Family Tree 12.5.20

Family Tree Devotional Series - Week 1 – Hope - Saturday – Pastor Todd
Where Hope Grows Wild

Psalm 42:9-11 (NIV)
I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 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.

This text is full of talk.  First, David talks to God. He pours out his honest feelings, confessing that he is suffering from agony and mockery. He doesn’t understand what God is up to in his life. The first lesson here is that God can handle our honest feelings in prayer. When we pray, God wants to know how we are feeling, and if we are struggling, we can be honest with him without rejecting him.

Then he goes on to talk to himself.  Literally, David is giving himself a pep talk.  But it is not just some empty platitudes.  David is reminding himself that his God is real and can be trusted. I recently heard someone say that when you are down and going through something difficult, don’t listen to yourself; instead, talk to yourself!  During hard times the devil is going to flood your mind with despondent, negative thoughts. Instead of being captive to those thoughts, speak the truth right over the top of those lies.

For many of us, that means to make these declarations out loud.  We should get in the habit of speaking things like “I trust in God.”  “God has not forgotten me.” Or “God will turn this around for his glory and my good.” In this way, we are making our minds fertile soil where hope can grow wild!