how the brain processes and experiences emotions

There's a feeling of being stuck in life. Absolutely stuck, like not just sad for a day, but trapped. Chest deep in a muddy pit, like quick sand holding you down and you wait and you wait and you send up your cry to God for help. But no answer comes. Not immediately. You find yourself wondering if God has simply forgotten you. Today we look at Psalm 40. We read it yesterday in the Navigator's Bible reading plan. If you're reading that plan with us this year, looking at this difficult waiting period which David calls being in the pit. And it's on the mind of James and Walton Massachusetts who does not tell us what his pit is right now, but he's clearly in one. Dear Pastor John, thank you for taking my question. As I read Psalm 40 again, I noticed the psalmist describes himself being lifted up out of the pit and set on a solid rock with a new song put in his mouth. It's in verses two and three. How can I understand this image as God's deliberate action in my own life as something I would perceive when it happens? In what ways might my current struggles and waiting be shaped by my trust in God as the psalm begins with a patient waiting and God's attentive response, verse one. Could my difficulties be preparing me for a future testimony that encourages others to trust him like David's resolve to proclaim God's faithfulness in verses nine and ten of the psalm? Asha interpret the psalms repeated calls from mercy and acknowledgement of God's care amidst ongoing troubles verses 11 to 17. How can I find purpose, hope, or a new song in the tension between waiting, suffering, trusting God? How do I see purpose in what feels pointless? Well, almost 46 years ago now, this psalm, Psalm 40, especially the first three verses, had a huge impact on the way I understood and managed my own seasons of discouragement. And there were many in those early days being a young pastor. I believe this psalm is in the Bible precisely to show us how to navigate the troubled waters of discouragement, especially those first three verses. Let me read them because not everybody has them in in his head. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the myri bog and set my feet on a rock, seeking my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. That's just amazing. That sequence of thought. So there's a pattern of life here, a pattern of dealing with discouragement. It's very realistic. It's very sober-minded and it's very hopeful. And I see six stages that are here in this pattern. First, David is in a muddy pit. And that's where our friend seems to be and where all of us are from time to time. Second, he cries to God for help. Third, he waits for the Lord and he doesn't say how long. I'm glad it doesn't say how long he waited. Fourth, God draws him out of the pit to security. Fifth, God gives David a new song. And six, many others come to trust God when they see how David has come through this. I think it would be fair to infer from what James says in sending us this question that he is in some kind of pit with King David. That's what I like to call this song in the pits with the king. He doesn't tell us what it is. And he either did David, but that's okay. If that's right, if David, I mean, if James is in the pit with David, then I can say with assurance that these verses are designed by God. Indeed, this experience that James is walking through is designed by God in order to bring about these new things in his life, at least three new things. That is always doing 10,000 things when he's doing anything. And 99% of them, we don't know. We don't know the purposes of the individual thing he's doing. He may grant us to see two or three. And that's what we see here. That's what David is offering us of the thousands of things that God is doing through this experience of the pit. David is going to show us and show James three purposes of God in it. So looking back, David interprets what God was doing in that season of his discouragement. And he says that he was bringing David into these three new experiences. And these are three new things that God intends to bring about in James's life. That's my prayer anyway. I believe that's what God intends to do in this APJ session right here. David says that God gave him a new security, second, a new song, and third, a new significance. That's what God was doing with David's discouragement. Now since God is sovereign, there's nothing random in the Christian life. James 415 says, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." The phrase, "This or that is intended to cover all the details of the Christian life. If the Lord wills, we will do this or that." So when I say that God has a good design and a loving purpose in the discouragements that come to His children, I'm not making that up. And I feel strongly about this because I just saw something online where somebody just flat out denied that God has any hand in the discouraging things of our lives, which I think is absolutely undiblical. So when David says that God brought him through the pit of destruction and the myri bog for these three new experiences, we can learn something of what God's purpose is for our seasons of discouragement. So James, while you can't know everything that God is doing in your suffering, that you're going through right now, evidently, you can know this. He intends to bring you through and give you a new sense of security in His care. He intends for you to sing a song of praise with new intensity. And he intends for other people to see what you've been through or are going through such that they fear their own unbelief and realize they're in a bad situation and that they then put their trust in the Lord. And I encourage you by prayer and faith to join God in the expectation that that's what he's doing here in this song for you. And in this moment right now as we do this APJ together. So let's read it again. He put my feet upon a rock making my step secure. That's your new security. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God that's your new song. He will see in fear and put their trust in the Lord. That's your new significance. Now here's the key. David said that while he was in the pit of discouragement, he waited for the Lord. He waited intently or patiently, humbly, hopefully. He wanted God to show up with manifestations of His security and His song and His significance. And God was delaying. That's why David was waiting. God was delaying. The cry that he had sent up to God was not answered immediately. Otherwise he wouldn't have had to wait. This is the great challenge of the Christian life. God's delays. God's timing. God's timing is almost never our timing. It's just better deal with it. Therein lies the great test of our faith, isn't it? All of us. How long, O Lord? How long? 15 times in the Psalms. We hear the cry. How long, O Lord? Because God is God. And we're not. God's ways and God's timing are not our ways and not our timing. A thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it has passed some 90 verse 4. So David says, I waited patiently for the Lord. It's the waiting in the pit of discouragement when God is hiding. his smiling face that prepares us for the new security and the new song and the new significance. One of the many paradoxical things we read in Ecclesiastes is chapter 7 verse 3 where it says, "Sorrow is better than laughter. For by sadness of face the heart is made glad." Now what on earth does that mean? By sadness of face the heart is made glad and I think it means at least that there are seasons of loss and discouragement and grief and suffering without which we could never have known certain depths of gladness. And is it not also true that while we wait in the pit of destruction and the myri bog that God is preparing a new sense of security for us, a new intensity of song for us and a new Christ-exalting significance? Amen. Yes, God's timing is almost never our timing and therein lies the great test of our faith, isn't it? Waiting is the hardest part. Thank you, Pastor John, for speaking into James' season of discouragement. If this is you, if you feel like you are in the pit and you feel zero motivation to get out of bed in the morning, what do you do? Strip your text for when your heart feels dead, including Psalm 40. If you are more on this, another text to help you through this kind of a season. I made a digest of episodes in the podcast where we talked about those promises that Pastor John has drawn from. And you can see that in the Ask Pastor John book on pages 395 to 409 in that section on deadness, depression, and desertion. It's a section where I just cover all of the episodes that we've addressed in those topics on the podcast to show you kind of where you can find more specific answers. Again, that's in the Ask Pastor John book, pages 395 to 409. Thank you, Pastor John, and thanks for joining us today. If you have a question to Ask Pastor John, find a link to email us and find our complete episode archive at the same place, AskPastorJohn.com. The marks of a godly boss. What does holy leadership look like? That's next. I'm Tony Ranky. We'll see you on Monday.