Good morning. Today we are continuing in our Stress-Busters series. Through this series, we are going to take a look at the 7 most common causes of stress in our lives. And as we do that, we will also find that each of the solutions can be found in the 23rd Psalm. Thus far, we have looked at God’s antidote for worry; Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” And then last week, we looked at God’s antidote for busyness; Psalm 23:2 “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads be beside quiet waters.”
As we continue today, we are going to look at God’s Antidote For Damaged Emotions. Psalm 23:3 tells us that, “He restores my soul.” This is good news, we all need our soul restored from time to time. We get hurt not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually. Life is tough. We get beat up. We get discouraged, depressed, and disappointed. We have failure, fatigue, frustration, and fears. We all have hidden hurts from our past. We carry wounds, battle scars, and emotional garbage.
But the good news is this, God wants to take away your emotional garbage. He wants to restore your soul. So that leads us to the big question, “How does He do that?” And in order to answer that question, we need to understand that He can only do that when you allow Him to make 3 changes in your life.
1. Let God remove your guilt.
2. Let God relieve your grief.
3. Let God replace your grudges.
Guilt, grief, and grudges are the 3 things that keep you emotionally wore out. So, let’s take a look at each of those emotions.
First, Let God Remove Your Guilt
Nothing destroys a soul faster then guilt. Look at what Psalm 38:4 and verse 6 has to says, “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear… I am bowed down and brought low, all day long I go about mourning.” This is a person who is plagued by guilt.
As we take a look at guilt in scripture, we find that there are 2 problems with guilt.
1. We all have plenty of reasons to feel guilty. We are all imperfect people. We all make mistakes. By nature we carry guilt in our lives.
2. We can’t get away from it. It’s always in our mind. Even if we go to a new location we carry a guilty conscious with us. We cannot hide from our guilt. In fact, in the Good News Bible, Proverbs 20:27 says, “The Lord gave us a mind and a conscience. We cannot hide from ourselves.”
So, if we cannot hide from our guilt, then how do you get rid of guilt? How do you deal with the guilt in your life? There are a lot of options:
We can deny it. We can try to pretend that it doesn’t exist. We can try to bury it, but that doesn’t work. It’s still alive. Denying guilt doesn’t deal with it.
We can minimize it. We can say, “It’s no big deal.” But we know that it is. If it was no big deal why do we still remember it? Why can’t we forget it? Why can’t we move beyond it? So minimizing it doesn’t work.
We can rationalize it. We say, “Everybody else does it.” But we know that that is not true; everybody doesn’t do it. And even if they did, that doesn’t make it right. When I try to rationalize it, I am trying to put my head over my heart. But the heart always wins out. “Rationalize” means to tell yourself “rational – lies.”
You can also compromise it just by lowering your standards. If you feel guilty about something you just say, “I don’t believe it’s wrong anymore.” That would be a good Fortune Cookie, “Commit a sin twice and it won’t seem like a sin anymore.” The
10th murder isn’t nearly as bad as the first one. Now as dumb as that sounds, there are a lot of people that will do that on a smaller scale. If you keep doing something over and over, your conscious will eventually become seared to it, but that doesn’t relieve the pressure of guilt.
Here is a good one. You can blame other people. In our mind we have a scale between what I do wrong and what you do wrong to me. We balance it out. I feel bad about this so I’ll blame you for it. When you’re blaming other people it doesn’t make it any easier on you.
But the most common thing that we do with guilt is that we beat ourselves up with it. We administer self punishment. We don’t see ourselves as God sees us. We feel less then human, less then God values us. We see ourselves with little importance and worth. We tell ourselves, “I don’t deserve to succeed.” We live in our guilt.
Now, none of the solutions that I mentioned will work when trying to deal with guilt. There is only one solution to your guilt. You’ve got to give it to God. He’s the only
one who can remove it. In Romans 3:23-24 it tells us that, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Plain and simple, Psalm 23:3, “He restores my soul.” Now, if you have that verse written down, or if you want to in your Bible, circle the word He. Only He can restore your soul.
