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