Navigating the Agony of Drought
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Let’s do something different. Let’s stand and read an entire section of Scripture together this morning.
Psalm 42
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.
I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?”
I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts.
Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.
I am deeply depressed; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me.
The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night— a prayer to the God of my life.
I will say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
My adversaries taunt me, as if crushing my bones, while all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.
John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer prizewinning novel The Grapes of Wrath begins with a scene in drought-ravaged Oklahoma during the Great Depression. With the crops dying and the land choked by dust, the women watched the men to see if they would break under the strain. When they saw the men’s will to carry on, they took heart. Steinbeck writes, “Women and children knew deep in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole.” The issue was not happiness, prosperity, or satisfaction, but wholeness. This is the great need of us all.
When i read , get the sense that the author is craving wholeness. As the deer longs for flowing streams, his soul longed to feel alive. To feel whole.
Let’s examine the Psalmist’s emotions for a moment.
He was in a season of inactivity.
He was stalled.
Like the unpleasant taste and smell of stagnant water, so was his current circumstance.
Things weren’t fresh.
Things weren’t happening.
He doesn’t feel like God is paying attention (V.2)
He’s being drained emotionally (V.3-4)
He’s admittedly unhappy (V.5a)
He’s experiencing confusion and uncertainty (V.5b)
He’s extremely sad and unable to enjoy anything (V.6a)
His circumstances were bringing him down (V.7b)
He felt abandoned and alone (V.9a)
He didn’t understand how his enemies could be prospering when he was so depressed (Vv9-10)
He was clearly OVERWHELMED.
But what causes this? What causes these periods of dryness? What causes the drought?
Life’s uncertainties.
Opportunities aren’t as plentiful as they used to be.
Relational conflict.
A restless spirit.
Emotional and Physical exhaustion
Things in our lives that compete with God. -The Psalmist said, his main pursuit used to be going to a place of worship with and joyfully and thankfully serving God with others.
An idol is anything that comes before God in our lives.
So what’s they key? The Psalmist shows us.
He longs for God. He’s still in a drought, but He longs for God. Of the many lessons this passage teaches us, one lesson is this:
Seasons of drought can be good for your soul.
Seasons of drought can be good for your soul.
The Psalmist was clearly in a tough place emotionally.
He was spiritually parched.
He was physically exhausted.
He was emotionally overwhelmed.
He was desperate, distressed and depressed.
But he was anchored.
What do we experience in a season of drought?
We get parched.
We get separated.
We slow down.
We struggle to keep going.
We see things that aren’t really there.
We imagine things that aren’t really happening.
That doesn’t sound good. How can seasons of drought actually be good for the soul?
Seasons of drought can be good for your soul because they:
Motivate us to want God “…so I long for you.”
You become more like Jesus when your soul longs for communion with the Father.
Teach us to wait on God “…When can I come and appear before God?”
He also repeats the refrain in verses 5, 11, and chapter 43 v.5 “Put your hope in God...”
A waiting season doesn’t have to be a wasted season.
Those who wait on God will renew their strength
but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint.
Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Strengthen our worship of God “…I will yet praise Him.”
Alot of us complain when we’re in a drought.
Sometimes we call it venting. “I’m just venting!” I just got to get this off my chest.
One of things I’ve learned about myself is that I vent to get sympathy. I want people to say it’s going to be okay. Or I want someone to validate my guilty conscience.
I love that the Psalmist is speaking to his soul. And he’s telling his soul that he doesn’t need sympathy from the outside, but he needs strength from within.
Sometimes we need to vent less and pray more.
Sometimes we need to panic less and praise more.
We need the strength of God more than we need the sympathy of man!
When we’re in a season of drought, we need to speak to our souls “Soul, I will yet praise Him!”
When we hope in God despite our circumstances, we begin to blossom and bear fruit that impacts others and honors God.
When we worship when we don’t feel like it, God increases our joy and that’s where our strength comes from. The joy of the Lord is our strength.
I will make them and the area around my hill a blessing: I will send down showers in their season; they will be showers of blessing.
When we worship in the midst of drought, God showers us with blessings from above.
Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your billows have swept over me.
The Lord will send his faithful love by day;
his song will be with me in the night—
a prayer to the God of my life.
In a season of drought we can’t rely on what we feel is true, but what we know to be true.
In a season of drought we can’t rely on what we feel is true, but what we know to be true.
The living God (v.2) -just as rain brings blessing to a sun-scorched earth so God’s spiritual influence brings refreshment and fruitfulness to a parched and weary soul.
The protection & provision of God (v.3)
The joy of God (v.4)
The faithfulness of God (V.8a)
The love of God (V.8a)
The voice of God (v.8b)
The sustenance of God (v.8c)
The salvation of God (v.11)
Some Practical Takeaways:
Acknowledge your feelings, just don’t let them control you.
Record every instance of God’s faithfulness!
Remember what you know to be true about God!
ILLUSTRATION: How the Cat almost ruined Christmas!
As Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year are approaching rapidly, I really believe that God led me to this passage of Scripture and wants us to spend some time reflecting on its contents.
He was in a season of inactivity.
He was stalled.
Like the unpleasant taste and smell of stagnant water, so was his current circumstance.
Things weren’t fresh.
Things weren’t happening.
He doesn’t feel like God is paying attention (V.2)
He’s being drained emotionally (V.3-4)
He’s admittedly unhappy (V.5a)
He’s experiencing confusion and uncertainty (V.5b)
He’s extremely sad and unable to enjoy anything (V.6a)
His circumstances are repeatedly knocking him down (V.7b)
He felt abandoned and alone (V.9a)
He didn’t understand how his enemies could be prospering when he was so depressed (Vv9-10)
OVERWHELMED
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.
I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?”
Millions of people feel trapped in their circumstances and think they can’t escape.
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