How many people do you know are in a slump? No, I’m not talking about a shooting slump in basketball, maybe a hitting slump in baseball, maybe you haven’t sold anything at your job and this is the way you make a living for your family, or maybe you just do not like the way you are pursuing life at this time.  All these slumps are generally products of what you are thinking or focusing your thoughts.

I want to talk about a slump in the way you think about things.  I guess you could say, “what are you thinking?”.  Is it something negative?  Can you just not get those negative thoughts out of your head at work? Are you listening to negative people? Are you listening to your own negativity?  Why are these thoughts there?  When will they every go away? Let’s look at some reasoning behind all this.  Because I think if we can focus our thoughts in the right direction and way, our slumps may never get started and at best may never materialize to even call it a slump.  I want to look at things for what they truly are.

Let’s start by looking in the Bible at what David says in Psalm 42. In verse 5, David says, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? And in verse 6, “O my God, my soul is cast down within me;” And one more time in verse 11, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?, And why are you disquieted within me?”.  David is struggling here.  David is in a slump in his thought processes. He is depressed.  If he is like me, he has squirrels running around in his head telling him things like: “You are not worthy!”, “Remember what you did in your past”, “Remember how you treated your classmates in school!”, “Remember when you didn’t open the door for the elderly person!”, and these thoughts are just a few of what may have or are running through your head as they have mine at some time in my life.  The question is what do I do with those thoughts?  What did David do with his depression?  His solitude?  His squirrels that made him have a bad day just because of what he was thinking about himself, his situation, his employment, his family, his relationships with friends or his vision for what he wanted to do in his life.

David tells us what to do in Psalm 42 just as he let us know he was down cast, depressed, and chasing squirrels in his mind. His soul longed for God.  Again in verse 5, David tells us to “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him!”.  So when I turn my focus on God, whether I am meditating on His word or praising His name, my countenance will change.  My negative will become positive.  Is it something that happens and stays? Not necessarily, I have to continue to praise God and focus on Him.  Because when I focus on God, I am seeing who I am.  For I am “made in the image and according to the likeness of God” according to Genesis 1:26.  For as I see God, so I should see me in my thoughts and my countenance will change.  I will no longer think negatively and the slump will end.  Don’t hang out in the slump like pigs hangout in the slop.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33. For our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  So if He got you through the past. He will get you through today. And He will definitely see you through tomorrow if you focus on Him.  Thank you God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit.

May you be blessed this day.

Chris

Psalm 42
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to me,
“Where is your God?”

4 When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.
7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a breaking of my bones,
My enemies reproach me,
While they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
The New King James Version. (1982). (Ps 42:1–11). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.