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Amen. So tonight we're in Psalm 42. Let me just start by explaining why we're in Psalm 42 tonight. A while back I had done the series on Wednesday nights through the book of Psalms and I did Psalm 1 through 41. And the reason that I stopped at the end of chapter 41 is that the book of Psalms is actually broken into five books. So book one of Psalms is chapters one through 41. So I had finished that book and then I took a break and moved on to other things. So where we're picking up tonight is actually the beginning of book two of Psalms. Now not every Bible is going to show this. For example, the Bible that I'm preaching out of right now does not have that. But the Bible that I was using this afternoon at home studying and preparing for the sermon actually had it broken out book one, book two, and so forth. Now where do these divisions come from? Well, they're very old. They go back to at least the time of Christ or even earlier than that because they actually represent natural divisions in the book. Let me show you what I'm talking about. At the end of chapter 41, you're right there in 42, look at the last verse of chapter 41. It says, blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting. And then notice this hard ending. Amen and amen. So that's not just an amen like, okay, this Psalm is over. It's like we're ending a section. Let's go to the end of the next section. Go over to Psalm 73 is where the next one starts. Psalm 73. And if you go to where the next one starts, look at the end of chapter 72 there. And it says in Psalm 72 19 and blessed be his glorious name forever and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen. And amen. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended. So these aren't just like made up divisions that have no basis on the text. You can see that they are natural divisions in the Bible. Go if you would to Psalm 89. Psalm 89 is the end of book three. So notice the first ending said, amen and amen. The second one said, amen and amen. And then it even talked about the prayers of David being ended. Then when you get to the end of Psalm 89, look at verse 52, blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and amen. Okay. That's the end of section three. And then finally, let's go to Psalm 106. I believe it is. Yep. Psalm 106. Look at the last verse in Psalm 106 verse 48. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say, amen. Praise ye the Lord. So again, it's a little bit different, but you can tell it's kind of a hard ending. And then of course, at the very end of of Psalms, you just have the ending. Praise ye the Lord. Same thing as at the end of book four. So anyway, back to Psalm 42, I just wanted to show you how that breaks down. Those divisions go back at least a few thousand years. They're not in every Bible. In the 1611 replica, I didn't see them broken out that way. Some Bibles have it, some don't, but it's a pretty natural stopping place. I just didn't want to be in the book of Psalms for 150 chapters in a row and then just not be in it for the next 20 years or something. So the book of Psalms is such a great book and it's such a pleasure to read through. It's such a pleasure to preach through. So I wanted to kind of split it up and break it up. So it's exciting now to be jumping into book two of the book of Psalms. And it starts out the book here in chapter 42 verse one, as the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. Now heart, H-A-R-T, this is like a deer. And the Bible talks a lot about the heart and how it runs quickly and leaps upon the mountains and skips upon the hills. And it talks about the heart or the deer panting after the water brooks. And he says, that is how my heart or my soul is panting after you, O God. So we see David's just intense love for God. The greatest commandment in the Bible is to love the Lord, our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. And what does that mean to love God? Obviously the Bible says, you know, this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. I get that. And that's an important component of loving God, keeping his commandments. But don't ever let anyone talk you out of the emotional aspect of loving God. Obviously, you know, people just say love is a choice. Love is a decision. Love is action. You know, you love your wife by doing what you're supposed to do, you know. And I agree with all that. That's a part of what it means to love. But we don't want to make love just only this mathematical equation of just doing the right things and calling that love. You know, there's supposed to be an emotional component here as well where we see David just longing for God the way that an animal would pant to get a drink of water. You know, we probably don't spend a lot of time around deer, around hearts, but we do spend time around dogs. And when we spend time around dogs, we notice that they pant like that. And they're just, and that's how we're supposed to be, just really longing and desiring for God. And so many people, this is probably foreign to them because they're just, they're not excited about reading their Bible. They're not excited about church. And you know what? You need to check your heart if that's how you feel. You need to get excited about the things of God. Just like you get excited about something in life. I'm sure that there's something in life that gets you excited. No matter who you are, there's something that'll get you fired up. And you know, it's pretty sad if it's some carnal thing that's not even going to matter a hundred years from now and you have no excitement for the spiritual, eternal things that last forever. And so we need to feel this way or we should want to feel this way toward God and not just toward other carnal things. Think about when you're first in love. You know, you're young and you're in love and you just can't wait to see that special someone, right? And you just can't wait to get that text message or email or phone call or see them again and you're so excited. And then after a while, the newness wears off and you lose the first love, right? And then you go through where it's just kind of like, you know, and this is what we don't want to do in our marriages, obviously. We want to make sure to keep that love kindled and keep those feelings strong. But also when it comes to our spiritual life, we want to make sure to do the same thing. You know, God used this illustration of revelation when he said you've lost your first love. You know, the first love is how you feel in the beginning of love, okay? And then later the newness wears off and you start to become complacent and you take things for granted. But we don't want to get that way with God. We want to make sure that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength because that is the greatest commandment. And there is an emotional component to that, not just obeying. Obeying is important, but there's also an emotional component of how we feel about the Lord, our love for God. Now it gets interesting in verse two though, because he says, my soul thirsted for God. That's just reiterating what we just saw in verse one. For the living God, you know, he's saying, look, I'm not just looking for a religious experience. I'm not just looking to go to church somewhere or, you know, like the doctor says, hey, if you want to be healthy, you need to have some kind of a prayer or meditation routine in your life as part of holistic care of your health. We're not just talking about a God. He's saying, look, I'm not just thirsting for a religious feeling. He said, I'm thirsting for the real God, the true God, the actual God. But this is what I really think is interesting at the end of verse two. When shall I come and appear before God? Now, what does that mean? When should I come and appear before God? Well, if you study your Bible, you'll find that phrase a lot appearing before God. And what it has to do with is when they would come to Jerusalem three times a year and all the males would appear before God. This is basically a reference to going to the house of God. It's actually a reference to going to church because that's what they would do in the Old Testament when they would appear before God. They'd make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year. And over and over again, the Bible calls that appearing before God. Also, if you actually get the context here of this passage, it proves that that's what he's talking about when he says, when shall I come and appear before God? Jump back to verse four. Jump down to verse four. It says, when I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. And he's going to reminisce a little bit about the good times. For I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holiday. Do you see how that connects with him saying, man, I am just longing for God. I'm just panting. I'm just dry. I am so thirsty, longing for God. And then that leads him to the thought, when shall I appear before God? Because, man, I remember in the past appearing before God. And it was a big multitude. And I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. So you see how these things go together? And we think a lot about verses one and two of Psalm 42. People sing songs about as the deer panted. But a lot of times it's not connected with church or going to the house of God or getting in the congregation. But isn't that what the context is actually pointing us to when he says, when shall I appear before God? That's interesting. You know, I decided that I wanted to start preaching through Psalms. And especially at such a time as this, I thought to myself, you know, Psalms would be a good book to preach on. Just hopefully there will be a lot of encouraging, inspiring things right now, just because a lot of people are going through a difficult time right now. Our country and our world is going through some difficult and confusing times. And so I thought, you know, I think Psalms would be a good book to jump into. And then I started getting into this Psalm, and I thought to myself, what a perfect Psalm to get into right now. Because of the relevance here, I guarantee you that there are a lot of people right now that are feeling exactly like this Psalm. They want to be in church. They want to be in the multitude. They want to be singing the praises of God in a big group. Yeah, sure, they're getting the preaching from home or they're coming in small groups of 10 or less and hearing the preaching live. But man, they long for the old days of showing up with the crowds and the singing and the preaching. And, you know, that's how David felt here. David went through a period like that. It's not that no one's ever gone through anything like that before. You know what? All throughout the Bible, people went through things like that because there's nothing new under the sun. There are going to be periods like that that happen. And so we see David here just longing for God and longing for the house of God, and he wants to be there with the multitude. You know, there's something about going to church and just the crowd that's there that's it's exciting, it's inspiring, and it does bring you closer to God when you come to church. You know, obviously you can study your Bible at home, you can pray, you can tune in, and those are all good things, and those are going to help you grow in your spiritual walk with God, but they are not a substitute for actually physically being in the congregation and experiencing church with the multitude. You know, I think of so many great services that I've been in throughout my life that I've been blessed to have been able to attend. And, you know, I feel bad for people who live in foreign countries and spiritually dry places where they don't get the experience on a regular basis of assembling together with God's people and having a congregation and singing. But, you know, I think about some of the most powerful services I've been in over the years. One thing that comes to mind, I remember back in the early days of Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, I remember going there and preaching in Pastor Jimenez's living room, and those were some powerful services because of the fact that we packed so many people into his living room that we had like 62 people one time, 63 people in a living room. When you put like 62 people in a living room, and it's a lot of diehards that have driven in from a long ways and everything, and I mean we were singing so loud in that place. We were raising the roof in that place, just belting out the praises of God in Pastor Jimenez's living room, and a little bit of that is included in the end of After the Tribulation. You know, during the credits, during After the Tribulation, you see Pastor Jimenez getting real excited about the song, it is well with my soul, but man, being there was just a hundred times better than just singing out of it. You can't, you can't capture it. You got to be there and experience those moments. I've been in other just powerful preaching services where preachers got up, and they preached so hard that everyone just, I mean, I sat with hundreds of people, listen to a pastor just get up and preach so hard, and everybody just walked out, and no one said anything to anyone because everyone was just kind of like, everyone just had to process the sermon. It was just so powerful. Everyone was just in awe, and, and just, they were just dumbfounded, you know, and we just walked out just like, oh man, I need to think about things, because it was just such an intense, powerful sermon. Now, I'm sure you could get an MP3 of that, but you know what? I doubt you'd be as dumbfounded as when you're actually there. Now you say, well Pastor Anderson, you know, how can you say this, you know, when you've, you know, canceled church because of this coronavirus and everything, you know, you're telling us how great, look, sometimes things have to be taken away for a little while, and it actually helps you appreciate them more. You