Psalm 141. Guys, I sent an email with a link to a song, did you get that? All right, I wanna play that at the end of the service, okay? All right, you can do the screen too, that's just words up there, but that way you can see it. I heard a really good song last couple days by Matthew West, and it just, I don't know, with my uncle passing and everything, it was a new song, and it just seemed very fitting, and I wanted to share it with y'all tonight at the end. It's a little out of the ordinary, I know, but I think you'll really enjoy the words. It's got a really good tune to it. and we'll share that with you tonight. Psalms 141, and we're going to just start with a reading of verses one through three, but tonight, what we're going to actually do is we're going to do a little glance at three Psalms, 141, 142, and 143. We're not reading all those, but we're going to take a look at these Psalms and bring some things out about them. The title of this evening's lesson is Knowledge Versus Feelings. Knowledge Versus Feelings. Let's start with reading Psalms 141, 1 through 3. Lord, I cry out to you, make haste to me, give ear to my voice when I cry out to you. Let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth, keep watch over the door of my lips. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we're so thankful, Lord, for your wonderful grace. We're thankful for your word, your knowledge of truth that helps us, Lord, in all of our feelings and emotions. Father, I pray that you'd help us as we bring out some things this evening regarding David how he felt, and I pray that you would help us, Lord, to identify with that and see that and help us, Lord, to know how to deal with those feelings that we have. And Father, I pray that you would help us tonight, Lord, as we come to your word, to have all assurance that your word, Lord, is inspired, that your word Lord, it's from you and that we can trust it no matter how we feel. In Jesus' name and amen. All right. As I said in this lesson, we're going to really be glancing and pulling verses out of these three verses, but what we're going to do tonight is something that you can do with a lot of the Psalms. But the Psalmist, as he does in many of the Psalms, he bears out his heart. here before the Lord and reveals very much about how he felt. You know, off and on throughout the last several years, we've been working our way through Psalms, trying to bring at least one message through Psalms. And we brought that out many times about how David felt. We never did deal with any of these psalms in that time. We'll highlight what some of David's feelings were in these three psalms. But we will also see that the psalmist as well spoke about what he knew, about what he knew. And then we will see what he wanted. So we're going to really be looking at, we're going to look at things in those three categories. And what we will see this evening is that old saying, knowledge is power. We'll see that that is really true tonight in what we look at as it relates to our spiritual and emotional struggles. And so what we're mainly going to do is just take a little time this evening, look at those three things, what David felt, what David knew, and what David wanted. or what he desired. It is very good and healthy emotionally and for our faith to distinguish the difference between what we feel and what we know. From what we feel, from what we know. For when we do that, then we will want what is best as a child of God. Let's break this down. First of all, let's look at some things here in these Psalms, what David felt. Before we look at that, I think we understand that our world is convinced, is it not, that if you feel a certain way, then that's truth, then that's what's real, and that's your truth. That's what you are. If you feel like you are an opposite sex, if you feel like you are an animal, if you feel certain sins are okay, then they're not sins, then we as a society are to validate you. We are to validate your feelings. We are to bow our knee to your feelings, no matter what even actual science might say or even what the Bible would say. I think we see what a world is looking like that's focused is on validating people's feelings and agreeing with them that their feelings are right and good and true. I think we see that in our culture, our society. But now, let's consider how we may bow to our own feelings and allow that to guide us and speak to us things that are not true. Now, our feelings are real. Are feelings real? What's your feeling? Your emotions are real. Our feelings are sometimes true. In other words, we are expressing feelings that are actually true. Sometimes our feelings can lie to us. Sometimes our feelings can lie to us. I don't feel like you love me, right? Well, that may not be true. They may love you, but you may not feel love. We must distinguish our feelings from facts and knowledge. Now let's glance down here at some things that we see here in these Psalms, in these three chapters, and see some of the ways that David is expressing himself to the Lord about how he felt. One, David felt overwhelmed. He felt overwhelmed. In Psalms 142 and verse 3, when my spirit was overwhelmed within me. when my spirit was overwhelmed." That word speaks of being crushed beneath. In other words, he had a heavy weight, something violent or weighty. Can we be overwhelmed at times? Can we feel like the world is hanging on our shoulders? Is that a real feeling, a