The most basic truth of Christianity is that Jesus Christ has already paid for all of our
sins. Everything you’ve ever done wrong has already been paid for.
Everything you’ve already committed, the stuff you’re going to do later, all of the sins we commit, the mistakes, the regrets in your future have already been paid for. You just need to ask God to forgive you and accept what Jesus Christ did for you on the Cross where He already paid for all of our sins. Just accept it. That’s how your guilt will be removed. No other way. No psychologist can remove your guilt; they don’t have the power to forgive you.
But the Creator of the universe does have the power to forgive you. I don’t know what you’ve done but it doesn’t matter because your forgiveness is not based on how bad you’ve been, but rather, it is based on how good God is. What matters is not what you’ve done, but what Jesus has already done for you.
The whole point here is to trust in Jesus. How do you get forgiveness from God? Trust Him. You don’t beg God. You don’t bribe God. You don’t even bargain with God. Just believe in Him, and trust Him. All you have to do is accept that Jesus went to the cross for you. I can wipe my slate clean, start over, have a clear conscious if I accept Him.
Some of you say, “But I trust in Jesus, I believe in Him, yet I still feel guilty.” You’ve asked God to forgive you many times and you still feel guilty. That means you don’t understand the forgiveness of God. When God forgives it is immediate, it’s free, it’s complete, it’s unconditional, and forgiveness takes care of your sin the first time you ask. Look at I John 1:9. In that verse it says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Again, circle the word “all.” How much sin does God cleanse you of? Part of it, some of it, a little bit of it, NO! He cleanses you of ALL of it.
When you get your utility bill and you pay it in full, you know there is money in the bank, you know the check is good, do you still worry about it? No, of course not. The moment you pay the bill you stop sweating it. It’s paid for.
Well, Jesus on the cross said, “It is finished. It’s paid for. It’s over and done with.” So what are you worried about? If God forgives your confessed sins, shouldn’t you? Why would God punish you when He’s already punished Christ? Jesus voluntarily took it. He paid the penalty so you wouldn’t have to. Jesus was nailed to the cross, so you can stop nailing yourself to the cross. Let God remove your guilt.
Secondly, Let God Relieve Your Grief
Sometimes we grieve because of our own stupid actions. We do stupid things and make serious mistakes and get ourselves into all kinds of trouble. We grieve over that. Sometimes we grieve because we see people we love hurting. Sometimes we grieve because of a loss. Sometimes we suffer not because of what we have done but because of what others have done to us. This is not Heaven, this is earth and people hurt. Sometimes we feel lonely. Sometimes our heart is broken. Sometimes we experience sorrow, loss, and grief. But, Psalm 23:3 says, “He restores my soul.”
If you identify with those emotions I want to say to you today, I’m sorry that you hurt and I want you to know that God knows what you’re going through. God hurts with you and He cares about your hurt. The people in this church care about your hurts as well.
But, with that being said, only God can fill those pains. What do you usually do when the grief overwhelms you in life? Throw a giant pity party? Play the “if only” game? Withdraw into a shell, hide in a cave, isolate yourself from humanity. Do you just pull back and resign from life and be miserable the rest of your life?
Well let me tell you, there is another option. You can let God restore your soul.
King David was very acquainted with grief. You remember his story; in II Samuel 12 we are given some tips on how to handle grief. Remember David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed? He carried the guilt until he confessed it in Psalm 51. If you’re having guilt it is a good Psalm to turn to.
But you know what, that wasn’t the whole story. Do you remember that Bathsheba became pregnant? She had a baby boy and when it was born it was very sick. David grieved over what he had done. He fasted and he prayed. He said, “God the baby has done nothing wrong. I’m the one who messed up. I’m the one who made the mistake. Save the baby. He has done nothing wrong.” But guess what, the baby died anyway.
What did David do with his grief after the baby died? Well, in scripture, we find that he did 3 things.
1. He ACCEPTED what he could not change.
II Samuel 12:22-23 says, “He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, “Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.” But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.””
