02/25/2024 Midtown Church Sac + Online
Series – HOPE – When you want to quit on God
Hoping for the Best: And Not Settling for Less
Dr. Efrem Smith
Main Text: Psalm 42:1-5 (NIV)
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Things We Do As a Last Resort or When We Get Desperate.
Biblical Background: Psalms is full of words from Desperate People in Need of Finding Hope in God.
- Biblical Hope: A confident expectation and desire for what is to come. A Belief that something good will come regardless of your current circumstance. Hope in God. Believing God ultimately provides the hope, not me. Hope as supernatural; doesn’t come naturally to us. Hope is about what God is doing and will do. (Hebrews 11:1)
- Hope in God: People Who Quit Believing in God, may have put more hope in religion, church, and people than in an intimate relationship with God. When you’re going through hell, don’t stop. God can use hell on earth to bring heavenly health to your earthly crisis.
The Key to Finding the Hope You Need
1.) When You’re Desperate, Discover/Re-Discover God (Psalm 42:1-5)
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
2.) When You’re Down, Remember The One Who Lifts Us Up (Psalm 42:6-8)
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8 By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
3.) When You Feel Alone Receive God’s Presence (Psalm 42:9-11)
I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Final Thought: When You’ve Tried Everything Else Rest in Him (Psalm 62:5-8)
Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
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