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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,