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!
Psalm 42:5 NLT
Melancholy. The Blues. The Doldrums. Whatever you want to call it, I had it. I racked my brain trying to figure out what was causing this condition within me. Was I sad? No. Had anything happened to cause me to feel the way that I was feeling? No. What then was causing this peculiar mood?
Usually, when we are downcast we can easily find the source of it. But not that day. Checking the pulse for the initiator of this feeling, this thing, this funk cloud that I was under. As a slide show of reasons made their way through my head, each one was discounted and quickly set aside. For some unknown and unapparent reason, I had IT and IT had me. Maybe it was a combination of things, maybe it was nothing in particular at all. Like waking up with an uninvited headache or some other body part aching and sore, it was there and just couldn’t be shaken right away.
In those moments when we are playing Sherlock Holmes to our moods and thoughts, the answers may not always come easily. Sometimes, we are just down. Sometimes we just want to hear the Blues. As God’s loved and created children, we are full of emotions. He designed us with them for a reason. But they are also indicators, signals if you will, that warn us when something is amiss. When we are in tune with them, they are of tremendous help to us. We can readily diagnose and discern what they are and what they mean. This day, this was not going to be the outcome.
In Psalm 42, the authors come to a conclusion that, at first glance, can be as strange as the feelings that hold us hostage at times. Depending on where you start, will determine where you end up with your self-diagnosis. But the authors here were already speaking about how much they longed for God, then they took the turn onto Discouragement Lane and were heading down to Downcast City. They quickly made a U-turn though and came to the conclusion that their only Hope was to refocus onto the God who Loved and Cared for them. They remembered the Lord’s past Goodness to them. They chose to praise Him. It seems like it would be best to take our cue from them.
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.
Psalm 42: 7-8 NLT
As we begin to focus and give praise and glory to our Creator, our minds shift from whatever it is that is causing our gloomy thoughts. When we shift the attention off of what we are feeling, or thinking and concentrate on The God of All Comfort who Loves us with an Unfailing and Unwavering Love, we our righting the ship and heading back towards calmer waters. The Best Place to be at all times, but especially these times, is in the midst of Worship to the One who Cares! So when we are having one of them days, we can make the effort to bring everything to Him and His Peace and Love will guard our hearts and minds.
Psalm 42:5 NLT
Melancholy. The Blues. The Doldrums. Whatever you want to call it, I had it. I racked my brain trying to figure out what was causing this condition within me. Was I sad? No. Had anything happened to cause me to feel the way that I was feeling? No. What then was causing this peculiar mood?
Usually, when we are downcast we can easily find the source of it. But not that day. Checking the pulse for the initiator of this feeling, this thing, this funk cloud that I was under. As a slide show of reasons made their way through my head, each one was discounted and quickly set aside. For some unknown and unapparent reason, I had IT and IT had me. Maybe it was a combination of things, maybe it was nothing in particular at all. Like waking up with an uninvited headache or some other body part aching and sore, it was there and just couldn’t be shaken right away.
In those moments when we are playing Sherlock Holmes to our moods and thoughts, the answers may not always come easily. Sometimes, we are just down. Sometimes we just want to hear the Blues. As God’s loved and created children, we are full of emotions. He designed us with them for a reason. But they are also indicators, signals if you will, that warn us when something is amiss. When we are in tune with them, they are of tremendous help to us. We can readily diagnose and discern what they are and what they mean. This day, this was not going to be the outcome.
In Psalm 42, the authors come to a conclusion that, at first glance, can be as strange as the feelings that hold us hostage at times. Depending on where you start, will determine where you end up with your self-diagnosis. But the authors here were already speaking about how much they longed for God, then they took the turn onto Discouragement Lane and were heading down to Downcast City. They quickly made a U-turn though and came to the conclusion that their only Hope was to refocus onto the God who Loved and Cared for them. They remembered the Lord’s past Goodness to them. They chose to praise Him. It seems like it would be best to take our cue from them.
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.
Psalm 42: 7-8 NLT
As we begin to focus and give praise and glory to our Creator, our minds shift from whatever it is that is causing our gloomy thoughts. When we shift the attention off of what we are feeling, or thinking and concentrate on The God of All Comfort who Loves us with an Unfailing and Unwavering Love, we our righting the ship and heading back towards calmer waters. The Best Place to be at all times, but especially these times, is in the midst of Worship to the One who Cares! So when we are having one of them days, we can make the effort to bring everything to Him and His Peace and Love will guard our hearts and minds.
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