 43 of Psalms used to be one Psalm broken into two but today 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:38.900 we're just going to look at Psalm 42. 00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:42.850 And he asks the question for the restless soul, which is this verse five. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:45.760 Why are you in despair, oh my soul. 00:02:46.600 --> 00:02:49.240 And why have you become disturbed within me? 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:53.530 That word disturbed is a word for restlessness. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:03:02.360 And so when we approach Psalm 42 what the author is answering for us is what do you do with 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:03.540 the restless soul? 00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:07.580 How do you worship with the restless soul? 00:03:08.700 --> 00:03:12.440 And the beauty of this Psalm is that it's led by the sons of Korah. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.620 And if you study biblically, who Korah was. 00:03:17.440 --> 00:03:24.600 In the Exodus, when Moses was leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, as they were going through the wilderness and 00:03:24.600 --> 00:03:31.960 wandering through the wilderness, one named Korah, a religious leader of the priesthood, he 00:03:32.060 --> 00:03:34.580 led a rebellion against Moses. 00:03:34.640 --> 00:03:35.640 And God judged him. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:42.260 He judged Korah, he judged 250 other people, but he allowed Korah's children to live. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:50.720 And Cora's children become the very ones that write songs of gratitude and sing the songs of praise in 00:03:50.720 --> 00:03:51.060 the temple. 00:03:52.780 --> 00:03:59.940 And so the irony of this story is to see out of the midst of tragedy, hardship, and rebellion, God restores and redeems and 00:03:59.940 --> 00:04:01.060 brings something beautiful. 00:04:02.760 --> 00:04:09.320 And when I think about our circumstance, how great it is that individuals that went through hardship are writing this psalm. 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:12.480 But how applicable it comes for our lives. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:16.329 That this question they would pose in verse five, why are you in despair, oh my soul? 00:04:16.440 --> 00:04:18.899 And why have you become disturbed within me? 00:04:20.660 --> 00:04:21.459 Have you ever been there? 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:25.560 Maybe asking the same question in your life? 00:04:27.140 --> 00:04:34.720 It's been said about Americans and really about people throughout the world that it's common for us to deal with a low 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:36.360 lying state of depression. 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:42.720 We can't even sometimes put our thumb onto where it's originating from, but we know it persists. 00:04:44.180 --> 00:04:45.960 And how do you deal with it? 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:50.890 I think about our country we most of all have many luxuries. 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:55.060 Yet our soul oftentimes feels empty. 00:04:55.060 --> 00:04:55.860 What do you do? 00:04:57.740 --> 00:05:04.820 Romans 8 really connects us to that thought in verse 22 and verse 23 it says this, for we know that the whole of creation has 00:05:04.820 --> 00:05:08.760 been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 00:05:09.080 --> 00:05:16.140 And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, 00:05:16.140 --> 00:05:20.560 waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 00:05:22.280 --> 00:05:28.160 What it's saying is the struggle in life, maybe even the feelings of depression, it's normal. 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:35.480 It's a state of humanity because all of creation groans and even within us that we experienced this groaning. 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:38.780 And so what do we do when our soul feels restless? 00:05:39.320 --> 00:05:46.400 I mean even in these moments, if you think about today, it used to be just a few weeks ago, if you heard a gunshot in public, then you panic and ran. 00:05:46.400 --> 00:05:50.460 But today you hear a cough in public and you run. 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:54.690 What do you do when your soul feels restless? 00:05:57.320 --> 00:05:59.540 What do you want in moments of restlessness? 00:06:01.880 --> 00:06:09.040 Maybe even most particularly in these moments globally, what do you want in 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:10.240 this moment of restlessness? 00:06:12.620 --> 00:06:17.760 Do you want God to show up and end things and just return them back to normal? 