WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:06.240 Our scripture reading this morning is taken from Psalms, Psalms 42. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:12.080 And it's in your bulletins, and it's also in our Bibles. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:14.160 There are Bibles underneath the seats in front of you. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:18.879 If you don't have a bulletin, or if you'd like to read from your Bible on page 439. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:23.359 But let's read God's word together this morning. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:32.479 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:35.600 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:38.399 When shall I come and appear before God? 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:44.640 Tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:59.520 These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I would go to with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude-keeping festival. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:04.400 Why are you cast down on my soul and and why are you in turmoil within me? 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:09.760 Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:11.599 My soul is cast down within me. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:20.159 Therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan, Hermon from Mount Mizar, deep cause to deep at the roar of your waterfalls. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:24.400 All your breakers and your ways have gone over me day by day. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:26.319 Commands day by day. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:31.439 The Lord commands his steadfast love, and and at night his song is with me. 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:33.920 A prayer to God of my life. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:38.400 I say to my God, to God, my rock, Why have you forgotten me? 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:42.079 Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:49.920 And as and as with a deadly wounds in my body, my adversaries taunt me while they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:55.760 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil turmoil within me? 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:57.120 Hope in God. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:01.920 For I shall again praise Him my salvation and my God. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:03.840 Let's pray. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:10.000 Father, would you open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things from your word? 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:18.240 Lord, we're asking that the Holy Spirit would take the word of God and apply to each of our hearts where it needs application. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:26.000 And Lord, I pray that you would give me clarity and that you would hide me behind the cross and that only what you want said this morning would be said. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:30.879 Lord, we we desire to see your face this day. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:40.639 And Lord, we are asking that as we leave here this morning, we would each be able to say that it has been good for us to be in the house of the Lord. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:42.319 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:43.599 Amen. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:47.680 I want to ask a question this morning. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:50.159 What do you do with your fears? 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:56.240 What do you do with your anxieties and your disappointments? 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:58.319 Maybe even your depression. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:02:59.280 What do you do? 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:05.280 How do you manage those things in your lives, in our lives? 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.360 It's different for each of us. 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:13.280 Each of us have a different go-to move, you might say, when we are experiencing those things, when we're going through those things. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:16.240 Some of us withdraw and and we cut other people off. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:20.719 Something happens to you and you go into yourself, and you don't really want to be around people. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:22.000 You won't want to talk to anyone. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:23.599 You don't really want to be bothered. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.479 You you withdraw, you go into yourself. 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:29.599 Some of us are moody and irritable. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:33.919 And it's not that you withdraw and don't want to be by yourself, be by yourself. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:35.919 Nobody wants to be around you. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:41.680 Because you're such an irritant and you're so grumpy and you're short and all the various things. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:48.080 But but but when you're under stress, when you're under trouble, when you're in trouble, there are various ways that we we handle that. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:51.360 Some of us lash out at other people. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:56.479 Some of us immerse ourselves in work and other activities. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:10.560 You you get nervous, you get anxious, you get you get upset, you you go out into the garden, or you work extra hours at work, but but but but you you try to find a way to deal with that that anxiety and that stress that you're going through and you're experiencing. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:26.720 Some of us turn to food and to drinking and and maybe to pleasure because you're trying to you're trying to quelch and you're trying to deal with the pain, to deal with the anxiety, to deal with the trouble that's going on in your soul. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:28.639 That's that's generally how we do it. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:32.800 And and each of us have different ways that we manage our lives. 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:39.120 I'm here to tell us this morning that that's not how God wants us to manage our lives. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:42.480 Doesn't mean that you and I won't have trouble. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:59.360 It doesn't mean that you and I don't have stressors, it doesn't mean that you and I aren't under pressure from time to time, but but God does not want you and I to learn or to continue to go in our old ways of handling the difficulties and the stresses and the troubles in our lives. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:13.199 And I think as we look at this text this morning, we will we will see God giving us tools and giving us a blueprint on how we are to manage and handle these troubles and these difficulties in our lives. 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:16.639 What's a healthy way for us to manage life? 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:28.000 Where is there a healthy way that God lays out for you and I that He says, I even in the midst of the troubles, even in the midst of the difficulties, I'm here and I can help you and I can show you. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.879 And I think Psalms 42 helps us to understand and to see that. 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:44.879 Now, one of the things I don't want us to understand is that we're just gonna be we're gonna be picking out things in this text because it's it's it's hard to go verse by verse because this this text is so he's wrestling. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:48.319 And in one moment he's happy, the next minute he's in despair. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:53.199 And so so we're just gonna we're gonna pick out things and and hopefully at the end we'll put it all together. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:06:00.480 But but one of the things that we need to understand in this text is that this man is wrestling with something that's going on in his life. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:08.959 And and beloved, this is this is encouraging because it's good to know that that it's all right to wrestle sometimes. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:23.199 Sometimes as Christians, we we we figure I gotta I gotta keep a stiff upper lip and I've gotta be stoic and and then and there are things that are just going crazy inside of us, and we don't know how to get it out, we don't know where to turn. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:27.120 And here in this psalm, we see a man that is wrestling. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:29.759 Listen again, look at verse five. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:32.560 He says, Why are you cast down on my soul? 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:36.720 And and why are you with turn uh you are are you in turmoil within me? 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:40.639 There's this this cast down, this this downcasting of his soul. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:43.759 And and then he says, the next thing, hope in God. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:46.959 So you think, okay, well, he's good to go now. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:51.360 You know, he he recognized that he was cast down, and so he says, Hope in God. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:56.319 But then he he goes in, he says, Hope in God, for I shall again praise him my salvation and my God. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:07.040 And then he says in verse 6, though, he goes right back, my soul is cast down within me, therefore I remember from you from the land of Jordan and Hermon and Mount Mizar, there's this up and this down. 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:12.879 I'm I'm I'm hoping in God, but then a wave comes over him again and he's cast down. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:24.079 I I don't know about you, but have you ever been in that situation where you're like, okay, I know that God is faithful, I know that God is there, I know that I can trust him. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:32.560 And and and so you you get you get juiced up, you hear a song, you you talk to somebody, and and and then you walk out the door, and then it comes on you again. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:36.639 So it's going on with this psalmist, with this, with this, this individual here. 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:40.560 This this back and this forth in his soul. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:43.199 Verse 9, he says, I say to God, my rock. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:44.800 Oh, so he knows of God his rock. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:47.120 But then he says, Why have you forgotten me? 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.199 Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:57.680 As as with the deadly wounds in my bones, my adversaries taught me while they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:02.560 And he says, Why are you cast down on my soul and and why are you in turmoil within me? 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:06.480 Hope in God, for I shall again praise him in my salvation and my God. 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:08.480 There's this wrestling going on. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:13.279 And beloved, understand that God, in his word, gives us space for the wrestling. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:25.519 Well, so many times we come to church, and all we got is answers for folks, and we don't have enough time to sit down and listen to them as they they do work and they do battle with the things that are going on in their soul. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:29.439 And God says, I'm a safe place, come to me, I can handle that. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:32.240 Here you have this psalmist. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:38.320 So, this thing we see here is that there's this wrestling, and and and you're gonna wrestle in the Christian life. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:43.840 If you haven't wrestled yet, you that's as as my godmother used to say, live long enough. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:46.320 Live long enough. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:49.840 You'll wrestle, live long enough. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:54.399 You'll you'll wrestle with with children that that don't want to act right, live long enough. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:58.159 You'll wrestle with struct and stress and and things on your job, live long enough. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:01.039 There'll be those wrestlings that you have in your soul. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:07.279 And and and what the psalmist is letting us know is that that there's a place where we can wrestle. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:16.799 There's a place where you, and there's a safe place where you and I can go and we can bring these burdens and these things to the Lord. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:22.000 Notice something else here is that he doesn't pretend that nothing is wrong. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:25.440 He says, I got problems. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:27.360 This my soul is in trouble. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:28.720 I'm wrestling. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:38.320 He's doing business with his emotions, he's recognizing I'm anxious, I'm I'm angry, I'm I'm scared, I'm whatever it is. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:42.240 He he recognizes the emotions that are going on in his soul. 00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:45.360 He doesn't ignore them, he doesn't pretend that they're not there. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:47.039 He says, they're there. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:52.159 I'm scared, I'm angry, I'm anxious, I'm I'm confused. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.559 He he wrestles with what's there. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:10:05.360 And and beloved, this is so essential and important for us in our Christian walk that that oftentimes we pay we pay little attention to what's going on in our souls and our emotions. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:10.320 God has given us those emotions as lights on the dashboard. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:17.120 And in a sense, God is saying to you and me that that when those lights come on, it's time to do business with God. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:21.679 Something's out of wax, something's not right, and I need to pay attention to that. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:26.720 I don't need to put tape over the dashboard and and turn and act like that light isn't there. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:31.840 I need to pay attention to what's going on in my soul. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:34.559 You scared this morning? 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:36.080 Pay attention. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:38.720 You're afraid to go to work tomorrow? 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:40.159 Pay attention. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.039 You don't want to have that conversation with that person? 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:43.919 Pay attention. 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:48.799 Lord, there's something going on in my soul that I need to pay attention to. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:53.919 And God gives us these things that we might turn to Him and we might pay attention. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:57.600 Instead of burying them under and saying, Oh, it's not a big deal. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:00.240 Oh, I'm not gonna worry about it, oh, I'm just gonna tough it out. 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:06.960 Instead of just being honest and saying, God, this is what's going on in my soul. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:12.559 And beloved, he God welcomes that. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.399 You know, it's it's like God asked you, What's wrong with you? 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:17.919 Oh, nothing else fine. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:21.120 God knows nothing, everything isn't fine. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:35.039 And sometimes those those emotions, those, those things that are going on in our souls and in our hearts are are things that that God allows to happen so that that you and I could stop and say, something's wrong with me. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:38.399 I'm not trusting God in some area of my life. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:40.480 I need to pay attention. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:52.000 When I go out in the garden and I'm working all day long, and I and I that might be time, but if I'm out there, that's fine, but I need to be praying when I'm out there. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:12:00.000 I I have found with my own soul and my own heart, I didn't do a whole lot of praying, I did a lot of thinking. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:02.320 You know, I'm just trying to figure it out. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:09.200 I'm gonna go, I like to detail cards, so I would go and detail cards, and you know, I'm thinking while I'm out there, but I'm not praying. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:23.039 I'm thinking, I'm not, I'm not saying to God, God, you know, I'm I'm afraid of this situation right here, and I don't know why this is going on, and and and and and I don't know where the answers are going to come from, and I don't want to have this conversation. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:30.480 I wasn't saying that, I was just thinking about the problem instead of going to God with the problem and spelling it out to God. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:39.840 So the psalmist is causes us to to show he wants us to understand that it's okay to pay attention. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:46.639 They're there for us to pay attention to, they're there for us to to to to to deal with. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:51.519 Dear ones, what's going on in your soul this morning? 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:54.000 Where are you wrestling? 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:57.279 What's what has you cast down in your soul? 00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:59.759 Have you talked to God? 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:02.399 Have you wrestled with him? 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:07.039 Have you laid it all out there and said to God, God, this is what's happening. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:09.519 I need you to deal with this. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:12.320 Have you had that conversation with God? 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:17.519 Notice something else here about this psalm, verse 3. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:22.000 He doesn't pray one time and all is settled and well. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:25.840 It's just not a one-time prayer that's going on with the psalmist here. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:34.080 Notice what he says in verse 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:34.720 Day and night. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:38.639 This isn't, you know, sometimes we just think that, you know, this wrestling is just gonna be a one-time thing. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:42.080 Okay, I'll get on my knees and I'll pray, and then I'll get up and everything will be okay. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:43.919 The psalmist here lets me know. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:51.600 He lets us know, my tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:58.480 This has been an ongoing thing, and sometimes, beloved, sometimes the the Lord He can answer the prayer right then and there. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:04.000 We all know that, but sometimes he keeps us in it so that he can teach you and I how to pray. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:11.120 I mean, if God answered my prayers just like that, I wouldn't worry about I wouldn't be a man that wouldn't pray. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:23.600 Sometimes he just lets it linger so that you and I might learn to draw on him, you and I might learn to rest in him, you and I might learn to depend on him and call on him and wait on him. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:26.879 There's a muscle that God is building in your souls. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.440 We are so used to getting everything we want right now, right then, right there. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:34.399 God says, No, I need to teach you how to wait. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:38.879 I need to teach you how to rest in me, I need to teach you how to trust me. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:44.799 I'm gonna take care of the situation, but you need to learn how to wait. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:55.039 In the psalmist says, My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, where is your God? 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.759 No, something else we see here is that he has various types of enemies. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:08.080 We read a text like this, and we read a text in the Psalms that talks about the enemies, and we're like, Well, I ain't got nobody chasing me and trying to kill me or anything like that. 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:10.639 And and we tend to discard the enemies. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:20.000 Sometimes he doesn't necessarily give you a detail of what the enemies are in the Psalms because the enemies can be a various and a number of numerous different things. 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:23.120 He's got two different kinds of enemies. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:27.120 He's got enemies from within and enemies from without. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:33.519 And those enemies from within can be those voices that that ring and roll in our heads over and over and over again. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:36.000 Oh, God's gonna leave you, God's not gonna take care of you. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:38.480 Oh, you trusted God to do this, and this isn't gonna happen. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:40.879 Oh, you don't think you can actually do that, do you? 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.840 Oh, you what you you you you ask God to do what? 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:45.679 You believe that God's gonna do this? 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:48.799 Oh, you you look at you, you're not as good as that person. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:59.360 All these voices that ring in our heads that become enemies of our soul and keep us from trusting God and stepping out on faith and doing it, what it is that God would have us to do. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:07.440 We won't listen because the enemies of our own minds and our own hearts are crying out against us and telling us what we cannot do. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:11.840 Who do you think you are that God would actually do that with you? 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:14.480 Those are the enemies. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:16.480 Those are the enemies from within. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:17.919 We all have them. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:21.039 You have them, I have them. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:26.639 You know those voices that you sit in your bed at night and those things are just whispering to you, what's gonna happen to me? 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:29.519 I don't know what's gonna happen. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:32.639 I don't know what's gonna go happen with my children. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.440 Uh I messed up, uh I'm all I'm always screwing up. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:36.960 That was really stupid of me. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:38.720 Uh when am I ever gonna get my life together? 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:48.480 Those are the voices that the enemies they ring and it's here and and they're there in and day in and day out. 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:49.919 Then there's the enemies from the outside. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:17:03.279 The enemies from the outside are those enemies that tell us things that are contrary to God and his word, or there might be literal enemies that your family members, or there might be someone on your job that's against you that are from the outside, and they're saying, I'm gonna get you. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:07.599 I'm gonna ruin your life, I'm gonna ruin your job, I'm gonna take this away from you. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:15.039 I don't know what the enemies are, but they're they can be internal, they can be external, but we all have the enemies of our souls. 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:23.839 We've got the ultimate enemy, which is the devil, who is roaring about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:28.960 Oh, Satan doesn't have any good intended for you and I. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:37.119 Sometimes, as Christians, we need to talk more about the impact and the influence of the enemy and the demons of this world because they're out there. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:42.720 They're just they're just dressed up and they look sophisticated in our world, but they're still there. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:50.160 You think everything you hear on TV, you think all the messages that are coming at us from this world are just messages from people. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:53.839 Some of those messages are demonically influenced. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:18:03.200 And the enemy of our soul wants to lull you and I to sleep and to trick you and I to believing things that aren't true. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:04.880 They're enemies. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:09.279 Voices from without and voices from within. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:16.400 But there's something else that this psalmist, even the midst of everything that he's going through, he understands something about worship. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:16.880 It's crazy. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:22.000 I mean, it's just it's just it's just this this psalm is just so much going on in this psalm. 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:36.559 You look at verse 4 of this psalm, 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 of the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude-keeping festival. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:44.400 That in the midst of everything that's going on, there's this sense within his soul that I need to get to church. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:47.440 I need to worship. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:54.400 Now, beloved, if we're honest, and I'm gonna be honest with you, most of the time when I'm going through something, church is the last thing I'm thinking about. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:56.480 I don't want to come. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:00.079 I can think of a million and one excuses why I don't need to be here. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:05.359 But the psalmist recognized, he realized, oh, wait, there's something going on in the worship. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:08.079 There's something going on gathering with the saints. 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:13.680 There's something going on when songs are being sung, there's something going on when the conversation is being had. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:23.839 God is at work, and and and what Satan wants to do when we're going through something, he wants to pull you out of the midst of the congregation of the people of God so that he can have at you. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:34.400 I remember when the fountain of life closed and and I was going through some stuff and and and I was depressed and it was just dark, and and and and I wasn't coming to church. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:36.880 Tracy was coming to church, but I wouldn't come. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:40.079 I didn't want to come to church, didn't want to read my Bible. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:43.279 But every once in a while I would come, I would show up, and I would show up. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:45.680 You know, God can use our bad motives. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:48.079 I was showing up because I knew everybody knew I was a preacher. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:50.880 And I didn't want y'all to think I was that much of a heathen. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:55.680 So I said, okay, let me go make an appearance every once in a while just to keep the heat off. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:02.160 You know, I don't want them to, I don't want nobody calling me, I don't want nobody, so I just would go and keep the heat off and show up. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:15.039 But it was interesting that when I came into the house of the Lord, I would hear a song and it would speak to my soul. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:20.720 But I would run out with the spirit was at word. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:26.240 I would have a conversation with somebody and it would just quicken my soul. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:32.880 But I would run out because I didn't want to, I didn't want to be in the house, but but God was at work. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:43.200 And and the psalmist says it's for these things I remember as I pour out my soul how I would go to the throne and lead them in the procession to the house of God with glass shouts for songs and praise and the multitude keeping festival. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:48.000 He knew I need to get to the house of God. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:51.759 You need this place, beloved. 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:55.599 It ain't perfect, it's not perfect. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:03.119 We don't have all our dots, uh, our eyes dotted in the T's crossed, but it's not perfect, but it is a communion of the saints. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:05.920 This is where God works. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:11.039 This is where God does business with us corporately. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:15.359 Now let me hustle hasten on. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:24.079 So so so he knows he needs worship, but ultimately he knows who he needs to turn to. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:26.079 Go back to verse one. 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:33.920 He says this he says, as the deer pants for the flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, oh God. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.720 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:40.559 When shall I come and appear before God? 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:44.720 He recognized, he understands, he knows. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:47.440 I I know I got a lot going on in my life. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:49.599 I go a lot, I got a lot that I'm afraid of. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:54.799 I got all these emotions burling up inside me, but I need God. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.759 And he says, as a deer pants for string. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:00.799 Flowing streams. 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:05.440 We all know that song, and I would sing this song, and it was, you know, it was a nice camp song. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:09.119 As a deer, Pants of Florida water, you know, said that one there, right? 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:10.799 And it just seems so sentimental. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:16.400 We get this picture in our mind of this Bambi type deer, this nice flowing stream. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:19.119 And that's not what's going on here with this deer. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.880 Whatever's going on, this deer can't find water. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:25.440 He can't find water. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:27.680 Maybe it's a drought in the land. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:31.839 Maybe it's maybe it's dried up, and the streams are dried up. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:38.720 And he has been going day and out and day and day and day looking for water to quench his thirst. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:43.680 And the psalmist says, just like that deer, I need my God. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:49.039 Oh, I need God to satisfy my soul. 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:52.160 I can't get it satisfied from shopping. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:58.319 I can't get it satisfied from working extra hours and trying to divert my attention from the things that are going on. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:02.799 The only one, the only thing that can satisfy my soul is God. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:06.319 And he says that's where he turns, the psalmist. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:13.039 This whole psalm is a psalm of a man wrestling, but he's wrestling in the presence of God. 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:18.880 Oh beloved, that's what he's calling us to do. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:23.039 He's not asking you to figure life out on your own. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:26.480 He's not asking you to do things on your own. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:30.160 I'm the one you need. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:36.480 As I close, are there any examples of New Testament saints wrestling and turning to God? 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:41.920 Well, yes, and I don't have time to read them all, but you can look at Saul Paul, the restorn in his flesh. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:46.240 Three times he's praying, God, get this out of me. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.759 And finally, God says, I'm not gonna do it. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:57.200 My grace is sufficient, my strength is made perfect in your weakness, and you're gonna depend on me. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:07.200 We see the Holy Spirit in the old, in the gospels and in the New Testament, where the Spirit of God wrestles with us and wrestles for us. 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:11.920 And it tells us in Romans chapter 8 that he takes those prayers and he ushers them up. 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:27.279 You don't know what to say, you don't know why you're feeling like you're feeling, you don't know what you need, but the Holy Spirit takes that and says, Go straight up into the throne of God, right into the presence of God with the son sitting right next to him, and he prays and he says, This is what he needs. 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:29.839 Glory. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:35.519 That I got somebody that actually knows how to pray on my behalf. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:40.079 And I know that if the Holy Spirit asks God to do it, he's gonna get it done. 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:42.079 The Spirit of God. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:44.799 But but not only Jesus, but that, but Jesus himself. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:46.880 John chapter 17. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:55.279 Pastor Tom reminded us when uh Jesus was in the sermon on on the high priestly prayer. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:59.839 He reminds us that Jesus, when in his time of trouble, he turned to he turned to God. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:03.759 He prays, he turns his attention to God. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:08.559 He's asking God to do for him what only he can do. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:13.839 And then finally, listen to these words. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:23.599 It says, and he came out and he went, as it was his custom to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him, and when he had come to the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter in temptation. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:30.559 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed, and saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:32.960 Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:38.720 Here he is in the in the in the depths of his his anguish, and what is he doing? 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:44.240 He is going to God to help him and to fix him and to fix the situation. 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:56.720 Matthew chapter 26, 27 and verse 46, and it says this, in about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Lama Sebakhtani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:59.839 He cries out and says, God, why have you forsaken me? 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:01.359 And that's how we often feel. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:04.160 God, why have you forsaken me? 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:08.240 But listen to what he says in Luke chapter 23 and verse 46. 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:19.440 Then Jesus, after the Father had turned his back on Jesus, the Jesus cries out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:26.319 He knew that even if for a moment it was dark, he was not going to abandon him. 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:45.200 And beloved, if Jesus can hope in God, if Jesus on the cross, bearing our sins and bearing hell on the cross, and the Father turns his back on Jesus, and if Jesus can say, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:50.720 And then after it's all over, he says, Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit. 00:26:51.039 --> 00:27:00.079 He recognized and realized that even if he takes me through the valley of the shadow of death, he is for me. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:06.000 Beloved, what do you do with your troubles? 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.880 How have you been managing them? 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:11.839 Hope in God. 00:27:13.440 --> 00:27:15.519 What are you doing with that financial situation? 00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:17.039 How have you been managing that? 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:18.880 Hope and God. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:26.960 What have you been doing with that child that isn't, isn't it, it doesn't seem like it's they're going the right way and your soul is anguished over what you see? 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:28.319 Hope and God. 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:33.039 What are you doing with that health situation that you're struggling with and that you're going through? 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:34.720 Hope and God. 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:39.039 Hope and God. 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:41.519 Let us pray. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:49.920 Father, we often put our hope in so many different things. 00:27:53.279 --> 00:28:01.200 And if we're honest, Lord, there are so many areas in which we don't trust you and we try to figure it out on our own. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:10.960 Lord, would you teach us how to wrestle with the things that are troubling our souls? 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:27.359 Would you teach us, Lord, that that our our go-to move won't be shopping or drinking or working or that our go-to move will be to pan after you. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:35.119 Oh Father, would you work that in each one of our souls this day? 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:38.160 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:39.440 Amen.