Psalm 43:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Whichever of the “Sons of Korah” wrote this, he was onto something. It is a continuing mystery why this Psalm was divided into two, but the content remains powerful regardless. We laugh about “talking to yourself,” but sometimes that’s the best thing you can do. It can be a way of allowing God to speak to us through our own mouth. He’s quite capable of doing that! We need to be listening, because sometimes it happens when we aren’t expecting it. Here, the Psalmist was going through a rough patch of opposition from one or more people, and it was really getting him down. God was telling him to remember His faithfulness in the past, and believe that He had not changed. The Psalmist was being told he would again praise God, but Paul went a step further, telling us to “always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:20) In other words, we should praise God and thank Him in the middle of whatever we are going through, because He hasn’t changed. It never hurts to meditate on what Jesus went through for us, being abandoned by His closest disciples, being horribly insulted and slandered, and then being physically abused to a degree that often killed people, before ultimately being nailed to a cross. Our problems don’t beat that! Whatever we are going through, we can praise God that He went through worse for us.

I remember one time I had been praying by myself in tongues, I asked God for the interpretation, and He gave it to me. What He said through my mouth at that time completely undid me, because it was a Word of love and affirmation that was completely unexpected. In the years since then I have heard Him speak through me countless times, and He’s often talking to me, as well as to the people who are listening to me. That’s not at all something to get puffed up over. As Don Francisco memorably sang, “He could have used the dog next door, if He’d been so inclined.” I am never to think the vessel has more value than the contents, just as Paul pointed out. (2 Corinthians 4:7) Rather, I am to be deeply and consistently grateful that God would use even me, and strive always not to dilute or distort what He is saying. I don’t know what He has planned for me for the rest of my time here, but I have the strong impression it’s going to involve speaking for Him in a variety of settings to a lot of different people. Going back to Don Francisco’s song, I’m to strive to be a “good boy” and get a scratch behind the ears.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the very full, blessed day with the Taiwan team here. Thank You for the sense we all had that we had known each other a long time, even though we had never seen most of them before Saturday. I do pray Your blessings on them for the remainder of their time in Japan, that all of Your plans, for them and for us, may be fulfilled, for the sake of the Body of Christ and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!