Even When My Walk Feels Dry (Psalm 42-43) Myles Holmes | Aug 10, 2025

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Awesome.

It is so good to be together this morning.

I know I'm cutting off some great conversations.

I want to uh begin our time with a few updates, just things, some things that are going on in the life of our church.

The first has to do with Dave and Sonia Locke.

Many of you know that Sonia has been walking through some pretty difficult and for a long time unknown health challenges, and they've been missing from us for the last couple of weeks.

Over the last few months, Sonia has been facing some pretty serious health challenges.

And after a long season of testing and a lot of uncertainty, being bounced from doctor to doctor, uh, it was confirmed a few weeks ago that she has Lyme disease.

They didn't think it was hot enough in Ontario, so they've gone to Scottsdale, Arizona, where she's receiving uh intensive eight-week treatment that's designed to fight the Lyme disease, to fight the infection, and ultimately restore her to health.

I tell you this so that you can continue to pray for them and maybe pray more specifically.

Uh, the treatment is an incredibly demanding Monday to Friday schedule.

And I just received a note from them recently.

There's so much that they are praising the Lord for, and we can take an example out of that.

As they walk through the valley, they're finding all these things to praise the Lord for, for open doors, for uh Christian medical staff they found in the States, for improved sleep and opportunities they're taking, even in this challenge and trial, to share the gospel with other patients.

They've also asked for prayer, for strength and healing for Sonia, for stamina, for Dave as he cares for her, for patience and encouragement for them both.

There are a couple ways we can love Dave and Sonia in this time.

One is the most tangible, is just by praying for them and keeping them in our prayers, and that's what they are asking for by faith, that you'd lift them up and ask the Lord to continue to answer their prayers for healing as as uh he has been doing so.

You could also reach out to them.

They would love to receive your texts or calls and encouragement and know that you are praying for them.

And we also have a card for them.

Now, I don't know how to describe where this card is, apart from it's that ugly brown thing with the big welcome center.

If you look back, you'll see it.

It's not the guest central, it's a beautiful red thing, but in the ugly brown thing, the card will be there, and we would love for you to take a moment to sign that, let them know that you'll be praying for them.

Lord willing, they will be back with us at some point in September.

But they are I know they're deeply thankful for your love, deeply thankful for your prayers for them.

Also, I want to update you uh on the location.

We announced a few weeks ago that we are in the midst of looking for a new location as a church, and that we were exploring the uh idea of going over to King Christian with the potential of eventually building something there that's more permanent for us attached to King Christian.

And I want to update you now.

Are you ready for it?

Real anticipation in this moment.

And that is that there is not really an update for you.

I'm sorry about that.

Um, we have we've been having conversations with the board of King Christian, our board and their board, and I want to let you know we are incredibly encouraged by those conversations.

In fact, if if the scale is like one to ten, you know, one's discouraged, ten is incredibly encouraged, we are beyond ten.

It seems like the Lord is opening all sorts of doors, and yet summer is not a great time for boards to work together, and so we are in limbo waiting to hear back from them before it's officially official.

However, we will be staying here in through September, and so we expect that as the conversations continue to roll on, that if a move were to happen, it would happen some at some point in October.

No hard date, no promises there.

Just wanted to keep you updated as you continue to pray for us as a church as we navigate.

Not only really a church move, but it really is a kingdom opportunity, we believe, for us.

Happy to answer any questions you have.

Uh would encourage you.

It's uh there's a lot of confusion.

It's called King Christian School.

It's not in King City, it is in East Gillenbury.

I know if you're from Newmarket, you don't know what East Gillenbury is.

I don't know either what East Willenbury is.

It's somewhere north, but I would encourage you to Google Maps it.

You can open your Bibles to Psalms chapter 42 and 43.

Psalms 42 · chapter mention

You're gonna need a copy of God's word this morning.

And so if you don't have one, our ushers are coming to the front.

You can flag one of them down, and they will get a copy into your hands, which you can keep as our gift to you.

We love God's word at this church.

Would love for you to keep this and read it.

The Bible is full of staggering promises about joy.

You've probably come across them before, like in Psalm 16, where the psalmist says, In your presence there is fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Maybe Psalm 4, where the psalmist declares, You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

Jesus says in John 15, I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be full.

That's the promise that we encounter in God's word.

God says, this is what life with him is meant to be like.

And yet, maybe even as I say these promises to you, we have this question as we consider if that's really our reality or not.

Can I ask you that?

Is that your would you be able to say with the psalmist, you know, honestly, that your joy is abounding and overflowing?

