Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - "Keep Hoping In God" – Monday, 3 November 2014 - Scripture: Psalm 42:1-11

Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - "Keep Hoping In God" – Monday, 3 November 2014 - Scripture: Psalm 42: A psalm of the sons of Korah
1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks
    from the creek;
I want to drink God,
    deep draughts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, “Will I ever make it—
    arrive and drink in God’s presence?”
I’m on a diet of tears—
    tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
    people knock at my door,
Pestering,
    “Where is this God of yours?”
4 These are the things I go over and over,
    emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
    right out in front,
Leading them all,
    eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
    celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!
5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
    Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
    soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
    He’s my God.
6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
    everything I know of you,
From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
    including Mount Mizar.
Chaos calls to chaos,
    to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
    crash and crush me.
Then God promises to love me all day,
    sing songs all through the night!
    My life is God’s prayer.
9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
    “Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
    harassed by enemies?”
They’re out for the kill, these
    tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
    “Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
    Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
    soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
    He’s my God.
"Keep Hoping In God" by Stan Toler
Viktor Frankl, a successful Viennese psychiatrist, spent nearly three years in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. After the war, he gave a speech in which he said, “There is only one reason why I am here today. What kept me alive in a situation where others had given up hope and died was the dream that someday I would be here telling you how I survived the Nazi concentration camp. I have never been here before. I have never seen any of you before and I have never given this speech before, but in my dreams, I have stood before you in this room and said these words a thousand times.”*
Perhaps, like the psalmist, you are downcast today. Perhaps, like Frankl, you are in a place that seems like a prison, and you wonder what the future holds. Put your hope in God, as the psalmist urges. Instead of dwelling on your present circumstances, envision God’s best for your future. Your future is bright as you continue to trust His promises. By His grace, you will yet discover new reasons to praise Him.
* Lauder, Leonard, “71st Commencement Address” (1989). Commencement Addresses. Paper 14.  http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/commence/14
Hymn for Today:

"The Solid Rock" by Edward Mote
1. My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
2. When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
3. His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
Thought for Today:

“Because God is true to His promises, we can be sure and secure"(Diane Leclerc).
Prayer Needs:
That many people in Trinidad and Tobago will come to know Jesus the Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
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