Experiencing God's Presence #230

Experiencing God's Presence #230

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!

Psalm 43:5

The psalmist talked to himself as an exercise in Presence. He spoke to his own soul about truth. That happened a lot in the Psalms, in fact. David told his soul to bless the Lord (Psalm 103:1-2, NKJV) and resolved to constantly praise and boast in the Lord (Psalm 34:1-2), for two examples among many. Here, an unnamed psalmist asks some probing questions about his own discouragement and then declares an intent to praise. There are times, it seems, when self-talk is entirely appropriate.

It’s easy to see why. God wants us not only to know truth intellectually but to believe it deep in our hearts. When we mentally agree with Scripture but let circumstances or feelings dictate an opposite view—for example, when we believe God can do the impossible but then despair in an impossible situation—we are not in sync with Him. We have to assert truth against circumstances and feelings, just like Abraham, who “against all hope” continued to hope and believe (Romans 4:18, NIV). The hearts of those who tell themselves to do that will beat with God’s heartbeat.

Hear His desire: “My truth is real and unchanging, regardless of how you feel in any given moment or what you see with your eyes. Much of life is a decision about how and what to see—the reality I tell you about or the ‘reality’ you perceive. My people, those with My heart, learn to insist on seeing from My perspective rather than theirs. That pleases Me more than you know. I show My favor to those who look past apparent contradictions to see Me. When you choose to tell yourself the truth, I choose to fill your decision with My Presence.”

Father, I choose Your truth and adamantly tell my own soul to embrace it. I know my perceptions aren’t always accurate and my feelings aren’t always reliable. But You are. What You have said is trustworthy, and I can depend on it.