WEBVTT 00:00:00.820 --> 00:00:05.630 Today we're going to be in the Book of Psalms together. 00:00:06.420 --> 00:00:09.300 And we typically do this as a church during the summer. 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:11.150 I've got a life goal in ministry. 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:11.600 I want to teach. 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:18.350 I've taught through every Psalm in the Bible, but during the summer, we usually take a few weeks to go through the Book of Psalms. 00:00:18.380 --> 00:00:19.900 And we're going to do that over these next four weeks. 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:22.480 And then we're going to dive into the book of revelation after this. 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:30.320 But in this book of Psalms, what I think is so significant about Psalms, and especially at this particular point of the year, you're in a 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:31.840 in a moment of transition, right? 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:38.570 You've gone through the chaos of summer where you're out of routine of sorts, and kids are getting back into school and you're getting back into routines. 00:00:39.180 --> 00:00:43.730 And one of the things I love about the Book of Psalms during this time period is the Psalms. 00:00:43.860 --> 00:00:46.780 Help us think about how we engage the Lord where we are. 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:53.290 And one of the things that's unique about the Psalms, over and above all the other books of the Bible, most books of the Bible is God's declaration to us. 00:00:53.540 --> 00:00:57.370 But the book of Psalms is man's response to God in light of who he is. 00:00:57.900 --> 00:01:04.959 And when you read through the Psalms, you discover that there is a Psalm for every season of life, whether you're on the mountaintops or in the valleys, whether 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:07.200 you're celebrating or weeping. 00:01:07.220 --> 00:01:08.180 There are. 00:01:08.220 --> 00:01:15.400 There's a Psalm written for those moments of life that teach us how to engage the Lord and worship where 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:16.500 we are. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:23.860 And so the candor of these Psalms become this beautiful expression of faith that we get to learn what it means to worship 00:01:23.860 --> 00:01:27.240 the God and the position in which we find ourselves. 00:01:27.300 --> 00:01:30.840 And today we're going to look at Psalm 42. 00:01:31.080 --> 00:01:36.560 And Psalm 42 is a is a powerful psalm that begins with a very familiar verse. 00:01:36.740 --> 00:01:43.820 In fact, you may have quoted this verse as a memorable verse and been encouraged by what you think are nice 00:01:43.820 --> 00:01:44.560 sentiments. 00:01:44.600 --> 00:01:44.700 Right? 00:01:44.720 --> 00:01:47.240 It starts as the deer pants for the water. 00:01:47.240 --> 00:01:50.460 You know, it's a very beautiful, eloquent, poetic psalm. 00:01:50.460 --> 00:01:56.320 And you might just quote that in a very sentimental way of an expression of faith. 00:01:56.320 --> 00:02:03.700 But what you discover when you when you get into the context of this passage is that the individual writing this psalm 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:08.780 is in the throes of adversity and in the midst of adversity. 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:13.910 This psalmist is walking us through how to deal with dark times. 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:20.430 In talking about these dark times, he's going to really express it in three ways. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:23.520 One, he's going to talk about the problem he's facing. 00:02:23.640 --> 00:02:28.790 Two, he's going to talk about the experiences that are contributing to that problem. 00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:33.410 And then finally, he's going to get to the resolution for all the encouragement for us to move forward. 00:02:33.580 --> 00:02:38.240 And so the question we want to deal with today is how do we deal with dark nights? 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:45.260 And the psalmist, he's broken this up into rather an easy pattern to follow, and he's 00:02:45.260 --> 00:02:52.440 taking us through his life experience so that we can learn from him and apply to our lives 00:02:52.440 --> 00:02:57.650 how we come to worship the Lord in the midst of our dark times. 00:02:58.140 --> 00:03:03.600 And so when we look at this Psalm point number one, I'll give you in your notes is this recognize my condition. 00:03:04.300 --> 00:03:05.700 The blank in your notes is condition. 00:03:07.480 --> 00:03:11.150 every one of these fill in the blanks number one, two and three. 00:03:11.220 --> 00:03:13.040 At least start with the letter C. 00:03:13.060 --> 00:03:16.900 So if you catch if you hear a letter C, you'll probably know it's the fill in that blank there. 00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:19.320 But recognizing my condition. 00:03:19.640 --> 00:03:25.500 And you see how the psalmist is doing this through the repetition of a question that he's asking throughout this Psalm. 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:28.640 You find this in verse five of chapter 42. 00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:35.660 You find it again repeated in verse 11, and then finally in chapter 43, verse five, the psalmist asks the same question over and 00:03:35.660 --> 00:03:43.620 over and historically, just, the reason I bring up chapter 43 is that chapter 42 and 43 have traditionally, 00:03:43.940 --> 00:03:47.060 historically been taught as one unit. 00:03:47.420 --> 00:03:54.660 And so you see the demeanor of the psalmist by this reoccurring question that he's asking, which is dealing with how to 00:03:54.660 --> 00:03:56.370 walk through dark times. 00:03:56.680 --> 00:04:00.580 And so in verse five he says, why are you cast down, O my soul? 00:04:00.880 --> 00:04:04.320 And why are you in turmoil within me? 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.120 In the form of a question? 00:04:06.580 --> 00:04:08.860 He's recognizing his condition. 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:10.690 And let me just be a little more specific. 00:04:11.200 --> 00:04:18.200 And being a person that recognizes your condition, we're talking about authentic transparency here and just stating 00:04:18.200 --> 00:04:19.290 where he's at. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:23.400 But it's important to say, look, he's not being a rain cloud to everyone's life, right? 00:04:23.400 --> 00:04:26.080 He's not walking around and just saying, well, I gotta be honest, right. 00:04:26.220 --> 00:04:30.650 And so everyone he meets, he's just telling people what's going on in his life in a very depressing way. 00:04:31.080 --> 00:04:31.500 Right. 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:38.600 Rather, what it's saying in this passage is that he's recognizing his condition before the Lord because he knows the Lord is the one who's going 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:42.730 to carry him and sustain him through this, and he's doing it in the form of a question. 00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:44.140 Right? 