That you have more joy in your heart with God alone than they have with all the material possessions in the world.

I mean, the reality for most of us is maybe right now you're walking in that kind of season, but doesn't it feel like often we just those kind of promises seem so far out of reach for our experience, for where our heart really is.

There are times, maybe frequently, maybe right now in your life, where you, you know, you show up, you open up the Bible, you read the words, but the words don't feel like they're living, like they promised they were to be.

There are times where you pray and you pray to God and you're you're asking God to fill you, to make you feel his presence, and yet your prayers feel nothing more than just talking to a wall, and it's it's difficult to focus, and prayers feel empty.

Maybe even this morning.

I mean, you show up to worship, but you're just kind of like you're here.

But beyond your physical presence, there's not much of a presence to be felt.

You ever feel like that?

You ever feel like your faith is just going through the motions?

Like your journey with Christ is a lot more like being on a treadmill where you're putting in the work, you're putting in the effort, but at the end of the day, you just aren't getting anywhere.

Now, if we're honest, all of us feel that to some degree or another.

And even right now, maybe if you're on the mountaintop, I mean you're praising God, but but you have this sense of like, it wasn't that long ago, maybe that I was there.

There is this ache in our soul that we experience when the expectation of joy that is promised in scripture doesn't meet the reality of our experience and the reality of the way that we feel.

And what I love about the scriptures, and specifically Psalm 42 and 43, is that it meets us right in that moment.

Where if you think that faith is like this, happy, go lucky all the time, 100% of the time, you put on a smile, you say, God is good, you're always praising, you're always happy.

I mean, you just haven't read the Psalms.

His Psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah.

This is a family who was responsible for leading worship in the temple at the very center of God's presence in the Old Testament faith of Israel were the sons of Korah, but now this writer is far from that place.

And in this psalm, you're gonna notice as we read through it in a moment, he cries out three times.

You see it first in verse 5, why are you cast down, O my soul?

Why are you at turmoil within me?

In other words, the psalmist is looking at his heart and he's saying, Why do I feel like this?

Why am I like this?

He's been here before.

We've been here before.

Scripture meets us here this morning.

I want to read this together, so I'd invite you to stand with me this morning as we read this.

And I want you to notice here that the psalmist isn't just complaining that he doesn't feel like the presence of the Lord is near to him.

In this psalm, he's really in a wrestling match fighting for joy, and that's what we want to do this morning.

Let's read it together, Psalm 42 and Psalm 43.

To the choir master, a mascell of the sons of Korah.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so my so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, where is your God?

These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I would go with the throng and lead them in the procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

My soul is cast down within me, therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon and from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep, at the roar of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God, My rock, why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning?

Because of the oppression of my enemy.

As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, Where is your God?

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

Why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him.

My salvation and my God.

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people.

From the deceitful and unjust man, deliver me, for you are the God in whom I take refuge.

Why have you rejected me?

Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

Send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the liar.

O God, my God.

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

This is the word of the Lord.

You can take a seat.

Now, before we dive in, you'll notice that we are reading two Psalms this morning, and that is really because most scholars would agree that originally these two Psalms were very likely one Psalm.

There are a couple of things that you might notice as you read this Psalm.

The first is that Psalm 42 has a superscription.

These are verses that are original to the original Hebrew, the original copy of God's word.

And chapter 43 has no superscription, which is pretty rare in this section of the Psalms.

The other is what you likely notice that there's repetition between these two Psalms.

Verse 5, the psalmist asks, Why are you cast down, O my soul?

You'll notice again in verse 11 of chapter 42.

And then again in chapter 43 and verse 5, again, he asked this question, why are you cast down, oh my soul?

And very likely what we have here is two psalms that have been divided in our book, but really one song, sort of like uh a psalm, very modern song, with a chorus and three verses.

We don't know what music it was set to.

Maybe it was a rap.

Joel's gonna come up and show us what that would look like, right?

No, I'm just kidding, he's not gonna do that.

But you get the idea here that very likely this was one unified psalm.

And so we're gonna take them together.

And the big truth we're gonna see this morning is this that when my walk feels dry, faith keeps me fighting for hope.

When my walk feels dry, faith keeps me fighting for hope.

That verb there, fighting, is really the center, that when we don't feel close to God, we don't just passively sit back and allow that to happen until the feelings come that we must fight.

And the psalmist this morning is showing us how to fight in the drought of dryness, in the valley, how to fight for hope.

The first thing we need to do is this accept where you are.

When you find yourself in a place where your walk with the Lord has dried up, you must accept where you are.

