3 Things The Psalms Teach About Emotional Health

The Psalms are a treasure-trove of spiritual delight. In fact, many memorable worship songs are drawn form this part of the Bible,

Reliance on the psalms occurs in more traditional, or liturgical, churches. Congregations may pray from Psalm 95, or Psalm 100 as part of their regular rhythm of prayer. Today some churches pray the entire book of Psalms monthly or daily. The beauty of the Psalms is that it teaches about a full range of human emotions.

From rejoicing to sadness, from frustration to deep anger, the Psalms give voice to deep emotions of human life. But this makes for some hard verses to read. Who doesn’t cringe at the thought of heads being dashed against stones, or hiding in a cave in fear of your own son? Yet even these difficult verses are instructive- we find that the Psalms depict just what it means to communicate our raw, sometimes ugly emotions to the Lord.

In this way, reading through the Psalms or better yet praying the Psalms) has a lot to teach us about our emotional health. I used to think the book of Psalms was all about a bunch of poetry. But, thanks to my Pastor who taught me these scriptures help to uncover how to be faithful when are filled with our negative or ugly emotions.

There are three main lessons the Psalms teach about emotional health.

It’s Okay To Struggle

You can’t get too far into the Psalms without noticing that they are rarely written and places of ease and comfort. In fact, the very second Psalm tells us about nations that conspire and people that plot in vain.

Many of the Psalms Articulate the personal struggle of David. The struggle could be because of the presence of an enemy, the schemes of the wicked, or general sorrow over personal sin. Whatever the reason, the Psalms give voice to how we fee, when things are not right in our lives.

Look at this example from Psalm 77:

I cried aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me. In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord. In the night, my hand is stretched out without wearing. My soul refuses to be comforted. I’ll think of God and I moan, I meditate in my spirit faints

Psalm 77:1-3

While we may not know exactly what the situation is at hand, these verses voice to someone who is struggling in their life. Further on David articulate questions, That arise from such struggling. Questions like: Well, the Lord’s spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love ceased forever? Has he forgotten to be gracious?

Who has not, from time to time, asked such questions? Who have not been thrust into an uphill battle and found your faith stretched and their patients wearing thin?

It’s a mistake you believe that faithfulness to God means we always have pleasant and easy lives. Worse yet is the belief that only the weak in faith go through times of struggle, The song present to us, In the vibrant fashion, the biblical truth, that even the strongest in faith struggle at times. Struggling against some hardship, an enemy, or even against our own human. Failing, doesn’t indicate a weakness in faith, struggling as part of life, and of faith.

It’s Okay To Feel

Did you ever have a Bible that included a list of where to turn on feeling a certain way? whether one felt angry or sad, confused, or frustrated, the list pointed to an appropriate verse for divine comfort. Most of the scripture suggested in these words are either a reminder of God’s promises, or a call to perseverance. While this is valuable, in some regards, It could lead us to the assumption that the faithful response to the negative emotions is push past them.

Imagine you are feeling angry. Acknowledging your anger, you turn to the previously mentioned list in the back of your Bible, searching for an appropriate scripture. undoubtably, this suggestion will be along the lines of Ephesians 4:26: “ in your anger, do not sin, don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” Or perhaps it could point to James 1:20: “ For

your anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” A passage from the Psalms likely, would not be mentioned.

The point is, such lists of what you read when you are angry rarely give voice to the anger you’re feeling.

Too often they point to the verses that speak to how anger is contrary to live a life of faith. This can leave us with the impression that the faithful response to anger is to not feel angry. We come away with the impression that it is wrong do you feel angry, or whatever emotion we are feeling. Then we attempt to move past the emotion, or deny it all together.

All this does it produce feelings of guilt and shame, for the fact is, we do feel angry

Anger is a human emotion like all the rest, and it is common to all people. Our anger, may, in fact, be an appropriate response to whatever situation we are facing.Even Jesus, got angry, and sad, and frustrated. Emotions are never wrong. They may be misdirected at times, and we may wrongly act on such emotions, but the feeling itself is not wrong in and of itself.

When we deny our emotions, we allow them to fester with, and us. We may even trick or so into believing that we have dealt with the matter at hand, but all we have done is turn a blind eye to the deep matters of our heart and soul.