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:51.160 He's acknowledging that God is the one who will walk him through this, but he's acknowledging the state of his soul before 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:53.940 before the presence of God. 00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:57.980 And when he's talking, when he's stating this phrase downcast. 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:04.500 What he's acknowledging is that he's in this place where his life is crumbling, he's collapsed. 00:05:04.520 --> 00:05:07.660 He's becoming completely undone. 00:05:07.660 --> 00:05:12.690 The condition that he's finding himself is this place of really dissolving into nothing. 00:05:14.280 --> 00:05:21.720 And so the psalmist in these moments is bringing us to this place of helping us recognize where he finds himself 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:28.260 so that we can learn what it looks like for us to walk through this same positions of life. 00:05:29.020 --> 00:05:36.200 You know, perhaps, maybe one of the reasons you've come here this morning is that you've found your soul in a in this familiar place, 00:05:36.260 --> 00:05:39.740 and you're asking, where do where do I go from here? 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:47.360 And let me just tell you, when it comes to the to the darkness of the night, when you experience that in your life, it's not a matter of if you 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:53.040 will experience it, but when you will experience it and what are you going to do about it? 00:05:53.760 --> 00:06:01.540 Because it doesn't matter if you find yourself as one of the strongest in the faith, or a weakling before the Lord. 00:06:01.860 --> 00:06:06.400 All of us will go through these seasons and moments in our Christian journey. 00:06:06.860 --> 00:06:12.680 It's not a matter of if, but when and what are you going to do about it? 00:06:12.740 --> 00:06:19.840 One of my favorite heroes in the faith is a man from the 19th century, referred to as known as Charles Spurgeon. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:22.610 Charles Spurgeon is referred to as the Prince of Preachers. 00:06:22.840 --> 00:06:26.100 He had the largest church in the in the 19th century. 00:06:26.140 --> 00:06:32.990 But one of the things I have found about Charles Spurgeon that has made him so endearing to me is that Charles Spurgeon was a man that battled with depression. 00:06:34.140 --> 00:06:35.600 He struggled with it throughout his ministry. 00:06:35.640 --> 00:06:42.800 In fact, I think it's one of the things that made him so effective in ministry because he was so candid about his own struggle and where he found the Lord, 00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:46.220 that people, people resonated with that and connected to him because of it. 00:06:46.640 --> 00:06:49.860 And his depression was the reason he struggled with depression. 00:06:49.880 --> 00:06:54.420 And some think it was multifaceted things that happened in his life very early in his ministry. 00:06:55.040 --> 00:07:01.400 One of the one of the things that happened was there was a massive stampede in this church, and a few people were trampled to death because of that. 00:07:01.660 --> 00:07:03.330 And he was in his 20s when that took place. 00:07:03.780 --> 00:07:06.080 And he carried the weight of that all of his life. 00:07:06.780 --> 00:07:13.720 And not only that, because he was in the largest church, and he was in really the largest gathering that you could participate in during that time period. 00:07:13.860 --> 00:07:18.700 And so if you wanted to know all the news of the town, what you would go to was Charles Spurgeon's Church. 00:07:18.860 --> 00:07:23.520 In fact, the newspaper writers in the 19th century on Sunday would be at his church. 00:07:23.540 --> 00:07:30.700 So they had articles to write for Monday, and they would always represent in a very polarizing way what Charles 00:07:30.700 --> 00:07:32.020 Spurgeon said. 00:07:32.300 --> 00:07:35.060 And his critics were something that weighed on him. 00:07:35.340 --> 00:07:39.580 And something else Charles Spurgeon struggled with was he had health battles. 00:07:40.120 --> 00:07:42.540 And because of that, his health issues weighed on him. 00:07:42.540 --> 00:07:46.540 All of those things brought him to this place where he struggled with depression. 00:07:47.500 --> 00:07:53.100 And through that, this is what Charles Spurgeon said, and kind of a summary of walking in those seasons. 00:07:53.100 --> 00:08:00.300 He said, it is good for a man to bear the yoke, good for a man to front the billows, good 00:08:00.300 --> 00:08:06.150 for a man to pass through fire and through water, and so to learn sublime lessons. 00:08:06.760 --> 00:08:10.380 Trials teach us what we are. 00:08:10.380 --> 00:08:11.580 They dig up the soil. 00:08:12.280 --> 00:08:15.830 And let us see what we are made of. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:23.580 You know, oftentimes as people, we like to take the path of least resistance, to push down things that feel broken so that we can get 00:08:23.580 --> 00:08:26.010 back to those positive feelings again. 00:08:26.440 --> 00:08:29.760 But what Charles Spurgeon is saying is, look, those things aren't all bad. 00:08:29.820 --> 00:08:36.900 In fact, they help us to examine what really rests in our heart, what we what we think is most important and value valuable. 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:38.900 They teach us about ourselves. 00:08:39.020 --> 00:08:46.100 It's not to say go make things hard just to be hard, but rather to understand that in those seasons there are opportunities for 00:08:46.100 --> 00:08:50.190 maturity and they help us to recognize really where our hope rests. 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:55.230 It's not until you're tested that you begin to understand if your faith is genuine. 00:08:56.280 --> 00:09:03.400 And Charles Spurgeon learned to lean into those moments of adversity as an opportunity to understand the depth of his 00:09:03.400 --> 00:09:06.060 faith and where his hope ultimately rested. 00:09:07.400 --> 00:09:14.440 I remember when I, when I first moved to Utah for the purpose of planting churches, we started with a church plant and helped 00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:18.920 to get stable and strong, and then eventually we branched out and launched alpine after that. 00:09:18.940 --> 00:09:22.010 And I was only 26 years old when we started this church. 00:09:22.060 --> 00:09:25.790 So I was I had a lot of energy and was still learning some wisdom. 00:09:25.800 --> 00:09:25.940 Right. 00:09:25.940 --> 00:09:32.960 So, but I remember when I, when I started to, when we started ABC, it was just a small Bible study in our home, just up the road from 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:39.460 there at the from here at the time and just a few of us meeting and um, and eventually it morphed into a church. 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:46.620 But I remember I met one of the older church planters in Utah that had been here since the 1950s and who had since passed, has 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:47.600 passed away. 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:51.340 But he came to me and he gave me his sage advice at the time. 00:09:51.920 --> 00:09:53.630 And he looks at me and he just says one thing. 00:09:53.780 --> 00:09:57.360 I think the older you get, you just learn to make it short, make it sweet, make it good. 00:09:57.420 --> 00:09:58.260 But here it is, he said. 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:06.280 Never quit on a Monday, never quit on a Monday because he knew something about our 00:10:06.280 --> 00:10:13.080 experiences as human beings is that moments come and go, but the one thing that endures is the consistency of the Lord. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:14.000 Don't. 00:10:14.020 --> 00:10:21.260 Don't act irrational when difficult things happen, but rather learn what will sustain you through the storms. 00:10:21.260 --> 00:10:22.750 Never, never quit on a Monday. 00:10:23.780 --> 00:10:26.740 And this is exactly where this psalmist is. 00:10:26.800 --> 00:10:34.560 He's asking the soul and he begins Psalm chapter 41 or 42, excuse me, verse one, by saying it like this, that nice sentimental 00:10:34.560 --> 00:10:41.620 verse as the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, 00:10:41.620 --> 00:10:42.060 O God. 00:10:42.920 --> 00:10:46.020 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 00:10:46.020 --> 00:10:49.020 When shall I come and appear before God? 00:10:50.280 --> 00:10:50.460 C. 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:57.930 In the context of understanding what the psalmist is after he began to realize this is this is more than just a nice verse. 00:10:58.020 --> 00:11:00.480 This is a verse crying out out of desperation. 00:11:00.980 --> 00:11:03.540 This is a soul agonizing for God. 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:05.320 And the way that you understand it really is. 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:07.140 In verse one, he uses one word twice. 00:11:07.140 --> 00:11:14.200 He uses that word pant in reference to a deer, and then in reference to himself, likened unto a deer as the deer pants 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:15.000 for the water. 00:11:15.780 --> 00:11:17.960 So my soul pants after you, God. 00:11:18.540 --> 00:11:24.580 And this idea of panting carries with it the thought of this deep yearning. 00:11:25.460 --> 00:11:28.060 It's as if to say that this deer had gone. 00:11:28.400 --> 00:11:29.960 Gone to its familiar streams. 00:11:30.280 --> 00:11:34.060 But what it discovered was that those streams had dried up. 00:11:34.060 --> 00:11:41.240 And now that deer is longing for life through through a water source, something 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:45.440 to sustain it, to quench its deepest desires. 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:47.560 And related to that, dear. 00:11:47.580 --> 00:11:55.020 The psalmist is saying, this is where I find myself in the midst of an 00:11:55.020 --> 00:12:00.840 agonizing, agonizing place to want to draw near to God. 00:12:00.900 --> 00:12:03.520 And he's crying out to the Lord in verse two. 00:12:03.560 --> 00:12:05.850 When shall I come and appear before you? 00:12:06.540 --> 00:12:13.740 Now, if you're not careful in this Psalm, we might immediately jump to conclusions and misdiagnose the problem that the psalmist is facing. 00:12:14.580 --> 00:12:20.790 And some might immediately say, well, the reason he's in a place of such desperation is a relationship with the Lord is only because of one of two things. 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:22.720 Either either he is, he is. 00:12:22.740 --> 00:12:29.740 He has done a tremendous sin against God, and he's feeling burden because of that, or something terrible has happened to 00:12:29.740 --> 00:12:30.590 him. 00:12:31.180 --> 00:12:38.180 But what you discover when you read this Psalm is that neither of those things are true, that the state of the psalmist 00:12:38.180 --> 00:12:45.380 is not because of some sin in his own, his own life or something terrible that's happened to him, but rather 00:12:45.380 --> 00:12:49.270 just an experience of the circumstance for which he finds himself. 00:12:50.880 --> 00:12:55.420 Meaning all of us are susceptible to this at any point in our life. 00:12:56.660 --> 00:13:02.560 It's not a matter of if, but when, and what are you going to do about it? 00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:08.290 You know when you feel distant from God with a without a strong reason? 00:13:08.660 --> 00:13:11.190 Can I can I just remind you of a of a couple of important things? 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.680 I think that Scripture would encourage us in. 00:13:16.540 --> 00:13:22.360 Just because you feel a certain way does not make it true. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:27.730 In fact, your feelings can deceive you from what the truth of God says. 00:13:28.660 --> 00:13:32.070 Reality is even when you apply scriptures to this particular moment. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:37.300 Hebrews chapter 13 verse five says it like this I will never leave you nor forsake you. 00:13:37.300 --> 00:13:39.100 That's God's promise to you. 00:13:39.180 --> 00:13:41.480 So the Bible is acknowledging for us. 00:13:41.540 --> 00:13:45.950 There is what we feel and there's what God's Word says. 00:13:46.820 --> 00:13:53.100 But what God's Word says is may not always be what you feel, but what you feel doesn't determine what truth is. 00:13:53.720 --> 00:13:55.150 That feels complicated, doesn't it? 00:13:55.540 --> 00:13:56.810 Let me give it to you in a in a. 00:13:57.290 --> 00:13:59.090 Let me give it to you in a more practical sense. 00:14:00.400 --> 00:14:02.540 I've used this illustration before, so I'll use it again. 00:14:03.820 --> 00:14:08.660 I can feel today like a multi-millionaire, right? 00:14:08.880 --> 00:14:13.600 But when we go check my bank account together, the truth declares otherwise. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:15.640 I am far from that. 00:14:15.640 --> 00:14:16.020 Right. 00:14:16.060 --> 00:14:16.220 So? 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:17.160 So there is. 00:14:17.160 --> 00:14:22.260 There may be what you feel, but there's the reality of what truth says. 00:14:22.260 --> 00:14:24.240 And the question is, what will you follow? 00:14:25.580 --> 00:14:32.780 when we come to those positions in life, it brings to us an opportunity to demonstrate what 00:14:32.780 --> 00:14:33.980 you put your faith in. 00:14:34.820 --> 00:14:41.840 In fact, difficulty or adversity becomes this place to demonstrate not only to ourselves, but to the world and 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:48.960 to the Lord, that what matters to me more than the state of my feelings, because those come and go, is the reality and the truth 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:49.890 of what God says. 00:14:51.280 --> 00:14:56.580 My feelings are here for a moment, but God's Word endures forever. 00:14:57.260 --> 00:15:03.390 And in fact, if I gave it to you in a more of a, I guess, cheesy illustration, this is something that's commonly used. 00:15:03.620 --> 00:15:11.120 But the reality is, if you put if you put the front of your train with the idea of feeling to then be 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:18.200 the determiner of your faith, and that becomes the basis for your fact, your train is going to lead you in all sorts down sorts of all sorts of 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:19.080 wrong roads. 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:19.780 Right? 00:15:19.820 --> 00:15:27.250 But when you start with the fact, you learn that you can put your faith in it and that the feelings will come and go, 00:15:28.040 --> 00:15:35.580 but what's what's most important in those seasons of life is to understand what is true, that 00:15:35.580 --> 00:15:40.530 we may put our trust in it and find our feelings following. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:46.900 You know, I certainly want to be in a place in life where my feelings always align with fact. 00:15:47.520 --> 00:15:50.990 I always feel good with where I am as I walk in truth with the Lord. 00:15:51.060 --> 00:15:53.170 But reality is, that's not always the case. 00:15:53.880 --> 00:15:53.940 But. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:01.760 But here you find in this position the psalmist is recognizing his condition to point number two, then to 00:16:01.760 --> 00:16:05.290 then begin to understand the contributors. 00:16:06.100 --> 00:16:09.700 Understand the contributors. 00:16:10.640 --> 00:16:18.000 You know, as the psalmist continues to go on and write, you're going to find peppered throughout the Psalm, he talks about some things that are contributing to where he is. 00:16:18.060 --> 00:16:20.180 We've already said it's not this major sin issue. 00:16:20.620 --> 00:16:28.160 It's not this major attack against him, some someone or something happening against him, but rather he's 00:16:28.160 --> 00:16:35.200 going to talk about different things that have peppered in his life that have been contributors to the state in which he's 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:36.360 found himself. 00:16:36.820 --> 00:16:43.960 And for you and for me, that could be a similar thing that, when you think about where you are in the Lord, if you feel distant from him, reality 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:51.100 is most of the time it's not one thing, but oftentimes a peppering of many things that can weigh on you to where all of a sudden 00:16:51.100 --> 00:16:54.960 you look back and you recognize I'm not as close to the Lord as I desire to be. 00:16:56.040 --> 00:17:01.220 And so you sit in those feelings as Psalm 42 expresses itself. 00:17:01.280 --> 00:17:04.660 But we want to understand the contributors as the psalmist writes. 00:17:04.660 --> 00:17:11.760 And he says in verse three, my tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, where 00:17:11.760 --> 00:17:12.940 is your God? 00:17:13.660 --> 00:17:16.849 Couple of things he's acknowledging in this verse is one. 00:17:17.060 --> 00:17:18.530 He's not eating right. 00:17:19.380 --> 00:17:22.040 He talks about his tears being his only food day and night. 00:17:22.060 --> 00:17:28.610 So he's in this place where he's feeling a certain way, where he doesn't even want to eat, but rather the only thing that he's eating is his tears. 00:17:29.060 --> 00:17:36.080 And related to that, we're also recognizing that he's not sleeping, he's not eating, and he's not sleeping because he's talking about his 00:17:36.080 --> 00:17:40.910 tears weighing on him day and night while they say to me all day long, where is your God? 00:17:41.020 --> 00:17:47.080 So all day the pressure on this of this moment is weighing on him to where it's keeping him up. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.000 And he's in such a state that he doesn't even desire to eat. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.530 And basically what he's saying to you about this psalmist is that he's in this place of depression. 00:17:55.720 --> 00:18:03.460 And one of the things that I think is important to recognize for us as human beings is that while we have uniqueness 00:18:03.460 --> 00:18:10.480 to our design, that the essence of who you are is not separated 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:12.380 in itself, but rather it's intertwined. 00:18:12.380 --> 00:18:19.160 And what I mean by that is God calls you to love him with all of your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength. 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:26.220 Each one of those categories represents something unique to who you are, but those categories are also 00:18:26.220 --> 00:18:29.970 ultimately intertwined in the substance of you as a being. 00:18:31.120 --> 00:18:37.440 Meaning there's not this category of who you are spiritually that's disconnected from who you are physically. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:43.520 That all of it weaves itself together to make up who you are as a human being. 00:18:43.740 --> 00:18:51.400 And when things start to impact you physically, whether it's in your mind, emotionally or in your physical self, 00:18:51.420 --> 00:18:55.360 it also weighs on you spiritually, whether it be in the positive or negative. 00:18:55.380 --> 00:18:58.510 And the same thing spiritually, it can impact you physically. 00:18:59.580 --> 00:19:03.160 And here this psalmist is finding himself in such a position. 00:19:03.180 --> 00:19:08.070 You know, one of the things I've learned about myself over the years, I'm going to give you a little secret if you do not know. 00:19:08.740 --> 00:19:11.730 But pastors work more than just on Sunday. 00:19:12.380 --> 00:19:19.440 In fact, I have gone through seasons, and even right now we're putting in 12 14 hour days back to back to back 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:20.010 to back. 00:19:20.260 --> 00:19:27.340 And one of the things I've learned about myself is if I go several days without adequate sleep, I start to get 00:19:27.340 --> 00:19:27.840 sad. 00:19:28.820 --> 00:19:30.020 Some people might even call that depressed. 00:19:30.760 --> 00:19:37.490 But I have learned one of the best lessons I can I can step into in those moments is take a nap. 00:19:37.940 --> 00:19:45.200 Because I know when I get sad, it starts to impact me spiritually and I want to be the best I can in order to honor 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:47.100 the Lord with my life. 00:19:48.080 --> 00:19:50.680 And so for me personally, the lack of sleep. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:54.170 I don't get hangry when I don't eat, but I do get sad when I don't sleep right. 00:19:54.360 --> 00:20:00.280 And so just taking some time to make sure my body is refreshed is important for me. 00:20:00.280 --> 00:20:06.140 You know, one of the things I've learned in working with people, people are fun and people get deeply. 00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:10.810 And one of the things, one of the places you see that exacerbated is when you take missions trips. 00:20:11.380 --> 00:20:18.500 I've been taking people on mission trips since my early 20s, and I have learned over the years that when you do a mission trip, it doesn't matter how long the 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:19.260 trip is. 00:20:19.320 --> 00:20:20.410 There's something magical. 00:20:20.820 --> 00:20:25.570 Magical about the last 48 days where people start to come unraveled. 00:20:26.180 --> 00:20:28.900 And I know why the contributors to it are. 00:20:29.040 --> 00:20:30.020 You know, you're out of your element. 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:31.240 You're out of your typical routine. 00:20:31.560 --> 00:20:32.540 You're out of your creature comforts. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:34.440 You're in a place that's kind of pressing you. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:35.710 You're in each other's spaces. 00:20:36.280 --> 00:20:41.020 And when people start to see the finish line, sometimes they have a tendency of losing it. 00:20:41.560 --> 00:20:48.680 And so as a pastor, I've learned to be mindful of that, to remind people of that, to see each other as a ministry as much as what you're doing, more importantly, 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:50.060 as the people you're doing it with. 00:20:50.540 --> 00:20:51.980 And so we go through these seasons of tension. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:55.360 We tend to react to that because we're being pressed physically. 00:20:56.120 --> 00:21:01.010 It impacts us spiritually as a as a group or in unity and working together. 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:08.680 And one of the Bible verses or Bible passages, I think, that bring this to light better than any other is First Kings chapter 19. 00:21:08.820 --> 00:21:09.680 And you don't have to turn there. 00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:13.120 But let me just give you a summary of that in First Kings 19. 00:21:13.160 --> 00:21:20.160 It's the passage where Elijah in chapter 18 just came before the prophets of Baal, all hundreds of them, and he 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:26.400 challenges them to awaken their God and call down fire to make a sacrifice before them. 00:21:26.500 --> 00:21:32.570 And all day long they go around doing these chants and cutting themselves and worship their false gods, and nothing happens. 00:21:33.340 --> 00:21:40.300 And finally, Elijah comes forward and he just prays before the Lord, and he douses his sacrifice in water. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:42.960 And the Lord brings down fire from heaven and consumes it. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:50.620 This pinnacle moment in Israel and what you find in chapter 19, right after that happens, this lady named Jezebel is ticked 00:21:50.620 --> 00:21:52.680 and she pursues Elijah. 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:58.810 And right after Elijah is on this mountaintop experience, both literally and physically, Elijah all of a sudden becomes afraid. 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:00.990 And he runs and he hides and he's depressed. 00:22:02.100 --> 00:22:04.130 And God brings him next to this brook. 00:22:04.760 --> 00:22:07.040 And what God tells him is not a Bible verse. 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:08.900 It's not this pep speech. 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:11.380 What God says to him is rest. 00:22:12.280 --> 00:22:15.600 And God brings an angel before him and feeds him. 00:22:16.460 --> 00:22:18.930 I think that's the only time in the Bible an angel cooks. 00:22:19.340 --> 00:22:21.040 I can imagine what that meal would have been. 00:22:21.120 --> 00:22:26.240 It was probably either something from the south with lots of butter and sugar, or my favorite, something from India. 00:22:26.280 --> 00:22:28.500 I don't know, but whatever it was, the angel cooked it. 00:22:28.540 --> 00:22:30.080 I think we're going to eat Indian food in heaven. 00:22:30.100 --> 00:22:31.140 That's my that's my hope. 00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:33.580 But they have perfected the spices. 00:22:33.580 --> 00:22:35.320 But this angel cooks for him, right? 00:22:36.360 --> 00:22:38.700 This angel, this angel ministers to him that way. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:39.100 And it. 00:22:39.300 --> 00:22:46.860 And it speaks to us the importance that, there are times in your life that what you need isn't just simply a Bible verse, but. 00:22:46.940 --> 00:22:49.020 But your body needs to be made strong. 00:22:49.060 --> 00:22:50.430 You just you need rest. 00:22:51.220 --> 00:22:52.000 You need to eat. 00:22:52.900 --> 00:23:00.180 You need to understand how you're interconnected as a being in order to connect to the 00:23:00.180 --> 00:23:01.300 Lord. 00:23:01.660 --> 00:23:02.560 Paul says it like this. 00:23:02.580 --> 00:23:03.760 First Corinthians ten. 00:23:03.760 --> 00:23:04.820 Let me just read these verses quick. 00:23:05.020 --> 00:23:12.500 I don't want to keep belaboring this, but verse ten, Paul says this to take every captive, every stronghold captive in your mind, meaning that 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:17.820 Satan wants to put strongholds in your mind, and he understands that if you believe a lie, it will. 00:23:17.940 --> 00:23:19.850 It will change your life in the negative. 00:23:20.520 --> 00:23:27.520 So rather than let Satan control your mind, which will impact you spiritually and impact all of your being, the trajectory of your life, to take those thoughts 00:23:27.520 --> 00:23:31.460 captive to Christ, that what you believe will determine how you behave. 00:23:31.520 --> 00:23:33.120 And if you believe a lie, you'll live it. 00:23:33.300 --> 00:23:35.020 But if you believe the truth, it'll set you free. 00:23:35.800 --> 00:23:38.620 And so your mind is not disconnected from your soul, but rather interconnected. 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:45.650 And David in Psalm 52 verse verse six says, let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:49.510 And David in the Psalm, he's confessing his sin before the Lord with Bathsheba. 00:23:50.440 --> 00:23:56.240 And he's acknowledging that the guilt that he feels is impacting his body physically. 00:23:56.620 --> 00:24:00.740 And so he's saying before the Lord, let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 00:24:00.740 --> 00:24:04.140 So your body is not disconnected from your soul. 00:24:04.140 --> 00:24:05.580 It's interconnected. 00:24:05.660 --> 00:24:08.020 Point number two, let me show you what the psalmist goes on and says. 00:24:08.040 --> 00:24:15.340 He says these things I remember as I pour out my soul how I would go with the throng and lead them in the procession 00:24:15.340 --> 00:24:21.260 to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. 00:24:21.260 --> 00:24:25.890 He goes on in verse six and says, And my God, my soul is cast down within me. 00:24:26.180 --> 00:24:30.660 Therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, and from Mount Mizar. 00:24:31.320 --> 00:24:33.920 Let me tell you what's what's he's saying in his life. 00:24:33.940 --> 00:24:38.160 He's saying, God, not only do I, verse three, feel this way physically. 00:24:38.600 --> 00:24:39.920 You know, it's impacting me spiritually. 00:24:41.020 --> 00:24:44.220 But also, he's acknowledging that he's not a part of a healthy community. 00:24:45.660 --> 00:24:53.060 He remembers a time in his life in verse four where he used to walk with God's people and in the depth of those relationships, 00:24:53.820 --> 00:24:55.690 experience the joy of the Lord together. 00:24:56.560 --> 00:25:03.740 But in verse six, he's begun to recognize he's gotten distant from that, and getting distant from that, he's become distant 00:25:03.740 --> 00:25:05.370 to the Lord. 00:25:06.040 --> 00:25:13.180 If you think about it in a spiritual sense, when Christ came into this world, he came 00:25:13.180 --> 00:25:15.000 as the temple of God, the presence of God. 00:25:15.040 --> 00:25:21.140 And when Jesus died on the cross, it tells you the veil was torn from the temple, and the Spirit of God no longer dwelled in the temple. 00:25:21.140 --> 00:25:24.330 But now the Bible says, The Spirit of God dwells with you and you as believers. 00:25:24.580 --> 00:25:29.260 And first Corinthians 619 or 316 and 619 you are the temple of God. 00:25:29.320 --> 00:25:31.490 That's why we as Christians we will never build a temple. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:35.940 It's blasphemous to the Lord because Jesus has made you a temple. 