Summer in the Psalms - Week 6, Pastor John Mozingo

Summer in the Psalms is a sermon series from Family Church that journeys through the beauty, honesty, and depth of the Psalms. From songs of praise to prayers in seasons of struggle, this series shows how Scripture gives words to every part of our lives. Each episode explores a different Psalm, offering biblical insight and practical encouragement to help you grow in your relationship with God. 

Thank you so much for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week! If you would like to learn more about Family Church, please visit our website myfamilychurch.com or follow us on Facebook or Instagram at @myfamilychurchVA.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Welcome to Family Church's Sermon of the Week. We're so glad you're here. Each week we share a message from God's Word to encourage your heart, strengthen your faith, and help you grow in your walk with Jesus. We hope this time blesses you and draws you closer to the heart of God.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

This morning we are we have or actually these last few weeks we have been going through uh several psalms in our series Summer in the Psalms. And most of the psalms that we have done have been by David. We're gonna look at some psalms by some other people today. But you know, uh a couple years ago, Melinda and I went out uh for it was for Melinda's birthday. I took her into DC. We went and saw my fair lady, and we went to a really nice restaurant um across the street from the theater. And uh uh, you know, when you go to a nice restaurant, this was nice, you know. I'm I'm kind of cheap, so this was really nice. Like, you know, Melinda. I was going back looking at pictures because I couldn't remember what I couldn't remember what uh uh show we saw, but it was I looked, I found pictures, it was my fair lady, and uh, you know, saw pictures of Melinda. She just looked beautiful in her, you know, she was all dressed up, real nice dressed and everything. I just looked so uncomfortable in a suit and tie. But uh, we went out for a really nice night, really nice restaurant. And when you go to a nice restaurant and you pay a lot of money for this restaurant, you expect certain things. Like, I expect, you know, like they're gonna be friendly and they're gonna they're gonna greet us and they're gonna seat us quickly, and they're gonna wait on us quickly, and that and the and you know, more than anything, the food is gonna be spectacular. So those were my expectations. When we got there, we had reservations, so I went in, gave them my name, and they said, We'll be with you in a minute. And so, you know, when you say we'll be with you in a minute, you expect to wait two, three minutes, maybe. And uh, to them, we'll be with you in a minute meant go ahead and get comfortable. This is gonna take a while. And so I'm looking around. There are tables open everywhere, and there are people working there just standing around doing nothing. And I'm like, This is this is not what I expected. Finally, they seat us, or you put us at a nice table by the window, and uh, then I I asked the waiter, I said, What do you recommend? He goes, the pork belly is spectacular. I said, Well, the pork belly it is. This is what they brought me. I'm sorry. That looks like something you should avoid stepping in in a cow pasture. That is a well-garnished hunk of pork fat. That's all that was, you know, and it that's what it tasted like too. And and you know, and and as I'm eating this, I'm thinking, you know, pork belly is where they get bacon from. So I just spent $50 on a quarter pound of bacon and a sprig of rosemary. So so to say that, you know, my expectations were not met as an understatement. I was very disappointed in the service at that restaurant and the food at that restaurant. I had certain expectations that went unmet. And that's where discouragement comes from. You know, I wasn't discouraged with the restaurant or the food, or even the food or anything. I was discouraged because I had certain expectations that went unmet. And that's where discouragement comes from. Discouragement and disappointment comes from is a result of unmet expectations. Okay, if you're disappointed in something, it's because you expected a certain thing and and you didn't achieve those expectations. So, like you can hire somebody to renovate your house or whatever, you know, and you have certain expectations for that contractor. And if he doesn't meet those expectations, you're gonna be disappointed. And there are, you know, you you can get a new job, and there are certain expectations that come with a new job. If the new job doesn't meet those expectations, you're disappointed. You can go to a movie, you know, you see the trailer for a movie, and it's like, oh, that looks awesome. It's got all my favorite actors in it. Then you go to that movie and it's no good, it's because it did not meet your expectations. So unmet expectations are the reason that you are disappointed. You know, and those are small disappointments. Those are small things. All right. You know, I got over the pork belly really quick. I did file it for later use in a sermon, but I did get over it pretty quick. But some disappointments are just huge. And it's like you don't see an end in sight where they're gonna go away. Those are disappointments that become discouragement. Your disappointment becomes discouragement. You know, you might be disappointed in your marriage and you've become discouraged. You might be disappointed with your job and you become discouraged. You might be disappointed because God has not answered prayer, the same prayer you've been praying for weeks, months, years, and God has not answered that prayer, you become discouraged. But all of that still boils down to unmet expectations. You had certain expectations about something, and you were disappointed, and that disappointment turned into discouragement. You know, I had certain expectations for my marriage. I thought my marriage would be different. I thought my job would be different. I expected God to answer my prayers. So what was what was