You’ve been hurt by parents, partners, peers. All of the grieving in the world is not going to change the past. The first step to emotional health, healing, restoring your soul, is acceptance. Accept what cannot be changed. I cannot change my background. I cannot change the hurts I’ve experienced and neither can you. Acceptance is the first step to healing the mind, the will, and the emotions. This is the first key to peace of mind: accept what cannot be changed.
2. He FOCUSED on what was left not what was lost.
II Samuel 12:24 says, “Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon.”
Some of you are going through some grief right now. God is not finished with your life. He’s not through with you. This is not the end. It hurts. But it doesn’t have to devastate you. If you’ll open your life up to Christ and let Him heal your emotions, things can be a whole lot better.
Ask God to remove your guilt and relieve your grief. If you’re still alive, God is not through with you. And the rest of your life can be the best of your life. Isaiah 61:3 tells us that, “To all who mourn... He will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness.” You see, you don’t have to remain a prisoner of your pain. It’s a choice. So focus on what is left, and not what was lost.
3. He TURNED to God.
Psalm 51:11-12 says, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
Instead of looking to other things in life, he turned to God. When our emotions get us down, we don’t have to stay down. All we have to do is turn to God, and allow Him to change your life. When we grieve we can remain a prisoner of our pain, or we can turn it over to God. That’s our choice.
And Finally, Let God Replace Your Grudges
Grudges come when we hold on to hurts that other people have caused us. We get mad at them and we won’t let that anger go. The people may not have even planed to intentionally hurt us. But we got hurt just the same. So we develop a grudge and won’t let it go.
I feel guilt when I have hurt people, I feel grief when I have suffered lose, but I hold on to grudges when someone has caused me pain. But guess what? In this world you are going to be hurt. Life isn’t fair. You are going to suffer pain. You are going to get bumped, bruised, scratched, scraped, and dinged up in this world. How you handle it will either make you bitter or it will make you better.
The difference between the two is the letter “I.” I make the choice. I can choose whether the circumstance will devastate me or direct me on to a new path. Whether it will make me bitter or better.
So, what do you do when the hurt has piled up? What do you do with all the emotional garbage? You can become angry with the people who have hurt you, you can hold a grudge. But look at what Job 5:2 says, “Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.”
Why? Because resentment, revenge and envy are self destructive. They hurt you. They cause broken relationships. They make a person bitter. They hurt you now, and the reason you hold a grudge is because of something in your past. It just doesn’t make any sense. Your past is past it does not need to last. Your past can’t hurt you today, unless you keep going over and over it in your mind. The person who hurt you may not even be alive. They may have died years ago, yet you are still holding a grudge. They’re still hurting you from the grave because you won’t let it go. You can’t bury your anger with them. You won’t let your resentment go. But you need to. All you are doing is hurting yourself. Look at what Romans 12:19 says in The Message Bible, “Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
In other words don’t hold a grudge, don’t take vengeance into your own hands, that’s God job, not yours. He will eventually make everything right. That’s His job. He is the judge of the world, you are not!
So, we need to get rid of all our bitterness. Stop holding grudges. Doesn’t the scripture say to, “Forgive as you have been forgiven.” How have you been forgiven? God has completely, totally, and absolutely forgiven the things that you have done. If you have been forgiven, then God expects you to forgive. Even the Lord’s Prayer says in Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
We feel guilt when we hurt others but when others hurt us we hold on to a grudge. It should not be this way. We want others to forgive us, but we have a difficult time forgiving others. But God has forgiven us, we should also forgive others. In the Message Bible, Matthew 6:12 says, “As you deal it out, so it will be dealt to you.” So let go, and let God take care of things.
You don’t need a self-help book to deal with your guilt, your grief, or your grudges. You need a Shepherd. You need a Savior. He is ready to help you deal with your damaged emotions. Psalm 23:1-3, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the quiet waters. He restores my soul.”
All you have to do is ask Him. Let Him restore your soul today. After all, God is the one that is able to take away those broken emotions. God has better things in store for you. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans to prosper you, not harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.”
So let Him take care of your damaged emotions.
Let’s Pray!
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