Episode #180 God’s Presence in Your Heartache – Heartbreak / Give Your Heart a Break

Hey friends, thanks for joining me for another few minutes here on Good God Talks as we draw near to God together. We get to have these uncommon conversations with God in everyday moments of our lives because God is ready and eager to talk with us. We're in this series bringing God things that break our hearts.

And I'm alternating episodes here also coming to God to give our heart a break from the things that can be so heavy, to share experiences with him that can also be just a salve to our spirit, to have moments of beauty in our connection.

Especially in seasons of heartache, I find myself drawn to the Psalms and I've been reading Psalm 42 in various Bible translations here recently. The psalmist is talking about some enemies And so a quick reminder here that our enemy is Satan. He seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. He seeks to accuse us and to accuse God to us.

As I read the words of this psalmist, let yourself consider and feel the ways that this also applies to you personally in your own heartache and in your own circumstances.
As the psalmist turns to the Lord, turn your heart and your attention to him also.

Ask God to meet you in whatever ways resonate with you from the passage I'm about to read Psalm 42 in the New Living Translation.

“As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.
I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I go and stand before him?
Day and night I have only tears for food,
while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
“Where is this God of yours?”
My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
amid the sound of a great celebration!
Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!
Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
from the land of Mount Mizar.
I hear the tumult of the raging seas
as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing his songs,
praying to God who gives me life.
“O God my rock,” I cry,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I wander around in grief,
oppressed by my enemies?”
Their taunts break my bones.
They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 42 NLT)

If you're in the midst of any type of heartache right now, I'm sure that there are parts of this psalm that you can resonate with. I know there are for me.

It almost feels like this tug of war. There's an ebb and flow, which we even see in the imagery here, but also this push and pull between how I feel and the relief that I need from the Lord and how I can be discouraged. And I need to put my hope in God.

And so I encourage you, if there are things that really resonated with you from this Psalm, talk with God about them. And I want to offer three potential questions. I think this might be the first time I've ever offered three questions here on the podcast, and we actually see all three of these questions here in the Psalm. The first two are from the author.

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?

These are great questions for self-reflection.

If you like to journal for journaling, but also to answer for yourself and to share with God. God, this is why I'm so discouraged. This is why my heart is sad. But also, I encourage you after you share those things with him to ask God to tell you more about it.

God, from your perspective. Why am I so discouraged?
God, you see that I'm so brokenhearted. God, why is my heart so sad?

In my own experience, there are usually layers of sadness or discouragement that I'm aware of and there are parts or pieces or deeper layers that I hadn't realized yet. And God brings that insight and clarity and comfort to us as we invite him to show us more about our own sadness or discouragement.

And then the third question is actually to flip on its head the question that the enemies are posing in the Psalm: where is this God of yours?

My encouragement to you is to ask God to show you.
God, please show me, where are you in the midst of this heartache?

He might show you how he's there with you in the room that you're in, or how he's ministering to you through people in your life. Or how he's bringing an area of freedom or healing. I don't know what he wants to show you, but he knows. Ask him to show you where he is.

If you ask God the question and you don't feel like you get a clear answer, receive this answer from his living word for you today. He tells us in verse eight (Psalm 42:8a) that each day he pours his unfailing love upon us. His word is living and active. So this isn't just past communication. This is God communicating through his word, the Bible to you today. Every day he pours his unfailing love upon you.

So again, our three questions, God, why am I so discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? And God, where are you in the midst of this?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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