Worship in All Circumstances: Spiritual Drought

Good morning.

Oh, that's terrible.

Good morning.

Oh, so much better.

So much better.

Good.

Welcome to Watermark.

If you don't know me, my name's Chris.

I help oversee some of the community groups here.

And we're kind of going through a series over the summer,

looking at the Psalms.

I feel like I've got a bit of echo going on here.

Can we work on that?

Thank you.

And the Psalms have been the favorite book of many Christians over the centuries

because they're really, most of the Bible is about God speaking to us.

The Psalms are us speaking back to God.

They're basically the prayer book of the Bible.

It's like, how do you, in the seasons of life, in the course of life,

whatever's going on in your life, how do you relate to God in the seasons?

And that's what Psalms is going on about.

Whether you feel like your life is like a calm, serene lake,

or you feel like the waves are crashing down on you right at the moment,

the Psalms are going to teach you how to live well with God in all the seasons.

And last week we talked about happiness.

And we talked about how one of the defining characteristics of Christians

is that we have a deep-rooted happiness that we find in God.

The early Christian writer Augustine said this.

He said,

So we were looking at happiness last week.

This week, we're going to look at something which may sound as if it's completely the opposite

of everything we said, but it's not.

We're looking at spiritual drought.

Okay?

Spiritual drought.

By which I mean anything from discouragement to full-blown depression.

Okay?

Full range there.

And you may be thinking,

that sounds like a very happy topic for summer.

And it is.

But if you read through the Psalms,

a third of the Psalms are what we call lament.

And lament means kind of complaining, misery.

It's life is tough.

And I don't know if you've ever read through the Psalms at all,

but I've read it when I'm feeling happy.

And when you're feeling happy,

you come to like a passage like today.

And you know what?

It just feels like a bit of a downer.

Okay?

You're happy.

You're feeling great.

And then you're reading about a depressed guy.

It's not the kind of thing you want to do.

So you kind of flick on to kind of some happy Psalm,

like Psalm 23.

And everything is fine because the Lord's your shepherd.

But that is not the way we should be praying and reading the Psalms.

Because the Psalm isn't just for you if you're feeling dry or down.

It's also this Psalm is for you if you're feeling happy today.

Because it's going to tell you a couple of things.

One is it's going to tell you sometime in your life,

you will experience what this guy in the Psalm,

and we'll talk about, experiences.

So you need to be prepared for it.

The World Health Organization says by 2020,

depression will be the second most significant health problem in the whole world.

Just behind heart disease.

Hong Kong, you just look at the suicide rate.

You look at the fact that statistics show 25% of the workforce

are said to be experiencing depressive symptoms.

And you can see that this issue is everywhere.

So that's the first thing you need to realize.

That this is sometime in your life,

you're going to experience discouragement and spiritual drought.

Secondly, you're going to know that your prayer life

doesn't just revolve around you and your feelings.

The Psalms are meant to be prayed.

I don't know if you realize.

They're even meant to be sung.

Okay?

But if you start praying this Psalm for people in the congregation

who are going through this same thing,

what it does,

it will open your eyes to see with greater compassion,

greater empathy,

the people around you.

And you won't judge people who are going through a tough time

and look at them and say,

why is she so miserable?

But you will have an empathy and a compassion

and to be able to see them as you enter into the Psalms,

that's what it's meant to be doing for you.

And this city needs a church

which knows how to walk alongside people

through the drought as well as through the good times

so that we're rooted as we looked at last week

and our leaves do not wither.

So we're going to look at spiritual drought.

We're going to look at three things.

Spiritual drought is normal.

What causes the drought?

And what's the remedy?

What's the cure for the drought?

Okay?

Spiritual drought is normal.

What causes it?

What's the remedy?

So if you've got your bulletin,

just kind of have a look through the passage with me.

Psalm 42 verse 1 says,

Psalms 42:1

As the deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

And the psalmist begins with this image of a deer

on a long, hot summer day

where there's been no rain for weeks.

And it's like one of those wildlife documentaries, you know,

and the deer is there gasping for water,

dying in the heat.

And he goes down to a stream

where he thinks there's going to be water.

He just wants a drop.

And the stream's dried up.

There's nothing there.

It's empty.

And that's what the psalmist is saying

he feels like right now.

He says,

I'm that deer.

I'm thirsty for God.

And I'm not chasing after

all the kind of bad stuff in the world.