Now, in the context of this psalm, we understand exactly where the psalmist is.

Spiritually, he's far from God.

Three times he's called out.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

He looks at his own soul.

Oh my soul, why are you in turmoil?

Loved one, you've ever you ever been there before?

There are times in my own life where I cannot describe what it's like to follow God apart from the picture of like trying to go down a slide that's made out of sandpaper.

It just doesn't.

I mean, I mean you're trying and it just doesn't work.

You do the right things, but but none of the feelings ever follow.

And eventually you can just have this feeling.

I mean, we can resonate with the psalmist, I hope, in honesty, saying, like, what is wrong with me here?

What am I doing wrong?

Why can't I feel God?

I want you to notice, though, that the psalmist is not just spiritually far from God, he's also physically far from God.

Look at verse 6 with me.

Put your eyes on verse 6.

Look what he says.

He says, My soul is cast down within me, therefore I remember you.

And listen, there's a geographical note here.

I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon from Mount Mazar.

That is on the northern edge of Israel.

It is miles away from Jerusalem and the temple of God where the presence of God dwells.

Now, if you were just any old Israelite, that not might not matter.

But but what we know about this man who writes this psalm is that he is a son of Korah.

That his part in the Levitical family was to lead the temple worship.

And so you can understand what he's saying is this I'm meant to be in the temple, but for whatever reason, maybe it's exile, maybe it's political oppression.

I am far from God.

I am far from my purpose, and I am feeling it.

That's why in verse 4 he remembers so vividly.

Listen when he says, how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise.

I mean, he wants not only not only did he live in the very center of God's presence, he was the kind of guy where when you were with him, he brought you into God's presence.

People would come to him and say, Hey, hey, lead me into God's presence.

I want to know God.

And yet now he looks at his life and he says, I can't, I can't even get there myself.

He's an exile.

He's cut off from the very presence of God that he was made for.

Loved one, you know, theologically, you and I are in the very same place.

Well, geographically, we're a lot farther from Jerusalem than he was.

But spiritually, we are in the exact same place.

Do you know this, loved one?

You are in exile.

When Peter writes to the church, he calls the church sojourners and exiles.

And what he's painting this picture of is this that as New Testament believers, we are not home.

That is part of our current reality.

We are in transit, we are on the way to the destination, but we are not there yet.

And the question for us this morning is this have you accepted that?

I mean, have you accepted that even though I mean you have a home here on this earth, that this just is not the final destination?

I want you to understand that we make a real mess of our lives when we try to treat this place like it's the final destination, like this life before death should be anything more than just a transit day.

You know, the summer, I've talked to a lot of families who have driven very far to take their family on vacation.

And those families in particular know what transit days are like.

I've never done it because I can't believe that families can do that with young children.

One of the first things I asked them, you know, we're going to Florida or we're going out east.

I asked them, like, how are you going to make it there?

And I'll tell you what I've never heard from any of these families.

Oh man, I am so excited for the drive.

In fact, I think we might just get to Florida and then turn right back.

Because I just love goldfish that much.

I love hearing the same, you know, frozen song over and over and over and over again.

I love, I love the trip.

I love the transit.

I never hear from any of these families.

Oh, you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna stop midway.

I'm gonna stop in Pennsylvania and do like a remodel of the inside of my van.

I'm gonna make this really comfortable.

I'm really gonna enjoy the trip.

No, what do you do?

Like, this is just transit.

We're just getting to the destination.

It's not about the trip, it's about where we're going.

The drive isn't the point.

It would be ridiculous if you tried to make it the point.

And love and I can't help but feel that God looks at us and the way that some of us live and thinks the same thing.

We treat this life, this short, this broken, this sin-stained life, like it's the final destination.

And loved one, God is confronting us this morning, saying, This is just a transit day.

You are an exile.

You are on the journey.

We invest all of our energy in trying to make the ride as comfortable as possible.

We forget the joy, the rest, the fullness that we are headed to.

And in this moment, I just want to ask you to look at your life and and consider the reality that you might be trying to make too much out of this world.

You might be trying to bring heaven to earth.

We do that often.

We pack our schedules, we upgrade our houses, we seek new comforts, new experiences.

And we we live with this expectation that if I just do it right, if I just tweak a few things in my life, if I just get it right, then I will experience what I'm looking for.

And a loved one, the scripture meets us with this honesty that says, this is not the place you're gonna find it.

This is nothing more than a transit day.

In other words, there's a there is a reason why you still feel restless.

There's a reason why, no matter how much you pour yourself into work, no matter how much you pour yourself into your family, no matter how much you pour yourself into yourself, there is a reason why it never satisfies.