weight? Can we not be overwhelmed by cares, by afflictions, by business? We can be, and those feelings are real. Did David feel overwhelmed? He did. Did David have reasons to feel that way? Absolutely. He was being chased constantly like a wild animal while he had done nothing wrong. Listen, it's okay to say, I feel overwhelmed. The psalmist felt overwhelmed. God does not rebuke him saying you should not feel that way. You're never going to do very well in talking to somebody guys, especially your wives, if they say they feel a certain way, you're not going to do very good to say you should not feel that way. That's not a good way to handle that. Some guy told me they tried that and it didn't work. But when you feel overwhelmed, how will you overcome your feeling of being overwhelmed? Secondly, we'll get to some of that later. Secondly, David felt lonely. Now, this is expressed through many of the Psalms, but we'll just look at one verse here. You can find many Psalms where he expressed a sense of loneliness. In 142.4, I think we see that. Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me. Refuge has failed me. No one cares for my soul. Really? No one, David? I mean, David was in a bad place. No doubt. I mean, he was hounded and chased, but no one cared for him. Go back and read 1 and 2 Samuel and did not see if there were not some men that very much cared for David. He had people around here that cared for him. But he felt lonely at times. He felt lonely. Even though David had people around him that loved him and were very loyal to him, he still felt lonely. And that's how loneliness is. Loneliness works that way. You can feel lonely when you have good people in your life that you know would be there for you. But you still feel lonely. Thirdly, David felt trapped. In Psalm 142 and verse 7, bring my soul out of prison. His soul wasn't really in prison, but he felt trapped. He felt trapped. David felt like he could go nowhere. And in a sense, he kind of was trapped. I mean, physically, at times he was kind of trapped in a cave and hiding. But he felt stuck. Maybe paralyzed at the moment. Paralyzed, we maybe feel that way. It's okay to say, I feel trapped. I feel like I have nowhere to turn. David felt distressed. In Psalms 143 and verse 4, Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me, my heart within me, my heart within me is distressed. His seed of affection, his heart, was distress. His heart within him felt great pain and torture, as that word implies. His heart within felt great calamity. The King James Version uses the word desolate, which speaks more of being laid to waste, a ruinous condition, or neglected, as the word means. Can we feel that way? Can we feel that way? Like our heart is so broken that our emotional ability maybe to love again, to feel again, we're broken? Maybe you feel that way because you've been grossly neglected by those who should have cared for you. It's okay to say my heart feels distressed and desolate. He felt thirsty. In 143 in verse 6, I spread out my hands to you, my soul longs for you like a thirsty land. To be emotionally thirsty is to be dried up within, meaning it's to feel completely spent, nothing more to give. You have emotionally poured yourself out. When Jesus was there on the cross and he said, I thirst there on the cross, that was more than a physical thirst taking place. He had completely and entirely poured his entire soul out there on the cross, poured out his whole heart out for our good, for us. You may feel thirsty in this way. You may be daily pouring yourself out for the good of those around you, maybe your family or at work, and you feel like, at times, I just, Pastor, I just don't feel like I have any more to give. It's okay to say, I just, I'm emotionally spent, dry, and I feel like I just don't have any more to give in me. You ever felt like that? We can sometimes feel guilty, can't we, about the emotions we have and about the feelings we have. David felt lifeless. In Psalms 143 and verse 11, when he says to the Lord, revive me, he's saying, I feel dead because revive means to make alive again. So he's saying, I feel dead. I feel dead inside. Lifeless. He needed quickened by the Lord. He felt dead. Have you ever felt like you were so dead from all the emotional turmoil up and down, you just felt dead after a period of time where you just felt like you couldn't even have any feelings anymore? You know, you're just emotionally spent and you can't even feel like you're just dead inside. Now, listen, all of these emotions that we see, that David felt, and are sometimes the way we may feel, When we look at these and listen and think about them, there's so many more. I know we can bear out, but I just want to hit this main thought that no matter the feelings you're having, if you identify, okay, these are feelings that I'm having and you identify those, I'm telling you that there's a way to deal with those feelings. Our purpose in this lesson is to not focus on our feelings. but be encouraged this evening, hopefully by the grace of God, to know that David, a man after God's own heart, when you read the Psalms, he had some very emotional feelings, didn't he? But know this, that David knew how to express those feelings to the Lord in prayer, and he expressed them many times, and it was good to do that. It's okay to tell the Lord how you feel. But don't stop there. Don't stop there. Because we need to move on here, past what David felt, and see what David knew. What he knew. Let me give you some things that David knew. In the midst of all of these feelings we've pulled from 141 through 143, there's more to it than how David felt. We can just focus on feelings, and we can leave, and we're like, man, that's a terrible message. Let's focus on what David knew. One, he knew God would be his refuge. And 141 in verse 8, But my eyes are upon you, O God, the Lord, in you I take refuge. 