00:06:18.640 --> 00:06:19.830 God put an end into this virus. 00:06:20.010 --> 00:06:21.400 Let's get back to normal. 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:22.520 Is that your goal? 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:32.280 What if God's goal isn't for things to necessarily go back to normal? 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:35.560 Have you considered that? 00:06:36.140 --> 00:06:40.320 What if God wants more than simply for things to go back to normal? 00:06:40.320 --> 00:06:47.080 We think about our state of restlessness and I think sometimes we approach it as we just want the thing that created the restlessness to go away. 00:06:49.780 --> 00:06:52.070 What if that's not what God desires? 00:06:54.440 --> 00:06:57.830 What if God wants more than things to go back to normal? 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:02.210 What if he wants something to be different or maybe even possible? 00:07:02.580 --> 00:07:04.900 What if God wants things to be greater? 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:10.650 You know, I've heard people talk about the silver lining to this pandemic. 00:07:12.260 --> 00:07:19.420 If there is a silver lining, I don't think anybody wants a pandemic, but some of the silver linings I've heard people find is that they're 00:07:19.420 --> 00:07:21.160 more sensitive to the things of God. 00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:24.140 God's used this to open their eyes. 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:26.260 Maybe they're praying more. 00:07:27.620 --> 00:07:29.680 Or maybe they're valuing community more. 00:07:31.080 --> 00:07:35.120 And when you think about those things, what happens after those things pass? 00:07:36.460 --> 00:07:38.000 We returned back to normal. 00:07:39.060 --> 00:07:40.280 Where do those values go? 00:07:41.520 --> 00:07:47.220 Maybe perhaps the better question, rather than asking us what do you want in moments of restless? 00:07:47.300 --> 00:07:52.380 Maybe the better question is for us to ask, what does God want in moments of restlessness? 00:07:55.100 --> 00:08:02.570 What if it's possible not to return to normal, but to come back bigger, 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:06.360 stronger and greater in the Lord? 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:13.590 How could we dream in a way that focuses just beyond getting back to the status quo? 00:08:14.440 --> 00:08:19.530 Because when you think about an answer, you know in a place of restlessness, I just want things to get back to normal. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.500 Oftentimes that statement comes from a very me-centric focus, right? 00:08:25.700 --> 00:08:26.440 I don't like this. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:27.700 This isn't the way that I want to. 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:31.000 I just want to get it back to the way that was so I can continue to do what I want to do. 00:08:31.200 --> 00:08:32.000 God do that. 00:08:32.340 --> 00:08:38.020 And we use God like a tool to get what we want because what we're ultimately interested in is very me-centric. 00:08:38.059 --> 00:08:39.740 It's all about I. 00:08:42.400 --> 00:08:44.390 What if God wants more? 00:08:45.560 --> 00:08:52.860 What if he not only wants peace, but he also wants to make you a more powerful warrior he uses 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:58.800 and refines in these moments to help you become a greater servant for his kingdom? 00:09:00.560 --> 00:09:02.240 What does that look like? 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:11.200 Now, certainly when you think about challenges in our lives, the beauty of a challenge, if we could find one, is that it wakens 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:13.320 our lives to something greater. 00:09:13.820 --> 00:09:16.180 To seek something more that satisfies the soul. 00:09:16.520 --> 00:09:18.820 That's where we're at in Psalm 42:5. 00:09:18.860 --> 00:09:20.900 That's what the authors is driving towards. 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:25.040 In the midst of hardship, we realize that there's got to be more than this. 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:27.980 God created us this way, too long for more. 00:09:27.980 --> 00:09:35.180 Ecclesiastes talks about God has written eternity in our hearts that when we look at death in the face, that our 00:09:35.180 --> 00:09:40.160 soul grieves in those moments because we're creatures created for life and life is found in God. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:46.160 And so the idea of adversity helps us to recognize this. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:51.440 There's the challenge to the restless soul and the Psalmist dives into those places. 