Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 01 09 2024 A Psalm of Despair

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01 09 2024 A Psalm of Despair · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Most of us eat every day, some of us too much because yesterday's food
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  is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do some
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  of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to keep
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  us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all
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  of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to
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  live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host,
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  author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, good morning, Good morning.
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  It is Tuesday, January ninth, twenty twenty four. Hello, my
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  name is Elle David Harris. I am your host, and this is your
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  Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and today is
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  no exception. We are continuing in our lesson study series through the Book of
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  Psalms, and our caption for today is a psalm of despair. A psalm
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  of despair. We'll get into that in just a moment, but first I'd
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  like to say welcome to you and ask you to go over to your Daily
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  Portion dot com, join our online community, and please please please pick up
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  the Your Daily Portion book at your Daily Portion dot com. This is one
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  of the ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead
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  and pray, and then we will get underway. Batherin Heaven, thank you
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  for giving us this new day and for the privilege you have entrusted to us
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  to open up your word. And I'm asking you, Lord to teach us
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  honesty. Teach us honesty with our emotions and our feelings and our thoughts.
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  Equally, teach us how to yield when we yield these thoughts and feelings of
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  despair when they happen, but not to ignore them, and not to make
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  it as if they did not exist. In Jesus name, I pray,
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  Amen and Amen again, a psalm of despair. All right? And so
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  yeah, as I alluded to in my prayer, there are people, and
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  you may be among them, who unfortunately try to stifle your emotions. I
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  am not a super emotional person. I'm just not. It's not the way
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  that I was created. But for those of you who are, or for
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  those who are like me, But at some times, like when there are
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  times of trials or despair, or there are times of trauma. I lost
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  my mom in twenty twenty in a tragic car accident, attractor trailer took her
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  life. Yes, in those moments, it's not time to stifle your emotions.
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  It is not time to act as if these things are not happening.
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  It's not time for you to say name it and claim it. Like I
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  don't claim that I am sad. I don't claim that I am tired.
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  I'm not claiming that I am filling the blank. Because remember, remember when
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  Jesus was looking at his people, he was I think it was in Matthew
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  chapter twenty three. The Bible talks about him weeping over Erusalem, Jerusalem,
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  Jerusalem, Thou that killest the prophets, and so forth, and all of
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  the times I would have gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chicks,
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  but you would not like Can you imagine the difficulty that he was having in
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  his emotions and his spirit at the time, or when he saw when his
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  friend Lazarus, whom he loved, had died, and the people around him
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  were despairing, even though he was the resurrection is the resurrection and the life,
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  the people were despairing. Jesus wept. Do I continue Jesus according to
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  this same psalm that we will look at today, He cried out, like,
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  my God, my God, why have thou forsaken me? And so
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  we do not stifle, we do not act as if it is not there.
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  We go and get the assistance that we need beginning with God. But
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  sometimes, of course we need human intervention as well. Okay, So praying
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  the psalms does more than an able worshipers to articulate our prayers freely. According
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  to the lesson writer, the psalms supervise their experience, our experience according to
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  God's standards, and make it bearable by introducing hope and reassurance of God's presence.
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  You remember I said yesterday my friend and mentor Ralph said, when I
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  was going through a difficult time as I was working in the psych field,
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  that God is with you. Be a good soldier. God is with you.
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  This is what he was saying. You remember that, yes, And
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  so this is key because the psalms, the psalms are curated, they are
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  ready for us, and the Holy Spirit can guide our minds as we read
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  them when we are having our difficulties. And so what I want to do
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  now is look at a time of loneliness and grief. And I already alluded
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  to it. Just now, I'm going to read from Psalm chapter twenty two
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  and verse one, and it reads, My God, My God, why
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  hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me? That
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  was the perspective of the Psalmist. That was the perspective of the Psalmist.
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  It felt that way. In fact, Jesus experienced that on the Cross,
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  and that's where we get this understanding and the New Testament from and from the
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  words of my roaring. And so what we need to do is open in
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  an open manner, like openly express our grief and loneliness to God. Can
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  I say that again? Openly express grief and loneliness to God. It is
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  not time for us to act as if these trials are not real. It
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  is not time for us to behave as if they are not the reality of
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  our mindset, when really they are impacting our behavior, they're impacting our productivity,
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  they're impacting our relationships, they're impacting even our connection with God in the
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  moment of time that we're dealing with them. And so we openly share our
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  deepest sorrows with God. You know why, because God can handle it.
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  He can handle it like He can do what is necessary in order to bring
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  us into a mindset that is helpful to us at the appropriate time. Okay,
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  and now I'm going to read from verse twenty two of the same song.
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  I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation,
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  I will praise thee. God wants us to keep affirming our faith,
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  keep affirming our faith, and commit to praising God even in the tough times.
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  And I say that again, Yeah, commit to praising God even in
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  the tough times. The Bible says in all things give thanks. Doesn't say
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  for all things you have pain in your side. God is not saying you
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  have to say thank you for the pain in your side. But if you
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  have pain in your side, if you are emotionally distraught because of something,
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  God wants you to rehearse and to practice and through a spirit that is yielded
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  to God. Through the Holy Spirit, he wants you to be able to
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  praise Him. Yes, through tears and privation, Yes, through trials and
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  tribulation, praise Him because He's good. And yes, it is difficult,
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  But do you realize that God inhabits the praises of his people. Yeah,
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  I think I'll just leave that right there. Also trust in God's ultimate rest
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  store. Is God able to deliver us? Absolutely? Has he done so
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  in the past every single time. Has he shown us that while He is
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  with us, he becomes our refuge, our help in times of trouble.
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  Absolutely, And so we have to trust in God's ultimate restoration. Sometimes the
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  trials will overwhelm us on planet Earth, and sometimes will succumb to certain of
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  those trials and lay down in rest until Jesus comes back. Sometimes we will,
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  people will die, people that love God will die and go to sleep.
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  But the fact is that we have the privilege to trust in God for
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  ultimate restoration because because when Jesus does come back, He's going to take us
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  to Heaven and we're going to stay there for a thousand years. That is
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  the place wherein dwelleth righteousness. And after the thousand years are finished, brothers
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  and sisters, yes he will wipe away all tears from our eyes. Yes,
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  he will demolish and abolish death forever. He will finally finally keep the
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  promise that he made in Matthew chapter five that the meek will inherit the earth.
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  And so until then we trust in his ultimate restoration, and then we
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  can see beyond, see beyond the immediate trials, cultivate a perspective of faith
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  that transcends the current difficulties, inspired by the enduring hope found in the Jewel,
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  I call the psalms and have hope you have a wonderful rest of your
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  day. Peace. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we
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  cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth
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  of God. This has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make
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  it a great day. Yeah,