00:25:35.940 --> 00:25:37.480 You're the walking presence of God. 00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:41.000 Wherever you go, you represent the Lord. 00:25:41.040 --> 00:25:48.120 And so if you want to see God work, one of the most beautiful places you can see God work in the world is through the hands and feet of his 00:25:48.120 --> 00:25:50.980 own people, because they are the temple, the very presence of God. 00:25:50.980 --> 00:25:57.840 As you move in this world, it's why we will say as a church, look, there is no such thing as a lone Ranger Christian. 00:25:58.340 --> 00:26:01.300 In fact, it's ungodly and it's sinful. 00:26:01.300 --> 00:26:06.000 And the reason for that is God created you as the temple of God to represent him in this world. 00:26:06.260 --> 00:26:13.260 And he's given you the gifts of the Lord in order to serve him among a community to accomplish what God desires for 00:26:13.260 --> 00:26:14.270 us to do together. 00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:16.800 God doesn't want you to do that on your own. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:23.190 In fact, God wants you to do that in the body of Christ to help his bride become who God has called them to be. 00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:31.200 And if you don't understand your need for community, at least we can understand the need to see God's community live out the purpose for which Christ 00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:32.600 has created us. 00:26:32.600 --> 00:26:34.930 And therefore, in order to do that, you've got to belong. 00:26:37.020 --> 00:26:42.280 In fact, one of the most important things I could say about community is that it takes time to develop. 00:26:43.280 --> 00:26:47.320 You know, there may come a place in your life when you realize, man, I am completely empty. 00:26:48.340 --> 00:26:55.520 And all of a sudden you turn for help, but you can't find it because you haven't taken the time to invest in the richness 00:26:55.520 --> 00:26:59.380 of a community where people can be the hands and feet of Jesus to you. 00:27:00.940 --> 00:27:05.460 The psalmist is reminding us of the importance of why Jesus made his church. 00:27:06.220 --> 00:27:12.660 They become the expression of the life of Christ, made known because the life of Christ dwells in them. 00:27:13.420 --> 00:27:16.560 And he's realizing in this moment I've gotten away from that. 00:27:17.280 --> 00:27:24.300 And then he goes on in the following verse and he says this, as with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me while they say to 00:27:24.300 --> 00:27:27.670 me all the day long, where is your God? 00:27:28.280 --> 00:27:35.780 So while he's away from community, he's also recognizing that the society that he's a part of is adverse to 00:27:35.780 --> 00:27:43.090 not only his faith, but because they're adverse to his faith, they're adverse to him, and he feels like he's on an island unto himself. 00:27:44.040 --> 00:27:48.140 And so he's reminding us, you're interconnected as a being and it impacts your life. 00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:53.390 And a community can help you in the midst of that life because society doesn't know the Lord. 00:27:53.760 --> 00:28:00.380 And therefore there's not the hope of Christ in them, which speaks to the importance of being a part of God's people. 00:28:01.040 --> 00:28:08.220 So here's what's important then, recognizing my condition, An understanding that there can be contributors to 00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:09.060 where I'm at. 00:28:09.060 --> 00:28:12.280 But most importantly, how do we apply the cure? 00:28:14.300 --> 00:28:18.480 What's the cure in The Dark Knight? 00:28:19.240 --> 00:28:24.740 I want to give you just three reasons to or three things to rub as ointment to your soul. 00:28:25.600 --> 00:28:32.680 Remember, it's not if you will go through these moments, but when you go through these moments and what are you going to do about it? 00:28:34.420 --> 00:28:41.480 And so the ointment that God gives us, it's not necessarily just a miraculous overnight cure, but it helps us walk through that 00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:46.860 adversity to understand this is what I, I bring against that adversity to walk in victory. 00:28:47.120 --> 00:28:52.480 And number one is this remember, remember. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:55.060 More specifically, remember who God is. 00:28:55.100 --> 00:28:56.850 And this is what the psalmist does in verse six. 00:28:57.580 --> 00:29:04.820 And my God, my soul is cast down within me, Therefore I remember 00:29:04.820 --> 00:29:10.640 you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 00:29:11.420 --> 00:29:15.570 Here's what the psalmist is saying in order to battle through adversity. 00:29:15.840 --> 00:29:23.020 What I'm doing is going back to the foundation, the bedrock that brought me to where I am, the 00:29:23.020 --> 00:29:30.020 reason I first believed, why I chose to trust in God, the security of that 00:29:30.020 --> 00:29:30.880 foundation. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:38.020 Because when all else falls away and when the world wars against me, it's this one thing I know 00:29:38.020 --> 00:29:39.630 that will carry me through. 00:29:40.940 --> 00:29:47.960 Therefore, I remember in the midst of adversity, this psalmist is going back, and he's encouraging you 00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:55.620 to say, look, when it comes to your own walk of faith, it's important to route yourself in a foundation because difficult 00:29:55.620 --> 00:29:56.860 days will come. 00:29:56.860 --> 00:30:03.550 And when those days come, you need to know what you can grab a hold of that will hold you secure through those trials. 00:30:06.200 --> 00:30:06.900 That's why it's important. 00:30:06.900 --> 00:30:10.400 In Hebrews, the writer says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 00:30:10.560 --> 00:30:16.140 When everything else can be inconsistent, the one thing that will always sustain is who God is. 00:30:16.180 --> 00:30:17.930 Because who God is will never change. 00:30:19.060 --> 00:30:20.500 What do you hold on to? 00:30:20.520 --> 00:30:24.690 And the psalmist is saying it like this in verse seven, deep calls to deep at the roar of the waterfalls. 00:30:25.040 --> 00:30:27.560 All your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 00:30:28.620 --> 00:30:33.410 He's describing this Hebrew imagery of what water has represented to these people. 00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:37.050 You know, it's even true in cultures today. 00:30:37.520 --> 00:30:40.220 You know, not every culture likes to take a swim in the summer. 00:30:40.220 --> 00:30:41.840 Like some people look at that like it's weird. 00:30:42.620 --> 00:30:44.820 And we do that here in this country. 00:30:44.900 --> 00:30:49.720 But there are some countries the idea of swimming is not like on their bucket list of things they want to do for their summer activity. 00:30:50.780 --> 00:30:57.980 But even when you get back to the Hebrew imagery from the beginning of Genesis chapter one, it tells us in the very beginning when God spoke the world 00:30:57.980 --> 00:31:05.160 into existence, and it tells you the that there was chaos over the waters and out of the chaos of the waters, God 00:31:05.160 --> 00:31:06.080 brought order. 00:31:06.080 --> 00:31:07.020 God brought land. 00:31:07.020 --> 00:31:07.870 God brought purpose. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:12.500 But because of that, the Hebrews have always seen water as this place of chaos. 