00:09:52.280 --> 00:09:53.710 How did he get to this place of restlessness? 00:09:54.400 --> 00:10:01.400 Well, in verse three and on, he starts to pepper this song with the expressions of what brought him to this place 00:10:01.400 --> 00:10:04.220 of restlessness as he's seeking God's face. 00:10:04.280 --> 00:10:09.470 And in verse three he says this, that he is being threatened, mocked, or attacked, any of those phrases. 00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:13.840 But in these moments he's feeling the pressure by outside sources. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.620 Threatened, attacked or mocked. 00:10:15.640 --> 00:10:18.840 And verse three, my tears have been my food day and night. 00:10:19.900 --> 00:10:22.640 While they say to me all day long, where is your God? 00:10:22.660 --> 00:10:23.460 So you seen a mocking him. 00:10:23.860 --> 00:10:25.060 Where is your God in this? 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:26.030 They're asking him. 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:30.500 And in a verse nine I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:34.860 Not that God has left the Psalmist, but he certainly feels isolated this way. 00:10:35.260 --> 00:10:38.170 And he goes on to says in verse nine why do I go mourning? 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:39.880 Because of the oppression of the enemy? 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:44.900 And versed 10, as a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me. 00:10:46.020 --> 00:10:52.680 God, in these moments, he is seeking his face because of these circumstances, right? 00:10:53.380 --> 00:10:56.020 He's being threatened, attacked, mocked. 00:10:57.400 --> 00:10:58.340 His soul was restless. 00:10:59.640 --> 00:11:07.180 Not only that, in verse four and verse six he speaks about this feeling of being distant relationally, right? 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:09.340 He talks in terms of his relationship with God. 00:11:09.340 --> 00:11:15.440 But listen what he says in verse four, these things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:24.180 For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with the voice of joy and Thanksgiving, 00:11:24.460 --> 00:11:27.100 a multitude keeping festival. 00:11:28.700 --> 00:11:33.210 So what he was remembering in his day that he went to the temple and he would lead the procession. 00:11:33.300 --> 00:11:35.840 I mean the sons of Korah led the praise in the temple. 00:11:37.300 --> 00:11:41.000 And so he's recalling in his mind these moments of seeking after God in the temple. 00:11:41.300 --> 00:11:45.100 Now, here's the beauty for us today, is that we no longer need to go to that location. 00:11:45.260 --> 00:11:50.610 The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:16 and in 6:19 that it's not about the building anymore. 00:11:50.800 --> 00:11:54.040 That we become the temple of God, that God's presence dwells within us. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:59.300 But in Israel's day, the place where God's presence dwelled was in a building until Jesus' sacrifice. 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:06.290 And so they would see this building as a place of connecting to God, and he would remember this connection with such rejoicing. 00:12:06.740 --> 00:12:09.020 And yet in these moments, what he's acknowledging as he feels distant. 00:12:09.880 --> 00:12:14.880 And so in verse six he goes on and says, Oh my God, my soul is in despair within me. 00:12:14.880 --> 00:12:19.620 Therefore, I remember you from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon from Mount Mazhar. 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:27.320 And so what the Psalmist is saying here is for whatever reason, in this circumstance, he's been taken away from his homeland. 00:12:28.880 --> 00:12:30.330 And he's now East of the Jordan. 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:35.360 And he sort of ascends this high area, and he looks back to his homeland. 00:12:36.200 --> 00:12:42.220 And off the distance, perhaps the last place that he could stand and see this, he sees the mountains from where he's from. 00:12:44.140 --> 00:12:51.760 And he longs to be there with God's chosen people with God's presence. 00:12:53.380 --> 00:12:56.260 He wants to meet with God. 00:12:56.560 --> 00:13:00.920 And so you see this adversity that he's going through, this restless of his soul. 00:13:00.920 --> 00:13:06.000 He feels threatened and he feels disconnected relationally from God. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:08.020 And really the people he used to worship with. 00:13:10.280 --> 00:13:11.400 What do you do when you feel restless? 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:15.960 This isn't a hard place to relate to, is it? 00:13:17.220 --> 00:13:18.580 I mean you're living much the same way. 00:13:19.720 --> 00:13:21.960 Threatened, distant relationally. 