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About 12 years ago when I first arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shortly after I got into my new church, someone handed me a tape and said, "I want you to listen to this sermon." And I did, and ever since then I've been hooked on the preacher. And that preacher is this morning our guest, Dr. Bruce Thielman,

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who is the senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church downtown in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Those of you who have heard Bruce will know that he is indeed one of the finest preachers in this country. I've got many of his own tapes which I listen to and which minister to me, but he's even more wonderful in person.

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So it's a great joy this morning to welcome you, Bruce, to our pulpit. He is not a stranger to this congregation. He's been here before. He likes what he sees. In fact, he likes too much some of the things he sees. He told me when I asked him about coming to Geneva, he said, "It's a fine church,

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and you've got a great associate there by the name of Steve Metcalfe." I said, "I'll try to get him." And I, "Please do not sheep-steal our preachers." Otherwise this could end a beautiful friendship. But it is a great joy on your behalf and on behalf of this session to welcome him to our pulpit.

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I know over the coffee hour you will want to talk to him and share time with him. And I know that God has got a great message for us as he always does through this one of his choice sermons. Once again, welcome to worship in the house of the Lord this morning. [silence]

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[music] [music] [music] [music]

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[music] [music] [music] [music]

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[music] [music] Our God, we believe the good news. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

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Even the lips of children and infants praise your name. We thank you for Jesus Christ who makes us heirs of your righteousness and children of the covenant. We thank you that you have called us together this morning as your people to join together in serving you and in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

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We thank you Lord for each other, for every member and every visitor, for all our elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, and the countless volunteers who quietly serve behind the scenes. And even as we thank you for each other, we also pray for each other.

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We pray for those among us whose days are filled with anxiety and uncertainty that your presence will bring calm. We pray for those whose grief is prolonged, for those who cannot find their way out of the darkness of depression.

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We ask that you will invade their gloom and renew their drooping spirits. And for those who suffer from chronic pain and illness, we ask relief and healing. Our hope is in you, for yet we will praise you. And now Lord, be with your servant, Dr. Thielman, as he opens your word to us.

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May our hearts be responsive. And we ask this in the name of the one who brings us hope, the one who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

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Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Guide us, the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

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Let us continue our worship now with the presentation of our tithes and offerings. [MUSIC] Praise God, the Lord, all that is low. Praise him, all creatures, here below. Praise ye God, all ye earthly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

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Let us pray. God of grace and mercy, all that we have is a gift from you. You have blessed us as your people beyond description. So we ask that you will accept our tithes and offerings in response to your love.

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In the name of Jesus, amen. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus. Steal away, steal away home. I thank God long to stay here. My Lord, he calls me, he calls me by the thunder.

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The trumpet sound within my soul. I thank God long to stay here. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus. Steal away, steal away home. I thank God long to stay here. My Lord, he calls me, he calls me by the lightning.

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The trumpet sound within my soul. I thank God long to stay here. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus. Steal away, steal away home. I thank God long to stay here. Amen.

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[Music] It's in my soul, the Lord is on my side. There he shall be, the Lord shall be, again. With him I go, no more shall I cry.

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There I'll be, there he'll be, for ever he'll be. It's in my soul, I'll let my heavy head. There I'll be, there he'll be, through all time, forever. It's in my soul, I'll love him all the day.

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Here I'll go, to the Lord, to the house he has left. I hope my love, that it's there throughout this day. The promise he gives, shall be mine at last. It's in my soul, the praise and praise to the Lord.

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It's my soul, the Lord, he loves me all. [Music] [Applause] [Applause]

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[Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause]

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I would like to extend to your session and to your pastor my gratitude for the privilege of being with you in worship, and particularly for the privilege of your pulpit. Your pastor's introduction was very kind. When I hear an introduction like that, I always pray two prayers.

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First, that he will be forgiven for all of those lies, and secondly, that I will be forgiven for enjoying them so much. Give attention with me to the reading of God's word, as it is recorded in the book of the Psalms, the 42nd Psalm, beginning at the verse numbered one.

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"As a heart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, 'Where is your God?'

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These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I went with the throng and led them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude-keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?

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Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God. My soul is cast down within me, therefore I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Nazar, deep calls to deep at the thunder of thy cataracts. All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.

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By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

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As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me while they say to me continually, 'Where is your God?' Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.

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And may the same spirit who inspired these words incline our hearts to their understanding. [music] [music] Pray with me.

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is generally assumed that the writers of the Psalms were men, and in most instances, given the culture and the attitude of that day, that is undoubtedly an accurate judgment.

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There is at least one psalm, however, which was most probably written by a woman, and that is the psalm which is before us this morning. It's the testimony of a deeply discouraged person, but not of one who is defeated or in despair,

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rather it is the testimony of one who in the midst of discouragement fights back with an active and a vigorous hope. Our first clue to the fact that this psalm was written by a woman appears in the very first verse. For the psalm begins, "As the heart longs for flowing streams,

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so longs my soul for thee, O God, my soul thirsts for the living God." Now the word "heart" in our English translation should really be rendered "hind," for in the Hebrew the reference is not to a stag, but rather to a doe. The picture here is of a woman longing for flowing streams, of a doe doing so.

