When You Feel Alone | Finding Hope | Psalm 42:1-11

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Good Morning, good morning. We talked all that through. Good morning, good morning to you. And you and you. That was amazing the whole night through. That sounds you lost me it the whole night through. But that's all. You don't know that song, no, I've not heard. I've heard good morning, good morning, but I've never heard it in more. Vers than that. Well, hey, as our listeners probably already know at their faithful listeners, that is from the movie Singing in the Rain, Oh Yes, released in nineteen fifty two. Wow, I'm impressed. Well don't you always impressed me? Chris donfy hey, but for age good morning. My name is Chris and I'm Brian Moral. Yes, and we today are the Bible Guys because Jeff is out of the country and today, or actually this whole week, we are having a different guest every single day, and so today we're doing Ryan. Ryan, you are the family ministry director at our church, Partage Church. I am in Michigan, Yes i am, and I've known you for how long gosh, twenty years? Twenty years right over twenty we were a lot less gray. You know, you've got to you know, at that point, but I think we're. Still I love the people watching. He touched me. I just grazed his face. So I wish I could grow a beard like this guy. And he shaved it about two weeks ago. It was totally gone. Yeah, and it freaked everybody out, but I loved it. I love the look for those. Few days that you were totally you know, clean shaven. Buddy, Yeah, appreciate that. Well, hey, Ryan, we are diving into a segment that I'm calling Crazy Questions. Desiree threw together some pretty random crazy questions and so here's what it says. Ryan is the Family Ministry's director. So here is today's question. What's the most ridiculous family tradition that you secretly love but would never admit to anyone else. Okay, yeah, it doesn't by the way, it doesn't say that it's your family tradition. Oh well, this one is was a family tradition. I can say that much. So family for our family. Yeah yeah, So every year spring break, we just did this two weeks ago. We will go. On a trip and we go down to pretty much the same location. We go to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. My wife's been going there since she was a little girl, and so when we got married, we went there. And it's just been this thing for our family. So as we as our family grew and we had, you know, more and more children, we would and they were younger, we'd get a fun album. Right, we put twelve children, yes, yes, yes, we love each other a lot, true, three children, three children, and so we get a fun album and we put it in. And so the album of choice this was Gosh. I mean, our middle one was probably fourth grade, so he's ten years old, he's ninety, just about ten years ago. I think you guys would all know the and the album. The big movie that year was. Mowana Miwana, so we put Mawana in. And my my fourth grader at that point, he loved Malan. He just loved the songs. You know, all the girls in the school, I probably probably liked a couple of those girls. We're singing Milana. So so we sang Milana the whole trip down and it was just so much fun and and there were some great songs. You know, Manuel am I getting to write his the writer of it, the guy that did Hamilton. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, he wrote it. It's fantastic. So anyway we get we remember his name. Ye, yes, he's fantastic. So anyway we we enjoyed the music. And and so that music kind of stuck with me. Now the boys get older, they become teenagers. No, no teenage boys listening to Milana, right, No teenage boy at least you know publicly. And so but I've continued to like the music. So now when I get to Hilton Head, that's great. Milana is on my on my playlist. So I'm on the beach just this last week, and and the title song comes on if you know, if you know how it starts, you know, you know Disney was I've been standing at the edge of the water long as I get and so there I am running down the beach and here I am a fifty two yes I'll say it, year old man singing will want at the top of my lungs. And then there's the crescendo moment, like you know, She's like I am. You know, and there I am. I'm christndoing with it as well. So and it continues to stay on the playlist. This turned into a great story. So it started as a sweet family tradition singing sing along, and now it's turned into you by yourself as an older young singing buy the ocean. By the ocean. Yeah it is, so it's I thought if and I have not confessed that moment back to them at all. But it's in the lists. It's in the playlist, and it will remain there as well. So we all have hidden songs in our playlist that we you don't want others to know about. That's mine. Oh well, you know what. Speaking of an ocean, the psalms are an ocean of great writings. And the first line Chris that we're talking about as the deer lungs for streams of water. Oh wow, wow. The goal is terrible transitions. That was actually a good transit. Oh sorry, you missed the goal. I'm sorry. I should have gone somewhere else. Yeah. Hey, by the way, before we continue on and dive into the scriptures for today, I just have to say we've said this all week, but if you're in Michigan and you feel like it, join us. We're doing a Bible Guys Live event April twenty fourth and six pm at our Inla City campus for Heritage Church. So you go to Heridichurch dot com. And you know, we have different campuses. In La City is about forty minutes north or so of our String Heights campus. Amazing, and so yeah, it just be kind of cool. Even if you don't go to church. Church, you don't even know what it is. Just walk to the church. It's a church. It'd be fun right walking to the church. It's it's a it's a it's an event. Uh, friendly people and Jeff and I will be there and it's gonna be fun. And I know Liz loves in La City because she loves that drive into the country. We spoke there several weeks ago and she said, uh, you know, she opened up, you know, and you know, people up there a little bit. More rural, your rural. There's a lot more farmers, you know, things like that. You know, people with uh you know, uh, chickens and animals. And she said, my goal in my life is to move up to Inlay City and have chickens and cows. And I'm looking at her and I'm like, who are you kidding? What you want is you want servants to take care of your chickens and cows, but you want to go out and visit them and then come back in and then say, hey, husband, go milk the cow or take care of the cow or you know whatever. That's what That's what she wants to She wants to be a farm owner with with with with ranch hands, and then two wants to walk around. And the irony and the dichotomy of this whole thing is you couldn't be anymore on the other extreme where you want city and buildings. Yes, which is a surban environment. Which, by the way, I'm a very rare breed in that way. People love nature, they love all that stuff, and I do too. I'd like to think that I do. However, I get more excited in Yeah it's crazy. Yeah, I don't understand it myself. I know, I still love you. Yeah, thank you. Well, Hey, buddy, we're going to transition into the book of Psalms. We wrapped up Proverbs yesterday and we're skipping around to Psalms. And I would love to actually read a note that sort of sets us up from the life application study Bible. We promote buying one of these, but this these are psalms that are collected in Hezekiah's era. Okay, so this is how it reads. This note it. So this is a loose collection of fifty seven psalm Psalms forty two through forty nine, along with eighty four, eighty five. And eighty seven. They're attributed to the descendants of Korra who served in the temple. The other psalms in this section are all anonymous, meaning that the Hebrew subtitles don't give any indication of who wrote the song. We collected them all together here because it's as likely a place as any for them to appear. This doesn't mean that they're a group that was meant to be read together, or that they are necessarily written at this time. However, it is likely that during Hezekiah's reign many psalms were either composed or rediscover as a part of his revival. So a little bit. Tid bit there, a little piece of cool knowledge, and so Psalm forty two is among them, and we're going to read the whole thing. And that's you, by the way. All right, I'm reading it all right, starting at verse one, as the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, oh God. A thirst for God, the Living God. When can I go and stand before Him day and night? I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taught me saying, where is this God of yours? My heart is break as I remember how it used to be. I walked among the crowds of worshippers, leading a great procession to the House of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration. 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. Now I am deeply discouraged, But I will remember you. Even from distant Mount Herman, the source of the Jordan, and the loud of Mount Mazar. I hear the tumult of the raging seas, as your waves and surging tides sweep over me. But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. Oh God, my Rock, I cry, Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief? Oppressed by my enemies? Their taunts break my bones. A scoff, Where is this God of yours? 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. That's great good. You know, I know, I know that it sounds crazy, but I actually get encouraged when I see the Psalmists express sadness and discouragement, because. It just reminds all of us that we're all human. You know. Oftentimes we hear of you know, these great writers of you know, there's such godly men. They're authors. God literally used them to write his inspired word. Right, we believe that, we believe that this is the inspired word of God. We don't believe their words about God. We believe that these are the words of God. Right, because you know, either God was in control of building the Bible or he wasn't. Right. You know, the Word of God talks about itself and talks about its authority so much it's almost unbelievable. How it talks about the Word of God is is you know, for correction and for rebuke, and these are the inspired words of God authored by men, but yet inspired. It says that about. Itself, and so Therefore, if you think about it through that context, and you think, okay, God, the Holy Spirit, God himself, he had control of which pieces of the Bible are going to come together and be authenticated as God's word. Either God was a part of that or he wasn't. And so you have to have to have faith in that. You can study all about you know, the council that I see, and the different meetings and all the different books that were voted in and voted out. You could debate that all day long, or you can just say God said that he was going to build his word, and it is here in front of us, and it is the most I'm going on a rant here now, but like it is the best selling book times a billion over every other book. It's the only thing in heaven that's going to survive, that's going to be fit physical outside the Ark of the Covenant, the rod of Aaron and the bowl of Manna and the remains of the Ark of the Covenant, it's the Word of God. Right, So all of that to say in that context, in that perspective, then why would God allow an author to express through his divine inspiration feelings of discouragement? Why? And I think the answer is is to let us as future readers, know that it's okay to be discouraged, because as we are human and we have discouragement. The answer then is to put our hope in God, because that's his answer, right, And I. Think the church has for so so many people, and maybe I'm sure there are several listeners myself included times where where the church just wanted to always put the positive spin on life or situations. And you know, we hear that. Phrase toxic positivity, and I just that's that's not what I read in scripture. There is there's this reality base. And we connect, there's we connect to that. There's this authenticity that comes from it. It says, gosh, you know when a pastor is authentic, when a friend is authentic with us, it's like, wow, you can associate with me. And scripture does the same exact thing. It's alive and. Alive, it's breathing, it's a it's this, it's the word of God. So of course it's going to be real with us. So yeah, that's great. And uh and uh, you know, think about the number of times here that it goes I don't want to say dark, but like you know, there's either you know dark meaning like you know sad uh. He says in verse five, why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? And and and then the next verse, now I'm deeply discouraged. But then he says, but but I will remember you even even from distant Mount Herman, the source of the Jordan Uh. And and I've been to Israel, even Israel, right, is really no So Mount Herman is obviously still there, and that is where Ordan River does come from. So you know, it'd be like northern modern day Lebanon. Right. I don't know if you've ever seen pictures of Lebanon in the winter, but they could have snowbanks higher than this building. I mean, just crazy. And and so Mount Hermon is, like I think, I don't know, thirteen hundred feet above sea level seventeen. Hundred, I don't know it's up there. It's less than two thousand, but it's but it's pretty high, and it's got snow caps on it, which is hard to believe because in Israel the entire time I was there, it was one hundred and twenty degrees. Wow, one hundred and twenty snow in one hundred and twenty degrees. Yeah, it's terrible. But the snow caps of Mount Herman run deep. Down and and and you know, and as Israel goes south, you have to see Galilee and up northern you know, near you know, you know, to Pernaum, right and and all those places. And then the river, the Jordan River sort of connects the two and it goes all the way down to the south and then sort of right near drew Rusalem and Bethlehem and those places in the south is the Dead Sea and and so that's where you know, that's what happens there. And as as you go down, uh, the entire thing goes downward. So it just continues to go down below sea level, okay, and and so uh therefore it is so interesting how Psalms were written, you know, hundreds of years before Jesus, and yet we can still match the word of God with geography. Isn't that amazing? And so in what he's doing is he's doing a word picture, and he's saying like Mount Herman is so distant, and yet I recognize it. It's the source of life, right. The Jordan River flows from it. It's the source I don't know if you know this or not, but did you know that? Remember the woman at the well. So Jesus meets the. Woman and uh and and and uh. And it's in Sickar, just outside of Sicar, and uh and and she he says, he says, Jesus says to her, if you knew who it was who was talking with you, you would ask me for a drink and you never thirst again. And so she didn't understand it. And she says, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who dug this well? Did you know that Jacob's well is one of the I think it's the deepest well and greatest well in all of Israel, and the ancestor Jacob obviously dug it. But it goes all the way down. And when we were there, this priest because they built a church over this well and Jacob's well, and it's definitely Jacob's well. Like there's some places where you're like, ah, I think maybe it was kind of, but this is definitely the place for a lot of reasons. But we know for a fact it's this place. He drops a rock and he goes listen, he goes drops a pebble, and he goes one, two, three, counts to nine before it goes bloop. He said, he goes, these are from the snow caps of Mount Herman. And so we lowered the rope and he pulls it up. Everybody drinks and it is ice cold. Dude, I'm talking like like you didn't even the ice cubes. It's that cold. Can you imagine in one hundred and twenty degree heat, you know, thinking that the difference between life and death, you know, is just some shade. And everybody goes to the well and she says, are you greater than Jacob who dug this well? Because this well is like magic, it's life. And guess what it all comes from the source, which is Mount Herman. And so this is what the writer is saying. The writer is saying, I look to you because you are the source of life. Isn't it amazing? Yeah? I love as you look at the passage as it starts, is the deer lungs for the streams of water. So I long for you, O God. I thirst for God. And so as you're building that picture of thirst and again picturing one hundred and twenty plus degrees and the coldest water you can imagine and how sweet and wonderful that would taste. It's it's an amazing picture. Do you think of the song as a dear. And it for the water so long after you? Yes, yes, back. Alone my hearts, yep, and I long. To worship you exactly. You're welcome everyone. Yes, that was amazing. I changed keys on you because you say it really high. But that is definitely what I think of when I when I. And and by the way, all Christians who live in church wild probably thought of that. It was a very popular song. But if you think about, you know, the dear longing for streams of water, it's a beautiful, beautiful picture. And then all of a sudden, you know, the word picture is in the same way you know when the deer pants. This is how I long for your truth and your goodness and and and long for you. You know, have you. Ever been so parched where you're like, I have to have water. I've got a story for you. Okay, actually so gosh, probably twenty years ago. So I'm a runner, right if you spending time around me, I'm running. Quite a bit. And so this is in the early days. Went anywhere I was running, I was run Ning Forest. And so my wife and I were out on a drive one day and I had this idea. I said, hey, what if I'm really curious to run the whole Pink Creek Trail if you guys, if anybody out there, Lake Orian area, Pink Creek Trail runs from basically downtown Lake Orian downtown Rochester. And so we were on a drive one day and I said, hey, I'm really curious about running the Pink Creek Trail. She's like, well, why don't you do it? And I was like, yeah, let's do it. Got my shorts, got my running shoes, went home or drove up to the Pink Creek Trail and she dropped me off. Now it's like late June, somewhere in July, I don't remember. It's in the summertime, and right is about to go. She's like, you need some water. I was like, no, I'm fine, I'm fine, no problem at all. You know, this is the young twenty something year old me like no problem. And she's like, okay, sure. I was like no, I'll be fine. I'll be fine, and I've done this. It was thirty years ago. Then there you go, thirty years ago, yes, yes, time thanks Chris for that reminder so many years ago. And so I start off on this run ninety degree day, and I'm running and I probably make it about a mile and a half two miles, and all of a sudden, I mean, just the heat, the thirst just. Comes over me. And this is a panicky moment, like I don't know how I'm going to do this. I still got I think in my own head, I'm thinking, I got seven eight miles to go. I have no water, right and I'm marched and I can feel it. And so I quickly am trying to figure out a solution to the situation. And there's nothing. There's a river, there's the Pink Creek river that runs along, but not quite confident that I need to go down and you know it from. The from the river at this point. So I'm going along and there's nothing. There's nothing. I'm looking for a house, I'm looking for a garden hose or anything. Nothing. And I come across it's an archery facility and I see it and cars are parked all around it and there's all these archers, you know, dressed in their archery gear and they're outside and it's like a party as well there's some sort of party going inside. And here I come. This this drenched and sweating, just just almost crawling into the place. And I mean it's just like. Water, you know. I'm literally like what water water? And they look at me like I'm an apocalyptic you know, kind of like presence in this thing. And I just walked in, total stranger, no idea, and I just said I need water, and so got the water, got the drink and then I'm like, thank you so much. They didn't give me any bottles or anything. So I had to continue on down the rest of the trail, and then I got about midway, I got desperate and this point I'm going down into the river. I'm going down to the Pickwick River and just lapping water into my mouth, trying to keep. Myself hydrated all the way. And I still remember like making it to downtown Rochester and just feeling like this relief one that and well. We lived close by. At that point, I literally ran to my house. But I just remember thinking, oh my goodness, I survived this, Like it was like it felt like this I may not make it. And again I'm in a populated suburban area, but on a on a simple trail. But you when you get that thirsty, when you're you're that in need, it's amazing what you do. And again the word there was thirst, I thirst for God. And it's like I would have taken anything. I would have taken anything at that point in time. And so you know, it was just the strong the desire that. Was in me just to have water. And I think about our desire and thirst for God, that that need of like I have to have you now in order to survive. You know, I need this so desperately in my life. So it was a powerful word picture. When you read that, I was like, or whenever, When when I saw that, I was like, that's just jumped right into the back of my head. So that's amazing. Yeah, and hey, let me I don't want to go back to the to the depressing side of things. But so we have a few more minutes left. And I was just going to say, so every time that the psalmist UH talks about it's his discouragements, UH and UH being so sad, it always transitions and says, but I will either remember God, I will praise him, I will trust in him and Uh, and then it then then this almost says, each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to the God who gives me life. So again, just like the deer, just like Mount Hermon, referring to God as the source of life. And then and then, and then the very next verse after that says, Oh God, my rock, I cry, why have you forgotten me? So so still faithfulness in God? Do you just see the beauty in that? So? The beauty of it is is that the psalmist feels comfortable with, you know, expressing thoughts of abandonment. Now we probably understand based on who God is, that it feels like God abandons abandons us. But God never abandons us. Right, He'll never leave us, He'll never forsake us. But the feelings of abandonment right after this almost says I'm not going to I'm not going to stop doubting. I'm always going to continue to trust. And then I'm going to remind myself God of who you are. You have unfailing love, your attributes, And then ask the questions why am I so discouraged? Why am I I put my home my hope on God. It's just a beautiful, beautiful thing. Now I know that we may not get to it, or maybe perhaps we will. But Psalm seventy seven always sticks out to me. And we don't do a lot of cross referencing, but like it's sort of the same thing where this Psalmist says, you know, God, I'm in distress and I cry out to you all night long, my soul refuses to be comforted. And then it takes a turn, and the turn is, but I will remember your faithfulness. I will remember who you are. And then it ends the chapter by saying, what God is as great as our God? Right to whom shall we go to besides you God? And so that's really essentially what this almost is saying. This almost is saying, I have to realize and recognize you are the source of life. You're the one that has unfilling love. And even in my discouragement, I will still recognize, as hard as it is, as much of a struggle it is, God, I still believe in trust in You. And to me, that is super encouraging. If you're discouraged out there and you feel in like things aren't going well and you feel like maybe God has abandoned you, just know that God's not afraid of those feelings. He never condemns, He never yells at King David even for having these types of thoughts, a man who loved him and was after his own heart. God is not afraid of these things. Even on Easter we're talking about Thomas's doubt. God never yelled at Thomas for doubting. God met Thomas in his doubt, and so just know it's but just continue to recognize who God is, remember his past faithfulness for future uncertainties. Yeah, as you shared that passage and at the beginning of verse say. It says, but each day, each day, that's right, and it's just a reminder. It's like you can't see in these massive chunks of time, and sometimes we want that, we want. To see the future, but it's just each day. I'm going to take each day and I see that God's provision and his love and his presence. Is there as I start this day. That's great. Well, that's definitely our time, and so hopefully we will see you next time tomorrow with a brand new guest. Thanks for joining us on the Bible. Guys,