00:13:22.540 --> 00:13:26.200 It's like you're a part of the 13th district of the Hunger Games, right? 00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:29.330 A piece of me wants to walk around every once in a while and just do like this. 00:13:30.560 --> 00:13:35.460 But when you think about this psalm, this is exactly what he's expressing. 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:38.240 This need for belonging, connecting. 00:13:38.700 --> 00:13:41.520 And yet he's threatened, hunkered down, isolated. 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:50.230 And circumstances have a way of pointing out our greater need for a greater hope. 00:13:51.820 --> 00:13:53.840 So what's the solution for the restless soul? 00:13:55.980 --> 00:13:56.760 Let me tell you. 00:13:57.160 --> 00:14:01.310 Good theology makes good therapy in moments like this. 00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:08.430 And this is why the Psalmist has written the psalm, for us to see the solution for the restless soul. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:17.500 And the way that he starts this psalm is beginning to help us understand how we connect when 00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:19.910 there is this uneasiness within us. 00:14:21.920 --> 00:14:27.280 And then Psalm 42:1-2, he does this in such a poetic way. 00:14:27.500 --> 00:14:34.600 This is perhaps, one of the most popular verses in Psalms, or certainly in the top of popular verses in Psalms because of how 00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:36.900 artistic it is written. 00:14:36.900 --> 00:14:39.200 And you can connect with it very easily. 00:14:39.800 --> 00:14:46.520 But the first point that he makes in this Psalm is seek God as the source that satisfies your soul. 00:14:46.540 --> 00:14:47.220 Listen to this. 00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:54.420 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, oh God. 00:14:55.780 --> 00:14:58.420 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 00:14:59.460 --> 00:15:02.880 When shall I come and appear before him? 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:09.520 You see this beautiful picture of this deer that's longing for water. 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:13.720 And what he recognizes for us. 00:15:13.740 --> 00:15:16.920 You know, when you think about a deer, a deer needs very few things in life. 00:15:19.060 --> 00:15:21.640 But one thing a deer does need is it needs water. 00:15:23.280 --> 00:15:30.340 And just as he recognizes the deer's need for water, for sustenance and sustaining life, he also draws that 00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:32.120 into correlation for your own soul. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:39.080 And we strongly need God as much as a deer needs water. 00:15:40.260 --> 00:15:47.520 And one of the things I think we find so refreshing about this Psalm is that while the deer longs for this, the way that it looks towards 00:15:47.520 --> 00:15:50.900 God in this moment is that he is the one that can satisfy. 00:15:53.060 --> 00:15:55.280 I think about all the restlessness of our soul. 00:15:55.280 --> 00:16:01.060 What makes this Psalm so beautiful for us is that it is acknowledging that God is in control. 00:16:02.300 --> 00:16:08.260 And one of the best things in the midst of his sovereign control, God's not worried. 00:16:10.580 --> 00:16:11.340 God doesn't worry. 00:16:13.340 --> 00:16:17.120 In fact, if God were to start worrying, then we could probably hit the panic button. 00:16:17.140 --> 00:16:19.480 Like if God catches Corona, we've got problems. 00:16:21.500 --> 00:16:28.660 But what makes the peace of this psalm so pertinent for our soul is that in the presence 00:16:28.660 --> 00:16:30.180 of God, there is no worry there. 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:32.190 He's in control. 00:16:34.900 --> 00:16:42.380 When you think about the desperation that's expressed in this Psalm, but the fulfillment of satisfaction that is in God, 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:44.760 it becomes a beautiful place. 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:49.180 Just as the deer who doesn't need much for life needs water. 00:16:51.060 --> 00:16:56.480 So you're created in the same way, but rather than water, which you do need, but more than that, it's God. 00:16:59.560 --> 00:17:02.160 What is your goal in seeking God? 00:17:05.060 --> 00:17:07.319 Is it just for things to return to normal? 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:18.069 Can I tell you if that's your goal, you're never going to experience God to the degree that this Psalm communicates. 00:17:20.700 --> 00:17:26.839 Because what this Psalm is saying in these first two verses isn't simply seeking God just because things aren't the way you want it. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:33.680 It's about seeking God and recognition that you need him for everything and the season doesn't matter. 00:17:35.620 --> 00:17:42.720 Because if you just simply seek God simply because you want things to return back to normal, the moment things returned back to normal, what do you do with 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:43.020 God? 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:48.380 You throw him in the junk drawer like a tool until the next problem pops up. 00:17:49.820 --> 00:17:51.200 But that's not the point of the psalm. 00:17:53.100 --> 00:17:54.440 That's not the point of this verse. 00:17:54.660 --> 00:18:01.400 It's to get us to recognize the beauty of problems is that it helps us to realize how much we do need God. 00:18:02.820 --> 00:18:08.060 But it's not to walk blindly after that need is met to say to ourselves that your soul doesn't have need anymore. 00:18:10.120 --> 00:18:16.590 That the place your soul was created is to rest in him continually in every circumstance. 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:22.680 Not just when things returned to normal or when things are abnormal I should say. 00:18:24.520 --> 00:18:29.900 Jesus even taught us this in the sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:31-33. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:32.690 In this portion of a sermon he's talking to people that are worriers. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:36.120 And you know, I love how the sermon on the Mount starts. 00:18:36.360 --> 00:18:40.820 Because it's really an awkward beginning where these masses are following Jesus. 00:18:41.060 --> 00:18:45.900 It tells us he goes up on a hill in chapter 5:1 and his disciples come to him, the 12. 00:18:45.940 --> 00:18:47.120 His disciples come to him. 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:51.640 And Jesus sits down like he's just talking to the 12 and then he starts the sermon on the Mount. 00:18:52.040 --> 00:18:55.080 The sermon on the Mount is not Jesus preaching to this big crowd. 00:18:55.300 --> 00:18:56.920 It's Jesus going in the middle of a crowd. 00:18:57.140 --> 00:19:02.380 He sits down with just 12 people and he starts talking to 12 people and then everyone else just starts to listen. 00:19:03.120 --> 00:19:08.800 But when he's talking to the 12 people in Matthew 6:31, where Jesus goes is this idea of worry. 00:19:10.080 --> 00:19:14.340 And he says, do not worry then saying, what will we eat or what will we drink? 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:16.820 Or what will we wear for clothing. 00:19:17.120 --> 00:19:19.920 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. 00:19:20.600 --> 00:19:22.940 For your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. 00:19:24.040 --> 00:19:31.160 But rather this seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:32.880 added unto you. 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:34.840 What is Jesus saying? 00:19:36.380 --> 00:19:37.780 Worry and stress. 00:19:40.080 --> 00:19:44.660 Sometimes we treat God like he's nothing more than a tool. 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:48.620 I'll talk to you if I need you, and after that we're done. 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:56.240 What Jesus is saying in this passage in verse 33 is look, God wants to transcend all of that. 00:19:57.220 --> 00:20:00.060 To become the focus of your life. 00:20:00.520 --> 00:20:08.120 And so when you get to the place of struggle or stress, you've been consistently walking 00:20:08.120 --> 00:20:10.260 with the one who sustains it all. 00:20:12.500 --> 00:20:18.760 Number two, Psalm 42:7-8, number one we said, seek God is the source that satisfies your soul. 00:20:19.040 --> 00:20:20.580 That's the solution for the rest of the soul. 00:20:20.580 --> 00:20:25.540 Number two, in verse seven and eight, is this: rest in a hope that transcends the circumstance. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:29.760 Rest in a hope that transcends the circumstances. 00:20:30.140 --> 00:20:31.080 Listen to what he says in verse seven. 00:20:32.140 --> 00:20:34.290 Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls. 00:20:35.140 --> 00:20:37.860 All your breakers and your waves have rolled over me. 00:20:38.420 --> 00:20:38.860 Verse eight. 00:20:38.860 --> 00:20:43.580 The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and his song will be with me in the night. 00:20:43.700 --> 00:20:45.580 A prayer to God, the God of my life. 00:20:47.100 --> 00:20:48.300 So here's what the Psalmist is saying. 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:51.820 The troubles of life, it comes like waves in the waterfall. 00:20:54.140 --> 00:20:59.780 Every season will have another challenge, but God is constant. 