The Psalms give us a license to hold our feelings before the Lord. We are given the freedom to feel, and to feel deeply and passionately.

It’s Okay To Scream

The farms often Genevois to the deep inner emotions that we feel. The sadness, frustration, and anger that we so often experience in our lives are articulated and gritty detail. In this way, the Psalms do not just give us a license to feel the emotion, the songs allow us to voice our emotions.

Psalms point us to the ability to bring our hearts to the Lord.

When we are filled with negative emotions, and let’s be honest, we all have these types of emotion from time to time, we are encouraged to expressed those feelings to the Lord. God is so much bigger than earth He is enough.

So, instead of reading, Ephesians or James, when you feel angry, what would it be like to read Psalm 13?

Instead of denying your anger, what would it look like to express it?

Psalm 13 does just this? it begins “ O’ Lord, will you forget me forever! How long would you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day long? In this Psalm , David pours his heart out before God. He gives voice to the deep emotion that he feels. Nothing is withheld. The songs show us that we are free to scream, or yell, shout, or weep.

I have learned that the Psalms can be a healing experience. When we get our voice to our deep emotions, not hiding from them, or pretending that they don’t exist, we invite Jesus into the deep inner places of our lives. We open the door to His healing presence.

The Only Certain Hope On Earth

The World has an idea of hope that sees it as an optimistic expectation that something good may happen in this life or, for the life to come.

People cannot help but hope; it is a part of our DNA as humans. We hope for good health, a good marriage, good weather, or an enjoyable holiday. Many even hope for a better life after the life they have lived on earth, which explains why so many claim that loved ones (including animals) are smiling down upon them after their death. Much of the hope that is found in the world lacks promise and certainty, which is like building a house on sand.

For true believers in God hope is very different from worldly Hope. Their hope is a Spirit-given virtue enabling them to joyfully espect what God has promised through Jesus. It is therefore, thoroughly Trinitarian.

Height Of Our Hope

The believers hope looks to God because He is “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). Because the resurrection of Jesus, Peter says that our “faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:21). The degree to which we find God desirable and excellent will be same to which hope plays a role of our lives. Our view of God will affect the hope we possess.

A small got begets a small hope; but knowing God and Christ Jesus (John 17:3), which is eternal life, is ground for possessing a hope that bursts forth in our souls on a daily basis. The psalmist describes for the blessed person as the one (whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Psalm 146:5).

Thomas Aquinas a Italian priest said:

Wherefore the good which we ought to hope for from God properly and chiefly is the infinite good, which is proportionate to the power of our divine helper, since it belongs to an infinite power to lead anyone to an infinite good. Such a good is eternal life, high consists in the enjoyment of God Himself. For we should hope from Him nothing less than Himself, since His goodness, whereby He imparts good things to His creature, is no less than His essence. Therefore the proper and principle object of hope is eternal happiness.

Thomas Aquinas

In short, Aquinas is saying that our joy is connected to our hope, which is connected to our Savior, which is connected to our God. A believers hope exists only when we hope in God and Father of our Lord Christ Jesus ( 1 Peter 1:13). The height of our hope is God Himself.

Certain As God’s Promises

Certain conditions characterize biblical Hope: it must be good, it must be in the future, it involves some degree of difficulty. For example, patient suffering, and it must be founded on God’s promises. Those who persevere, “by faith, shall attain what we hope for; the sight of our Savior (Titus 2:13).

This hope of the blessed vision of Christ Jesus is based not only upon the fact that we know He will return, but also on the knowledge that God dwells in us. This explains Paul’s language in Romans 15:13, “May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Faith, Hope, And Love

Faith in God through Christ Jesus by the Spirit gives rise to the believers hope. Faith and hope bear an intimate relation to one another ( Romans 4:18-21; 5:2; 15;13; Galatians 5:5; Ephesians 1:18-19; Colossians 1:23; Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 11:1; 1 Peter 1:21). Faith is the foundation of Hope, so that hope without faith is no hope at all. We believe God in order to hope at all in what we believe. But Faith also returns to hope to give it courage to persevere. If faith apprehends God’s promises, hope expects what He promises. In times of trouble, despair, and suffering, faith and hope feed on God and His promises.