Because you're still in the van.

You are not there yet.

Great joy, great hope, great rest comes to us when we stop trying to squeeze all of our joy and security and identity out of this life.

And recognize and accept where we are.

Part of accepting where we are is remembering that we're not home yet.

That until we see Jesus face to face, we are in transit.

That's the reality of life.

But between the Garden of Eden and the glory that is coming in heaven, we are on a journey.

That's exactly why what the psalmist says next matters so much.

He doesn't just stop with, here's where I am.

He turns and he says, Here's where I need what I need.

Which leads to our second point that if we're going to fight for hope in the midst of dryness, we need to remember what we need.

I need to remember what I need when I'm fighting for hope in the midst of dryness.

In other words, what gets the psalmist through the drive, so to say, to Florida is he keeps thinking about the beach.

He keeps thinking about the final destination.

So that's where he begins.

Look in verse 1 and 2.

As a deer pants were flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, oh God.

You know, if we could just continue to push the illustration, maybe I'm doing this too much, you know.

Maybe you're, I don't know if there's any families planning a trip here and now they're starting to doubt it.

Maybe we shouldn't do it.

But it's like, what gets me through the screaming and fighting kids in the back of the van?

It is thinking about the future.

It's thinking about what we're driving to.

It's pushing the pedal a little harder and getting there a little quicker.

So my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

He's not only accepted where he is, he's fixing his eyes on the destination.

And you get the illustration.

Listen, uh, my soul, the psalmist says, needs satisfaction.

Just like a a deer needs water.

So my soul needs the Lord.

I need water.

I need God.

Now, here's the reality of this psalm.

The reality of this psalm is that the writer is not standing beside the stream.

Do you recognize that?

He's not standing beside the stream that is the living God.

What he's expressing through this whole psalm is like, I feel far from God.

And yet I know where the well is.

I know where to find satisfaction.

I know where to find hope.

I know where to find joy.

That's why in verse 2, after, you know, we have we love these verses.

We got them painted on our mug, but we always leave them at the end of verse 2.

Why?

What does the end of verse 2 say?

I mean, you lose a lot of hope.

When shall I come and appear before God?

The psalmist is not there.

And loved one, maybe that gives you some encouragement because you don't feel you're there either.

And you you even say, like, I don't understand how God is a living stream of water because right now I don't feel it.

You know why?

Because you're not beside the stream.

And the reality of our life sometimes is that sometimes the stream is indeed far away.

And yet it does not change that reality that it is still a living stream, that it is still what our soul needs.

The psalmist in verse 2, he looks at his life and he says, Listen, I know what I need, but I'm not where I need to be yet.

You know, when you are in a season of dryness in your life, one of the most important things you can do is recognize what you are actually thirsty for.

You understand this?

That the thing your soul is designed for is God Himself.

You don't need a change of circumstances.

You don't feel far far from God just because work's busy.

You don't feel far from God just because you're suffering.

In fact, the rest of the scriptures, we could preach a whole sermon on that, actually say that the weakness that you feel often because work is so busy and because your family is so complicated and because the suffering is so deep, that weakness is actually the thing that draws you nearer to the Lord.

You see, you don't feel far from God because of your circumstance.

Your soul's deepest thirst in every season is for the living God.

A psalmist says that.

Listen, it's not my circle.

Even though I'm far, what I need is God.

I need him.

You know, one of the things that seasons of dryness reveal in our life, when all the signs of God's favor seem to have vanished from your life, you know what's revealed is whether you were really living for God or were living for the feelings that God gives.

Do you know what I mean by the difference between that?

What is the difference between your heart longing for God versus longing for the feelings that God gives?

Let me illustrate something for you.

You know, if I were to go on my honeymoon with my wife and constantly talk about how great the honeymoon is because of the destination, because of the food we ate, because of the trips we took.

And never, never talk about her.

And then for years talk about, oh man, I man, I can't.

Oh, that was so that experience was so good.

And it never has anything to do with her.

What would she start to realize?

Oh man, that honeymoon wasn't great because we were just married and now got to delight in each other's love.

That honeymoon was just great because of all the things we experienced there.

There's a separation between the feeling of the honeymoon and the actual love of the bride.

And what happens in our life when we are dry, when we feel like we're walking in seasons of spiritual desertion, is this question is answered.

Who do you ultimately want?

Do you want God?

Is your heart longing for God, or is your heart just longing for a feeling?

Love when we do this in worship.

Do you recognize that?

We do that in worship.

