“Trouble in my way, I have to cry sometimes.
So much trouble, I have to cry sometimes.
I lay awake at night, but that’s alright;
Because I know Jesus will fix it after awhile.”
Here we are again. I want to use this ‘Preaching Moment’ to deal with what’s going on underneath our skin. So, WE NEED TO TALK! There is a passage of Scripture recorded in the 42nd Psalm Verse 5 which I have tagged and targeted for teaching (read)
Let‘s discuss “THE ANTIDOTE FOR A TROUBLED LIFE.”
I must use this period of ministry in addressing those very special saint who are experiencing UNUSUAL TROUBLE and are TROUBLED thereby. I need to address you because You and Your Experience has been Overlooked and given Too Little Attention by the ministry and message of the current church.
You merit special attention because YOUR TROUBLE IS BY NO MEANS ORDINARY. Your Depressing and Disquieting Dilemma Is Intensified! It is over and above the ordinary. It exceeds the depressing and disturbing experience that is the common lot of all mankind. Said Job, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” That is our common lot whether we be saint or sinner. But the trouble of these special saints exceeds the measure of ordinary trouble experienced by sinners and the peculiar trouble suffered by the saved. How so? In this manner.
DEPRESSION AND DISQUIETNESS HAVE FORMED A CIRCLE AROUND YOUR LIFE, and the consequence of which is, YOU ARE UNABLE TO ESCAPE FROM IT. Every place you move, every encounter, every conscious hour of life is Lived Within This Environment, This Circle of the Valley of Despair. Some very special saints among us are LIVING WITHIN THIS CIRCLE OF VALLEYS AND VEXATIONS, OF DEPRESSION AND DISTURBANCE, OF THE DISCOURAGING AND DEAFENING.
It is not an EITHER/OR THING. It is a Combination, a Compound of both. Its Depression AND Disquietness. Depressed as a result of Outside Forces. Disquieted as a result of Internal Causes.
First, Your Life Is Imprisoned from Without by the External Forces of Depression. Constantly you are forced to BOW-DOWN. Not in a posture and attitude of worship and prayer. But Bowed-Down because of Outside Forces and Folk. Unremittingly you are CAST DOWN IN MIND AND SPIRIT. Persistently you are REJECTED, OVERLOOKED, DISSED, DISHEARTENED, DISCOURAGED, SAT ON, WALKED ON, OPPRESSED, MOCKED, MADE FUN OF. You are STRICKENED WITH A SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS. You have to endure Successive Trouble. One after the other without any relief in the interval. You have to bear Aggravated Annoyance. Everything has an UNFORTUNATE OUTCOME. Whatever you do seems to turn out Badly, Wrong, All Messed Up. You live in a CONSTANT STATE OF UNHAPPINESS AND DEPRESSION.
Coupled to this is, Second, From Within Your Life Is Encircled by Disquietness. There is a whole lot of Noise going on inside your head and heart. So, you live with a Lost Sense of Security. No Peace of Mind. No Quiet Time. You can’t Think Clearly. Nor can you Act Decisively because of Uninterrupted Worry. In a word, DISQUIETED WITHIN!!!
You Live A Very Troubled Life. And yet, it is compounded by the fact that it is VERY TROUBLING. You don’t know WHY. So, you have to ask yourself, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And Why art thou disquieted within me?”
You want to know the REASON. You have asked your soul , What REASON could it give to justify being Grief-Strickened and Saddened? So, what I want to do FIRST is to get you to Probe Underneath Your Skin for:
I. THE REASON FOR YOUR TROUBLED LIFE.
Let me suggest to you that ONE POSSIBLE REASON for Your Troubled Life just might be:
A. YOU HAVE A DIVINE ADDICTION. That seems to be the gist of verses 1-3. Addiction = Devoted to Experiencing God’s Presence on a Regular Basis. That seems to be his testimony in verse 4c, “for I had …”
1. Perhaps, You Are Suffering WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS - verse 1
“Pants … Cries … Longs for.”
2. Perhaps You Crave A Divine Fix - verse 2
“God - Elohim, the Strong Breasted One who enters into Covenant.”
“Appear before God = show myself in the Tabernacle.”
3. Perhaps You Have An Unrealized Desire - Verse 3.
Let me suggest to you that a SECOND POSSIBLE REASON for Your Troubled Life could be.
B. YOU REMEMBER HOW THINGS USED TO BE. That seems to be the gist of verse 4.
You Used To Go To the House of God. You miss the Company of the Saints - “had gone with multitude” with the Voice of Joy and Praise, Voice of
Shouting, Rejoicing and Singing and Hand Raising in Worshipping.
2. But Now, “you pour out your soul” - you express yourself with tears and complaints.
3. Because now Religion is no longer a Lift but a Load.
4. You long for a Fresh Manifestation of the Presence of God - “when I remember these things …”
Let me suggest to you that a THIRD POSSIBLE EXPLANATION for Your Troubled Life just might Be:
C.YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE GOD HAS FORGOTTEN YOU. That seems to be the gist of Verses 9 and 10. Verse 9, “Why hast Thou forgotten me?”
You are Not Comforted - v. 9b. “mourning=to go in filthy clothes with a foul odor, ashy.”
You Are Taunted - v. 10.
