Talk to Yourself by Kathryn Kuhlman Why are you cast down, O my soul? Psalm 42:5

I'm going to just ask you one question. And on the surface, the one question that I am about to ask you may seem a little foolish. Yes, a little silly. But I'm going to ask it just the same. Do you ever talk back to yourself? Oh, somebody says, now you're carrying us a little too far, Catherine Kuhlman. For once, with your little heart -to -heart talks, you're carrying it a little too far when you talk about talking back to oneself. We had a neighbor, Catherine Kuhlman, that talked back to himself and they put him away. Well, now, that's not just exactly the kind of talking back to oneself that I'm talking about. But I... I found this thing to be very practical. Looking oneself directly in the face. But when you do, you have to be dead honest with yourself. And then talk back to yourself. Maybe nobody will hear you. Just you. But it can be mighty beneficial, believe me. I'm going to read just a few words of scripture. That 42nd Psalm, the 5th verse. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? It's a question. I'm the man who... wrote those words was probably a Levite who had loved the ceremony of the temple and longed wistfully for it. And scholars think it reasonable to assume that he was in exile near the source of the Jordan where the deep called unto the deep. And perhaps his mind just continually retreated to that which... Once was, he was living in the past, he was still dreaming in the past. But of one thing we are certain, he was a man who had a burden on his soul. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Sometimes we're depressed like that for no apparent good reason. And the mood produces some rather weird conclusions. Don't ever tell me that you're never depressed. Don't ever tell me that there's never a time when you are not cast down. I don't care how spiritual you may be. I don't care what your spiritual experiences may have been. You may even be one who has been born again if you are a part of humanity. If you right now are living and breathing and there's life in your body, and if you'll be dead honest, you will admit that there are times when you feel depressed and you feel cast down. Oh, sure, you say, but I already have my remedy. I go for a pep pill. That's exactly what's wrong with this generation. We're pill to death. We need to stop and be honest with ourselves. And when we look at this thing of being depressed, there are times when, for no apparent good reason, we're depressed. We just know that the family is trying to plague us. We just are sure that the man driving the car in front of us is deliberately trying to hold us up in traffic. And why can't that clerk get it to her head what you want when you go shopping? And why does the man in the parking lot mock us with his good warning and you say under your breath what's good about it, you know? Why do we even bother to get up? Is there anyone who, at best, has not had to beat off an attempted invasion of that kind of a mood. We don't know from whence it comes or of what stuff it's made. We only know that it's annoying. And we know that there are moments like that. Oh, of course, there are other times when there would appear to be sufficient cause for such a behavior. Perhaps we've had a death in the family. And loneliness can be a burden. Or regardless of how hard we've worked in business, there's been too much red ink of late. Or we have just been to the doctors and there are some things wrong with us that could be serious. Or even the very state of the world can be depressing, a very depressing thing. after you've finished reading your newspaper, after you've just finished hearing a newscast, then perhaps these things have left you very depressed. It's a great truth that comes from this psalm. If we're to be healthy, mentally and spiritually, there are times when we must talk back to ourselves. We have to. Sometimes it's a matter of challenging ourselves with truths that we've known a long time, but we've forgotten. How often, for instance, it's necessary to remind ourselves of the human weakness of arriving at conclusions before all the returns are in. There's so much of the Jacob in us. You recall that he was certain that Joseph was dead. He was sure that Joseph was dead. dead. He had terrifying fears about Benjamin. And he said, all these things are against me. Yet at that very moment, the light was breaking through his darkness. Even though he knew it now, he never dreamed of the victory that was ahead. All he saw was the darkness. But at that very moment, When it was the very darkest for him, the light was breaking through, even though he did not know it. It was through the things that he thought were against him that his family would be saved from starvation and the children of Israel would be brought into contact with the most advanced civilization of that ancient period. It is true they were made slaves. But in slavery, they developed an intense love of freedom. Jacob had despaired too hastily. If only he had known, if only he could have seen, he would have rejoiced instead of going down in despair. And so it happens to many of us. And we need to talk back to ourselves ask ourselves just how much of our trouble is fact and how much of our trouble is imagination. And an awful lot of our troubles are nothing more or less than imagination. And sometimes they are the greatest things that could possibly happen to us, but they're in disguise. We may need it. Ask ourselves, too, how much of our trouble is due to the fact that we are completely worn out. How dark the world looks to a very tired man, a very tired woman. And God help the family when that tired person comes home and takes it out on the family. So many of the worries the world had been born and nurtured and brought to Maturity in fatigue. We oppressed these bodies and we pushed our nervous systems beyond all common sense and reason until the houses of our minds become filled with shadows. Shadows that jump out at us from every corner. In this age of sleeping pill sickness. Don't we need to talk back to ourselves and ask if we're unable to sleep because of our troubles? Or have we troubles because