disappointment has now become discouragement. Now, if you've got your Bible, I want you to turn to Psalm 42. If you don't have your Bible, the notes will be on the, the verses will be on the on the screen. Um but like I said, we've you know, all we've been studying through the uh through several of the Psalms, and most, all but one of the Psalms have been by David. David wrote a good portion of the Psalms. This one is not written by David. If you look at the top of Psalms 42, there might be a note in your Bible that says uh a psalm of the descendants of Korah or the sons of Korah. The sons of Korah were a group of people, a group of men that were the temple musicians. They were the court musicians in Solomon's temple. And, you know, they were the they were the composers, they were the the orchestra, the singers, they were the worship leaders. And so this is a psalm by the sons of Korah. Now you don't see that heading on Psalm 43, because when this was originally written, that was all written as one song. Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 were the same song. And you'll see you'll see that uh in a second. And and now in in this, in these two psalms, in this one song that is two psalms, there is a chorus that is repeated over and over again. Okay, it's repeated three different times, exact same words. And you know, the chorus of a song is that part of a song that you remember. Everybody remembers the chorus of a song. It's like there was a song that was popular when I was growing up. Everybody knew it, everybody sang it, and it it, you know, from time to time it becomes popular again. You know, they sing it at certain certain uh uh athletic events, you know, the whole crowd will sing this song. During the World Cup, a bunch of Europeans broke into this song. I've I've officiated weddings where at the rehearsal, just out of the blue, everybody starts singing this song, and you know it, so I want you to sing it with me.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Country Roads, take me home. I can't hear you to the place. I belong West Virginia, Mountain Mama, take me home, country roads. Now sing the second verse. See?

SPEAKER_01 7:13

That's my point. Everybody knows the chorus, you know, not too many people. Now, if I started the second verse, some of y'all that are diehard John Denver fans, you would remember it. But but everybody remembers the chorus. So so as we go through these two psalms today, we're gonna we're gonna read this chorus together. All right? And if you walk out of here and you only remember one thing, I want you to remember this chorus, because this chorus will tell you and remind you this is how I deal with discouragement. When I'm discouraged, this is what I do. Okay? So it is that chorus is found first in Psalm 42, verse 5. And I want you to read it with me. It's on the screen. Read it with me. Ready? Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God, I will praise him again, my Savior and my God. Remember that part. If you remember anything from this sermon, remember that. All right. And notice there's two questions in there. There's two questions. Why am I discouraged and why is my heart so sad? But there's no answer to those questions. So we're going to come back to that. We'll come back to that. But let's go back to the beginning of Psalm 42, look at verse 1. And uh and it says, As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, Where is this God of yours? So there's two things in there to think about. First, this this the writer of this psalm wants to feel the presence of God. Desperately wants to feel the presence of God. He says, I long for you, God. I thirst for you. When can I stand before you? When am I gonna feel the presence of God? When you're discouraged, it's easy to not feel the presence of God. The second thing, he says, that that his enemies are saying, Where is your God when you need him? That's what his enemies are telling him. So when you're discouraged, you're gonna go through the same two things. You're gonna have the same experience. You know, recently we've been praying for for some of the members of our church, praying uh that have that have been in the hospital, praying for weeks and weeks and weeks for these folks that have been in the hospital. And praise God, they are uh one of them is home and is getting better, the other one is still in the hospital, but getting the treatment they need to get better. And uh so just keep praying for them for their uh their um healing and and others in the church, you know, that that need it. Thank you for being a praying church. Um, it's just amazing. But but both of those two people that were in the hospital, I visited both of them on the same day, different hospitals, visited both of them, and it was at kind of the worst place in their uh uh illnesses. And both of them said, I don't feel the presence of God. I don't feel the presence of God. And you may have been there in similar circumstances where you just feel like, I don't feel God. God, where are you? I need you right now, but I don't feel you. You know, they they longed for it, they thirsted for it, they said, God, where are you when I need you? But these two godly people, godly committed people, did not feel the presence of God. When you're discouraged, it is easy to get to that place where you say, I don't feel the presence of God. He also says, uh, I, you know, my enemy said, Where is your God? We have an enemy, and he wants you to doubt God's presence in your life. And his emmo will always be to lie to you. He is the father of lies. And when you get to a place and you're in your discouragement and and you say, Man, I just don't feel the presence of God, Satan is gonna go, yeah, yeah, let's go down that path. Let's let's walk that way. And he's gonna do everything he can to take your focus off God and to cause you to doubt God's presence in your life. But look at verse 4. It says, My heart is breaking as I remember how it how it used to be. I walked among the crowds of worshipers leading great processions to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration. Remember, discouragement, discouragement