142 and verse 5, I cried out to you, O Lord, I said, you are my refuge. This is why that David knew he could call upon the Lord no matter what was going on in his life and no matter how he felt about what was going on in his life, because he knew that no matter how he felt, the Lord would be his refuge. That word refuge speaks of the Lord being his shelter, his hope. The King James Version there instead of refuge uses trust. The Lord is a place of trust. David had real dangers about him that made him feel the way he felt, overwhelmed, alone, and such. David felt trapped, distressed, all of those things from those real dangers. But at the same time, David knew he had a refuge. He had a shelter. He had a protection from danger and distress. You see, David felt a certain way, but those feelings led him. He responded to his feelings, not in complete despair, but in called out to the Lord, knowing that the Lord would be his refuge. What do we do with our feelings? We should go to the Lord because he is our refuge. So one, he knew God would be his refuge. Two, he knew the enemy was after him. Now this is important. In Psalms 141 and verse 9 and 10, he talks about the enemy. Keep me from the snares that they have laid for me and from the traps of the workers of iniquity. Let the wicked fall. Listen, David constantly prayed about his enemies. Constantly prayed. He knew, for the most part, who they were. David knew the enemy was after him and he knew who the enemy was. Listen, our feelings will lie to us and lead us sometimes to believe that God is our enemy. Our feelings will lie to us and make us think that those who love us are our enemy. David knew that the righteous were not his enemy and that God was not his enemy. And when we focus on our feelings and we begin to believe the lies that sometimes they try to tell us, we can begin to believe Satan's lies that says God is against us, and that the ones who actually care about us and love us, that those people are against us. Our feelings can confuse us as to who the real enemy is. We feel a certain way, it's a real feeling, but we can listen to their own voices. And then we find ourselves fighting those who actually care about us and love us. David also knew this, the enemy was stronger than him. In 142, in verse 6, he says, Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. That's good for him to know that. Why? Because David will run to the Lord. It's good to know that we are weak because when we are weak, we become strong because then we trust in the Lord. It's important to know that the enemy is stronger than us. You see, when we have feelings of overconfidence, feelings of overconfidence in self, you will make the wrong decisions. When we have feelings of overconfidence, then we cause a lot of problems for ourself, then we won't turn to the Lord. It's important to know that without the Lord, we cannot overcome. That without the Lord we will always fail. That without the Lord that the enemy of our soul is stronger than ourselves. And knowing this is empowering because it urges us to place our trust in the strength of the Lord. But what else did David know? Well, fourthly, he knew that the Lord was his God. He knew the Lord was his God. Look in Psalms 143 in verse 10. He says, teach me to do your will for you are my God. Listen, there is great power to overcome so many feelings and not let them be our master. I'm not saying it's wrong to feel certain ways. I'm not talking about that. But we can't let our feelings become our master. We can't let our feelings be our God. We can't let them be our master if we combat those feelings with a knowledge that the Lord is our God. Listen, that will help us in so many emotions that we can have. Satan wants us to focus on our feelings and believe the lie that God is not our God. He's their God, He's their God, He's their God, but is He really your God? Is He going to be there for you? David says, You are my God. He knew he had that personal relationship with the Lord. And when you know that, you will be able to overcome so many different emotions. Satan wants us to doubt it, be distracted and forget it. Because we're more likely to succumb to our emotions and feelings if we forget that the Lord is our God. Listen, if I for a moment start believing that I don't belong to the Lord, I'm not going to make very good decisions. And we will not want to be taught the will of God. Notice the connection. Teach me to do your will for you are my God. If we don't know he's our God, we will then begin to go after the will of our emotions and our feelings. Fifthly, David knew God is good. The very next thing he says in that verse, your spirit is good, 143.10. Listen, we can be filled with all kinds of emotions and what we're really doing sometimes with certain emotions is that we're kind of doubting if God is good. And so, what do we do with that? We have to go to the knowledge of truth. Likewise, when we're filled with emotions like being overwhelmed, distressed, empty, trapped, nothing more to give, and lonely, then we may begin to think that God is not good. I mean, after all, if God is good, why would He allow me to feel this way? And that is exactly what Satan would want us to think and believe. He wants us to believe the lie that our emotions may tell us at certain times. Again, your emotions are real. I'm not saying that we don't have reason sometimes to feel certain ways. David did. But boy, just focus on those emotions and let them guide you. They're really, they're going to guide you down their own path. We need to respond to our emotions with truth. We must speak truth to ourselves and ask ourselves, okay, yes, I feel this way, but what do I know? What is true? What is absolute truth? We have to get into the word of God, be reminded of what we know. You may feel that God is not good because of something you're going through or something that's happened, but our God is good and our God has not changed. No matter how our feelings have changed, He is and always will be good. Satan wants us to believe that he's our real friend, and so are all those that would be against God and against His Word. He wants us to believe that God would not receive us to Himself and that God is not good And God is not our refuge. But now let's go on to the third part of this. What did David want? What did David desire? I think David wanted and desired the right thing because even though David was an emotional wreck sometimes, because of what he was going through, very justly so, David landed every time, most of the time, on what he knew. On what he knew. When we are overcome with life and so many emotions, we must remind ourselves of what we know and what we actually want. It really can be simple sometimes to deal with our emotions when they're way out there. If we focus on our feelings, then we will desire the wrong thing. It's very easy to desire the wrong thing when you're focused on how you feel. If we focus on what we know to be true, then we will then begin to want the right things. If we were counseling with David and say, well, tell me how you feel. Well, he would tell us how he felt. Pastor, I feel overwhelmed. I feel distressed. I feel like I'm lonely. I don't feel like I have anything more to give. And he could go on. And we could, he could say everything's going on and we can say, boy, I can understand how you feel that way. No wonder you feel that way. With everything that's going on in your life, I would feel the same way. That would be okay. You don't want to do David any good to say, you shouldn't feel that way. You wouldn't do him any good. But here's what you got to ask David next. You'd have to say, well, David, I understand how you feel that way. I get that. I get that. But David, what do you know? See, you've got to make a difference between what you feel and what you know. You may be surprised to hear this, but even as your pastor, I don't always feel saved. I'm glad my salvation isn't dependent upon my feelings. Aren't you? It's based upon who I know. For when we focus on what we know, then it gets us focused on and empowered us to keep trusting the Lord and then do His will and want the right things. A person who's focused on their emotions and their feelings, they're going to make some bad choices in life. A person who's focused on the truth of Almighty God and the absolute truth of what is real and what we know to be facts in the Word, it will give you the right instructions, the right path. You may ask someone how they may feel, and it may help them to say it and let it out a little bit, and that's all good, there's a place for that, but then follow that up with, now what do you know? You may feel forsaken. I just feel forsaken. But is it true? Is it true? If you stay in that one feeling of being forsaken, do you think it will affect your decisions? If you feel like the people around you have forsaken you, have left you, will it affect what you decide? Will it affect what you want, what you desire? Let me very quickly give you some things that we see that David wanted. Now, we're not going to spend time on these, but I just want you to see this division here in the Psalms versus what David felt, what David knew, and what David desired. Let me quickly give you some things that we see that David wanted. One, David wanted a mouth that honored the Lord. 141 and verse 3, he said, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth, keep watch over the door of my lips. Two, David wanted a heart that loved good things. 141 and verse 4, do not incline my heart to any evil thing. Three, David wanted the company of the righteous. Psalms 141 and verse 5. So much so, it's okay if the righteous hit him. Let the righteous strike me. I mean, he was okay with that. 4. David wanted to see God. 143 in verse 7. Answer me speedily, O Lord. My spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me. 5. He wanted to hear God. Verse 8. Cause me to hear your lovingkindness in the morning. He wanted to follow God. In verse 8. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk. And seven, he wanted God to take care of his enemies. In verse 12, in your mercy, cut off my enemies and destroy all those who afflict my soul for I am your servant. Now, if we focus on our feelings and not on what we know, I'm telling you, we will want the wrong things. You focus on your feelings, your mouth will run and say some things you shouldn't. You focus on your feelings, let me tell you what, and your heart may start imagining evil things. You focus on your feelings and believe the lies that the people around you that really actually care for you, don't love you, you may start designing the company of the wicked. You focus on your feelings, Think God's forsaken you. You won't want to see God, hear God, follow God. Our feelings will mislead us and lie to us, and we will make decisions based on emotion rather than on knowledge. and upon faith that trusts the Lord. You know, we hear so much faith over fear. I seen a guy yesterday had a shirt, faith over fear. We love that. I think we've had some shirts with that, faith over fear. A great, great saying. I'll tell you another great saying. Faith over feelings. Faith over feelings. What we know to be true. That's how we must make our decisions. not upon how we feel. What we know to be true based upon the Word of God and what God says to us about us and about Himself. I think so many times people make terrible decisions in life and they make them in a moment and how they feel and their emotions, their emotions are high and they make a terrible decision and then later say, why did I make that decision? Why did I decide to do that? And they look back and say, why did I do that? That's not what I really wanted. I wanted to honor the Lord. I wanted to love good things, love the righteous, see God, hear God, follow God. I was just so focused on my feelings. Let them guide me and lead me from what I knew to be true. And so in conclusion, It's okay to feel a certain way. I'm not validating every feeling everybody has, okay? But listen, here's the thing. People can feel all kinds of ways, whether it be true or not. I can't look at anybody and say, well, you don't really feel that way. I don't know. I can't look at them and say, we don't really feel that way. Can you really look at somebody and say, you really don't feel that way? People could tell me all kinds of crazy stuff. Well, I feel this, I feel that. Okay. But let's talk about what's true. It's okay to feel certain ways, I guess. Certain feelings might be true. But whatever feelings we're having, whatever emotions we're dealing with, we've got to learn to take them to the Lord and remind ourselves from His Word and trust in His Word and what is true. Be in the Word. Be with people that will speak what is true into your life. Be reminded of what you know to be true. And if you are currently wanting the wrong things, One or two things may be at play here. You're either focused on your feelings and being led by them, or you just have a heart at the moment that is not right with God, and you're just in rebellion. It may be one of the two. So let us help one another, because we're all at moments going to feel overwhelmed, we're going to feel lonely, distressed, etc., all kinds of other emotions, trapped, lifeless. And let us remind one another We might let each other tell you, man, I just feel like this, I feel like that, and that's good. It's good to let that out sometimes. But let us be quick to remind each other of this and ask each other this question, but what do you know? What do you know? I would much rather you ask me how do I feel? How do you feel? We ask that each other all the time, don't we? It's a common question. How do you feel today? How do you feel today, Russ? He feels great, that's good. How do you feel? How do you feel? We ask people, how do you feel today? I really think we ought to ask people, what do you know? What do you know? That'd be different. Let me tell you what to know tonight, dear child of God. Let me tell you what to know. Know that God is your refuge. Know that He is stronger than any enemy you face. Know that He is your God. Know that He is good. And remind one another, remind one another of what we know. And if we keep that up and focus on what we know, I tell you what, we will continue, I think as God's people, to want what is good, the will of God. May God have his blessings on his word. I'm going to pray. That'll be the close of the service, if you would, but I want to have them play this song. I really, as long as I just want to share it with you, it really, it really, it doesn't really go with the message, but it really went with my uncle knowing he was going to pass. I never had heard this song. Some of you may have heard it. I don't know, but it just really, God really used it. for me today in the last couple of days, so I just wanted to share it with you. It's from Matthew West. I can't remember the name of the title, but they're going to pull it up. It's probably best put on the screen if you can. I didn't pray, did I? Okay, I'm going to pray while they're getting that ready. Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you so much for your word. Father, I thank you that no matter how we're feeling in our life, Lord, Lay that before you, Lord. Even when we don't understand why we feel certain ways, Lord, we can put that out there to you. Feelings of fear, whatever it may be. And we're so thankful we can do that. Father, I pray that you'd help us, though, to move from those emotions and to be moved into a mindful thinking of what we know. Help us to grab hold of that. That's an anchor. Help us by faith to lay hold upon you and the truth of your word. And Lord, help us then to desire to continue to do the right thing, no matter how we may feel at the moment. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.