I wrote yesterday about CJ Mahaney’s message on the subject of talking to ourselves rather than listening to ourselves, and the question that came to my mind and I’m sure comes to a lot of minds is: “What Do I Say”

On this, Mahaney says:

The good news is that the Psalmist really provides us with a starter kit for talking with ourselves. He provides us with content. The content of your conversation with yourself is explicitly presented in this Psalm:

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

There is the content of your conversation with your troubled soul. Hope in God. It begins with looking outward and looking upward. It begins with addressing your soul and addressing your soul to look outward and look upward. It begins with addressing your soul to hope in God. He exhorts himself to hope in God. The Psalmist is aware of the sovereignty of God and the faithfulness of God and the kindness of God and the Psalmist is certain that God himself will intervene and in His good timing fulfill his promises in the life of the author. He refuses in this moment to be governed by the subjective. He refuses to be troubled by the subjective or by his circumstances.

Troubled souls cannot be trusted. Troubled souls cannot be trusted and circumstances often lie to us. Our circumstances lie. They lie to us informing us that God isn’t sovereign. God isn’t wise and God isn’t kind and God isn’t active and God isn’t present and God isn’t for us. In fact, He has forgotten us. We by the grace of God must not be governed, we must not be governed by our troubled souls. We must not be governed by our faulty interpretation of circumstances. We must hope in God. We must wait on God. We must be certain as a result of hope that God is sovereign, God is faithful and He is kind. We must be certain and convinced that He will intervene. That He will fulfill his promise and His purpose for our lives.