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The Blahs - Where is God?
10 Plays8 months ago
Vernon provides some practical tips and a scriptural perspective from Psalm 42 on how to address that feeling of "blah," that sense of spiritual or emotional stagnation. As humans, we are all prone to feeling "blah." The author of Psalm 42 described it as a "dry and thirsty" feeling with voices chiding "where is your God." Perhaps you can relate.
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Transcript
Introduction to Walking Free Podcast
00:00:02
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This is your host, Vernon Terrell, with Grace Ministries International, and it's time for Walking Free.
00:00:22
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And it's always good
Understanding the 'Blahs'
00:00:23
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to be back. This is Vernon and today I thought we talked about the blas. I don't know if you've ever felt that way feeling the blas. B-L-A-H. It's that sense or feeling of just being tired of having maybe no sense
00:00:45
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of purpose, maybe it's in the midst of challenging times and it's a sense of just being helpless and dry, just kind of dry.
Using Psalm 42 as a Tool
00:00:56
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And we're gonna look at a psalm together in just a minute and that'll be Psalm 42. But there are some things that we can do as humans
00:01:12
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we can be subject to the blas. It's just part of being human. Now, there's some personalities that might be a bit more susceptible to the blas versus others, but there are things we can do. And let me encourage you with just a couple things and then we're gonna see what a psalmist did in Psalm 42 and how they describe
00:01:41
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this dryness, this barrenness and this crying out. One thing that is a good idea is first not to deny it. Don't try to cover it up and compartmentalize it. Just express it, accept that, hey, I'm feeling blah. And it's a good idea to tell somebody,
00:02:11
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hand-felling blah. Somebody you trust that's not gonna give you 400 scriptures and three checklists to do to get over it. And this is not a checklist that I'm giving you. These are just thoughts, ideas that you can consider. But accept the blah feeling.
00:02:30
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And you don't have to hyper analyze it. I say we all, but I often will wanna try to figure out why am I feeling blah? What's going on? And that's not bad, but don't go overboard. One thing you want to do is to learn to be present. And learn to be present where you are.
Gratitude and Nature as Remedies
00:02:51
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and you might wanna be present in a sense of prayer, a prayerful presence, and where you're lifting up this sense of blah-ness to your Heavenly Father who loves you, who already knows you're feeling blah, and you can just lift that up to Him and express it. I would encourage you to express it to another human as well,
00:03:20
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express it in a sense of present prayerfulness to your father and just leave it there. I would also encourage you to, if you're a writer, a journal person, even if you're not, take a couple minutes and write down
00:03:46
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a gratitude, a sense of gratefulness. What are you grateful for right now? What can you look back on that you're grateful for? What are you grateful for right now? And you may be in a rough situation, but can you find some things that you're grateful for and just thank God for it. Don't diminish or dismiss the challenge, the hurt, the pain,
00:04:08
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the sense of dryness that you're feeling, but just recognize the truth of what you can be grateful for. Three, I encourage you to get up and move. When you're feeling blah, your first reaction is, I want to sleep. I want to veg. I want to binge watch something on Netflix or Hulu or whatever your streaming app of choice is.
00:04:37
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I wanna go mindless. That's not a bad thing. But often when you're feeling blocked, that doesn't really help. It distracts. But I would encourage you if the time is appropriate that you get up and move. Go for a walk, get outside. Breathe in that incredible, this incredible world that God created.
00:05:05
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I would hope that you could be somewhere in nature. If you're in the city, don't breathe too deep. But if you're around a lot of good trees in nature, take a good deep breath and get out and walk a little bit. That is something that I enjoy doing is connecting in that way.
00:05:26
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And you may want to just take that phone, put it on focus mode or do not disturb, put it down while you're walking.
Seeking Support from Friends
00:05:35
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Don't even put music on. If you want to put some good music on, fine, but sometimes it's good to detach. If you haven't had any face to face with some good friends, folks who are not toxic,
00:05:51
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who are not challenging, folks who are encouraging. If you have those, set an appointment, go have lunch, breakfast, get out. I did that today. It was amazing. Get out with real human beings that you enjoy. You know, these are just a couple of things that you can consider that are practical.
Relating to the Psalmist's Longing
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Now here's what the psalmist did, which I thought was pretty cool.
00:06:22
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in Psalm 42. And he describes, and don't you love the Bible? The Bible gives an insight into what these authors are feeling and thinking and doesn't hide it. It says, here's what I'm feeling and thinking.
00:06:44
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which kind of validates a little bit about where we are. And it's okay to feel and think this way. The Lord knows. And the Psalmist says in Psalm 42, as a deer pants or longs for this flowing water, the New American Standard would say, as this deer pants or longs for these water brooks or flowing streams, so my soul,
00:07:14
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longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God. So the psalmist says, I'm thirsty. I'm really thirsty. I'm feeling parched here right now in my soul. And I love, he says, not just for God. I need the living God. Boy, that's a statement. Don't just move past that one.
00:07:41
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The psalmist is saying, hey, my soul is thirsty. I'm parched. I'm just feeling dry inside and I need God. In fact, I need the living God. I need this God who is alive and cares for me. Basically, where are you? When shall I come?
00:07:59
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and appear before God. Or that word appear is that word ra-ah-see, to see. Another word is used that's taken from this root for like an eagle or a vulture or a bird high up in the air with incredible clear eyesight. The word can also mean to experience God. When shall I come and experience God?
00:08:25
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God, I haven't experienced you in a while. I haven't really seen you. Sometimes it's because we're not looking, but whatever, I'm dry, I'm parched, I need the living God. When do I get to experience that? When do I get to experience you? When shall I come and appear before or see the face of God? Wow.
00:08:54
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That's a pretty deep case of the blas, if you will, right there. Verse three, the psalmist says, and my tears have been my food day and night. This has been pretty rough for this psalmist. And then the messages are coming. While they say to me all day long, where is your God?
00:09:22
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And you may have folks and friends who are working with saying, where is God? Where is your God? Or it may be thoughts just within your own mind. And I'm telling you, it's coming from the enemy, the enemy whispering, hey, Vernon, where's your God? You believe all this? You think it's all true? Where is your God?
00:09:49
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Have you experienced that? Have those thoughts come into your mind? Guess what? The psalmist had the exact same thing. In verse four, the psalmist says, these things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. I want you to
00:10:19
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Break through the barrier where you can pour out your soul to the Lord.
Expressing and Pouring Out Feelings
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And if you have that trusted friend, that friend who doesn't judge, that listens and encourages one that you can pour out your soul. There are folks like me who tend to compartmentalize and just suck it up buttercup mentality.
00:10:46
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and we just suck in our soul. We don't pour out anything. Eventually, that's just like, it's a stress bomb. It's a stress time bomb that's gonna eventually come out somewhere in your physical body.
00:11:05
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The Psalmist remembers, I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. And then he comes back to where he is today. Why are you in despair? Oh, my soul. Why have you become disturbed within me?
00:11:37
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Why have you become heavy within me? And maybe that's where you are. Maybe you're feeling that being disturbed. Your soul is troubled. Why are you in despair, oh my soul?
Hope and Patience in Despair
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And why have you become disturbed within me, troubled?
00:12:09
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Hope in God. For I shall again praise him for the help of his presence. This is the psalmist saying, I'm pouring out my soul. Where are you? Why can't I experience you? I remember all these good times and here I am. Where are you? And he's saying, soul, why are you disturbed?
00:12:37
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He's like shaking himself, a little cold splash of water on his face says, hope in God. And that word hope really implies a patience, a patient hope and waiting in God. The psalmist says, for I shall again praise him. I'm gonna praise him still.
00:13:07
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This is real, I'm not denying it, but the heaviness within often is because I have lost hope. And when we lose hope, we just wallow in pain. And the psalmist takes that back, says, wait, I haven't lost it.
00:13:36
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I'm gonna take the hope back. And he's reminding himself to hope in God. Patiently wait for God. I will again praise him for the help of his presence.
God's Constant Presence
00:13:52
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Isn't that incredible? In that day, God dwelt in the temple. That was really the house of God where God manifested himself in the temple.
00:14:08
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Isn't it awesome in this new covenant that we are the temple of God, and the God of the universe dwells in us, and we are forever in his presence, but sometimes it feels dry. It feels like he's not there. He is, he never left. So we can, even more than the psalmist, say to our soul, hope in God,
00:14:38
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I will again praise him. And I would say, because of his presence in me. Verse six, oh my God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you.
00:15:03
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That's what I wanna encourage you with. If you're facing a bit of dry spell, if you're facing something extremely challenging right now, which is called the pain and the tears to flow, don't lose hope.
Embracing Grace Amidst Challenges
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Take hope back. Hope in God. Patiently wait for the God who loves you. As the psalmist said,
00:15:31
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Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon from the Mount Mysar, deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls. All your breakers and your waves have rolled over me. That's a reference to the mountains of Hermon, the three peaks
00:16:02
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and when it would snow and rain and the water would fall and fill up the Jordan River that would flow into the sea, it's God's grace and love pouring over us, filling us with that grace that overflows, as Paul says in Ephesians.
00:16:35
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You see, you can let the problems and the challenges and the hopelessness roll over you, or you can choose to take hope back and say, my God loves me. My God has promised never to leave me nor forsake me. It feels that way when the enemy says, where is your God? You can say, my God is right here. He never left and he never will.
00:17:06
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and I will again hope in him. And I will remember the good. And I will allow his love and his grace to overflow in me and through me.
Questioning and Reaffirming Faith
00:17:26
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And in verse eight,
00:17:28
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The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and his song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life. And then the psalmist goes back as he's still in the midst of the pain, recognizing the reality of the situation. He says, I will say to God, my rock,
00:17:58
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an honest confession of how he's feeling, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me while they say to me all day long, where is your God? And he says again, why are you in despair?
00:18:27
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oh my soul, recognizing the state of his emotions. Why have you become disturbed within me? Almost losing hope. And he says,
00:18:43
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Hope, I'm taking it back. Hope in God, and that's patient hope, knowing that God loves me, God hasn't forgotten me, those are the lies of the enemy. Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance and my God. I hope that Psalm encourages you
00:19:13
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As it encourages me, just like you, I can feel the blas, I can feel what's going on. Where is God? He's right here, loving, working his plan. His plan isn't always what I think it should be. But I can hope and I can know that God's plan is always for my good, my best,
00:19:43
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and His glory. And I can patiently hope, knowing that I will yet praise Him again. So wherever you are, whatever situation that you're looking at today, whether it's that challenging, illness, job, career, financial, relational, whatever that is,
00:20:10
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or whether it's that sense of just being parched and dry, thirsty to see and experience the God that you know. Don't lose hope. Take back hope. Don't deny your feelings. Don't compartmentalize. Express them. They don't scare God. Pour them out. And then as you release them,
00:20:40
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Don't lose hope. That's a tender spot where the enemy wants to say, yeah, where is your God? And when you hear those words, say, my God is right here inside. He's never left. He never will. And I will hope in God. And that's the step I pray that you will take
Conclusion and Encouragement
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And I pray that you won't just talk about it, but you'll take whatever that next step is and start walking. You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries International in Marietta, Georgia. For more information, go to our website at gmint.org. That's gminc.org.