is is uh all about unmet expectations in your life. So when it comes to your relationship with God, the same is true. And what he what we tend to do when we get discouraged, we think back to when we felt the presence of God. When we felt it, we sensed it. We go back, our mind goes back to those times and thinks, why don't I feel the presence of God now? You know, and and the sons of Korah, they were the worship leaders, and they're saying, hey, we used to lead these huge processionals of people up to the mountain, up the mountain to the temple, and we'd lead these amazing worship uh meetings in the temple, and we felt the presence of God then, but we don't feel it now. They went back to where they felt the presence of God, and we do the same thing. When we get discouraged, we start thinking, okay, I felt God's present presence then. And we say, God, remember, remember when I was healthy? I felt your presence then. Remember when my marriage was strong? I felt your presence then. Remember when my kids were excited about church and following Jesus? I was excited then. Remember when my job was great and making lots of money and everything was good? I felt your presence then. But where are you now? I don't feel your presence when I need to feel it the most. But read it with me again. Verse 5. Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God, I will praise him again, my Savior and my God. Now, after a moment like that, and we read that verse, you would expect things to start looking a little better for the writer of this psalm. But look what he says, verse 6. Now I am deeply discouraged. God, I just I just told you, I'll put my hope in you, I'll praise you. Why don't I feel any better? Why don't I feel any better? Well, in fact, I feel worse. I'm even more discouraged now than I was before I said, I'll praise you, and I'll put my hope in you. I'm more discouraged now than I was then. But look at the rest of the verse. It says, Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan of the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me. But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. God, I don't feel any better, but I'm going to remember you. I don't feel your presence right now, but I'm going to be intentional and I'm going to remember you. I'm not going to remember the times when I felt God. I'm not going to remember the times when I was on the mountaintop. I'm going to remember you. I'm going to remember you. I'm going to remember you because whether I feel it or not, it just said, each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. So I'm going to remember God when I'm discouraged. Then he repeats that chorus in verse 11. Sing it with or say it with me. Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God. I will praise him again, my Savior and my God. Now I would love to tell you that in Psalm 43, the fog lifts and everything gets better, and all his problems are solved, and he's no longer discouraged. But look at verse 1. Declare me innocent, O God. Defend me against these ungodly people. Rescue me from these unjust liars, for you are God, my only safe haven. Why have you tossed me aside? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies? So this is this is so far beyond a bad experience at a fancy restaurant. Okay? This has gone from disappointment to discouragement, and now it's gone to despair. And you know that your discouragement has gone from disp from uh your discouragement is has gone from discouragement to despair because when you're discouraged, you ask God questions. When you are in despair, you question God. He just said, declare me innocent. That's another way of saying, God, I don't deserve this. I don't deserve this. You're supposed to be my defender, you're supposed to be my rescuer, you're supposed to be my safe haven. Why have you tossed me away? Why have you tossed me aside? When I need you most, why can't I feel you? Then look at verse 3. Send out your light and your truth. Let them guide me, let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God, the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God. Let me show you three places that you'll find relief from discouragement. Three places you'll find relief from discouragement. First, you're going to find relief from discouragement in the Word of God. It just said, Send out your light and your truth. Your light and your truth represents the Word of God. Anything, anything that is truth, if it's true, it's God's truth. So, so when you're discouraged, if you want to find relief from discouragement, you're going to find it in the Word of God. He said, the psalmist said, Now I'm deeply discouraged, but I remember you, O God. I will remember you. Remember, we're not going to remember the past. We're not going to remember other discouraging times. We're not even going to remember when we were on the mountaintop and we felt the presence of God. We're just going to remember God. And the more time you spend in God's Word, the more you are going to remember God. You're going to remember who He is. You're going to remember the promises of His Word. So if you want relief from discouragement, spend time in God's Word. The worst thing you can do when you're discouraged is to neglect your time in the Word. In fact, it's probably time to double down on the time in God's Word. If you want relief from it from discouragement, spend time in God's Word. Next, if you want relief from discouragement, you're going to find that among the people of God. Okay, look what the psalmist said. Let your light and truth lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. That meant the temple. Lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. The dwelling place of God in the Old Testament was the temple. To the New Testament believer, the dwelling place of God is within us through the Holy Spirit, and among the people of God, where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst. So to neglect your time with the people of God when you're discouraged is a mistake. You need to prioritize church and small group and Bible studies and going out for coffee with Christian friends. Those things