Why?

Dear Precious Friends,

On this Fill our Soul Sunday, I pray you are able to spend time filling your soul through a great Bible teaching, Spirit filled church, fellowship with other believers and time spent in God's word. I pray you are waking up knowing

no matter what you are walking through, our help comes from the Lord. There are so many times we can relate to the Psalmist. He cried out to God in times of deep anguish and despair. He rejoiced and praised the Lord during times of blessing and provision. The one thread we see throughout the Psalms is this - whether he was praising the Lord, or asking for His divine intervention, he recognized God's hand in everything that took place in his life. He knew that no matter what happened around him the Lord was mighty to save and would provide a way of escape. He never took his eyes off the Lord and placed them on his circumstance. If you read in Psalm chapters 42 and 43 you will notice something interesting. Three times within these sixteen short verses the same verse is repeated. Obviously, it was worth repeating so let's take a look at it. Psalm 42:5 & 11, 43:5 "Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again, my Savior and my God!" These are very clear instructions as to how we are to handle distress, despair, loneliness, depression and a myriad of other emotions that can so easily plague our minds. Put your hope in the Lord. Much of the Psalms are written by David. He uses many ways to remind us how to respond to discouragement. Here are the common ways: He asks God why, He affirms God's Sovereign Love, He sings, He preaches to his own soul, he remembers past experiences,

On this side of the cross, we know the greatest ground for our hope: Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins and was triumphant over death. So the main thing we must learn is to preach the gospel to ourselves:

Listen, : If God is for you and I , who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for you and I, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against us as God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:31–35 paraphrased) Learn to preach the gospel to yourself. If this psalmist were living after Christ, that is what he would have done.

Maybe we can't see the relief that is coming, there seems to be no light at the end of that tunnel. We need to constantly be checking where our focus is. Is it on the end of that tunnel? Are we more focused on where and how the answer is coming than we are on the One from whom it comes? How, where and when is up to the Lord and His timing. If our focus is right this will bring the peace that is avoiding us in our present situation. Where is our focus today? Do we need to take some time to refocus our thoughts on Jesus rather than on our circumstances?

May we give our burden and pain, and give it to the Lord. Let him have it! Tell him exactly how you feel. He already knows, anyway. Then, put our hope in God, for He is trustworthy. He has the power to change our situation. He can take your turmoil and turn it into something good.