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And the picture also is a dramatic one in the sense that the word that is used to describe looking for flowing streams describes a time of drought. The picture is of this gentle creature seeking water where water has always been before, but as she extends her long and graceful neck, all that she finds is dust and stones.

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What we have here is a time of drought. This is not sudden discouragement. This is the discouragement which has continued across many years. This is not one night's nightmare.

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This is a life in which dreams have been cracked and broken again and again. This is a long separation. This is an extended hurting of the heart. And then to this picture of discouragement, another is added in the sixth verse,

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when she continues, "My soul is cast down within me from the land of Jordan and of Hermon. Deep calls to deep at the thunder of thy cataracts. All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me." There is here, you see, a sudden reversal of image.

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We begin with discouragement pictured as a drought, but we are now taken to the headwaters of the Jordan River where the cataracts and the rapids, where the water comes smashing and splashing and crashing down. And what we are being asked to picture here is not the long wearing away of a drought,

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but the sudden destructive power of a flood. What we have here is immediate catastrophe. These two pictures you see are in contrast. The first one is of long-term discouragement.

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The second is of sudden trauma. The first picture is of repeated failures. The second picture is of some success which overnight is turned into defeat. The first picture is of life as it tumbles in.

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The second picture is of life in utter collapse. We're given initially erosion. We're given secondarily earthquake. And then to these two pictures of discouragement, a third is added. And here is another clue to the fact that the author of the psalm is a woman.

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For she writes, "My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me, 'Where is my God?' I go in mourning because of my enemies, as with a deadly wound in my body,

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and my adversaries taunt me." The picture here is of a woman who has been taken into slavery. And in naked powerlessness, she is dragged before those who sneer at her and leer at her and try to decide whether they will purchase her or not.

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And as she is pulled and dragged by her enemies, the hurt of this ridicule and shame is like some weeping wound in her body. Perhaps you know the experience of being in some profound discouragement, be it sudden or long-term, only to find that those about you,

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rather than uttering the words that would encourage you or buoy your spirit, instead attack you like seven devils. Here then is a woman in deep hurting of heart. But she's not satisfied just with coping, hanging on.

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And she doesn't mope. You find no despair here. And she doesn't try to narcotize herself into believing that nothing is happening. There's no allusion here to any doping thoughts or medications. Now instead of that, she applies to her problem an active hope.

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And notice that in the Scriptures, hope is always active. It is not wishing for something and then sitting back and waiting for it to come to pass. Hope is work. There are four words in the Old Testament which are used for our single English word "hope."

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The first word means "to weave," and it refers to weaving your life into the experience of God so that his power becomes available to you. The second word means "to scan the horizon," the optimistic spirit looking for new occasions. The third word means "to hide."

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The picture is of going into a cave and letting the surrounding grace of God protect you. And the third word means "to be expectant," to be looking forward with enthusiasm to what God is going to bring out of the discouragement. Hope then is a very active thing, and she sets her hope over against her discouragement.

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Notice how she does it. First, she remembers. She says in verse 4, "I remember how I went with the throng and led them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,

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a multitude-making festival." She applies, you see, the ministry of a good memory. She brings examples out of the past to buoy her spirit. The memory is very much like a collection of slides.

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And what she is saying here is that in the time of discouragement, she picks out her best slides and remembers them. She doesn't focus on today's defeat. She focuses on yesterday's triumph.

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I was visiting in a hospital where most of the patients were much older. And there was an older gentleman there in a wheelchair who very awkwardly was trying to pat a cat beside him. Now, you know, most cats like to be patted,

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as long as you make your hand go the same direction that the cat's fur goes. But he couldn't reach her that way, so he was going against the grain. And the cat didn't like it. No purring, only snarling instead.

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And I thought I would go over to help, and as I approached, I heard the man saying, "Turn around, cat. Turn around, cat." Well, that's the first step when you're dealing with discouragement. "Turn around, cat, and take a look at some of the things that were yesterday."

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Many of you are familiar with Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in D for the left hand. He had a friend named Paul Wittgenstein, a great pianist, and in the First World War, Wittgenstein lost his right arm. What a discouraging loss to a concert pianist.

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But Wittgenstein remembered the excellence of his playing before, and what he had done before, he thought he could do in a new and perhaps more triumphant way. And so he asked his composer friends to write compositions for left hand only.

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The most famous of those that were written, and he built his whole career on this music and had a very successful career, the most successful one written was that by Maurice Ravel. Here's a man, you see, who was spurred on by the recollection of previous successes.

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Or take the example of Ann Sullivan. Ann Sullivan was kept in a mental institution in New England, in a basement room because everyone who approached her, she attacked violently. And a nurse tried to reach her just by leaving cookies and milk each day.

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And she gradually gained Ann Sullivan's confidence. And within a few months, she was able to bring her upstairs and into the life of the institution. And within one year, she was released from the institution,

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never having to return again. And Ann Sullivan remembered the victory she had known. And that's the reason that Ann Sullivan applied to become the nurse and the teacher of Helen Keller. And you remember Helen Keller, unquestionably the world's most renowned blind, deaf, mute person.

