#earlwoodanglican #BrendanMcLaughlin #Hebrews

Stop listening to yourself

The theme of the book of Ecclesiastes is ‘even though life is really difficult, do your
best to enjoy God’s many blessings’ (e.g. Ecc 9: 1-12). Sadly however, Ecclesiastes
doesn’t tell us how. For this, we need to turn elsewhere.
Psalm 42 begins with the author saying his soul thirsts for the Lord, like a deer in a
drought thirsts for water. He then outlines some of the reasons for this spiritual
drought; being away from the Temple (exile), being attacked by foes (enemies), and
undergoing unexplained adversity (enigma). We can add to this sin (evil) as well, for
of course God is going to feel distant if we’ve seared our conscience in some way.
Yet the psalmist then tells us how he deals with such times in v. 5. So we don’t miss
it though, he repeats it again in v. 11, then again in Ps 43:
‘Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put
your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.’
The way the psalmist deals with spiritual lows is to talk to himself. English preacher
Martin Lloyd-Jones says of this passage; ‘have you realised that most of your
unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of
talking to yourself’. He says ‘when we wake up in the morning, our soul is talking to
us. Many of those thoughts have not even originated in us, but they bring back the
problems of yesterday’. If we let it, our soul will continue to talk to us throughout
the whole day.
Unless that is, we interrupt it. As Christians, our first job each day is to (i) interrupt
our soul, (ii) speak to our soul, and (iii) get our soul happy in the Lord, through
reading his word, and praying to him. So if you want to find joy tomorrow, start by
interrupting your soul, then speak to it the wonderful truths of the Lord Jesus.
Brendan McLaughlin

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction – Drifting
03:51 - 3 Points
03:34 - Introduction - Drifting
04:50 - Jesus is God speaking
09:09 - Jesus is God
14:28 - Jesus is greater than angels
03:34 - Pay attention to Jesus

Bible Passage:
Hebrews 1: 1 - 2: 4

Reflection Questions:
- Are you paddling obsessively towards Jesus, or drifting from him right now?
- How does it feel realising Jesus is the hurricane become flesh?
- Do I feel the urgency to become obsessed with Jesus?

Prayer for the day: Sunday - Trinity 6
Let us pray [that everything we do will be guided by God’s law of love.]
God our Father, you have promised to remain for ever with those who do what
is just and right. Help us to live in your presence. We ask this through our Lord
Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen