Spiritually Down

INTRODUCTION (SERIES & PSALM 42) Morning. My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor of Renovation Church. We are back online for the time being… It’s great to be live with you this morning! As we shift back to online services for a bit, we are starting a new teaching series today called “Songs from the Heart” And what we’re going to do is look at different Psalms in the Old Testament of the Bible. The Psalms were songs…worship songs where the writers talked to God. There are 150 of them. And so for the next 150 weeks… “No, I’m just kidding” For the next 5 or 6 weeks or so, we’re going to take a look at a few Psalms (some Songs) from the heart If you read through all 150 Psalms, you’ll find almost every condition of the human soul You’ll find joy and praise, and anger, and frustration and even despair. And today, we are in fact, going to see a writer who is “Spiritually Down” The Psalmist is going through a really difficult season. And you’ll see him wrestling with God and his pain…and yet, almost paradoxically, hoping in God at the same time. If you have a Bible, go grab one. We’re going to be in Psalm 42. (Renovation App – Weekly Verses) Kids, if you can read, I encourage you to grab a Bible that you can read out of and follow along. You’re going to hear a constant back and forth as we read this Psalm In one moment, it’ll feel like this is a solid believer trusting in God, and in another, it’ll feel like he’s incredibly down. I’m going to read the Psalm the whole way through, so you can feel the back and forth, and then we’ll talk about it (Psalm 42:1 11) – NIV 1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. 5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. 6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. This is a Psalm that many of you need today. You are worn out…and you feel empty. It’s a been a long, hard year. Maybe you’re losing your business…your job Maybe distance learning has been incredibly difficult (as a student or a parent) Maybe you’ve been sick…or lost a loved one. OR, maybe you’ve been seeking God, but He seems silent to you lately You’re not experiencing Him like you used to…and thus you’re feeling quite spiritually down You’re like the Psalmist who says: “Soul, why are you downcast? Why so disturbed? God, where are you?” And so what I want to do today is give you a few things you should know, a few things you can do, when you feel spiritually down. REMEMBER THE HIGHS Here’s the first one What to do When You’re Spiritually Down #1: Remember the good times This is what the writer is doing in verse 4. He writes that he used to go to the House of God with shouts and praise, celebrating with other worshippers! Those were the good times. It is SO critical to remind yourself often of God’s past goodness to you. Sometimes the seasons of spiritual lows can be so dark, that the darkness doesn’t allow you to see the good things God has done for you in the past. I’ve seen this principle playing out in my own life right now. I’m about as tired as I’ve ever been in all my years of ministry. I’ve been running really hard for 6 years to help get us to this building. It’s taken an insane amount of work…and I’m tired. But our service last week at Northpoint, was a jolt in the arm to me…in a good way. A reminder of what God has done…and what we’re working for…and that God is sooo good. Remind yourself of His past Goodness to you. . For those of you that are artistic, or those of you that like to make lists, could you ever draw out (or write out) a list of God’s great movements in your life? And then put it somewhere that you will see it often? And most importantly see it when you need to see it most? PREACH TO YOURSELF And here is another incredibly important thing you’ll need to do when you’re feeling spiritually low What to do When You’re Spiritually Down #1: Remember the good times #2: Preach to yourself Look at verse 5 again: (Psalms 42:5) – NIV 5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. He’s literally talking to himself…his soul. And not just talking, He’s preaching. “HEY! Soul! Don’t stay downcast forever! PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD!” I love it. Martyn Lloyd Jones, in his book Spiritual Depression says this: Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Yourself is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why, my soul, are you downcast?” he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: “Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.” Martyn Lloyd Jones So this is part of how you turn the corner, of not getting stuck in the spiritual lows. You preach the truth to yourself. The truth of what? How great you are? How happy you should be? A mantra of positivity? No, the truth of who God is and why He’s worthy of your hope and praise! Charles Spurgeon used to tell people who were spiritually low that they should try something different for the next 24 hours. He would say, “For the next 24 hours, instead of continuing to just let yourself talk to you, spend 24 hours where you stop thinking about yourself entirely, and only think about Christ.” For 24 hours, devote as much time as you can to thinking about WHY Jesus Christ is worthy of your hope, your praise.. Again, make a list…write it out. Why is God good? Why can you hope in Him? Study his faithfulness in the Bible, His goodness, His power, the future He has for you, His love for you. Write it out. Write in poetry, write it in Microsoft Excel if that’s what you’re into, do whatever’s normal for you. In a way, good theology is the greatest therapy… After all, what is therapy, but a counselor sitting across from you and helping you right your mind on the truths of who you and other people really are And that’s what theology is…you’re righting your mind on the truth of who God really is! Good theology is the greatest therapy…because it allows you to once again Hope in the true LOVE & Goodness of God again LOOK FOR GOD IN THE DEEP But there’s something even more critical than studying who God is…it’s meeting with Him…really meeting Him again. What to do When You’re Spiritually Down #1: Remember the good times #2: Preach to yourself #3: Look for God in the Deep Take a look at verse 7: (Psalm 42:7) – NIV 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. When I first became a Christian, we used to always sing that song, “Come Lord Jesus Come” I believe it’s actually called, “All who are thirsty” But there’s a line in there from this Psalm And it says, “As deep cries out to deep, we sing come Lord Jesus come” And I’d always think, “HUH. I have no idea what that means” But everyone was else was singing, “As deep cries out to deep!!!” (hands raised) So apparently they got it ☺ But here’s what it’s saying…and it’s a little easier to see when you read the whole verse and see the whole Psalm. The writer is saying, even though it feels like the forceful waterfall has rushed over him and knocked him down… Even though it feels like God’s waves have swept over him and pulled him under, deep into the water. There in the deep….in the chaos & confusion of the drowning waters…in the depth of his pain… It’s THERE…that God calls out to him again. …in the deep. Deep cries out to deep. In the greatest of his depths, there God spoke to Him. See, no matter how far you wander… No matter how much pain you feel… No matter how far away you feel from God right now.. God is there with you in the deep. And like this Psalmist…cry out to Him in the deep. He is there with you. And when you start looking for Him in the deep, you might find that you, surprisingly see Him more clearly that you did in the shallow waters of prosperity I read a Spurgeon sermon this week where he said, “When we are flat on our faces, we are generally the nearest to heaven” I was talking about this particular Psalm with Dave Anderson from our church this week… Many of you know Dave…if you don’t, Dave is a retired pastor of 40 years And he said, “Sometimes when we’re in the confusion of the deep, a lot of us just want to get out…as fast as possible” And he looked at me with the intensity and passion he has for Jesus, and he said, “But don’t run out of the deep until you’ve met God there!” So good. And if you’re down, and you’re not sure you’ve ever really met God… Let me tell you what C.S. Lewis once about that: He said, “A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on himself. He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” – C.S. Lewis You can’t get truly out of the funk you are in without coming to know Jesus Christ. God’s Son who died on the cross for your sins. The Bible says that if you believe He died for you and surrender your life over to Him, you can be completely forgiven. If you turn your life over to Him, He will bring your from death to life, from darkness to light. So call out to Him…because even in the deep…He is there with you. Let me pray. Copyright: David Sorn Renovation Church in Blaine, MN You may use this material all you like! We only ask that you do not charge a fee and that you quote the source and not say it is your own.