00:21:01.100 --> 00:21:07.080 His lovingkindness is with us throughout the day and his song stays with us throughout the night. 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:15.400 But the Psalmist is helping us to recognize is if your spiritual life is based on the circumstance, you're going to 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:16.760 have an unhealthy spiritual life. 00:21:18.180 --> 00:21:22.580 It's going to go up and down constantly like a yoyo. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:31.220 But what he recognizes in this, in this relationship with God, that the thing that remains constant where he puts his hope, transcends 00:21:31.360 --> 00:21:31.660 the circumstance. 00:21:34.500 --> 00:21:40.620 His hope is not based on the moment but in the one who is beyond the moment, which is God. 00:21:43.060 --> 00:21:49.480 Let's say spiritual life is just simply about seeking after God when circumstances arise that you don't like. 00:21:51.980 --> 00:21:53.320 God does away with the circumstance. 00:21:55.220 --> 00:21:59.420 But we recognize within a few minutes or maybe a few days you're going to be in another circumstance. 00:22:02.580 --> 00:22:04.120 Life is full of them. 00:22:04.700 --> 00:22:06.340 Everyday has them, small or great. 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:12.350 And what we need more than anything is a hope that rest beyond all of it. 00:22:13.060 --> 00:22:20.120 You think about the way God has structured life for us, it's as if God has structured life in a way that when we get to 00:22:20.120 --> 00:22:26.720 a place of being comfortable in routine, God changes routine so that we learn to trust him more in the new season. 00:22:28.540 --> 00:22:29.080 You graduate. 00:22:31.020 --> 00:22:39.060 You go to college, you get a career, you get married, have kids, become 00:22:39.060 --> 00:22:41.300 grandparents, retire. 00:22:41.540 --> 00:22:44.740 Life is full of big seasons, small seasons. 00:22:44.740 --> 00:22:46.190 But those seasons are always changing. 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:53.420 About the time you get comfortable with your season changes and it brings you to a place of needing to seek after God again to learn a new wisdom 00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:55.870 and how to navigate the path in life. 00:22:56.420 --> 00:23:03.720 And so what the Psalmist is saying for us that while life and deep calling out the deep waterfalls crash over us and the in the moments of life, 00:23:03.860 --> 00:23:05.320 there is one who transcends it all. 00:23:05.320 --> 00:23:08.900 And his loving kindness is there with us in the daytime and in the night. 00:23:09.060 --> 00:23:13.440 And so he saying to us rest in a hope that transcends the circumstance. 00:23:16.020 --> 00:23:19.180 One of my favorite heroes in the Christian faith is Charles Spurgeon. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:25.070 And one of the things, I actually don't really care much for Charles Spurgeon's messages. 00:23:25.740 --> 00:23:27.610 I think he's a very poetic speaker. 00:23:27.840 --> 00:23:29.460 I think he attracted large crowds. 00:23:29.540 --> 00:23:35.940 The thing that I love most about Charles Spurgeon isn't what he said, but rather how he lived. 00:23:37.700 --> 00:23:45.220 Charles Spurgeon was a man that struggled with depression and had deep battles in depression, but 00:23:45.220 --> 00:23:46.530 he had a hope that transcend. 00:23:50.140 --> 00:23:57.860 I think because of that, because of his transparency as a person who struggled, it attracted people because 00:23:57.860 --> 00:23:59.140 they wanted to discover hope. 00:24:01.320 --> 00:24:05.550 And so when you think about what the Psalmist is saying, rest in a hope that transcends the circumstance. 00:24:06.600 --> 00:24:09.600 I think what's very important for us to know is that this hope is personal. 00:24:11.800 --> 00:24:12.850 It's not just an idea. 00:24:14.660 --> 00:24:17.220 It's a God who wants to make himself known in your life. 00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:24.640 And one of the things I want to point out to you that just highlights this is in verse eight it says, the Lord will command his lovingkindness. 00:24:26.560 --> 00:24:29.960 And this word Lord is unique to the rest of the psalm. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:35.440 Because when the Psalmist is describing God, he uses this generic word Elohim. 00:24:36.500 --> 00:24:39.790 And Elohim is so generic it can be used for many different purposes. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:46.790 It can be just be used as an illustration towards a governmental leader, someone in an authoritative position. 00:24:47.600 --> 00:24:48.050 They're an Elohim. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:49.760 They are a ruler of some sort. 00:24:51.020 --> 00:24:51.880 It's a very generic word. 00:24:53.700 --> 00:24:58.300 But what the Psalmist says when he gets personal with God is when he starts talking about his love. 00:24:58.320 --> 00:25:00.640 He uses this word Lord, which is Yahweh. 00:25:02.520 --> 00:25:06.940 A very personal word for Israel, a word that they wouldn't even utter, because they considered it so sacred. 00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:13.130 But it's also a word that expresses itself historically for them. 00:25:14.620 --> 00:25:21.900 When a Jewish person would use this word, their mind should connect back to Exodus 00:25:21.900 --> 00:25:22.760 3. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:32.260 A time when Moses had to run away from Egypt because he had killed one of the Pharaoh's 00:25:32.260 --> 00:25:32.960 soldiers. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:38.390 And Moses runs and he hides and he's distant. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:39.120 He's isolated. 00:25:41.120 --> 00:25:47.820 But then God comes near, he becomes personal, and he reveals his name to Moses and he says, my name is Yahweh. 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:49.540 I am that I am. 00:25:49.900 --> 00:25:51.780 Or where some translations will say Yehovah. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:54.780 Yehovah and Yahweh are the same word. 00:25:56.980 --> 00:25:59.340 And so what he's saying in the Psalm is that God is personal. 00:25:59.560 --> 00:26:04.000 So the question for you is, where is your burning bush moment, right? 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:07.300 The place God shows up for your panting soul. 00:26:07.900 --> 00:26:11.620 As the deer pants for the water, so your soul yearns for God. 00:26:13.360 --> 00:26:15.000 Do you know where that moment is for us? 00:26:16.340 --> 00:26:17.810 Where God becomes personal? 00:26:19.180 --> 00:26:20.090 It's the cross. 00:26:21.640 --> 00:26:28.680 God took on flesh at the cross so that you could have a hope that transcends circumstances that your relationship with God would become 00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:29.200 personal. 00:26:29.260 --> 00:26:32.480 That's why when Jesus hung on the cross, he said tetelestai, paid in full. 00:26:32.780 --> 00:26:40.120 And the veil was torn to the temple, showing that the spirit of God no longer dwells in the temple but now rather dwells in this people so that you could have that connection to 00:26:40.120 --> 00:26:41.920 God for which you were created to belong. 00:26:43.360 --> 00:26:48.800 The cross becomes the place where we meet God face to face, where we connect to him relationally. 00:26:50.900 --> 00:26:57.700 When you get to heaven, if you get to heaven, let me just say this, the only way to heaven, it's through that cross. 00:27:00.380 --> 00:27:02.600 You want to hope that transcends the circumstance? 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:10.080 Seek God who became flesh for you and gave his life for you on the cross as he paid for your sins. 00:27:10.380 --> 00:27:12.520 That Jesus handled it all. 00:27:12.520 --> 00:27:18.240 Jesus took it all and Jesus was victorious over all so that you could have him. 00:27:18.260 --> 00:27:21.440 That's why the Bible says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:23.700 Jesus, we need rescued. 00:27:25.730 --> 00:27:26.860 Jesus, we need hope. 00:27:28.700 --> 00:27:31.360 Jesus, we need forgiveness that transcends. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:34.180 And where is this? 00:27:36.620 --> 00:27:38.420 The place that God connects to you? 00:27:38.420 --> 00:27:41.940 Where he is no longer just Elohim but Yahweh, Lord. 00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:44.530 And it's through the cross. 00:27:46.060 --> 00:27:53.100 He's already won the victory, but through the cross we get the opportunity to walk with him in the battlefield 00:27:53.380 --> 00:27:55.240 to see how the victory plays out. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:04.330 The last is this, the solution for your restless soul, so you seek God as the source, the satisfied and seek him alone as the deer pants. 00:28:04.560 --> 00:28:06.400 Seek God, number two, wrestling. 00:28:06.420 --> 00:28:07.940 The hope that transcends your circumstance. 00:28:09.380 --> 00:28:11.570 His spiritual life is just based on circumstance. 00:28:12.800 --> 00:28:14.000 It's going to be all over the place. 00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:22.740 But if you recognize that there is a God who transcends circumstance because he has defeated all and he is already victorious, 00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:24.420 then we have a place to rest. 00:28:26.560 --> 00:28:33.640 And number three in Psalm 42:11, he said this previously in verse five but it reminds us this 00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:37.540 trust in the Lord's victory though the battle remains. 