00:31:12.520 --> 00:31:19.570 And the psalmist is saying this water is running the risk of sweeping me away and drowning me. 00:31:20.320 --> 00:31:24.300 And he's crying out for that life vest to hold on to. 00:31:24.320 --> 00:31:30.240 And what he's saying for us is the cure for it is he remembers, he clings to. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:35.520 He goes on in verse eight, by day the Lord's commands, commands, his steadfast love. 00:31:35.580 --> 00:31:37.540 And at night his song is with me. 00:31:38.540 --> 00:31:45.520 What he's saying is he's remembering the goodness, the bedrock, the truth, the foundation that who God is in the midst of the day. 00:31:46.100 --> 00:31:49.860 Because he realizes that at some point the night is going to come. 00:31:50.760 --> 00:31:57.840 But in the darkness of night he's able to see see his life carried through by the goodness of who God 00:31:57.840 --> 00:32:00.590 is because he knows God is true. 00:32:00.760 --> 00:32:02.640 It's the reason, as a church, we. 00:32:02.700 --> 00:32:05.820 If you're new to Alpine Bible, hopefully we saw you. 00:32:06.020 --> 00:32:08.040 And if you were new, we likely gave you a gift. 00:32:08.040 --> 00:32:10.910 And one of those gifts we gave you is the book called More Than a Carpenter. 00:32:11.960 --> 00:32:18.620 And the reason we gave you the more than a carpenter is because we want people to recognize that the basis of Christianity is not a blind faith. 00:32:18.620 --> 00:32:21.910 Guess most people, when they talk about faith, they sort of say it like this. 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:23.620 There's a lot of different religions in the world. 00:32:23.700 --> 00:32:24.760 Who knows what's true. 00:32:24.860 --> 00:32:29.740 I'll just put my faith in something and hopefully in the end, when I see God, he's like, that one was wrong, that one was wrong. 00:32:29.740 --> 00:32:31.560 But your religion was right, right? 00:32:31.580 --> 00:32:33.800 That's typically, we think, blind faith. 00:32:33.800 --> 00:32:35.520 Is this blind, ignorant guess. 00:32:35.620 --> 00:32:40.610 But look, when God made you, he made you with a mind and he calls you to love him with all of your mind. 00:32:41.420 --> 00:32:47.040 And what's important to recognize is in Christianity is it's rooted in historical fact. 00:32:47.240 --> 00:32:52.700 In fact, I often tell people two things about Christianity that are pillars of foundation. 00:32:52.740 --> 00:32:55.260 And if these two things are not true, do not believe it. 00:32:55.840 --> 00:33:01.790 One is dealing with the reality of who Jesus is, more specifically the resurrection of Christ, and the other is the validity of the Bible. 00:33:02.260 --> 00:33:04.930 If you can't trust those things, do not believe in the Bible. 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:07.140 Do not believe in Christianity, do not believe in Jesus. 00:33:08.420 --> 00:33:13.980 But if those two things are true, if those two things are secure, it aligns everything else for us. 00:33:14.040 --> 00:33:17.920 The details of what it looks like to follow after Jesus will work itself out. 00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:22.860 If we can just we can just understand those two foundations are our bedrock for us. 00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:23.760 They will not. 00:33:23.980 --> 00:33:25.670 They will not change, they will sustain. 00:33:26.620 --> 00:33:31.600 And More Than a Carpenter is not the only book written on the historical reliability of Jesus. 00:33:31.660 --> 00:33:38.880 If you want to find some others, there's a man by the name of Gary Habermas, Habermas who has spent his life studying the resurrection of Christ. 00:33:38.900 --> 00:33:39.760 He's a great resource. 00:33:40.260 --> 00:33:45.240 There's even a guy named Chuck Colson who was a part of the Watergate scandal with Nixon Colson. 00:33:46.320 --> 00:33:50.130 He wrote a book on the on his faith in Christ that he found while he was in jail. 00:33:50.680 --> 00:33:54.500 And one of the things that provoked him is he realized the 12 most powerful men in the world. 00:33:54.820 --> 00:33:58.070 During the Watergate scandal, couldn't hold their story together for 48 hours. 00:33:58.780 --> 00:34:05.840 How incredible it was that Jesus's followers not only maintained the consistency of their story of seeing the resurrected Christ, but 00:34:05.840 --> 00:34:07.380 they all gave their life for it. 00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:14.909 And so he wrote a book on the foundation of Christianity, or even a more recently, a book by Lee Strobel called The Case for Christ. 00:34:15.360 --> 00:34:16.659 And that's if you don't like reading books. 00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:17.780 They even made that a movie. 00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:18.540 You can go watch it. 00:34:18.540 --> 00:34:20.780 They told a they told a love story in the midst of that one. 00:34:20.820 --> 00:34:23.570 So you can enjoy a love story while you see the validity of Jesus. 00:34:24.219 --> 00:34:30.630 But it becomes the foundation for us that when life shakes us, we go back to that source. 00:34:32.300 --> 00:34:35.880 In addition to that number two and move through this quickly. 00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:37.820 He teaches us to pray. 00:34:37.820 --> 00:34:39.840 You see, the psalmist prays in this. 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:42.600 He says a prayer to the God of my life. 00:34:43.219 --> 00:34:45.400 And prayer is the step of faith. 00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:52.420 It's saying, look, I remember this foundation and I'm acting on it by calling out to God in faith because I believe that God 00:34:52.420 --> 00:34:55.920 is the one who can carry me through this, right? 00:34:55.980 --> 00:34:59.740 No matter how great or small your faith may be, it's an expression of faith and adversity. 00:35:00.080 --> 00:35:00.820 And look at his prayer. 00:35:01.040 --> 00:35:05.130 Verse nine I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? 00:35:05.160 --> 00:35:06.050 Why do I go mourning? 00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:07.610 Because of the oppression of the enemy. 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:14.750 As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me while they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 00:35:15.860 --> 00:35:20.780 And he's not doing anything in this verse other than just crying out to God in a place of desperation. 00:35:22.160 --> 00:35:25.860 This is not, I'm going to impress you with how great I am. 00:35:25.940 --> 00:35:28.780 God is just simply saying I am completely undone, laid bare. 00:35:28.780 --> 00:35:30.020 And here's where I'm at, Lord. 00:35:31.560 --> 00:35:38.280 But in this prayer, he is acting in faith, trusting that God is the one who has the solution. 00:35:40.300 --> 00:35:42.160 Lord, I know who you are. 00:35:42.420 --> 00:35:45.290 Rather than feeling, I'm trusting in the truth. 00:35:46.040 --> 00:35:47.480 I'm acting in that by faith. 00:35:48.100 --> 00:35:52.300 And then ultimately the next point there, letter C is hope. 00:35:53.540 --> 00:35:54.620 Put your hope in God. 00:35:56.120 --> 00:35:57.620 Why are you cast down? 00:35:57.640 --> 00:35:58.720 He says in verse 11. 00:35:58.860 --> 00:36:01.080 Why are you cast down, O my soul? 00:36:01.980 --> 00:36:04.270 And why are you in turmoil within me? 00:36:04.720 --> 00:36:06.140 Hope in God. 00:36:06.820 --> 00:36:09.780 For I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. 