PSALM 42:5, 11 – 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. 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.”
THEME OF THE DAY: TALKING TO YOURSELF. The scriptures of the day were penned by the Sons of Korah. We will notice they are one verse repeated twice in the Psalm. Why the double emphasis? Importance. Repetition means “pay attention” and demands just that, we pay attention for what is being said determines the quality of our spiritual walks with the Lord.
As we analyze these verses, there is a conversation occurring. Do we hear the participants? Do we hear the contents of the conversation? Let’s answer those questions by answering this one. During the course of each day, who do we talk to the most? No, it is not our spouses, not our pets, and not any friend or co-worker. The person we converse with the most is ourselves and that is who the Psalmists are addressing. This is self-talk and it is self-talk along a rational conversation of reasoning. What is being said is, “Hey, why are you discouraged? Why are you allowing life to bring you down? Don’t you know truth? Have you forgotten the God of hope?”
The process of talking to yourself, or better yet, getting control of yourself emotionally and spiritually is essential if we are to stay close to the Lord and live the Christian life as God intends. This truth is captured so well in a book written by D. M. Lloyd-Jones. Known as “the doctor”, he preached a series of sermons titled Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure that was turned into a book under the same title. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It may very well be the best book written on spiritual depression for Christians. The following is an excerpt affirming what the Psalmists are doing in today’s scripture – talking to themselves, reasoning truth with themselves.
D.M. Lloyd-Jones, “The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul; ‘Why are you cast down’ – what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself; hope in God instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is, and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note; defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man, ‘I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.’”
Isn’t that such sound and good advice? And as we do so, getting a hold on ourselves, let’s make sure the conversation we have with ourselves is truth, telling ourselves God’s truth about Himself and us. That is the way to live the Christian life in the power of God’s Word transforming our minds and controlling our emotions.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to talk truth to myself, not listen to the lies by the devil, world, and my flesh.”
QUOTE: “Speak truth to yourself if not you will listen to lies.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim