Dear Church Family –
Thanks for another great day in church yesterday. It was good to see so many extended family visitors and share their joy!
As we face into a new year, here’s a quick recap of yesterday’s message on where to find hope from Psalms 42 and 43.
Hope is remembering that God is at work. (Psa 42:4)
Hope is remembering that God loves you. (Psa 42:6)
Hope is remembering that God keeps His promises. (Psa 43:3)
“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” That is the repeated refrain that appears in Psalm 42:5 and 11 and Psalm 43:5)
Thinking about that repeated refrain, I quoted yesterday from Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book, Spiritual Depression: It’s Causes and Cure. He made this insightful observation:
“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are
listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”
He’s right. We think we deserve more. We think “it’s just a little sin.” We think we can handle it and it won’t matter. We think we always know best. We think the other person deserves our criticism and judgmental attitude. Etc. That’s listening to ourselves, and it creates unhappiness.
Talking to ourselves is telling ourselves the truth. That we need God. That God’s ways are always good and right and best. That sin always hurts and enslaves. That we gain life by giving it away, not by selfishly holding onto it. That our suffering now is producing for us an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor 4:16-18). That joy comes as a by-product of having the attitude adjustment God outlines in Philippians 2:3-5, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…”
Years ago I saw a handwritten note taped up in a workplace where it was seen often. I didn’t know it at the time but it turns out to be a snatch from a poem Corrie Ten-Boom wrote:
He knows, He loves, He cares,
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice with Him.
Thanks for following God and honoring His Word. Praying and trusting for another year of strength and joy at Emmaus Church! – Pastor Tim
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