know, taking a little break from something, it's like fasting in a sense, you know, you take a break from something, you take a pause from something, and you know what? You ought to appreciate it that much more when you get it back. You know, I believe that when this whole ordeal is over, that I think that our church is going to be packed. I don't think that, I don't think we're going to have missed a beat here. I think we're going to, after this pause, come right back, full strength, better than ever, and you know what? Maybe even with a renewed enthusiasm and a revived spirit of people who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and they're going to be filled, amen? And so, you know, I'm looking forward to that day, but obviously, live streaming is not church. Now, I've never said that live streaming is church. In fact, I've been up here just ringing that bell for the last 15 years. Live streaming is at church, and guess what? It's still not church. Live streaming is still not church. We have canceled church. Church is on pause right now because we don't want to be the ones to spread this disease throughout Arizona. So we have church on pause. So a lot of people have attacked me with a straw man argument, like I'm somehow claiming that this is church or something. Folks, the people, now obviously, those of you that are actually here, this is church. You guys are a church, all right? And the people who've been coming to hear Brother Corbin Russell preach, yeah, they're in church because we're cycling through just small groups. But the thing about that is that this is not a substitute for church if we're having people watch from home. But you know what? Watching from home is way better than nothing. And you know what? This is not the first time that this has happened in the history of our nation or of our world. David's going through something where he's not in the house of God and he wishes he could be. You know, people have gone through situations like that throughout history. And the thing is, you know, I've seen a lot of people saying that the founding fathers would roll over in their grave, but my wife was showing me a whole bunch of history because she's reading a book right now about a yellow fever epidemic that happened I think around 1794. So it was literally the founding fathers that were there in that generation doing these things. And it was a hardcore lockdown that they did in 1794 that was way more hardcore than what's going on in 2020 America. This has happened throughout history back in 1918 with the flu epidemic. All kinds of churches took a break, closed the doors, and guess what? They didn't have live stream. You know, we just ought to be thankful that at least we have the live stream so we're not just getting spiritually deficient from no preaching. You know what? Obviously, live streaming just isn't the same. Watching it on YouTube is not the same, but let me tell you something, it's a lot better than nothing. So be thankful for what you've got because look, and you know, Brother Segura made a great point to me when we were talking about this. He said, you know what? There are all kinds of people, Pastor Anderson, who've been listening to your preaching for years that have never been to church. They've never been to church in their country because they live in a foreign country. They've never been to church in their country because there's no church in their area, and they've never been here to faithful word, but yet they've gotten saved, grown in the Lord, and actually begun soul winning in their area. So that shows that the preaching still has power over the airwaves that someone who never darkens the door can still get a benefit. Now look, obviously it's better to be in church. We're commanded to be in church. God wants us in church, but during this time it's simply a break from church because of the fact that the government has mandated a stay at home order and said we need to slow the spread of this thing so that the hospitals are not overrun. You know, and I'm not interested in fighting the wrong battle, and I'm not going to re-preach. I've already preached about that in a few of my sermons, and I'm not going to re-preach that, but you get the idea of what I'm saying here. So you get, I think this sermon really helps a lot of us relate to what's going on right now, and now I think we have a greater understanding of Psalm 42, and Psalm 42 can help us understand what we're going through right now or the feelings that we should be having right now of wanting to get back to full strength. You know what? I can't wait to be here with this place packed with hundreds of people the way it ought to be, and you know what? It's great if people are at home feeling that way because that's how they ought to be feeling, just like David felt, just like we all feel, but you know what? In the scheme of things, though, this is just a very short thing. I mean, Christianity is not measured in years. It's measured in decades, folks, okay? I'm not some Johnny-come-lately here. I've been serving God for 30-some years, okay? I've been soul winning every week for like 21 years, and so, going through a period like this, and I guarantee you that some people who are saying like, how dare you take a break? How dare you cooperate with this? I wonder how long they've even been serving God. You know what I mean? So it's like you could serve God faithfully and be in church every week and soul winning every week for literally decades, and then you got some newbie criticizing you. How dare you take a break when the government tells you to take a break or when the government declares a Sabbath for the land or tells us that we need to shelter in place or whatever. It's like, excuse me? You know what? We've been at this thing for a long time, and you know what? God willing, we're going to be at this thing for a long time in the future, and when this is all over years from now, we're not even going to remember this. It's going to be like, oh, hey, you remember that one time that we were, you know, that we had to shut things down for four or five weeks for that disease, and it's just going to, oh yeah, okay, yeah, oh, I forgot about that. It's not the end of the world, folks, and by the way, literally also, it's not the end of the world, all right? We're not living out revelation right now, everybody, so just relax. This is a minor thing compared to the things that are going to happen in revelation. If you think this is the beginning of the tribulation, you must think the tribulation is a joke because the tribulation is going to be way weirder and way worse than this. All right, anyway, let's get back in the passage of such a great passage here. He says at the end of verse two, when shall I come and appear before God? And now we understand what that means, right? Appearing before God, he's talking about going to church, going with the crowds to the house of God and singing praise. Oh, and by the way, some of the people who've criticized me for shutting