I'm not chasing after just life for my comfort.

I'm thirsty for God.

And I've come down to the stream of living water

who is God himself.

And it feels like, God, you've dried up.

Evaporated.

You've gone.

And I'm left spiritually dry,

fainting in the heat of my circumstances.

And he cries out later on in verse 3.

He says,

When shall I come and appear before God?

Literally, it's when shall I come and see the face of God?

He can't feel God's presence.

He feels like bouncers are on the door of heaven

and they're not letting him in.

And the crazy thing about this psalm

is that the psalmist hasn't done anything wrong.

You know, there are plenty of places in the psalms

where the psalmist feels cut off from God

and it's because of his own fault.

It's because of his own sin.

But that's not the case here.

There's no confession of sin.

He's not done anything wrong.

And like a dazed deer,

this psalmist just doesn't get what's going on.

He's lost, he's confused, he's depressed.

It feels like God's gone missing.

And here's something we,

just a really important lesson for us to learn.

Our society encourages us to judge our life

and judge everything based on your feelings, right?

You know, this relationship,

it just feels right.

We even say like we judge what's true or not

based on whether it feels good to me or not, okay?

I join certain organizations.

I enter relationships.

I do what I think feels right for me.

But what many Christians,

and many of you are going to struggle

with what I'm going to say now,

which is spiritual drought,

where God's presence seems absent at times,

is a normal Christian experience.

It's normal, okay?

Many, if you're a new Christian or a young Christian,

and you go through this period

where sometimes it feels like God's gone AWOL,

your joy is gone,

your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling,

you may begin to think there's something wrong with you.

I see this all the time.

Maybe I haven't read my Bible recently enough.

Maybe I need to pray more.

Maybe God's punishing me for something I did wrong.

You know?

All those kind of things go around in our mind.

And everyone else around you seems happy enough,

and you feel like you're the only one who's got a problem.

I don't know if you've been there.

I've been there.

And you know, I see when you're in that place,

you can sometimes wonder,

is your faith really real or not?

And particularly if you just heard a sermon

about how Christians are supposed to be happy,

and you feel like about as far away from that

as Britain is from Europe at the moment.

But I think if we have that approach

where we base my relationship on God

determined by how my present feelings are,

I think this is what I would call

coffee machine Christianity.

You know, I press this button, read Bible,

and out of it I expect to flow feelings of joy and love.

You know, I press regular church attendance,

and I expect a flow of kind of life's blessings

to come down upon me.

But what happens when you press the Bible button,

and all you seem to get is lukewarm, tasteless feelings,

or sometimes you get nothing?

You think, either I'm pressing the wrong button,

or there's a problem with the coffee machine,

God in this case.

And like Job in the Bible,

who's another guy, if you've read the story of Job,

another guy who feels like God is absent,

his friends assumed,

because he was having a hard time,

distance from God,

they assumed it was because of his sin.

Now, sin can distance you from God.

We've said that already.

You've got to examine yourself first.

But for Job, as for this psalmist,

that's not the issue.

It's not his sin.

John Piper says,

My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives.

And sometimes, many times,

my feelings are out of sync with the truth.

Because, you know, your feelings are variable.

According to your temperament,

some of you get more moody than other people,

the season of life you're in.

And when you start to base your life on your feelings,

and you start getting into that,

what am I doing wrong phase,

and trying to find some kind of quick fix

to get your feelings back,

your faith will become totally self-focused,

feeling-based,

not based on the truth of God's character.

And no relationship works like that.

You know, feelings will come.

But in a marriage,

you don't always have the feelings.

But God wants to have a real relationship with you,

which is not based on a coffee machine relationship.

You know, I'll scratch your back, God,

by pressing the right buttons.

If you scratch mine and give me some nice feelings.

That's not the way God works.

And this psalm is telling you,

spiritual drowl, sooner or later,

is going to come to you.

It's normal if you're a Christian.

And if your only concern,

if your only concern is just to get your feelings back,

then you may miss some of what God

is actually wanting to do in your life,

rooting you in a deeper relationship with Him.

Spiritual drought is normal.

Secondly, what causes a spiritual drought?

Well, this psalm gives three reasons.

Okay?

The first reason.

Psalms shows us that the author here,

he's not alone.

Sorry, he is alone.

And he's outside of community.

Now, we don't know exactly

why the author is away from his community.