If you are only willing to sing to the songs that kind of itch your musical interest and taste, the question that needs to be asked of you is this: Are you more interested in the style of music or are you more interested in the God that it points to?

If you're only willing to read God's word when you have this sort of emotional experience of feeling near to God, the question is, are you there for God or are you there for the feeling?

See, listen, in the midst of his dryness, notice what the psalmist keeps saying.

Hope in God.

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him.

Now, here's the principle that we're drawing out of this psalm.

The principle is this that you are going to have to fight to remember what you need.

It is not going to happen automatically.

This is what the psalmist is teaching us.

That in seasons of dryness, you will have to fight.

And so, can I ask you right now to just do just do a quick self-examination in the comfort and the power of the Holy Spirit and the comfort that the gospel brings, knowing that God already knows how sinful you are, that nothing can ever surprise him.

Can I ask you this question?

Are you fighting for the deepest possible joy in God right now?

I'm not even talking about this week.

I'm not even like I'm not even asking you to, hey, look back on the week and do where you're fighting for joy in God.

I'm asking for right now.

This morning, right now in the midst of this sermon, are you fighting for the deepest possible joy in God?

Think about even the last few minutes.

Has your mind been focused on God's word?

Or have you has your mind been wandering off?

I mean, I will be completely honest and vulnerable with you.

There are times where I am in the time of worship as I'm about to go and preach.

There's a lot of good things to think about.

I'm thinking about what I'm gonna have for lunch.

And I ask you the same question.

Are you here to experience God, or are you just kind of like here?

And part of the proof of that is like we just let our minds wander, and and I'll be engaged in the sermon if it really captures my attention.

You know, if Miles tells a story that makes a fool of himself, then I'll I'll be engaged.

But I'm not gonna work to hear God's word.

Are you here to meet with God?

What about in the worship this morning?

Did you did you come with an attitude of like, I am here to worship the Lord because this is what I need?

And I cannot help but to think that it is so easy to put the Christian life in cruise control, isn't it?

It's so easy to just show up and do the things because they're the things that you do.

And the psalmist he finds himself in the season of dryness and he's and he's preaching to himself.

He's fighting for hope.

Hope in God.

He says it a time and time again.

See, what the psalmist is doing is really something that most of us neglect.

He is tilling the soil of his heart so it's ready for the fresh planting of God's word.

He's making the soil as soft and workable as possible.

Now, I'm not a gardener, you know that, but I find myself in so many gardening conversations because my wife is a gardener.

Here's something I know gardening is a lot easier when you have the right soil.

Right?

Now, you see some gardeners nodding to me.

I see some people who don't like gardening taking a little nap now.

They're like, all right, we can just tune out for a bit.

In fact, I've talked to people who talk about the soil in the Holland Marsh.

That's another place, I don't know where it is, but it's somewhere around here, the Holland Marsh.

And that people will even drive hours to get the dark, nutrient-rich soil of the Holland Marsh, because it's so it makes gardening so much easier.

You know, loved one, I've had the joy in my life, one of the greatest joys in my life, to preach to many, many people.

To preach the same sermon even to many different kinds of people.

And you know, something that I've noticed is that when I preach a word to hearts that are soft, that are eager to hear God's word, that are rich with love for God and a desire to hear Him, the Word lands and it immediately takes root.

And yet I can preach that same message to a heart that has not been tilled and ready to hear, and the soil is dry and it's cracked and it is hard.

And when the the fresh planting of the gospel takes place through the preaching of God's word, the seed does nothing because the soil is so hardened.

Which one are you today?

This morning, right now, which which one are you?

As you sit before God's word, where is your heart?

Are you ready?

Are you eager for the Lord to change you?

Are you saying to the Lord, here I am, Lord, speak to your servant.

There is no room in my heart that is that is closed to you.

Go wherever you need to go, do whatever you need to do.

Psalmist is saying this, I constantly heart of my soil.

Soul, hope in God.

Hope in God.

Be ready for the Lord to show up.

I will praise him again.

How do you do that?

How do you till the soil of your heart?

How do you get yourself ready to fight for satisfaction and joy in him?

Here's what the psalmist is telling us to do.

It's so simple.

Even in seasons of dryness, come to him anyways.

Come to him anyways.

Come to him expectantly.

When you don't feel like reading God's word, read God's word, recognizing that this is the water that grows your soul, whether you feel like soaking in it or not.

You pray, even when it feels like you're praying to a wall, even when you spend, you know, 15 minutes in prayer, and 14 of those minutes are just in distracted thought, trying to bring your thoughts back to the Lord.

Continue to pray, knowing that this is what sparks the ignition that lights your soul aflame with a passion for God.

And you don't feel like showing up to worship, when you don't feel like singing the song, the psalmist is saying this: do it.

Hope in the Lord.

Show up, expectant that the Lord will meet you.

When you keep coming to God, when the feelings aren't there, you're doing something incredibly profound.

You are training your soul.

You're training your soul.

That's exactly what the psalmist is doing here.

He's not just describing how he's feeling, he's unable, he's unwilling to let his feelings control him.

He's speaking directly to himself three times in these two psalms.

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

Why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God.

He's preaching to himself.

This leads to our third point.

If we want to fight for hope in the midst of dry seasons, the third thing we need to do is preach to our souls.

Preach to our souls.

Everyone, in this fight for hope, I want you to know that the most important sermon you hear will be the sermon that you preach to yourself.

No one has such access to the way that you think, to what you believe, to the way that you feel.

No voice speaks so frequently as your own voice does.

And so what becomes so incredibly important is the sermon that you constantly preach to yourself.

You know, I get you know 37 minutes every Sunday, right?

That's how long I preach.

Time check 37 minutes, is that it?

I get a short little window every week to preach the word that can grow into plants of life.

Plant the seeds of the gospel into your heart.

But loved one.

24-7.

Your voice is speaking to you.

And I want you to notice how active the psalmist gets in the fight.

We saw verse 6 already.

My soul is cast down within me.

Therefore, I remember you.

Therefore, I remember you.

Therefore, I'm doing something about it.

You know what the problem with us is?

So often when our when our walk becomes dry, we just stop doing anything.

All right, Lord, I guess you're gonna have to do it.

Oh man, the sermons really haven't been that great lately because I'm not on fire for the Lord.

Oh man, I wish this worship team would just, you know, play a little louder or play a little quieter, or do some more hymns, or do some less hymns.

We're too passive.

And here the psalmist is teaching us we gotta be active.

We need to fight for hope.

We need to preach the truth to our souls.

And so he says, Listen, my soul's cast down within me.

Listen, I'm walking in a season of dryness.

Therefore, I remember you.

He doesn't wait for his feelings to change, he acts on them, he remembers.

And the way that he remembers, notice, loved one, it's by speaking the truth to himself three times.

Hope in God.

Hope in God, hope in God.

Listen, we can do the math then.

If the solution to our spiritual dryness is to remember what is our spiritual problem, it's that we forget.

It's that we forget.

You know this loved one, you have a spiritual Alzheimer's.

You have a spiritual condition in which you forget God.

It's part of the reason why Jesus set up his church like this.

I mean, why do we come week after week to hear the same gospel preached?

Why does the church die the minute begin to die the minute that gospel ceases to be preached?

It's because our need as children of God is to remember.

It's to remember.

It's because we have this spiritual amnesia.

We forget.

That is why the psalmist talks to himself.

He knows that if he only listens to himself, he will spiral into despair.

But if he talks to himself with truth, then he can fight back.

I love what Paul Tripp says.

He puts it like this no one is more influential in your life than you are.

Because no one talks to you more than you do.

You are constantly talking to yourself about God, about life, about others, and about yourself.

And what you say to yourself is profoundly important.

And that's exactly what the psalmist is doing here.

He's not letting his own feelings write the headline of his life.

He is preaching the truth to his own heart.

Hope in God.

It's what we need, loved one.

And we have much to learn here from the psalmist, so let's get really practical.

How do you preach the truth to your own soul?

Let me give you three practical ways that the psalmist does it.

The first is this he meditates on God's character.

When the psalmist preaches to his soul, notice the content of what he tells himself.

He doesn't just say, hey, cheer up, soul.

You ever hear that?

Like, hey, listen, if you're sad, just smile.

Just smile for a little bit.

Go and try it.

You look like the craziest person in the whole entire world.

He preaches to his soul a message.

What is the message?

Look at verse 8.

He is rooting his hope in who God is.

Again, in who God is.

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

What's he doing?

He is reminding himself of who God is.

Listen, I feel he says, I feel far from God.

God's love is not based on feelings.

God commands his steadfast love towards me, the psalmist says.

His love is steadfast.

It is like a fountain.

It's like a waterfall.

It's like Niagara Falls.

It never stops flowing over for me.

So that even if I feel far from God, the psalmist says, I'm remembering his love is steadfast.

He's remembering God's care isn't passive.

God commands his steadfast love.

He commands it.

He pours it over me.

He lavishes it, Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

He lavishes it over me in Christ.

He applies it to my soul.

He reminds himself, God isn't distant.