things down, you know, they don't have to worry about it because they don't even have a crowd of more than 10. You know, I saw Brian Denlinger was criticizing me today. Yeah, he's already been in, he lives in compliance. He's now, he's in compliance 24-7, 365 because it's him preaching to a camera. There's nobody, he's, he's been on live stream only since before this disease had ever been thought of. That guy's been on live stream only, you know, and then other pastors that have insulted me literally, their church has literally like 10 people in it and it's like, what in the world? Well, that's pretty easy to comply. You just business as usual and it's easy to sling mud at somebody who's doing the right things. But anyway, and look, I'm, and look, I understand people have different opinions about this and you know what? I respect other people's opinions on this and churches that are staying open. You know what? I wish them all the best and I just, I hope that everything goes well. I hope it goes smooth. I hope God puts a hedge around them and keeps everybody safe, you know, and so, uh, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind is what I say. You know, this is what we've decided to do and you know, people should respect our decision and we'll respect other churches decision to go forward and keep having services because it's really not our place to judge. I don't believe so. Psalm 42, he says in verse three, my tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me, where is thy God? So he's going through a hard time. I mean, he's crying and basically he's using this, uh, extreme illustration where like he's crying so much that like his tears are going into his mouth, like, like he's eating his tears, like his tears are his food. Uh, basically he's licking his lips and it tastes salty from all the tears coming down his face or whatever. And so he's saying, my tears have been my meat night and day. And while he's going through his hardest time, people are there to kick him while he's down, right? People are there to add insult to injury. And you know, when you're serving God, you're always going to have your detractors that kick you while you're down and think about Jesus Christ when he was on the cross, how he's up there. I mean, think about how hard it would be even if there was no one around. What if you're just by yourself crucified? I mean, the pain is going to be incredible and it's so horrible, but now imagine you're there, you're going through the worst suffering, worst pain, and then you have people yelling at you, making fun of you. You know, when Jesus was on the cross, they're reviling him. They're mocking him. Hey, thou that destroys the temple in three days, huh? Take yourself down from the cross. You know, oh, he trusted in God that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him. Right. And they're saying all these things about how, you know, oh, well, let's give him vinegar to drink and let's, let's see if Elijah will come help him. And you know, all of this mockery that he endured in the Bible says that Jesus Christ endured the cross, despising the shame. So this was a big part of why it was hard for him was all of the mocking and ridicule. So don't be surprised if you follow Christ and you end up being a partaker of a little bit of his suffering that when you do right and when you're serving God and things go bad, people will make fun of you, kick you when you're down, insult you. And look, anytime anybody hears about anything bad happening to me, even if it's like the mildest thing, even the tiniest thing, there are always those people, those atheists who comment on YouTube like, well, why didn't God protect you? You know what I'm talking about? You've seen those comments. They're like, well, why didn't God protect? Oh, you're sick. Well, God isn't protecting you. Oh, you got hurt. Well, God didn't protect you, you know? And, and what are they basically saying? Well, where is your God? Where's your God? Huh? You know, these bad things are happening to you folks. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. We're going to go through hard times. And so the atheists are going to laugh and scoff at us and say, well, where is your God? Why didn't God prevent this? Or many times when I report something bad helping to some other godly person, people say, why didn't God protect him? Where's your God? And the joke's on them in the end because you know what? God's real and they're going to be doomed. So instead of getting mad at them and just, you know, and getting all upset when you say that, you know, you just feel bad for people that say things like that. Where is my God? Because you know what? I, I know where my God is. You know, he's at my right hand and I'll not be moved. And so I know the answer to that question. When they say, well, where is your God? I know exactly where he is. I've studied the Bible. I understand how life works. I understand the trials and tribulations that we're all appointed to go through. You know, it's them who doesn't know where my God is. And because they don't know that, they're going to split hell wide open. And so it's really sad for them. And we need to not let these things get us down. And, and, and here's what's going on in this Psalm. These things have a tendency to get you down. And, and David is talking about these things, kind of getting them down. But then he basically asked the question, why am I getting down about this? All right, let's go through this and I'll show you what I mean. They continually say unto me, verse three, where is thy God? Verse four, when I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. For I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast down on my soul? So here's where he kind of checks himself. You know, he's, he's feeling down. His tears are his meat night and day. He's crying and feeling bad. But then he says, you know, why are you cast down on my soul? Verse five, and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. And here's what he's saying. Good times are coming. Why am I getting down when this is just a temporary setback? Why am I down when this is all going to be over soon? He's saying, look, soul, what is wrong with you, soul? Why are you disquieted? Why are you down? What's wrong? Why are you cast down? Hope in God, right? Don't give up hope in God. I'm going to praise him in the congregation, right? Because he's saying, look, I remember I went to the congregation. I praised God. I was in God's house. It was great and exciting. You know what he's saying? Those times are coming again. Don't be down. This is all going to be over and you're going to be back in the saddle again. So that's kind of a punctuation in the psalm, because if you look at verse 11, verse 11 is a repetition of verse five. Some of these psalms have kind of a natural chorus to them, sort of like we sing songs and they have a chorus. This ends up being the chorus. So look at verse 11 and look at it in conjunction with verse five. You're going to see it says virtually the same thing. Why art thou cast down on my soul and why art thou disquieted within me? Verse 11, hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. So in verse five, we talked about the help of his countenance verse 11, the health of my countenance. So his help produces my health, right? And he's saying, look, don't get down because there's hope. It's going to be great. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. But you know what I'm noticing a lot right now is that a lot of people, they're not thinking this way. They're not thinking in a Psalm 42 mentality. Here's how they're thinking. Oh man, this is so bad. And you know, this is just going to roll into just a total death camp for us all. It's a FEMA camp for everybody. It's going to be forced vaccinations out the wazoo. It's going to roll directly into the mark of the beast and all this stuff. And it's just a lot of, and here's a verse that I keep thinking about right now, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. What does that mean? Sufficient unto the day is evil. Take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Meaning we have enough problems to deal with right now of what's actually going on. So we don't need to just invent all of these future problems that may or may not happen. And you say it's going to happen. Okay. Even if it's for sure going to happen, I'm not going to worry about it today because I got enough to worry about today. Isn't that what the Bible meant when it says sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. And so I want to ask the question, is that the evil of today? Is that today's evil? Oh, we're going to be forced vaccine. Is that today's evil? No. So that's why I'm not going to worry about that. Okay. That's the people are literally scared right now that they're going to be forced to take a vaccine that doesn't exist. That hasn't been invented. There is no coronavirus vaccine, but there are people are already scared that it's going to be forced on them. It doesn't even exist. Now, look, if you want to worry about stuff and people are constantly asking me, what about this? What about this? And I, you know what I, I don't know what I'm talking about just this year. I'm talking about just in my life. People are constantly asking me and here's what I say to them. I say, well, I don't think that far ahead. You know, w w what are we going to do when this happens? It's like, you know, you, you've got like a three year old. Well, what are you going to do when he graduates from high school? It's like, what people, people's baby is born and they're already worried about homeschooling and how, you know, how they're going to teach this and teach that. It's like, whoa. You know, they, they, they just started the college fund, you know, the Gerber baby grow up plan with the college fund. It's like, whoa, getting way ahead there. You know, I'm not going to worry about doom and gloom, especially because sufficient under the day is the evil there. Look, I'm not saying not to think and plan for the future. Of course, it's good to make plans and think about things, but not, not scary things that may or may not even happen. And I can't even count how many times per day I get asked the question. So are you going to take the vaccine? What vaccine it's like, it doesn't even exist, you know? So what are you going to do if it's mandatory? What do you folks haven't there been mandatory vaccines for a long time, but just tons of people just don't do it. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to not take it. Well, what if it's mandatory? I still won't take it. And you know what? Millions of other people won't take it either. Do you really think everybody in America is just going to light up and get this vaccine? Now, obviously a lot of people are going to line up to get all the aborted fetal tissue and, and you know, island of Dr. Moreau garbage, you know, injected into their arm. But you know what? Not everybody's going to, they're going to be millions of people who won't do it. And I'm going to be one of them, but I'm not going to be alone. And here's the thing. It might not even happen. So this is just some hypothetical that we don't even know if it's going to happen, but look, I'd rather go move to another country than inject that junk into my arm or my kids or my wife or anybody else. But, but, but why are we even talking about that? Why am I getting asked that question a hundred times a day? You know what? It's not the evil of the day. So I don't understand why that would be the big focus. Let's just focus on this bad thing that might happen in the future. Folks, there have been a lot of things that I've dreaded in my life that I've absolutely dreaded and they ended up not even happening. And I just fretted and dreaded and all, it's going to be horrible and all that. And it's like, oh, it's canceled. It's like, thank God. But I've spent so much time wasted, just, just scared and nervous and worried and fretting. Don't fret about these boogeymen of the future. You know, when that shows up, let's deal with it. Let's face it head on. Let's fight the enemy. Let's fight the battle. Let's make our stand. But why do we need to talk about it and go on and on about it and be forced to stand up and expose it and go on? It's not even happening. It doesn't even exist. Now, will it exist? Probably. Maybe. But as far as being forced, I mean, look, I'm seeing people sharing stories right now. Hey, the government might come in your home and start ripping family members out of your home by force. It's like, what in the world? You know, yeah. You know what else might happen? Aliens might land tomorrow. Right. You know what else might happen? Hoover Dam will break and flood everybody. You know what else might happen? The nuclear power plant outside of Phoenix might just melt down and just contaminate and radiate all of us. We might go to war with this country and the economy might do that. Folks, I can't even count how many news articles I've seen of what might happen. You know, this guy said this shutdown could last for two years or 10 months or a year. It's like, come on. It's till April 30th. OK, why don't we just think about that? Why don't we just worry about that? Why don't we just get through that instead of just focusing on? Well, this guy said and, you know, everybody's like, well, Bill Gates said this Bill Gates. Last time I checked, I didn't think Bill Gates is even in authority in our country. Did he get elected or something? Did I miss something? I know I don't pay attention to politics, but did he get elected? Is he in our government now? Is he running things now? And look, that's the last person I'd check in with about viruses. He can't even keep viruses off windows. Windows based PCs are filled with viruses. You have a Mac, you like never get a virus. You don't even need virus protection for your Mac because it just doesn't get viruses. But with Windows, you got to get all the Norton, McAfee. You got to vaccinate