But he's one of the sons of Korah

who are kind of basically temple worship leaders.

Okay?

In Jerusalem.

And if you look in verse 4,

he says his experience of being in Jerusalem

is of this amazing community.

Okay?

It's an amazing community

where people sing God's praises.

They're there.

They hear God's word being read together.

They celebrate together.

It's this amazing God-centered community.

It's a bit like us as the church here.

Okay?

But now he's away from it.

He's away from Jerusalem.

Reading verse 6, it said,

he's in the land of Jordan.

Up in the mountains.

It's over 100 miles away.

We don't know why he's there.

Maybe he's been exiled.

Maybe he just had to move there for some reason.

But he's alone.

He doesn't have people around him

to support him or walk with him.

To help him to fight and regain joy in God.

And this is really interesting.

Because we live in a culture

which values kind of individualism.

You know?

And even in the church,

this can come into our own way

of thinking about the church.

You know, we think,

Christianity is about me

and my relationship with God.

And then maybe occasionally

I come to church on a Sunday,

listen to a sermon,

and then talk to a couple of people

and then head on out

and live the rest of my life my way.

But actually, there's a huge difference.

The Bible keeps telling you

there's a huge difference

between reading the Bible,

prayer, spiritual activity,

which is just by yourself,

and doing those things in community.

They're different experiences.

You need to do the individual

and you need to do

the corporate communal thing together.

You see, if you live

as a lone range Christian,

thinking you can just come in,

listen to a sermon,

run out again,

you will risk

what this psalmist is going through,

which is going to a spiritual desert

by yourself.

Because when you're by yourself,

you don't always know

what's right and what's wrong.

Because you believe

and I believe my own lies about myself.

You know, I went through a period

of spiritual drought

for about four years.

Four years.

I didn't know where God was.

My prayers didn't seem to get answered.

I felt miserable.

I felt lost.

And I felt like a hypocrite

because Christians are supposed

to be happy, aren't they?

And you know when you feel down

and depressed,

one of the last things you want to be

is around other people.

Because you know,

no one wants to be that blob

in the corner.

You know, a bit like,

you know that the power station

on Lama Island

everything else is great

but there's this eyesore

in the middle, right?

You don't want to feel like that.

And so,

and you know,

the only other people

you feel happy around

when you feel down

are actually other depressed people.

And that's not great either.

It's this kind of depression pity party.

You know,

it's not going to help you

in any way at all.

But the very community

that I felt I wanted to avoid

was exactly the community

that I needed

at that time.

You know,

I remember it's one girl

invited me to join

her community group.

I really didn't want to go.

I don't know why I went.

But actually,

it was one of the turning points

for me.

Because

here was a group of people

and actually,

I was this blob in the corner

and they just accepted me.

They weren't always saying,

why are you looking

so miserable, Chris?

They weren't saying,

you need to have more faith, Chris.

Don't be one of those people

who says that

to people who are spiritually dry

because that's just not helpful

when the streams dried up.

But you see,

the power of an accepting

Christian community

is extraordinary

in your life.

And if you run away from it,

if you even now

are going through

a spiritual time of drought,

don't ever withdraw

from community

because it's what you need most

in the drought.

Because you need people

to fight for your joy

with you in that.

Because otherwise,

you'll begin to just base

your happiness

on your feelings

or on your circumstances.

And that will always

get you down.

But let me add one more thing.

In the psalm,

if you notice,

the psalmist in verse 4,

he looks back

and he remembers.

how good his community

used to be.

Listen,

you may be good

right now,

but life was good

for this guy.

You see,

life was happy.

He used to feel

like useful.

He was leading the procession.

He had purpose.

He was in this buzzing community.

But now for this guy,

it's not like this.

He feels like no one cares.

And he remembers

and he looks back

on the good old days

and remembering back

just makes him

even more depressed.

And you know,

in Hong Kong,

things are always changing.

You notice that?

People are always

transitioning in and out.

Have you noticed that?

Some of you

are in the process

of transition.

And you know,

this is one of the

really challenging things,

I think,

that all of us

can find here

is because you're here

for a while.

And if you've been here

for a little while,

you get to know somebody,

you build a relationship

with somebody

and then after a year or two,

what happens is

they move on.

Right?

Have you experienced that?

And maybe the new people

who come are not quite

the same as your old friends.

And actually,

it's really tiring

if you have to

kind of get back

to building a relationship

because you've already

done the hard work

of building a relationship.