But the issue is: ARE DIVINE ADDICTION, NOSTALGIA and SENSED FORSAKENED VALID REASONS FOR DEPRESSION OF SOUL?
Is Divine Addiction HARMFUL to the Soul? NO!
Should Retrospection cause the Soul to DROOP? NO!
Is Amnesia With God Possible as it relates to Forgetting His Own Children? NO!
II. THEN THE ONLY ANTIDOTE FOR A TROUBLED LIFE IS HOPE - Verse 5.
David had just reached a decision. He says to himself: ‘I know what I must do. I will exert My Will over My Emotions and Reflections, and I will cause myself To Hope. I must make myself Move Towards God In Hope. I must make myself Confide In Him. I must force myself To Trust In Him. I Must Move Towards God In An Attitude Of Expectancy.’ In verse 5 he says to his soul: “Hope thou in God.”
You must not Wish you could hope in God. Hope is strong enough for you to Will. We often wish for things that we do not really desire. There are some things we may wish for but not really want because we know that having them would prevent us from having something we want more. Our dreams are often made of wishes we do not really want. But hope is a desire for something that we Will to have. You must Will to have Hope in God.
You must Expect that your trust in God is really going to happen. To be hopeful is to face the future with some Gladness, some Thankfulness, some Sense that the Present is Worth Living because You Expect the Future to bring what you deeply desire.
You must have that Hope that does not Disappoint you. In daily human experience, we fall back on something we call hope when we lose our confidence. With that kind of hope we lapse into desire WITHOUT expectation. When we are at a loss we say, “All we can do now is hope.” But that is not Biblical Hope. Hope Is Certainty.
The promise of Christ is that HE is our Hope. This hope cannot fail because Christ will not and cannot fail. This is why Hope is symbolized by an Anchor, “A sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” in Hebrews 6:19. Hope in the dimension of Faith means “I am SURE as I face the future.”
Wait a minute, Brother Harris. Are you saying Confidence creates the certainty that a miracle is always on the way? Does hope give me power to know that my mother’s cancer will be cured? Does hope tell parents that their child’s leukemia will go away? Are you saying that Hope assures every estranged spouse that his/her marriage will be healed? No, my friends, I am not. Hope cannot make us certain about everything. The fact of the matter is that sometimes our Hopes Disappoint Us. How, then, can I tell my soul to hope within a reality where hopes are too often smashed by brute facts, Brother Harris?
I’m glad you asked that question. Because Hope, at its deepest, is not focused on Particulars. At its core, Hope looks BEYOND a cure for disease, a solution for a problem, an escape from pain; and looks for Assurance from God that LIFE HAS POINT AND MEANING IN SPITE OF DISEASE, PROBLEMS AND PAIN.
Hope looks to the promise of the Final Victory of Jesus Christ over all that hurts and kills. This is the Hope that gives you Courage to Praise Today and to Face Tomorrow with Expectancy even when you do not expect the problem to be solved. Mix Hope with your Hurt!
That’s why the psalmist gives us the Reason to hope in that small word “Yet.” Hope thou in God because YET in the Future I will praise Him. I might not be able to praise Him for what is, but with Hope I can praise Him for what is going to be. So, I’ll just write a Comma right here, because I expect something else to happen after this.
For I shall YET praise Him with what is Left. I will praise Him right now with what Strength I have left in me. I will praise Him right now with what Breath I have left in me. YET with what I have remaining I shall praise Him. In spite of my trouble I shall YET praise Him.
I’m gonna fight back with my praise. I’m fighting back with my worship. I’m fighting back with my songs. Fighting back with my thanks. Fighting back with my hallelujahs. Fighting back with “the Lord is good.” Fighting back with my faith. Fighting back with my Hope.
With what I have left I’m gonna Praise Him because “HIS FACE MEAN HELP.” If I keep Praising Him, GOD WILL SHOW HIS FACE! If I keep on Bragging on Him, GOD WILL SHOW HIS FACE! If I keep on Extolling Him, THE LORD WILL SHOW HIS FACE. If I keep Lifting Him up, THE LORD WILL SHOW HIS FACE! For He Inhabits the Praise of His people!
If you want God to Show His Face, JUST KEEP ON PRAISING HIM. His Face says that He’s Present. His Face says that He’s with you in Your Trouble. His Face says that He Sees what you’re going thru. His Face says that His Ear is attentive to your cry. His Face says that His Mouth is about to speak the word of Deliverance!
To get rid of that spirit of heaviness, you must Hope in God for the Pardon of Sin! You must Hope in God for Strength against Satan’s temptation.
You must believe that in spite of your present circumstances that you shall have Salvation Upon Salvation. Salvation of every kind.
HOPE THOU IN GOD! For God is causing all things to work together for your good.
Be optimistic about your condition.
Look always upon the bright side of things.
Look forward to only that which is good.
Expect continued blessing and joy.
Hope sees possibilities for change. Hope keeps us open to new possibilities. Its only when we lose patience or no longer care that we say, “Its hopeless.” But when we experience the love of God, we feel possibilities for newness on every side. When God takes us into love’s embrace-
When all our sins are forgiven, when our blemished past is accepted,
And when we face our future as a tomorrow bathed in the atmosphere of divine love-
We are Reborn in Hope. Desire is transformed into expectancy and all things become Possible - HOPE THOU IN GOD!!!
