Hey everyone! I hope you all feel empowered and bold in your faith today. I know that this life thing can be quite trying and difficult at times. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately and I want to speak to those of you who feel discouraged by their situation today. Let’s go to the Word…shall we?
I LOVE the book of Psalms in the Bible! It’s full of verses that are quick, simple, easy to read and incredibly relatable! I can guarantee no matter what kinds of troubling emotions you are feeling-there is a Psalm for that! (That’s kind of my go-to saying, please use it for yourself too :)) I find that there is always a Psalm to describe what I am going through or what I am feeling on any given day… Lately I have been in Psalm 42 and that will be our scriptural focus for today. (For extra bonus points, go read Psalm 42 right now! It’s only 11 verses! It will take you approximately 2 minutes! Go ahead! Don’t worry I’ll wait 🙂 Meet you back in 2 minutes? Ok, sounds good). Did you read it? Ok, AWESOME! Let’s continue!
The author of Psalm 42 seems to be extremely perplexed at their current situation. It appears from verses 3 and 9 that they are filled with sorrow, questioning and doubt. They describe themselves as “mourning because of the oppression of the enemy” (Psalm 42:9). This is relatable on so many levels, don’t you think?! Do you ever look around at the world or even your current situation and feel doubt? Do you feel sorrow when you hear the negativity on the news at night? Do you feel like questioning God when something bad or unjust happens to you? Yeah, so did this psalmist.
Although they are, “going through it” right now; what was their overall response? Does the psalmist just simply give up and stop following God? Did they stop going to church? Did they stop doing anything that they were doing before? I ask this because I think we all have a tendency to let the negativity that enters our lives to cause us to, “freeze” for a moment… a day… heck… even a season… But is that really the correct response? I think not. When we allow our circumstances to “freeze” us we are responding to the fears surrounding our feelings. In this state of anxiety, it is impossible to be in the Spirit. Therefore, by default, we are not being respondent to the Holy Spirit, which in turn means, that we can’t accomplish anything good.
The Psalmist in Psalm 42 is an excellent example of someone who is tired, frustrated, and maybe even angry… who kept going. They chose to focus on what was going on in God’s supernatural realm, as opposed to focusing on their natural realm and their own natural understanding. I hate to break it to you.. but sometimes what we go through in the natural will not make any sense to us at all. However, we can allow our circumstances to give us the opportunity to rely and trust in God and His perfect will for us! Each situation that we face is an opportunity to trust God more and grow in faith towards Him.
“My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you” – Psalm 42:6
The psalmist never took their eyes off Jesus (despite experiencing a difficult situation that didn’t make sense to them).
Let’s continue to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)! Put your hope in God (Psalm 42:11) for hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Romans 5:5).
God is our portion through trials and tribulations.
Is there anything He can’t do?
Lifted Vision Ministry 