Psalms and Emotions

So great, Great to have you here this morning, this hot, hot summer morning. My name is Jordan Anderson. I'm one of the elders here at Hope Heights. Get the privilege to open up God's word with you this morning. And, yeah, grateful for this opportunity, I'm going to start off by saying something maybe a little controversial. We'll. There we go. There's two kinds of people. Thank you for the chuckle. There's two kinds of people. The first is those who grew up not embracing their emotions, not realizing that they were there. Maybe if they were, maybe you suppressed them, stuff them down. Those who would say, I'm not really an emotional person. I'm good. Emotions have no place in my interpretation of life and my decision making, my motivations, how I process life around me, logic and mental fortitude. That's all I need. I'm good. Okay. If emotions are in the car with me, are we good? Are we good? There we go. They're stuffed in the trunk. Get at what I did here. These are the emotions from inside out. They're in the trunk. Within the Myers Briggs assessment, you might be more of a T than an F. A thinker. What than a feeler. Okay, so that's the first kind of person. Second person would be those who grew up maybe now at a place where emotions are present in a big way. You know, your heart is on your sleeve, as we like to say. The emotions are in the driver's seat of your life, if we continue on with this analogy, but maybe even more so, sometimes they demand more. Okay, this is a favorite book of ours, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. Okay. Emotions are crying. Let me drive. Let me control. You process life, maybe experiences through your emotions, your intuition. You interpret or reinterpret life and relationships depending on the dominant emotion that's present in your life at any given moment. You're an F more than a T. Now, obviously, anytime somebody starts off a sentence, there's only two kinds of people. That's not right. That's not true. There's a scale. There's a gradient between stuffing your emotions in the trunk and. And them crying out to let you drive the bus. Okay? And yet we still consistently fall into this binary way of thinking. You're a thinker or you're a feeler. Your emotions are driving the car. They're stuffed in the trunk, as Drew mentioned. And you've probably figured out we're talking about emotions today. And the entire thrust of what I hope to do today is to say the Psalms offer a different way than this. The Psalms are going to offer a different way of processing and living out our feelings and our emotions, praying through our human struggles, our joys, our ups, our downs, our hurts, our questions, the confusion. And wherever you might be on this scale, I think the Psalms have something for us. We just started our summer series in the Psalms. We're taking a break from the Book of Mark. We'll finish that up later in the fall. But for the next seven, eight weeks or so, we'll be looking at the Psalms. And if you get anything out of the service today, it's my desire, it's my encouragement for you to go read your Bible, to engage with the Psalms. If you don't have a Bible, we can get you one. We want you to love Scripture more than you love sermons. And so we're walking through the Psalms over the summer. Read the Psalms along with us. I'll be referencing a few today. You can read them in their full context. We would love for you to read your Bible. In it are found the truths about a living God who knows and sees you and loves you, is willing to sacrifice for you, and best of all, for our topic today. Psalms provide us with the feeling and the emotion of human realities. So let's get into it. The Psalms in general as a genre should be lumped together with poetry. They are a collection of songs and poems. They're sometimes called the hymnbook. Drew referenced this last week when we looked at the last part of The Psalm. Psalm 150. Praise the Lord. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. That's the last verse in all of Psalms. And yet it's tempting to approach Psalms maybe the same way that we would approach other parts of Scripture, like the. Maybe a letter from Paul in the New Testament. And that's not necessarily bad. All Scripture is good. But could there be more with a different approach? And I'll ask it this way, would you approach a nonfiction book or a biography the same way that you would approach poetic lines from Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson or John Keats or Jack Perlitsky? Probably not. So with that, what the Psalms are asking us to do is to sit with the imagery that's being shared, the story that's being told, the feeling of what's being shared about being human, like the real feelings of being human. With that, let's just take a quick moment to give us some foundational truths about who we are as humans. Genesis 1:26. This is God talking. Let us make mankind in our image. We are created to Bear the image. Image like a mirror reflecting the image of our Creator. Therefore, if we have emotions, God has emotions as well. In fact, you could argue perfectly. He is the emotional one. And