00:28:39.360 --> 00:28:41.180 He asked the question, right? 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:42.240 We've seen this. 00:28:42.900 --> 00:28:45.100 Why are you in despair, oh my soul? 00:28:46.180 --> 00:28:48.320 And why have you become disturbed within me? 00:28:48.940 --> 00:28:49.680 And here he gives an answer. 00:28:51.460 --> 00:28:51.980 Hope in God. 00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:58.920 For I shall yet praise him the help of my countenance and my God. 00:28:59.020 --> 00:29:04.210 What he's saying is God's going to change the expression on our face with the hope that we have in him. 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:10.460 One of the things I love about this Psalm is this Psalm doesn't resolve the circumstance. 00:29:12.540 --> 00:29:19.640 And the reason I love this Psalm is because he helps us to recognize that rather God's going to walk with him through the circumstance. 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:25.800 In America, we love our hero stories and we love those stories to have a happy ending and everyone rides off into the sunset. 00:29:27.180 --> 00:29:29.500 But the reality is you've got to play through it. 00:29:30.540 --> 00:29:32.500 And that's what the Psalmist is saying in these moments. 00:29:33.900 --> 00:29:41.060 The reason he doesn't give a resolve to the circumstance is because he has resolved in the one 00:29:41.060 --> 00:29:48.100 that transcends it all, that he's learned in his circumstance, that his hope doesn't rest in the circumstance. 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:51.500 But rather his hope rests in God. 00:29:53.160 --> 00:30:00.160 Let me just say it like this, very frankly and practically, if the Corona virus has reminded 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:06.980 us of one thing as people, it's this: control is an illusion. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.020 How quickly things can change. 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:20.850 You can't always manipulate the moment, but you can know the one who overcomes it. 00:30:22.140 --> 00:30:28.660 And the more confident we are in his goodness, the stronger we trust and rest and live. 00:30:29.520 --> 00:30:35.140 Our downcast mood at times is not the final act of life's drama. 00:30:37.300 --> 00:30:37.780 Jesus is. 00:30:40.140 --> 00:30:47.080 And what the Bible encourages us to see is that we can have hope in him because his love is for us. 00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:49.220 That's what the Psalmist said in verse eight. 00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:52.840 His loving kindness continues towards us. 00:30:54.740 --> 00:30:58.520 You know, the Christian life isn't about making things easy. 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:01.540 It's about making things hopeful. 00:31:03.520 --> 00:31:06.480 If the Christian life was about making things necessarily easy. 00:31:06.500 --> 00:31:10.880 Jesus did a horrible job of explaining that to us when he said, take up your cross and follow me. 00:31:12.260 --> 00:31:19.680 Because the cross wasn't a pretty picture to use as an illustration, but there was a place of servanthood that's demonstrated 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:20.320 in that statement. 00:31:21.480 --> 00:31:25.420 Rather, the Christian life is about trusting in the one who has already won the war. 00:31:28.060 --> 00:31:35.940 I think and I hope for us as a church that we see that God's goal for us in any circumstance isn't 00:31:35.940 --> 00:31:40.530 necessarily for things to be normal or to go back to normal. 00:31:41.300 --> 00:31:48.990 I don't think it's wrong to want things to change, but I think it's also important to see that God's goal is much bigger than that. 00:31:50.120 --> 00:31:57.240 That God is more than capable of taking times of restlessness to show us how he is calling 00:31:57.240 --> 00:31:58.960 us into something greater. 00:32:00.140 --> 00:32:07.240 And that it's even possible in these moments to come out of this not just seeing things restored, but to see 00:32:07.240 --> 00:32:11.780 a church that runs stronger, faster, greater for him. 00:32:12.040 --> 00:32:12.360 Why? 00:32:13.540 --> 00:32:18.700 Because we've seen him faithful in the moments and we've sought after him as his people. 00:32:20.200 --> 00:32:27.220 And when the circumstance changes and things go back to maybe the way they were in some way that we 00:32:27.220 --> 00:32:29.860 don't lose hold of what Psalm 42 says. 00:32:31.180 --> 00:32:38.320 That we didn't simply seek after God just because we wanted something from him, but rather we seek after God because we want 00:32:38.320 --> 00:32:39.220 him. 00:32:40.580 --> 00:32:47.290 As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for the living God.