You don't want to

keep doing it again.

And maybe you might

even be transitioning

out to a new church

or somewhere else

or a new group

and the music

isn't the same as before.

You know,

the preaching

isn't the same as before.

And it's so easy

to withdraw from community,

to get disillusioned by it

and to just passively

kind of drift away.

And this psalmist

is saying,

don't do it.

You've got to push in

to make new friends,

to make that step

because community

is where we were made

to flourish.

Because if you don't,

find people who

you're accountable to,

people who are going

to run after you,

people who are going

to love you

and support you,

if you don't have that,

you will wilt spiritually.

I can tell you

and guarantee

you will wilt spiritually.

Because it's in these moments

that actually God

wants to deepen

your roots in Him.

So let me ask you,

even wherever season

you're up to now,

whether you're in transition,

whether you're here,

who knows you?

Who are you accountable to?

Who are you running towards?

Don't run away from community,

run into community.

That's what we need.

That's the first cause

of spiritual drought,

being away from community.

Second cause of spiritual drought

is disillusionment

from outside pressure.

This guy,

we don't know exactly

what's going on in his life.

We don't know whether it's sickness,

pressure at work,

other issues,

but his enemies,

have you noticed verse 3,

his enemies are taunting him.

They're saying,

where's your God?

And it's got to him.

You know, verse 9,

he's asking,

why have you forgotten me, God?

People are persecuting him.

Life isn't working out

the way he thought

it should work out.

And just look how

he describes it.

He says,

deep calls to deep

in the roar

of your waterfalls.

All your waves

and breakers

have swept over me.

That is a picture,

he's like saying,

it's like I've been thrown

in the Niagara Falls

and I have water

pounding on me

from the top.

I've got the current

just swirling me around

underneath.

I feel like I've been placed

in a tumble dryer,

put on spin 50 times

and I don't know

which way I'm heading.

I don't know where I am.

I'm lost.

I'm confused.

This isn't the way

life was supposed to be.

God, where are you?

And you know,

when you experience that

and particularly in Hong Kong

that sense of being overwhelmed

by the circumstances

of life,

it's so easy for us

to just,

we just naturally go into

God,

why would you allow

this to happen?

You know,

I know people who,

they become a Christian

and you know,

it's supposed to be great

but the next year

of their life

is the worst year

in the whole of their lives

and they're like,

God,

what's the deal

going on here?

I didn't sign up

for this.

This is not what

it's supposed to be.

Now,

if you didn't have God

and you were going

through that,

I think it would be

a whole lot worse

but that's what

this psalmist is saying

and he's saying

you need to realize

that sometimes

life puts you

in that tumble dryer

and spins you

up and down

but actually,

God is the place

where you need

to run to

not the place

where you need

to run from

because that's

the second cause

of spiritual drought

is that disillusionment

when you feel

like life's not working.

you're out of community,

third thing,

and these are all connected.

Our physical

and emotional condition

affects that feeling

of spiritual drought,

discouragement.

Verse three,

he says,

my tears have been

my food day and night.

He's physically

and emotionally exhausted.

It seems like

maybe he's not been

eating properly.

He's been crying

himself to sleep.

We don't even know

he's getting enough sleep here.

He's crying night and day.

This is a depressed guy.

I mean,

this is not a happy guy.

But the more

I talk to people,

I realize that we live,

particularly in the church,

we live in this culture

which divorces

the spiritual

from the physical.

Okay?

So,

some people think

that if you're feeling

down or depressed

or discouraged

or those kind,

it's just a problem

with the brain.

So they'll say,

oh,

just take some antidepressants

and you'll be fine.

Right?

I don't know if you've heard that.

I had that for myself.

Other people,

I meet many Christians

in this category,

they just think

depression and feeling down

is just this kind of

moral problem.

You know?

You need to pull yourself together.

Just read the Bible.

Have you,

have you,

have you got faith?

And then they say,

don't you know

the rest of us

have got problems

but we're doing okay?

Can't you just stop moaning

and just get on with it?

I reckon probably

some of you have thought that

when you've seen

some miserable people.

I know I have.

Confession.

Because we think

it's just an oral issue.

Others think

it's just an emotional thing.

You just need people

to listen to you.

You need a therapist

just to give you

some kind of you time.

Right?

And so,

so all you need

is just a bit of TLC,

personal therapy.

Just listen to them,

accept them.

That's all they need.

But the Bible says

we're holistic people.

We're physical,

emotional,

spiritual.

We have all of these things

and your physical

and emotional condition

will affect

your spiritual condition.

I don't know

if you heard this,

sometimes I get to the point,

it's confession time,

I get to the point

where I'm just like,

man,

I just don't want

to read the Bible.

And even before a sermon,

I'm like,

oh,

what's the point sometimes?

What's the point

in doing this?

No one's going to listen.

No one's going to listen.

And then even when

I'm preparing,

sometimes I get these thoughts

which come in which say,

maybe I'm making this all up.

Maybe this is just not real.

Maybe I'm just being

a complete idiot.

And then I'm thinking,

Chris,

well,

what's going on?

Like,

am I losing my faith?

Do I have to pray more?

Do I have to read more

of the Bible?

What have I got to do?

And then,

and I'm working the church.

And then,

I have a good meal

or I get some rest,

I get some sleep.

And then afterwards,

I'm suddenly feeling fine.

And I'm like,

what was going on there?

Because,

you know,

when you're overtired

or when you haven't been

eating properly

or sleeping properly

or exercising properly,

you know what?

It actually puts you

in danger of spiritual drought

because you are

a whole being.

You're not just a spirit.

You're not just a body.

You're not just emotions.

You're all of it together.

And the Bible's solution

is not just

pull yourself together.

It's not just

take some medication.

Even though these things

are helpful,

it's not just

listen to it,

have a therapist

to listen to you.

The Bible is saying

it has a holistic solution

for you.

Sometimes you just need

to get some rest,

particularly in Hong Kong.

So those are some

of the causes.

Community,

absence of community.

disillusionment

with outside pressure

and things of life.

The physical

and emotional

strains

that we put on ourselves.

But what's the remedy

for spiritual drought?

What does the Bible give us?

What does this psalmist

teach us

about how

to get through

spiritual drought?

Three things.

Three things

that God teaches us

in this prayer.

Okay, here they are.

Pour out your soul.

Question your soul.

Preach to your soul.

Okay, do you get that?

Pour out your soul.

Question your soul.

Preach to your soul.

Here we go.

Verse four.

These things

I remember

as I

pour

out

my

soul.

Verse nine.

I will say to God,

my rock,

why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go about mourning

because of the oppression

of the enemy?

Do you see what he's doing here?

He's not burying his emotions

like I do so often.

He's not complaining

to everyone else

how bad life is

and avoiding God.

God,

he's doing what Job

does in the Bible

and he runs straight

to God with an honesty

that many of us

might find shocking.

You know,

I meet so many Christians

who tell me,

I'm just so angry

with God

for so and so

and I say to them,

have you told God that?

And they say,

am I allowed to?

And I say,

don't you think

he knows that already?

You know,

it's like when I was at school

there was this kid

who thought that

if he couldn't see you

then you couldn't see him.

And so when we'd play

hide and seek,

he would stand

in the middle of the playground

in full view of everybody

and he'd do this.

He'd cover his eyes

with his hands

and we'd be like,

what's this guy on?

And so we'd kind of go up to him,

find him straight away

and he'd be just like

so surprised

because he thought

if he couldn't see you

then you couldn't see him.

I think that's how

we do that with God.

If I don't tell him

then he doesn't know.

But he can see you

from the inside out.

Every emotion.

So why do you hide?

In fact,

good relationships,

you run to people

with what's going on with you.

And this psalm is telling you

don't bury your emotions,

don't run to everyone else,

run to God.

If you feel he's absent,

tell him.

If you feel like

you're overwhelmed

by what he's brought

into your life,

tell him.

If you're angry with him,

tell him.

He already knows.

It's not a secret.

And he's big enough

to cope with it.

Pour out your soul.

Some of us struggle with that.

And you know,

if you're walking

alongside other people,

and I hope every one of you

will be aware

of the people around you

who are going

through this time.

If you're walking

alongside people

in the spiritual desert,

you've got to allow them

to pour out their hearts.

Listen to them.

Don't jump in

like Job's friends

in the Bible

who just keep thinking

they've got all the solutions,

they just jump in

with a quick fix.

Oh, okay,

here's the ten things

you need to do.

Don't do it.

You need,

you're not the person

to fix them,

right?

You're not a fixer.

God's the fixer.

Listen to them.

Give discouraged people

the chance to speak

or be silent sometimes.

Sometimes if they say

the most outrageous things,

just listen for a while.

Pour out your soul.

Next,

question your soul.

Do you notice what he says?

Why are you cast down,

oh my soul?

Why are you in turmoil,

like a washing machine

of emotions

spinning around within you?

What is he doing?

You know,

it's not that there's

this specific sin

that has got him

to this point,

okay,

when he's depressed,

but when you are depressed,

it's so easy

to put your hope

in anything

to get you out

of the situation.

Medication,

other people's approval,

a new location,

a new job,

anything to make you

feel better.

But what is he doing?

He's,

at this time,

he's asking him

some questions.

He's examining

himself at this point.

Because when you're

in the desert,

there's no better time

to examine,

where am I putting

my hope

for my ultimate happiness in?

Is it something

that can sustain me?

You know,

he's like a doctor

who puts this stethoscope

on his own heart

and he asks himself

these penetrating questions.

Where am I putting

my hope?

Is it in God

at this time?

Or is it in just

trying to get

these feelings back?

You know,

when your community

is not what you

want it to be,

this great gift

of community

that I've said

we need,

but that can even

become an idol

when we think,

if I don't have

everything that I

want it to be,

is that what I've

run to,

to sustain my happiness

more than Christ?

Do you ever

ask yourselves

the questions,

what am I putting

my hope in?

Why am I so

discouraged at the moment?

Where's my

ultimate happiness

right now?

Is it dependent

on God?

And you know,

if you're walking

with somebody else,

you listen to them,

listen to them well,

but there's got to

come a point

where you are

listening for where

are they putting

their hopes in?

Where are they

putting their hopes?

And like that good

doctor,

ask those questions

with grace.

Pour out your soul,

question your soul,

but sooner or later

a doctor just doesn't

listen and ask

questions and say,

bye.

There's got to be a

remedy that you've

got to give.

And so the third

thing is the remedy,

third remedy is

preach to your soul.

What does the

psalmist do?

He says,

verse five,

hope in God

for I shall again

praise him.

Hope in God

for I shall again.

He's talking to

himself.

And I quoted

Martin Lloyd-Jones

last week.

I'm going to quote

him again,

a Welsh preacher.

He said this,

have you realized

that most of your

spiritual unhappiness

is due to the fact

you're listening to

yourself rather than

talking to yourself?

This psalm is showing

you how to preach

to yourself.

Because when you're

dealing with spiritual

drought and

discouragement,

it's easy to think

that there's nothing

you can do about

your emotions and

anything at all.

You just be passive,

allowing it to,

oh, I just feel

terrible.

And you wallow in it

for a while.

But you know,

our feelings and

our emotions,

we don't generate

them actively.

You know,

if a lion walks

into this room

right now,

you don't look

at the lion and

think,

oh, big lion,

big teeth,

looks hungry,

hmm,

I think maybe

I should be afraid.

Okay, let's decide

to be afraid now.

Do you do that?

No, you just

see the lion,

fear wells up

inside of you,

right?

You don't generate

your feelings like

that.

But the thing is,

your emotions

are not your

master.

Your emotions can

be handled by

you.

They're not your

master.

Lloyd-Jones again

says,

the main art in

the matter of

spiritual living is

to know how to

handle yourself.

You know,

some of you have

got more emotions

than others.

Okay, you need to

know how to take

yourself in hand.

You have to address

yourself,

preach to

yourself,

question yourself.

What do you

preach?

You preach the

gospel to yourself.

Here's how the

psalmist says,

my soul is cast

down.

Therefore,

therefore,

therefore,

I remember

you.

Verse 8,

he says,

what does he

remember?

He remembers

who God is.

He says he

remembers his

faithful love,

seen all through

the Bible.

He reminds

himself of God's

promises,

his love which

goes all through

his faithfulness.

He reminds

himself of what

God has done

in his own

life, his

faithful love

towards him

specifically.

And this music

leader in the

temple writes a

song to God.

He writes it

down.

He recalls God's

goodness.

happiness.

I'm a naturally

optimistic person,

but when I get

discouraged, I can

wallow in my

misery for a

while.

But what I see is

I need to grab my

emotions by the

scruff of the neck

and I need to say,

now, Chris,

listen to me.

God has never

left you.

God is with you

now.

You're his child.

He's working

through this.

You can trust

him.