at one point in human history, human emotions were perfectly expressed and perfectly processed, which is kind of wild to think about, because that's not the reality that we live in now. We live after the fall, after sin has entered the world. And so we live in a reality where now emotions, maybe especially emotions, are affected and afflicted by sin. So we don't know what perfect expression or perfect processing looks like. The mirror is now broken and it's in shadow. So we could use some help. And I'm going to offer up. The Psalms can offer us some help. The Psalms call us to reconsider how we look at and process. No matter where we're at on this scale, whatever you might be feeling, there's likely a psalm for you. From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs, and everywhere in between this. The Psalms can meet us where we are, but here. All right, this is my entire thesis. Okay, The Psalms are going to direct us back to God. There's supposed to be some arrows there. Something went. We've had a whole host of technical issues this morning. Praise God. The lights are on and the sound is working. Okay, but these are supposed to be arrows. Okay, this is my entire thesis. The Psalms take us where we are, but encourage us in really drastic language. Take all of that mess and direct it back to your Creator, the One who can perfectly understand what you're going through, because he made us. He made you. This is what the Psalms are going to encourage us to do constantly. All right, Said a lot. Let's actually dive into some examples while we do this. I want to note from the start, there's not an exact blueprint or formula. We'll be looking at a number of different Psalms. Actually, we won't be sitting with one in particular, but we can ask the question, how do we pray through our emotions? That's ultimately what these become, directional conversations with God. So let's journey with the psalm writers to see where they go, what they do. The first one, Psalm 69, just the first four verses for the director of music to the tune of lilies of David. So this is David writing this psalm. Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters. The floods engulf me. I am worn out, calling for help. My throat is Parched, my eyes fail, looking for my God. Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head. Many are my enemies without cause. Those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal. That's some dramatic language. What's. What's happening here? Obviously, something is. Is wrong. Is David actually up to his neck in muddy water? That's a rhetorical question, but the answer is probably not. Okay. Is he actually going blind? Does he actually have that many people searching just for him to kill him? Thank you. No. Could he have just as easily said, I am in trouble. People are trying to hurt me? He could have, but what's he done instead? He's communicating his emotions about what it feels like, the depth of emotion of what it feels like to be going through whatever he might be going through. In the Psalms, the imagery is sometimes extremely stark and dramatic. I was even talking to Greg right before I came up here. The reality is this is all over the place, and it's kind of a wonder. It's like this is how the psalm writers are praying to God. That's really. That's really drastic and maybe even jarring if you take a moment to consider. It's like, I don't necessarily pray like this, but this is an example for us to sit with the imagery that's being used. This is a very human thing. We use imagery all the time, even in situations where emotion isn't maybe as present. We use word pictures, metaphor all the time. If I say he's making a mountain out of a. You all know what that means. I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse. A horse, guys, it's horse. You're hungry for a horse. Okay. That's just a wild goose chase. Okay, this is my favorite. That's like trying to get blood from a. That's like trying to get blood from a turnip. Think about it. Okay? Useless endeavor. It's like trying to get blood from a turnip. That's my newest favorite one. Okay, this is a very human thing to use imagery, to use word pictures to express things. Oftentimes those word pictures express more than if we tried to actually describe the very thing that we're trying to describe. We do this all over the place. There's beauty and there's heartache written in words using imagery. There's a poem called Hope is a Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson. Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all. Man, that's just so good to sit with that imagery. And it's four lines. Psalms, in the fullest expression of humanity, do this all over the place, good and bad. We can take our cue from them. It is okay to use imagery and metaphor when we're processing through our feelings. But as I mentioned, all of this only makes sense if we are using that imagery of what it feels like and directing it back to God. That's the how. How are we praying through these things? We take what we're feeling and we direct it back to God, no matter what we're feeling. The positive, the highest highs and joys, to the lowest lows of pain and heartache. Okay, Even our own sin, the shame that we might feel, we can actually direct that back to God as well. Psalm 38 says a Psalm of David, a petition. So again, David is the writer, says, lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me because of your wrath. There is no health in my body. There's no soundness in my bones because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and are loathsome. Because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low. All day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain. There is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed. I groan in anguish of heart. Now, here's an interesting point. Some of you might be wondering, why do we need to say any of this at all? Doesn't God already know what's happening, especially within my own heart? You'd be right. God does know what's happening. Couldn't we just ask for salvation or mercy or whatever the relief valve might be in any given situation? We could, and the Psalms do show us that that is also okay. But what the Psalms, as broad brushstrokes, show us, though, is is the assumption that God knows what's happening. He knows what he's doing. And in the midst of it, he wants to hear from us. He is desirous, and he's interested in hearing and connecting with us on that level. He wants to know how you. How I am feeling about any given situation. Because not only is he the best one to understand, as our Creator, He's a good father, He's a good dad, and he wants to hear about it. Let's look at Psalm 13 for the director of music. Psalm of David. We've got a lot of David Today. How long, Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts, and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord, my God, give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death. And my enemy will say, I have overcome him. And my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord's praise, for he has been good to me. This is the whole psalm, just six verses. But we can feel the depths of David's pain and frustration and angst, anger. There's questioning, there's doubt in the first four verses. But right at verse five, there's a turn, there's a but. Some of your translations may say, and yet there's a turn back to God and a reminder of who he is. I think one of the biggest emotional mistakes that we can make is to sit in the frustration of our circumstances for too long. And I think we do this sometimes because we've already predicted the future. We've already determined the outcome. Let me ask you this. How many of you have had lives that have turned out exactly the same? Is what you thought 10 years ago, five years ago, last week? Oh, thanks, Tanner. Okay. Tanner's batting a thousand from a week ago. Okay. We're really bad at predicting the future, but in the midst of maybe suffering, despair, emotional valleys, we don't see any alternatives. We just kind of go to that place. Like, this is it. This must be what it feels like now. Forever friends. Some of the sweetest phrases in the Bible start with but God. Let's remind ourselves and each other, this is where the church has an opportunity to be the church to one another and to remind. But God is a reality within scripture. That is, that is the exit off of that scale is to say, but God. And there is no greater but God truth that my soul needs to hear on a daily basis than this. Romans 5, 8. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners. Christ died for us in Ephesians 2, 4, 5. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our sin. If God can take a dead man and make him alive, all of my circumstances, all of my emotions, my feelings can be held against that. And I can say, but God, I might still not get it. What I'm Experiencing, but God. In the Psalms, our emotions are not ignored, they're recognized, but they also never have the front seat. They're not necessarily directing our lives, what our emotions do, as the Psalms would teach us, direct us to a place where we can proclaim how we're feeling in very real, raw terms. And we take all of that and we say that to God. That's the how that the Psalms have for us. So some general takeaways, in no particular order. How do the Psalms help us in our feelings and emotions? If you're reading the Psalms, you won't necessarily find these things in every Psalm. This is broad brushstrokes. This is kind of a survey. Again, I think some of the formatting got weird. Yeah. Number one, first segue. God made me can take a moment to recognize who I am, whose I am. I'm made in the image of the Creator. I'm an emotional being. So I'm going to take whatever I'm feeling and I'm going to start to talk to God about it, because he's the best one to understand it. Number two, God wants to hear from me. Even though God already knows it, knows my stuff, he still wants to hear about it, which is kind of wild. We have a creator, God of the universe, that desires to connect emotionally with his creation. So with that, I'm going to give myself permission to use imagery to describe what's going on and what it feels like. And then number three, look for these in the