are more important when you're discouraged. You know? So you need to be around the people of God when you're discouraged. And I know that can be hard. I know it can be hard. When my parents retired, um, my dad was going to build a house in Front Royal. Dad was a dad built houses for a living. So when he retired and was finally able to build his own house, he was just so excited. And you know, when I usually when I would call my dad, you know, used to call him on Sundays because it was cheaper because we didn't have cell phones and stuff. So every Sunday afternoon I call my dad and I and I talked to him, and the call would always last four, maybe five minutes, and it would end with, Well, there's not much going on here. You want to talk to your mother? Every phone call ended that way. Every single phone call. You know, but when he started building that house, I couldn't get off the phone. He was so excited to be building that house, and he wanted to tell me every detail, every every contractor that he was hiring, every inspection that was going on. He wanted to tell me every color and every, you know, all the I mean, he all the details he wanted to tell me. But then all of a sudden the building stopped. And dad would call the contract, and the contractor wouldn't return his calls. Turns out the contractor was using the money illegally, and it caught up with him. And so obviously, my dad was discouraged. You know? So now instead of talking about contractors and inspections and paint colors and all that, he's talking to lawyers and mediators, trying to settle this thing. Finally, he gets he gets most of his money back. He doesn't get it all back, gets most of his money back, and he's very discouraged. You know, but my dad's a champ, he handled it with strength and grace through that whole thing, but he was discouraged, and I can remember him saying, I don't want to go to church because I'm tired of talking about it. I'm tired of talking about what I'm going through. And Satan will lie to you and tell you you're tired of talking about it. You don't need to be around the people of God because you're tired of talking about it. And you don't need to talk about it. They don't need to hear about this again. They don't need to hear all the details. You know, and probably, honestly, John, they probably don't even care, is the way Satan talks to us. But nothing could be further from the truth. He will do everything he can to keep you away from the people of God. But if the question is, where is God when I need him? Part of that answer is he is among the people of God, because where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst. So if you are discouraged, it is even more important that you are among the people of God. And if you isolate yourself, your discouragement is going to become despair, and you're going to start questioning God. Because you don't have those people around you encouraging you and supporting you. Next, you find relief from discouragement when you worship God. The sons of Korah said, There, there I will go to the altar of God, to God, the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God. The best time to worship God is when you don't feel like worshiping God. You're gonna get more out of worship. You're you're gonna you're gonna have a bigger impact on your heart and mind through worship if you worship in times of discouragement. In times when you don't feel like worshiping him, you go ahead and worship him anyway, you are going to experience the presence of God. That is the best time. Best time to worship is when you're discouraged. Now, a few minutes ago, I pointed out that the chorus had those two questions. Had those two questions. You know, uh, why am I discouraged? Why is my heart uh so sad? And there's no answer for either one. Sometimes we don't get to know the answer. Because if we knew the answer, we would not get to experience the benefit and the lesson that comes with the questions. It's kind of like remember algebra class when they used to give out textbooks. I don't think they give out textbooks anymore. You know, in algebra class, that textbook was was huge and had All these equations in it, the one thing it did not have was answers. Didn't have any answers. Because if the answers were there, then you could look at that equation, then you could look at the answer, and you could write it in the blank, and you could get straight away. But you wouldn't learn a thing that way. You had to actually look at the equation and you had to work through all the parts of it, and you had to you had to struggle with it. You had to go through that struggle so that you could learn how to do it, then you had to show your work and then give the answer. That's why God doesn't always give us the answer to the questions we're asking. God, why is my heart so heavy? Why am I so discouraged? Why am I in despair? God's not always going to answer that because if he gives you the answer, then you don't get the benefit of going through the struggle that comes with the question. And we have to go through that. And sometimes we don't even know why. Sometimes, you know, sometimes it's not about us, it's about somebody else, somebody around us needs to see us going through that. Somebody else needs to see us trust in God. So we don't always get to know the answer. So the question the question is why am I so discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I don't know. The psalmist doesn't give an answer either. But I will put my hope in God. I don't get it. Not feeling it. But I know God has a purpose for it. So I will praise him again. He is my savior and my God. Because it's not about your feelings, it's about your father. When you are discouraged, it's not about your feelings, it's about your father. It's not about feeling the presence of God, it's about knowing that he is there because he said that he would be. If I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride on the wings of the morning, if I dwell in the farthest ocean, even there, your hand will guide me and your strength will support me. It's not about feeling the presence of God, it's about knowing that God is there and trusting Him. So read that chorus with me one more time. He ends Psalm 43 with it, verse 5. Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God. I will praise him again, my Savior and my God. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for your love for us, Lord. Thank you that we serve a God that cares about us. He cares so much he sent his son to die for us on the cross. And he cares about us so much he sent the Holy Spirit to live within us when we accept Christ as our Savior. God, we know that we serve a God that cares about us. And we know that we serve a God that is always present. You're never absent. You're never not in our lives. So God, I pray this morning for anyone that's here that is discouraged, Lord, or anyone that has gone from discouragement to despair. Lord, I pray for those people. I pray that this morning they would they would just cast that on you, cast their cares on you, cast that discouragement and that despair on you, and just trust in the fact that you are there even when they don't feel it. You are you are pouring out your unfailing love on them even in the darkest of times. So still with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you're here today and and you're you're going through a just a tough period of discouragement right now, whatever it is, health, relationships, whatever, just lift your hand and let me pray for you. Okay, hands going up everywhere. Hands going up everywhere. God, I you you know, you know the hearts and minds of everybody in here, Lord. I pray that you would uh just, Lord, even for just a moment, let them know and feel the presence of God. Lord, let them understand the importance of staying in your word, worshiping, being around the people of God. Lord, all those things you've given us to give relief from discouragement. Lord, give them strength and wisdom and courage as they're going through a tough time, they're walking through that valley. Lord, knowing that you've got a purpose in it. Knowing that they're gonna come out on the other side if they trust you, you're gonna come out on the other side victorious. Lord, give them the patience to get through that time. Help them to trust you even when they don't feel the presence of God. Still with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you're here today and you've never accepted Jesus as your Savior, you know, if you you want you want to deal with discouragement, start there. Give your life to Christ. Trust in Him for your salvation. There's nothing else, nothing else on this earth that that is gonna earn you a place in heaven. Nothing you do, nothing you say, doesn't matter how generous you are or how busy you are, none of that matters. What matters is that Jesus died on the cross for your sins so that you can have eternal life. The Bible says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. So if you want forgiveness of your sin, you can stand before God pure. Jesus did that for you. Jesus shed his blood so that you can have eternal life. You can be saved and forgiven of your sin. So if you're here today and you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, just it's very simple. Just tell God that you trust in his death, burial, and resurrection and has shed blood for your salvation that you want to follow him. Ask forgiveness over your sins. And you can you can pray that quietly however you want. If you struggle putting that into words, you can just pray something like this and say, Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus. Thank you for uh giving your son to die on the cross and shed his blood so that I can have forgiveness of my sin. Thank you that because of his death, burial, and resurrection, I can have eternal life in heaven and nothing can change that. So today I commit my life to Christ. I ask forgiveness of my sin. And I commit to following him and trusting in his death, burial, and resurrection for my salvation. So if you just prayed that, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to lift your hand, let me know that you prayed it. Let me know that you prayed that. Keep your hand up. All right. Thank you. Put your hands down. God, thank you for those that that uh accepted Christ this morning. Lord, I pray that that you would you would help them to understand the decision that they've made, Lord, that that you died once and for all. And that that once once they're saved, God, there's nothing that can change that. There's nothing that can undo what you've done in their life. Lord, pray that you would just help the word to come alive to them, that they would understand, they would spend time in the word, they'd understand what you're teaching them. I pray that you would surround them with the people of God to uh comfort them and and and and help to help them to understand the decision that they've made. Still with heads bowed and eyes closed. If you're here this morning and you you just need to talk to somebody, you need to pray, you're you're discouraged, and you just need somebody to pray for you. Our prayer team will be down here after the service. They're wearing the prayer team lanyards. That's how you know who they are. Just come up and talk to them, let them know what's going on, and they'll pray for you. God, thank you for your love for us. Lord, thank you for those that accepted Christ today. Lord, I pray for those that are discouraged. Lord, I pray that they would find encouragement in you, in your word, in the people of God, in worship. And Lord, that they would walk away from here today, knowing that they can be encouraged because they serve a God who loves them and cares about them. And we ask this in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Thanks for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week. We pray this message encouraged you and helped you grow in your faith. If it blessed you, share it with a friend and follow so you never miss a new episode. You can learn more about Family Church at myfamilychurch.com. If you are in the area, join us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. We meet at Patriot High School 10504 Kittle Run Drive.