the crap out of your Windows based computer. So it doesn't get viruses. So why not Bill Gates about a virus? You know, he can't even keep his own product virus free. I'm not looking to him to keep me virus free. But last, here's the good news. Everybody, I got good news and bad news. Okay. The bad news is Bill Gates wants to vaccinate you all. The good news is he has no power. That's the good news. All right. So I'm not going to sit. I'm going to, I'm going to have a Psalm 42 mentality that says, Oh man, I'm sad. I'm going through hard things. I'm crying. I miss church. I wish I could be in church. It'd be great. But you know, well, hold on a second soul. Why am I feeling that way? Why am I, why is my soul disquieted? Why am I cast out? Wait a minute. Hoping God, I am yet going to praise God. I'm going back to his house. It's going to be great. The Bible says in verse number six. And when he, or in verse five, when he says, hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him. He's not just talking about a solo praise session there. He's talking about, I'm going to praise him in the congregation and the context. He's talking about, you know, I'm going to go to the multitude in verse four where it says, you know, with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude. That's what he's saying. He's saying, look, I'm going to get back to church. I'm going to get back to the crowds. I'm gonna get back to the excitement. So don't be down because good times are coming. I'm not worried about the bad times that are coming. I'm thinking to myself, you know what, we're going through a difficult time right now, but you know what? Things are going to get better. That's what I'm looking at. What's wrong with that attitude? What's wrong with an attitude that says, well, God's always taking care of me in the past. So he's going to keep taking care of me going forward. I mean, God's always worked all things together for good in the past. He's probably going to do the same thing this time. In fact, he promised that he would. And so if my hope is in God, I know that the glory days are ahead, not behind. Okay. And here's the thing, even if this were the beginning of the tribulation, which it isn't. Okay. But even if it were, that would just be something to get even more excited about. Like, wow, look how close we are to the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior, Jesus Christ, even so come Lord Jesus. I mean, that'd be great. But guess what? Don't get too excited there, partner, because it's not coming yet. There's a lot more that needs to happen first. And this is not even close to being even the beginning of sorrows that Matthew 24 describes. So he says in verse six, oh my, so he starts a new phase in verse six because verses one through four culminated in that verse five chorus because remember verses five and 11 are like the chorus of the song. So jump into verse six. We'll enter the next half of it. Oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. So isn't it interesting in verse five, he's like, man, why am I cast down? Just hoping God things are going to get better, but that's a little easier said than done. You know what I mean? So yeah, that's what we should do, but obviously we're human. So because we're human, yeah, we're going to feel down. So he says, oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermanites from the hill Mizar. Now what he's saying there in verse six, he's talking about how he's going to remember God even remotely is what he's saying because, you know, he wants to be in Jerusalem. He wants to be in the house of God. He wants to be with the crowds of God's people, but he says, you know what? I'm going to remember God even from the land of Jordan. So even when he's over on the wrong side of the river and he's outside the land and, you know, think about the life of David before he became king. Think about the times he spent in exile. Was he able to go to church during those times? I mean, think about it. Could he go to the tabernacle when he's in the land of the Philistines for over a year? Was he able to go do his feast and do his, no, he's a fugitive. And so therefore he missed out on those things. So you can see how he would feel this way. Man, I just want to be back praising God in church. I want to, I want to appear before the Lord, but I'm stuck here in the land of the Philistines or whatever. And so David went through this in his life. He went through things like this, but you know what he's saying? You know, I'm going to remember God from the land of Jordan. I'm going to remember God from the land of the Hermanites and I'm going to remember God from the hill Mizar because you know what? The what of God's will is more important than the where of God's will and wherever we are, we need to do right. Praise God, serve God, remember God, wherever we are, and then ultimately get back to the house of God when it becomes possible. Look at verse seven. Deep call a thunder deep at the noise of thy water spouts. All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. So he's describing his despair and despondency and the hard times he's going through as being out in the ocean. Just get a picture of being out in the ocean in a storm and the waves are just crashing over your head, you know, and you're just trying to stay above water. You know, maybe you're in a shipwreck. People in the Bible went through that. The Apostle Paul went through a literal shipwreck where a night and a day he spent in the deep and imagine just clutching to a piece of wood or something off the ship and you're just trying to stay afloat and the waves are just crashing over your head. Deep calling unto deep. Basically, he's saying it's like the waters and the deep are conspiring together. Like first I'm going to hit him, all right, I'm going to hit him and then you come and hit him and they're like working together to batter him. All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Verse eight. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life. So look, we're going to go through daytime in our lives and we're going to go through nighttime in our lives. We're going to go through good, happy, joyful, cheerful times, the daytime, and we're going to go through dark, scary times or sad times, lonely times, in the night time. And he says, look, God's going to command his loving kindness in the daytime. God's going to bless in the daytime. But you know what? In the night, his song shall be with me. I'm going to be singing praises. I'm going to be praying unto the God of my life. Verse nine. I will say unto God, my rock, why has thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me. While they say daily unto me, where is thy God? Again, repeating that theme from earlier in the passage. He's saying, look, they're making fun of me. They're mocking me. They're reproaching me. And you know what? It's a sword in my bones. You know, you say, well, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. But the Bible talks about people whose speech is like the piercings of a sword. Right. Obviously, we tell that to our kids because we don't want them whining about every dumb thing that someone says to them. You know, kids are it's like they come to you and tell you about every little thing that somebody said, like one of my kids that's a little toddler would come crying to us and say, you know, they said that I'm an old man. And we're just like, are you an old man? Then why does that offend you? Right. What are some other things that people have been called in our house that make no sense? Or they're not that insulting? Can you think of any? Well, yeah, it's just some little nickname that they don't like or it's always just something just so rare. He said, he said, I'm not a big girl. It's like, what in the world? He said, I'm little. You are little. Well, you know, so, you know, it's just obviously we say, hey, look, don't take heed unto all words that are spoken. Right. When people insult you and criticize you, just let it go. Don't worry about it. But you know what? Because we're human, sometimes people do say things that do actually hurt. And usually the things that hurt are the ones that are actually a little close to home. When people insult us with something ridiculous, we're just like, whatever, that's ridiculous. But when they insult us and it's kind of true a little bit, then it's like, oh, that hurts a little bit. Right. When we get those kind of insults. So he's saying, look, as with a sword in my bones, it's like they're just stabbing me down to the bone. My enemies reproached me while they say daily unto me, where is thy God? You can see the fatigue here of him. Just he's going through hard times, hard times, hard times. It's just every day, where's your God? Where is your God? You're alone. You're by yourself. Where's your God? No one's helping you. Right. As he goes through this. But he says, you know what? I'm not going to be cast down. My soul is not going to be disquieted within me. You know why? Because it doesn't matter if the atheist asked me 500 times in a row, 500 days in a row, where is your God? I know that God's real. I know that I'm saved. I know that God loves me. I know that God's in my right hand and I shall not be moved. And so if we hope in God, then we know that we will yet praise him who is the health of our countenance and our God. You know, there's going to come a day when we get through whatever trial we're going through and it doesn't matter what tribulation or trial or suffering or difficult time you're going through. It will end period. It doesn't matter what you say. No, this will never end. Well, unless you're headed for hell, it's going to end because you know what? The Bible says weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. This life, even our whole life is just a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes the way. And so we're going to be in heaven for all eternity. You know, we're going to be with the Lord. We're going to be on the new earth. So we're going to be with Jesus Christ for eternity and things are going to be great. While we're on this earth, we go through light afflictions, the Bible says. And as we go through those light afflictions, we need to always keep our eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel and stay encouraged. And look, this thing that we're going through right now, and look, it's affecting different people in different ways. Some people right now, this isn't really affecting their life that much, you know, and I'll be honest with you. It's not really harming my life that much, but some people are just like, well, you don't understand because this isn't really as bad for you as it is for me. But hold on a second. I've been through other hard things in my life that you've never been through. I could list all the hard things that I've been through that they haven't been through. We all go through difficult. So right now, look, some people's job, you know, you know what this is doing for some people, some people I'm talking to a lot of people. I mean, I'm a pastor. I talk to people all day long. I'm constantly communicating with people nonstop. And when I'm talking to people, you know what a lot of people are saying to me? They're saying to me, oh, well, you know, I'm pretty much I'm still getting paid the same amount of money, but I only have to go into work for a couple of hours a day and I'm getting paid the same. It's like, oh wow, this is really hard for you, you know, or, or, oh, I'm just working from home now, but my life hasn't really changed that much or whatever. You know, other people, though, this is devastating to them in some way. Maybe they've lost a loved one or maybe they have a loved one that's very sick right now with this thing, or maybe their job, you know, I was talking to a guy in our church who works in the grocery business and boy, he's not getting any time off because you know, all the grocery stores are overrun with people. So he's just working day and night. He is just working day and night. So you know, this is hard for him in a way too. You know, some people have lost their jobs over this. Some people have had to permanently close down their business. And you know what? That can be devastating for them. And look, I'm not going through anything like that, but I've gone through other hard things in life too. Okay. So we all go through hard things at different times, but you know what? To the people that have lost their business or lost their job, you know what? If you seek first the kingdom of God, God will provide for you and you're going to be okay. So whatever you're going through, look, I've gone through hard times financially. I know what it means to run out of money and be struggling financially and be struggling and working two jobs or working incredible amounts of overtime just to try to put food on the table. I know what it means to have unexpected bills come up and just be thrown thousands of dollars into the hole and have to get out the credit cards and rack up the credit cards and do all these stupid things. Okay. I've gone through those things in my life and I think God caused me to go through a lot of hard things in my life. So I'd be prepared to be a pastor because second Corinthians chapter one teaches that the reason why we go through afflictions is so that we can help other people that are in tribulation. How can I be a pastor that helps people get through something or teaches them how to get through something if I've never been through anything myself? So God pretty much allowed this world to beat up on me different times for years so that I can understand things so that I could actually lead people and not be up here like, well, what are you talking about? Life's a piece of cake. You know, what a marriage problems. What are the, what's that? Financial problems. What? Just go to work. You'll have money. Are you lazy? You know, obviously, you know, I've gone through health problems, financial problems, marriage problems, just you