Psalms. The but God, the and yet reminder. He's already done it. He's already accomplished it. I'm not going to pretend to know the end from the beginning. I'm going to remind myself that in the midst of the unknown, he knows. In the midst of the yuck, he sees, he cares. In the deepest, darkest moments of my pain and sin, I can say, but, God, you've already done this through Jesus, through what Christ has accomplished on the cross and the empty tomb. In the highest moments of my life, I can praise God because he's already done wonderful things. In the Psalms, we consistently have a view of God that is deeply personal, wonderfully sovereign. If you want to get to know God better, read the Psalms. If you want to get to know yourself better, read the Psalms. If you want to understand your relationship between you and God, read the Psalms. Say it one more time. Read the Psalms. There's beauty and heartache and connection, and it's wild. Amazing to think that we have a collection of songs and poems and words in our Holy Scripture that depicts Doubt and questioning and frustration towards the God who's supposed to know everything that's going on. And scripture says that's okay. I want you to feel the reality of being human in that way. Here's where I want to land the plane today. It is good. It is encouraged to connect with God emotionally. The salvation of our souls should stir in us hearts of gratitude and joy filled praise for what Jesus accomplished on the cross in the empty tomb. The pain and the heartache and the injustices of the world around us should stir in us feelings of sadness and grief, anger. The hope of a future where there is no more crying, pain, suffering when Jesus has made everything right should stir in us longing but also some angst because we're not there yet. But Jesus has promised that he will do it so that we can say, oh Lord, how long? How long, Jesus? And then we can say but God, you've promised that you will. You've been trustworthy so I put my trust in you. You have been faithful so I put my faith in you. Not in what I can do or see but in your unfailing love and faithful promises to your. So it's kind of a summary verse that encompasses a lot of what we talked about. Psalm 62:8 Trust in him at all times you people, pour out your hearts to him. For God is our refuge. Would invite the worship team to come up as we transition to a time where we get to respond to these good truths. And so with that we have the opportunity to do a number of things. We do this every week. I encourage you to consider taking communion. You are coming before the table of God. You've brought nothing. He set everything before you. The cracker, the bread represents his body broken for you. The juice represents his blood shed for you. And every time you come to the table and eat Jesus asks remember, remember what I've done for you because I love you and I'm willing to sacrifice for you. We can pray. We've got folks in the back they'll have yellow lanyards on they would love to pray with you Pray for you can take our cue and man, it's okay if it's raw, that's okay. We're going to sing. We're going to sing some classic songs of old that speak to the heart realities of being human but praising God all the same. We can also give. There's a black box can give physical money. Otherwise you can go to hopecc.com give but this isn't just about money. Giving is a response to what Jesus has done to say, this isn't mine anyways. So it's more than money. It's time. We've got a number of opportunities to serve here at the church, serve within the community as well as here's some questions for us to ponder the rest of the day and into the week. Are you putting your trust and faith in the one who is trustworthy and faithful? And this is a daily thing. This is a moment by moment thing. How might you connect with God this week? Through the Psalms? Praying through a psalm? Cracking open the Bible? Sometimes that's the hardest thing, just opening the Bible. Maybe it's writing your own song or poem or journal entry about what you're feeling to God. And then lastly, who do you know needs to hear about Jesus? We can't lose sight of this, friends. We have the good news of Jesus Christ, the message of hope for a world that is desperate for good news. Who in your life needs to hear this? I'll pray and then we'll continue on with our service. Bow your heads with me if you would. Lord, you are good and your love endures forever. We're grateful that you have seen fit to put in your Holy Scriptures, songs and poems and words where the reality of human feelings, including doubt and joy, anger, confusion, all combine to encourage us to remember of your unfailing love, to recall your faithfulness and turn to turn back to you, to be reminded that even in the midst of our circumstances and broken world around us, there is a but God. And his name is Jesus. Jesus, who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, as it says in Hebrews, and that includes our emotions. Jesus, you came to bring life and life to the faith full. May we run and cling to you more and more this week. Pray in your name. Amen.

Genesis 1:26 Psalms 62:8