The difference between faith and hope is not easy to discern. Simply put, faith believes, but hope waits patiently, yet there is an aspect whereby faith also requires patience. God is the object of hope, as it specifically focuses on His goodness to us in Christ Jesus. Faith not only looks to God but also trembles at His threatenings (when appropriate). Hope remains free of such fear. Faith and love can relate to present and future object, but Hope looks to the future alone.

Also, faith and hope bear an intimate relation to love. If hope relates to your faith in the terms of our expectations, hope relates to love in terms of our desire, so the more we desire, the good, the more we will love it. Equally hope requires desire. The more we desire, what is promised, the more we hope for it. Since faith is focused on Christ, Jesus, hope will always be present where there is true faith. And since faith focuses on Christ, Jesus, love will always accompany faith and hope because God and Christ are the object of faith and hope – how can we not love the one we believe has saved us, and promised us so much for the future? Faith and hope, and love gives expression to our Christian life ( 1 Corinthians 13:13; Colossians 1:4).

Hope That Purifies

The life of hope yields many benefits to the true believer, such as the expectation of eternal life ( Titus 1:2; 3;7), salvation Thessalonians 5:8)., heaven (Colossians 1:5), the resurrection (Acts 23:6), the gospel (Colossians 1:23), God’s calling (Ephesians 1:18; 4:4), and our inheritance (Ephesians 1:18). But there is also a duty bound up with hope namely, purification of our souls. “ Everyone who thus hope in Him purifies himself as he is pure” ( 1 John 3:3).

This command follows one of the greatest promises of Christian hope: “ Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). Those who have the hope of being made like Christ in body and soul must also have the present desire to be pure. While in sanctification, that accent is often on what God does, here in 1 John the accent is on what we do. If they embrace a hope of seeing Christ face to face, are to purify themselves.

In other words hope has a moral effect. The pursuit of purity arise out of our possession of hope.

This hope is unlike the world’s. The world’s hope is often vague, uncertain, a wish that is thrust up at the stars. But Christian hope is solid, certain, future, and cleansing. It lasts as long as the eternal God lives, and stands as tall as He stands. He is our hope, for apart from Him, no such thing exists (Ephesians 2:13).

6 Things Jesus Accomplished When He Went To The Cross

Here is a brief summary of the six core thing’s Jesus accomplished in dying for us.

1. Expiation

Expiation means the removal of our sin and guilt Jesus’s death removes our sin and guilt. The guilt of our sin was taken away from us and placed on Jesus, who discharged it by His death.

In John 1:29, John the Baptist calls Jesus “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus takes away, that is, expiates our sin. Likewise, Isaiah 53:6 says, “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him,” and Hebrews 9:25 says, “He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

2. Propitiation

Where expiration refers to the removal of our sins, propitiation refers to the of God’s wrath.

By dying in our place for our sins, Jesus removed the wrath of God that we justly deserve. In fact, it goes even further: propitiation is not simply a sacrifice that removes wrath, but a sacrifice that removes wrath and turns it into favor in turns wrath into love – God already loves us fully, which is the reason He sent Jesus to die; it turns His wrath into favor so that His live may realize its purpose of doing good to us every day, in all things, forever without sacrificing His justice and holiness.

Several Scriptures speak of Jesus’s death as a proportion of our sins. Romans 3;25-26 says that God “displayed Jesus publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, He passed over sins previously committed; for the demonstration of His righteousness at present, that He might be just and the justifier of Him who has faith in Jesus.”

Likewise, Hebrews 2:17 says that Jesus made “propitiation for the sin of the people.” and 1 John 4:10 says “in this love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for out sins.”

3. Reconciliation

As expiration refers to the removal of sins, and precipitation refers to the removal of God’s wrath, reconciliation refers to the removal of our alienation from God.

Because of our sins, we were alienated – separated from God. Jesus‘s death removed all the alienation and reconciled us to God. We see this in Romans 5:10-11: “ For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.”

4. Redemption

Our sins had put us in captivity from which we needed to be delivered. The price that is paid to deliver someone from captivity is called a ransom. To say that Jesus‘s death accomplished redemption for us means that it accomplished deliverance from the captivity through the payment of a price.

The three things we had to be released from: the curse of the law, the guilt of sin, and the power of sin. Jesus redeemed us from each of these.

  • Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law. He redeemed us from the curse of the law, having do you become a curse for us (Galatians 3:13-14).
  • Jesus redeemed us from the guilt of our sins. We are “justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption, which is Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
  • Jesus redeemed us from the power of sin. “ Knowing that we were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, from a futile way of life inherited from our fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Jesus” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

5. Defeated Of The Powers Of Darkness

Jesus‘s death was a defeat of the power of Satan.“ he just armed the rulers and authorities, and put them to open shame, I try and thing over them in Him” (Colossians 3:15). Satan‘s only weapon that can ultimately hurt people is unforgiven sin. Jesus took this weapon away from him for all who would believe, defeating him, and all the powers of darkness to his death, by as the verse before this says, “ Haven’t forgiven us of our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).

6. And He Did All Of this By Dying As Our Substitute

The reality of substitution is at the heart of the atonement. Jesus accomplished, all of the above benefits for us by dying in our place – that is by dying instead of us. We deserve to die, and He took our sin upon Him, and paid the penalty Himself.

That is what it means that Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8) and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20). As Isaiah says, He was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities… the. Lord has caused the iniquity us all to fall on Him (Isaiah 53:5-6).

You see the reality of substitution underlying all of the benefits discovered above, I didn’t means by which Jesus accomplished them. Substitution is the means by which we are all ransom: “The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Jesus’s death was a ransom for us – That is instead of us. Likewise, Paul writes that “ christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

Substitution is the means by which we were reconciled: “ for Christ, who died for sins once and for all, just for the unjust, in order that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). It is the means of expiation: “ He made Him who knew no sin, a sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (Corinthians 5:21) and “ He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” ( 1 Peter 2:24). And by dying in our place, taking the penalty of our sin upon Himself, Jesus’s death is also the means of propitiation.

“Greater love has no one than this, but he lay down his life for his friends“ (John 15:13).

Resting In God’s Promises

Although chaos may surround you externally, God wants to give you rest internally. In Matthew 11:28 God tells us to “ Come to me, are you who are weary and burden, and I will give you rest. Rest, it’s more than just the thing from work, relaxing, slowing down, unwinding, and sleeping. There’s another definition of rest – the definition that God is implying when he gives us the command “rest.” When God says, “be still, and know that I am God” or “I will give you rest,” He saying be “placed in positioned” in Him – in His promises, in His faithfulness, and in His truth. I hope so secure that one trials and difficulties come, you are not driven and tossed like the waves all around you. It’s the opposite of what our culture teaches us – which is to stress out and do something right now! And, it’s the opposite of our natural tendencies- which is rush into action, fill up our calendars, worry or become consumed with fear.

The only way to truly have rest is to know Jesus Christ and allow His promises to overpower everything and everyone else.

Here are three ways:

1. Have A Devotional Life

Resting in God’s promises isn’t a one time response. It’s an actual way of thinking, which begins with reading God’s Word consistently. Why? Because once you know God’s character from His Word and a personal relationship you have with Him, then you can begin to trust Him. You don’t trust someone you don’t know, so it must begin there. When your trust in Jesus, you will find deep satisfying rest in Him.

2. Remember What God’s Already Done

Remember, and acknowledge all the time God with Facebook, you in the past, and how God came through. Those stories of remembrance, as I like to call them, great to have in your toolbox to pull them out when you are restless and out, or in fear, and you can’t manage to see the horizon. This is exactly what king David did, when he was a servant in Saul’s kingdom. David pulled out his stones of remembrance when he defeated Goliath. David said, “The Lord, who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of the Philistine. (1 Samuel 17:37). David was afraid I’m sure. But his faith overpowered his fear because he saw the power of God at work before in his life. He knew his life was positioned, placed, and supported in the Lord and that he had gained a great confidence from those faith experiences to go forward. Hebrews 4:9-10 says, “ their remains, therefore, arrest for the people of God.” God says that His burden is easy and his yoke is light for those that choose to follow Him (Hebrews 11:28-30).

3. Self-Check To See What Exactly It Is You’re Carrying

Ask yourself this question: “ is the restlessness and burden I’m carrying right now Light or heavy?” If it’s heavy you’re carrying more weight than you were intended to carry. It means you have to give it to God and trust in His promises. Only then, will you find the rest He promises is available to you in His word. When you really take the moment to analyze your life, it helps you to see if you’re resting In God’s promises or not.