we've not given these bodies of ours a little more time to sleep? If you are addicted to sleeping pills, just stop and ask yourself. Talk back to yourself and ask yourself, Why you're having to take those sleeping pills? Why? Just why? Why are you addicted to the cigarette habit? Why? Why do you have to smoke that pack, two packs of cigarettes a day? There's a reason for it. Talk back to yourself. What art thou cast down, O my soul? It needs to be challenged. Right now, you need to face the issue before it goes any further. Sometimes we need to talk back to ourselves and remind ourselves that we are Christians, and because we are Christians, we believe in a God. through whom life takes on a different look. Those were great words that Paul gave in 2 Corinthians when he said, We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Paul understood all of these things. He was human like any one of us. There was still the weakness of the flesh. He was still an old material world. Oh, sure, he said. We're troubled on every side. Yet we're not distressed. We're perplexed. but not in despair. I love those words. They were great words that preceded these words. For in one verse he says, We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God. In another he spoke of the God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. If one is a Christian, in time of trouble, he will remind his soul of a God who knows no defeat. When you talk back to yourself and you are a Christian, remind yourself that he's still God Almighty. Remind yourself that he's your Heavenly Father. You belong to him. He knows you as an individual. If you are a Christian, if you are living in the center of his will, a surrendered life unto him, nothing, absolutely nothing can come into your life but what he allows and he permits. And he'll... always bring the light. No matter how dark the night, the light will come through. The morning will come. Morning always comes. If we're worried about our health, for instance. Let us remember that God does work in mysterious ways and can bring that thing out for his glory. He works beyond our poor little puny minds. You know, in the darkness of the hour. Cast off your fears and stop your grumbling. Be still and remember God. I like the story of the old gentleman who lived to be a ripe old age and he was asked the secret. He thought a minute and he replied that He thought it was because he always got a good night's sleep at night. Then he was questioned further as to how he accomplished it. He'd always been a man with great responsibilities. Always. Then he thought a little longer, and this was his reply. Well, he said, long ago I learned that I have a god. who neither slumbers nor sleeps. And there's just no point in both of us staying awake at night. There are times when we need to talk back to ourselves like that, you know it? Oh, I do not mean that one should lazily turn all of his troubles over to God. After we get ourselves in a mess, blame God for it and say, here, get me out of this thing. Now I got myself into it. Now you get me out of it. First of all, don't get yourself into these messes. Before you make decisions, ask for God's wisdom and God's leadership. We have no right. after we deliberately get ourselves into a jam, then call on God and say, now get me out of it. I'm not talking about that kind of a life. I am talking about having the leading of the spirit. I'm talking about living a consecrated life unto him. I'm talking about so living that daily life that when... You come to the end of a day and you're lying on your bed. You can look up and honestly say, Dear Lord Jesus, I've done the best that I know how today. I tried to do a good job. Sincerely, you and I both know that I tried to do my best. Now, if there's anything more to be taken care of, and if I failed, then please, I turn those failures over to you. You work them out. But I'm going to sleep. I tell you frankly, I do it every night of my life. Yeah? And it's just like that. Jesus said, In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. Why? I have overcome the world. And through faith in God the Father, faith in Jesus his Son, faith in the Holy Spirit, we also can overcome. In the dark moments, let us not forget to say to that soul of ours, Why art thou cast down, O soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God. And this is the victory. Even our faith. Oh, somebody says, but you don't know my troubles. It looks so easy to say, talk back to yourself. But you don't know my troubles. Pause a minute. I know of no one who had greater troubles than Job. His cattle were rustled by cattle rustlers. His horses were stolen by horse thieves. His cowboys were killed by the rustlers. His sheep were struck by lightning. and his shepherds were all killed, all but one. His camels were stolen, and all but keepers were killed, except one. His sons, his daughters were all killed by a cyclone. Read that 20th verse of the first chapter of Job. He rent his garments, he shaved his head, he fell on the ground. In despair? No. In worship unto God. Continue the next verse. He sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. His body was covered with ulcer -like boils. ashes to soak up secretion. And then finally, the last straw, his wife said unto him, why do you hold on to your faith? Curse God and die. Doesn't that sound just like a woman? Doesn't that sound just like a nagging woman? Oh, I don't know why she had to add on to it and curse. But she did. Only a woman would say a thing like that. And then Job's friends rebuked and forsook him. It was dark. It was very dark. Did he despair? He looked up and continued to worship God. Me thinks he said to himself, God is still there. God loves me. God cares for me. No affection, no sorrow, no suffering. I don't care how big these boils get. They'll never separate me from the love of God. Though everything be taken away from me, These things will never separate me from the love of my God. My faith is in him and he loves me. What was the result? He was blessed with twice what he had before. That, my friend, is the love and the mercy of our Heavenly Father. It may be dark now, but the light will break through.