name it. I've gone through the things that other, you know, can I explain to you why? Because there's no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man because guess what? When people call me up with their problems, one of the things I always tell them is I say, you know what? Pretty much everyone's gone through this or pretty much everyone's going through this. This is something that's part of life because you know, we all go through a lot of the same things, don't we? And we go through challenging things. And then when we go through them, we can help other people get through them because we've been there. We can empathize with them because we've done it and we know what it's like. So look, I realized that right now this time could be worse for some than others. Some people, it's not really that different for them. It's not really devastated their finances or devastated. But I will say this, you know, no matter what your situation, you're going to be able to make ends meet if you go to work six days a week. And if you pray to God and if you put him first, he's always going to take care of you. Now you say, well, I don't have a job, but here's the thing. A lot of people are hiring right now. Now I'm not saying it's a great job, but I'm telling you what, you could easily march in and start stocking shelves at these grocery stores and shipping packages and doing all these things. There are a lot of companies right now that are thriving through this and actually hiring and whatever. I'm not saying that that's ideal, but the bottom line is you're going to get through it. You might have to do some hard things, but you know what? You're going to get through it. But you know what? If you're grumbling and complaining about your finances being bad, losing your job, losing your business, you know what? It could be worse because you could be laying on your stomach right now, half naked with a ventilator tube shoved down your throat, struggling for every breath, trying to stay alive because you know what? That's the story of many thousands of people in the United States today right now. And you know what? What do you think that's like right now to be? And look, approximately 2000 people died from this thing in the United States alone today and yesterday. I think it was like 1950 or so yesterday and about 1900 today, somewhere right around that number, just a shade under 2000 people yesterday and today. But you know what? Not only did those people go through a lot of suffering and they've died, but there are thousands of other people, thousands more people right now laying on their stomach in a hospital bed. And look, it's no fun to be in the hospital, period. It's no fun ever to be sleeping and staying at the hospital. That is not the hotel you want to be at. That is not the resort that you want to be at. But let alone in this uncomfortable position with a tube and the ventilator and all that, man, that is no fun to be in that position. And you know what? Just struggling to breathe is no fun. People who have asthma can relate. I don't have asthma, but I've had kids that struggle with that at different times, allergy induced asthma and things. And you know what? It's painful. So look, if your health is perfect, your health is perfect. Instead of complaining about the financial burden, praise God for health. Because I don't know about you, but I would rather just completely mess up my finances and keep my health than to completely destroy my health and have the finances. What did the devil say in the book of Job? He said, well, skin for skin, all the man hath will give for his life, right? I mean, your body and your health is way more important than your money. And so if you are physically unaffected, you say, well, I didn't get the virus or something. Well, you know, why don't you be praising God right now that you didn't get it? And maybe you should in fact even be thankful to people who actually slowed down the spread so that you wouldn't have to get it and your loved ones wouldn't have to get it. You know, I mean, just be thankful that at least the thing hasn't ravaged Arizona. Arizona has barely been hit with it. And, you know, relatively speaking to other places, Arizona has barely been hit. That's something to be thankful for. That's something to be glad about instead of just complaining about all the things that we don't have. Why don't we just be like, man, thank God that we're healthy. Thank God that we're safe. Thank God that we're feeling good. Yeah, maybe our finances are shot right now, which ours aren't, but other people's are. But you know what? At least they're healthy. And you know what? What we ought to be doing is thinking about the people that are really sick and dying and praying for them and trying to help them and think about them instead of just looking at ourselves and what are we going to do financially? Look, I know financial troubles can be a big burden, but not as big of a burden as health problems, not as big of a burden as relationship problems, not as big of a burden as problems with your children, right? There are worse things in this world than economic problems. There are other worse problems that you can go through. And so, you know what? The bottom line is this. There's always something to be thankful for and we need to keep our eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel. Like David's, look, when David's looking at the current situation, it's depressing. His soul's cast down. But then when he thinks about, you know what? I was in church before and I'm going to church again. I'm going to be praising God again. You know what that does? That actually lifts him up. And then he is of good cheer once again because he realizes that everything will pass. Everything has an end. How long is this going to go on for? You know, we don't know how long the troubles of life are ever going to go on for. When we get sick, we don't know how long it's going to last. When we have financial problems, we don't know how long it's going to last. But you know what? I guarantee you that in the scheme of things is just a moment. It's just a light affliction for but a moment. And we're going to have everlasting glory. So think about that. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this Psalm, Lord. It's an encouraging Psalm and I think a lot of people could relate to it right now. Just feeling like deep is calling unto deep and the waves and the billows. It's just one wave of problems after another. Just one crashes into us and then another crashes into us and it's just hardship after hardship, Lord. But help us to realize that this is just temporary and good times are coming very soon, Lord. Help us to just hang in there. Take it one day at a time. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, Lord. Help us not to obsess and fret and bite our fingernails over the evils of tomorrow that may or may not come to pass, but help us to focus on what we're dealing with today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.