Verse 8, God, He is the God of my life.

What is the psalmist doing here?

He is meditating on God's character.

Meditating on God's character is very similar to making a good cup of coffee.

I'm going to share some things with you, okay?

This is like a little side sermon.

If you take some notes, I think I might be able to up your coffee game.

You ready for it?

You don't believe me, but if you've been to the office and seen like the little science lab I have there to make coffee, you're going to believe me.

One of the most important things when you're making coffee, okay, this now sounds a bit like a TED talk and less like a uh sermon, but here we are.

One of the most important things about coffee is extraction time.

It's very important.

Man, I would love this if I was listening to the sermon.

I'm looking at you guys, you're like, this is the weirdest up illustration, but you're gonna get there with me, okay?

It's very important that you grind the beans to the right consistency.

In fact, the most important piece of coffee equipment is the grinder.

That's the one you want to spend the most money on because if you can get the same grind, you can control a lot.

And what you want is a grind that's not too fine so that it clogs up the water and the water stays in too too long.

And you don't want it too coarse so that the water just runs through.

What needs to happen is the water needs to marinate and extract the flavor of the bean for long enough for the coffee to taste right.

Go too long and it'll be sour.

Go too short and it will be bitter.

Some of you guys are like, okay, now I need a coffee just to listen to the rest of the sermon.

What needs to happen is the bean needs to marinate in the water long enough to extract the proper flavor from it.

And love, I want you to know that God's word is like that too.

Your soul needs to sit in the water of God's word, and it needs time to extract from God's word what it needs.

Meditation is essential to a thriving Christian life.

I cannot say it more strongly.

Meditation is essential to a thriving Christian life.

If you do not meditate on God's word, if you read God's word, but just allow it to sort of pass through your eyes, and a real good test of whether or not you're meditating is if you can even remember by 10 a.m.

what you read in the morning.

If your relationship with God's word is like that, I want you to know it's just not gonna change you.

The psalmist declares in Psalm 1 blessed is the man who Meditates on God's word day and night.

Love what Don Whitney says.

He says, the Christians who thrive most are often the ones who meditate most.

You must meditate on God's word.

You must chew on it.

You must allow it to marinate your soul until you are changed.

That's what the psalmist is doing.

He keeps coming back to the same truth because, in this valley of dryness, he doesn't just need a self-help recommendation.

He doesn't just need a new morning routine.

He doesn't just need a bit of inspiration.

He needs the word of God.

He needs the character of God to deeply impact him.

Second thing we can do is this we memorize God's word.

We memorize God's word.

We meditate on God's character.

We memorize God's word.

One of the ways we know the psalmist is preaching to himself is because he keeps saying the exact same thing.

He says the same refrain over and over and over again.

And by doing that, the psalmist is teaching us something both practical and powerful in fighting for hope in the midst of dry seasons, that the word of God, memorized and then stored in our soul, provides the footholds that we need to get out of the valley of dryness that we are in.

That apart from the word of God being stored in our heart, we cannot engage in the battle.

Isn't it true, loved one, that the Bible says that the sword of the Spirit that is given to us as believers is the Word of God itself.

And yet, when we don't do the work to not only meditate on it but memorize it, the reality is that we are going into a spiritual battle without a sword.

It doesn't matter how courageous you are, it doesn't matter how bold you are, if you do not have a weapon, you cannot win the battle.

And so much of our spiritual battle comes down to this.

Are we arming ourselves with the right weapons?

If you are battling lust, are you telling yourself that blessing comes to those who are pure in heart, like Matthew says, for they shall see God?

Are you telling yourself that if you want to see God, you got to turn your eyes away from certain places and in society in certain places on the internet?

Are you coming to God in the morning, believing this, that there is blessings for obedience, opening up God's word, saying, God, tell me how to live because I know there's blessings for obedience.

Are you arming yourself with God's word so that you can fight the battle?

Third thing.

We meditate, we memorize.

Third thing that we can do is surround ourselves with God's people.

Surround ourselves with God's people.

This is life.

And what the psalmist recognizes is this is that his walk is a community project.

And if he's separated from the people of God, then his faith is obviously gonna feel dry.

And I cannot help it but but be shocked by how often we are surprised that our walk with the Lord isn't going well when we keep separating ourselves from the people of God.

And it's a good time for us just to do a quick heart check here and ask in the summer, where we got to be a lot more intentional about connecting with people, are you connecting with God's people?

I'm talking more than just coming on a Sunday, more than just, you know, chatting about your week over coffee on a Sunday morning.

Are you connecting with God's people?

Hey, listen, does anyone know in the church what you're walking through right now?

Is anyone praying for you?

I mean, are you connecting with God's people in a way to say, hey, listen, I need you to pray for me in this.

This is the battle that I am experiencing.

Have you met with anyone?

I mean, like hospitality, simple hospitality.

Have you had people into your house?

Have you been over to other people's house to experience fellowship with God's people?

Recognizing that our sanctification is a community project.

We need God's people.

The psalmist is doing this, he's meditating richly on God's character, he's memorizing God's word, and he's connecting with God's people.

And yet I want you to notice something so important.

By Psalm 33, he is still not fixed.

In fact, by the end of the Psalm, he hasn't, it's not like he's reached this eye-opening experience where he feels the nearness of the Lord.

In verse 2 of chapter 43, he says, Why do I go about mourning?

In verse 5, he ends again with this asking his soul to hope in God.

He's not out of the valley, but he does something really important in chapter 43.

You see it there in verse 3.

Look what he says: send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

And he's saying this.

Even in this valley, God, my eyes are on you.

My eyes are on your holy hill.

And it leads to our fourth point that if we're gonna fight for hope, we need to go where he leads.

To send out your light and your truth.

In Scripture, light becomes uh an illustration of God's presence and power.

Immediately, the Israelite singing this song would think about the pillar of flame that led Israel through the desert as they escaped slavery into Egypt and were redeemed by God.

It was a reminder of God's presence.

It showed them the way.

And so, as the psalmist prays for light and truth, he's admitting this reality.

I can't make find the way out of this valley on my own.

If I'm going to make it God, you have to lead me.

So my eyes are on you.

My eyes are on you.

Notice his destination in these verses.

Notice what he says.

Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

We know theologically that in his day that that very literally meant Jerusalem.

It meant the pres the presence of God that was in the temple of God.

And yet on this side of the cross, we look back and recognize that God's presence is no longer a place that we travel to, it is a person who has come to us.

It was Jesus who said, I am the light.

It was Jesus who said, I am the truth.

So listen, when the psalmist says, Send out your light and your truth, we know exactly what he's saying from this side of the cross.

He's saying, Show me Jesus.

Show me Jesus.

And now we look back and we recognize how Jesus entered the ultimate valley.

Jesus was the only one who was truly cut off from the presence of the Father.

Jesus was the one who on the cross cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

He experienced the true forsakenness that the psalmist worried about.

So that in him you and I could be brought near to him forever.

This is what Jesus did.

This is why, when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain that blocked the way into the Holy of Holies tore from two, from the top down, to declare that access into the presence of God is available now through Christ.

To declare that we have his presence now and to declare through his resurrection that a day is coming where we will see him face to face on the final holy hill in the new Jerusalem itself.

Loved one, if you don't know Christ, if you're still wandering in the valley, I want you to know that the light and truth that can lead you out has come, and his name is Jesus Christ.

And he offers you a way this morning through faith in him.

When your walk feels dry, when you're fighting for hope, that's where true faith is.

That's what we've seen in this psalm.

Faith accepts where it is, it remembers what it needs, it preaches to itself, and it goes where he leads.

And all of this is possible because Jesus entered the ultimate dryness for you.

He embraced the walk that truly was separated from the Lord, so that in him you would never be forsaken.

If you don't know him, I would call you this morning to come back to him.

He is the light in the truth, and he has come for you.

And there is a reason why you are here this morning.

It is to meet him, and the way is wide open.

Maybe you're here this morning and you find yourself in that season of dryness.

You find yourself in that valley, and here the psalmist encourages you, fight for hope.

Keep coming.

Keep drinking from the fountain that is the living water.

Keep preaching truth to your soul.

Keep walking towards that holy hill, because one day the journey will be over, and you will see him face to face.

Until that day, faith fights for hope, even when our walk feels dry.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this truth that we even meditate on this morning.

God, that no matter how we feel, Lord, that when we feel far from you, God, you by faith call us to fight for hope and give us this promise that we will experience it.

That Lord, you have sent your Son, the light and truth to lead us to the ultimate holy hill that is heaven itself.

God, we give you all the praise and we pray, Lord, that in seasons of dryness, God, that we would be equipped with the knowledge of how to fight.

And Lord, that if we are walking in that right now, we would be given strength.

God, strength to fight for hope.

God, we need you and we need your help.

We ask, Lord, even as we respond in song, Lord, that we would experience your presence and know, Lord, that you are near through your Son Jesus Christ and by your Holy Spirit.

God, we thank you and we pray this in the name of your Son.

Amen.