00:36:11.080 --> 00:36:13.360 The psalmist is saying here at the very end, he knows his. 00:36:13.420 --> 00:36:18.120 His situation is temporal, that feelings come and go. 00:36:18.440 --> 00:36:19.960 Circumstances will fade. 00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:22.690 But what he has in the Lord will endure. 00:36:23.580 --> 00:36:27.040 And so he refers to that as hoping in God. 00:36:27.040 --> 00:36:34.920 And hope is one of those words in English that has transitioned over time that today when we use 00:36:34.920 --> 00:36:39.620 the word hope that we mean more like a wishful anticipation, right? 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:41.960 I sure hope so. 00:36:42.020 --> 00:36:49.180 Like it's some sort of, wish that it might work out, but, but before that, the word hope literally meant this 00:36:49.180 --> 00:36:56.360 eager expectation that it was this place of certainty because of the consistency of 00:36:56.360 --> 00:36:57.200 who God was. 00:36:58.160 --> 00:37:05.190 And so while the psalmist sees his situation, he knows the reality of what God has declared, 00:37:05.220 --> 00:37:06.540 and he is remembered that truth. 00:37:06.660 --> 00:37:10.030 And because of that, it gives him a hope beyond his circumstances. 00:37:10.720 --> 00:37:17.730 Knowing that God in all things will get the victory in his situation will soon pass. 00:37:19.680 --> 00:37:27.060 And we as people, we face the challenges that we were sometimes reminded in 00:37:27.060 --> 00:37:28.860 the midst of challenges that we have. 00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:29.980 It really let me say it like this. 00:37:29.980 --> 00:37:37.520 In the midst of challenges we have, we're often reminded in those moments that our hope may not truly be in what 00:37:37.520 --> 00:37:38.420 it should be. 00:37:39.320 --> 00:37:41.260 In adversity has this place of awakening our soul. 00:37:41.340 --> 00:37:41.960 Recognizing man. 00:37:41.980 --> 00:37:47.420 I was hoping in something that really wasn't the ultimate hope for which my life was intended to rest. 00:37:48.520 --> 00:37:54.320 But it's not until adversity presents itself that we begin to learn where our true hope should be. 00:37:55.140 --> 00:37:59.020 And John of the cross in the 17th century wrote a poem called The Dark Night of the soul. 00:37:59.080 --> 00:38:04.560 And he acknowledges in that poem really what adversity does for us. 00:38:04.740 --> 00:38:07.700 He acknowledges for us one that it helps. 00:38:07.780 --> 00:38:09.220 It helps us become first discontent. 00:38:10.980 --> 00:38:17.620 And then in desperation, we become disoriented until finally we face our demons. 00:38:17.660 --> 00:38:24.860 Whatever is warring against us in order that we may mature in Christ, that adversity becomes this 00:38:24.860 --> 00:38:31.400 place of maturity, that God uses an obstacle to remind us again and again of the faithfulness of who he is. 00:38:32.700 --> 00:38:39.220 To remember then by faith, seek him in prayer and then act on that. 00:38:39.460 --> 00:38:46.720 This idea of hope is saying, now that I've trusted in you by faith again, Lord, I'm going to move forward because I know in you I am completely 00:38:46.720 --> 00:38:47.270 secure. 00:38:49.700 --> 00:38:54.900 You know, some of us may look at this passage as the psalmist has written and ask ourselves the question, well, how do we know? 00:38:55.260 --> 00:38:58.880 How do I know this is this Psalm is something that relates to me. 00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:05.900 How do I know that the way God might have intervened and cared for this psalmist is the same way that God cares for me today. 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:11.660 And can I just remind you maybe of a few important things of what Jesus did for you at the cross? 00:39:12.510 --> 00:39:16.290 In the book of John, when Jesus was dying on the cross, he says this. 00:39:16.640 --> 00:39:23.880 Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, I thirst, I thirst. 00:39:24.880 --> 00:39:26.500 Do you remember how this Psalm begins? 00:39:26.500 --> 00:39:27.300 Psalm 42. 00:39:28.340 --> 00:39:30.820 As the deer pants for the water. 00:39:31.520 --> 00:39:34.620 So my soul pants after you, Lord. 00:39:35.720 --> 00:39:37.400 We thirst. 00:39:37.700 --> 00:39:44.060 And then again in Matthew 27, verse 46, Jesus said it like this My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:39:44.360 --> 00:39:47.480 Do you remember what he said in Psalm 42 verse nine? 00:39:48.560 --> 00:39:49.360 God, have you. 00:39:49.740 --> 00:39:51.440 Have you forgotten me? 00:39:53.060 --> 00:39:53.480 Have you forsaken me? 00:39:53.480 --> 00:39:56.780 Jesus is taking on Psalm 42. 00:39:57.460 --> 00:40:04.540 Jesus's soul is going through the experience, the loss in Psalm 42 so that you would never have to. 00:40:05.900 --> 00:40:12.940 Jesus endured your thirst and was forsaken by the father, so that you could live in the promise 00:40:12.940 --> 00:40:18.920 that God's presence would be with you no matter where you go, regardless of the way you might feel. 00:40:19.720 --> 00:40:27.350 So when it comes to the place of feeling and faith, you would learn to trust in the Lord by faith rather than walk in your feelings. 00:40:27.880 --> 00:40:29.530 Charles Spurgeon said it like this. 00:40:29.800 --> 00:40:37.240 He said, I find myself frequently depressed, perhaps more so than any other person here. 00:40:37.300 --> 00:40:44.460 I find no better cure for that depression, then to trust in the Lord with all of my heart and seek to realise 00:40:44.460 --> 00:40:51.820 afresh the power of peace, speaking the peace speaking blood of Jesus and His infinite 00:40:51.820 --> 00:40:57.950 love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions. 00:40:58.880 --> 00:41:03.220 Yeah, I'd love to end when I think about these things with the thought from church history. 00:41:03.280 --> 00:41:05.540 And let me just close with this and we'll be done. 00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:09.640 There's a lady in the 18th century by the name of Marie Durand. 00:41:09.640 --> 00:41:15.810 She was a Christian lady, and at 19 years old, she was thrown into prison because of her faith in Christ. 00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:21.210 This was in a time in France where the government was opposed to Christianity. 00:41:21.320 --> 00:41:25.940 And so she was thrown into prison at 19 years old, and she was told one thing. 00:41:25.940 --> 00:41:31.980 And the darkness of that dungeon, the darkness of those days, if you would recant your faith, you could go free. 00:41:33.420 --> 00:41:36.340 And for 38 years she endured in that dungeon. 00:41:37.080 --> 00:41:44.140 Finally, after 38 years, the political environment changed in her country and she was set free to enjoy the last eight years of her life in 00:41:44.140 --> 00:41:44.690 freedom. 00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:48.640 But for 38 years, she endured in that darkness. 00:41:49.400 --> 00:41:50.700 And the question is how? 00:41:51.700 --> 00:41:55.500 And I think she left a mark to remind us of what her secret was. 00:41:56.220 --> 00:42:00.800 On the cell walls, it's known that Marie Duran etched these words. 00:42:01.420 --> 00:42:02.120 Resist her. 00:42:03.680 --> 00:42:04.560 Resist her. 00:42:06.140 --> 00:42:13.540 She was able to endure in the midst of darkness because she remembered the greatness of who her God was. 00:42:14.500 --> 00:42:21.660 And because of that faith that she placed in his truthfulness, she was able to endure beyond the 00:42:21.660 --> 00:42:23.420 feelings of the circumstance.