He loves you.

I need to speak

to myself.

Because if you

fight, your

emotions will

catch up

eventually.

But truth is

true whether you

feel it or not.

You realize that?

Truth is true

whether you feel

it or not.

And it's what you

need to preach

yourself and we

also need to be a

community around

each other who

know how to preach

the gospel to

ourselves.

But you've got to

listen to how it

applies to them

first.

Don't just kind of

charge in there

with like bullet,

gospel bullets kind

of flying left,

right and center.

No, you've got to

listen.

Listen to where they

need hope.

Listen to where they

need to see

encouragement.

Be like a good

doctor who listens

so people can pour

out their soul.

Ask questions of

yourself and others

and then we apply

the truth of who

God is to our own

life and to the

lives of other

people.

And you see what

happens?

There's hope in

this.

The psalmist says,

I shall again

praise him.

It's not past tense.

It's not even

present tense.

It's future tense

knowing that God

will bring him out

of this spiritual

drought.

And you know when

you go through it,

anyone who's been

through it and has

held on to God in

it, you know you

are so much stronger

through it.

You are more

compassionate than

you have ever been

before.

And you can learn a

deeper joy in Christ.

It's not a coffee

machine Christianity

but true deep

relationship in God

because that's where

he's rooting you.

And here in the

Hebrew, this psalmist,

even in this psalm,

is beginning to come

out as he's speaking

to himself.

You don't see it in

your translation but

the Hebrew in verse

five it says,

literally it says,

I shall again praise

him for the salvation

of his face.

It's kind of him

out there.

When you get to

verse 11 and then

43 verse five it

says, for the salvation

of my face.

You see he's coming

out of the pit because

he's realizing God is

not just out there

somewhere.

He's become to be

more personal for me

even as I'm wrestling

through this time.

Do you know how to

preach your soul of

God's love when you're

discouraged, when you're

downcast, when you're

depressed?

Last thing.

If this is the normal

Christian experience,

how do we know that

God loves us when God

is with us when God

feels absent?

How do you know that?

How can we say we

can't base our life off

our feelings?

Well, this psalmist,

he didn't know

something.

He didn't know that

even though he's crying

out for the presence

of God, he didn't

know Christ.

But we do.

But we do.

Because God himself

came down, Emmanuel,

God with us.

And do you know this

psalmist here?

Jesus was the one who

said, I thirst.

Jesus was the one who

had no sin at all and

yet he had his enemies

mocking and taunting

him saying, where's

your God?

Can't even save you now

when he's on the cross.

He's the one on the

cross who cries out, my

God, my God, why have you

forsaken me?

Jesus was abandoned.

He knew the true absence

of his father so that you

and I will never, ever,

ever have to know that God

is truly absent from us.

That's what Christianity

says.

God is a God who wants to

be with you.

Even when you don't feel

it, he's there.

How do I know?

Because Christ came down

into the darkness, took the

darkness so that you can

know that he is always

there for you.

God is a God who wants to

bring you back into the

presence of his father and

he wants to bring you back

into the presence of a good

God.

Christianity has a God who

can sympathize with our

weaknesses in the seasons of

drought.

Whatever's going on in your

life right now, whether you're

feeling great or feeling

terrible, he is sufficient

for you.

Let's be a community which

knows how to live through

drought and have a leaf which

doesn't wither like we talked

about last week to know that

God is truly our joy because he

will restore us to himself.

Let's pray.

Father, I don't know what's

going on in people's lives

right now.

Some of us may feel like, oh, I

don't need to worry about kind of

spiritual drought at the moment

and yet we're basing all our

hopes and life just on our

feelings and what we feel we

can do by ourselves.

And we have little compassion

for those who are struggling.

Lord, I pray that you make us a

church, which is a church in

this city which is so downcast in

so many ways.

Make us a beacon of light and

hope in this city.

I pray for those of us who are

struggling, who are discouraged,

who are disillusioned, who are

transitioning and are worried about

the next steps.

Lord, I pray that you would help

them to see that you are that

source of joy that they can

cling to, that you're not going to

leave them.

You're not running away, that you're

right there with them and they can

just keep running back to you.

I pray that you would help us to be

a people who know how to love one

another enough to share and speak the

gospel to each other.

Please let us be a community which

doesn't condemn people but really

demonstrates a God who is present and

with us in our lives.

Thank you.

Your name.

Amen.