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You recall what she accomplished. She accomplished what she did because of Ann Sullivan. And Ann Sullivan was led to fight the discouragement that went on in teaching Miss Keller because she remembered the previous victory which had been hers.

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I know there are some people who are thinking, even as I say this, "Oh yes, anybody can put together a few stories that start out sad and end up glad." But unfortunately, that's not the way most sad stories end. And you're quite right.

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I cannot refute that objection. But what I would say is this. The reason that most sad stories end up being as sad at their end as they do at their beginning is because people insist on living like midgets.

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They don't turn around. They focus on the defeat of the day instead of starting their approach to discouragement by remembering that everything wasn't always like it is today. Across the 50 years of my life, I have heard so many expressions of hopelessness and negativity

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that I've come to believe that every advance in the history of humankind has been against the stream of those who said, "It can't be done. It won't be done. It's quite impossible." The church where it's my privilege to serve has the second oldest continuing religious broadcast in the world. The world's first commercial radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

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and this church was the second church to go on that radio station. And it's been on ever since. It's interesting to read the session minutes from the time when the discussion was being held as to whether they should go on the radio or not.

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Many, many people were against it. It was a newfangled thing. It was meant for entertainment, not for serious purposes. As soon as people started listening to the radio, they'd stop coming on Sunday morning.

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The offerings would drop right away. All kinds of negativities. Now, every Sunday morning, when I climb the 12 steps into that pulpit, I know that my voice will be heard in 37 different states.

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I know that my words are being taken down in magnetic impulses on tapes, over 3,000 of which will be sent out in the course of the next week. Three television cameras are trained on me as we reach out into the area and we begin nationwide satellite broadcasts the first of March.

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People have opposed every single one of those advances, but history is on the side of those who reject that kind of negative counsel. You don't start by accentuating the negative. You begin by going back and remembering those things which were wonderfully positive.

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Do you remember for how long Dr. Bernard Siegel's book, Love, Medicine, and Miracle, was on the bestseller list here in this country? The principle that he holds forth in that book is that a disciplined hope can have effect in the lives of people who are terminally ill.

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And he talks about M-rations. You remember K-rations from the Second World War. M-rations are memory rations, little shots of remembering that are recleaned in order to revitalize the spirit and to attack the discouragement. It's the beginning of hope. You start with a little history.

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First step, to remember. Second step, the psalmist suggests that we reconsider. Quite literally, the psalmist talks to herself. Did you notice the words? "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?" "Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him."

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Here's a conversation between herself and her soul. She is engaged in talking to herself. And the principle that she's holding out for us is this. Don't let yourself be licked from the inside. There's a great scene in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind

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in which one southern gentleman under the pressure of the war cracks. And another southerner describing what happened to him says, "He could be licked from the inside." I mean to say that what the world could not do to him, his own heart could.

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Do you ever study your own thoughts and listen what you're saying to yourself within? A fellow out in the park pushing a baby carriage and the baby inside was screaming, just really screaming. And he said, "Now Albert, be calm. Albert, be composed." Screaming, getting angry won't help. Just calm down, Albert.

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And the baby cried even louder. Absolute top voice. "Now Albert, remember, peace, quiet, confidence." There was a woman watching this and she got up and she walked over and she said, "Sir, I think it's remarkable, your composure. You know exactly how to speak to that child.

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You're showing no anger or hostility. You're very, very, it's just exactly the right attitude. I think it's quite outstanding." And she reached down into the baby carriage and patting the baby. She said, "Now Albert, what's the matter?"

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And the man pushing the carriage said, "His name is Howard. I'm Albert." Well, what kind of things do you say to yourself? You know, science has demonstrated to us repeatedly the things that we can do to ourselves with our own minds. It's possible to slow your pulse just by the focusing of your thoughts.

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Blood pressure can be influenced significantly by what we are thinking. A placebo, a pill which is of no value, will have effect in a person's life if they believe that it will have that effect. The whole process of hypnosis is the focusing of thought. One can raise boils on uninjured skin just by the power of the thought, or change the temperature of the skin,

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or actually stop bleeding simply by the power of focused thought. What we say to ourselves has tremendous impact. I remember some years ago I was lecturing at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and it was in wintertime. And they put their guests in those days, I don't know if they do now or not, but they put their guests in a great big mansion that was located on the campus.

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And I happened to be the only guest on campus at that time, so I was rattling around in this big old house, and it was very, very overheated. I guess the door had not been opened much during the day. In any case, I looked around, couldn't find a thermostat, went to bed, couldn't sleep, too hot, finally got up, stumbled across the room in the dark, opened the window, went back, got into bed, and thought, "Now I'll be able to sleep."

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And I went to sleep like that and had a perfectly good night's sleep, got up the next morning, walked over to close the window, and when I went to close it, I noticed that there was a triple-paned storm window on the outside. And I'd let in no fresh air at all. But I thought I had, and that made all the difference.

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If you say to yourself, "I can't do it," or "There's no good in even trying this," or "I cannot take this on," or "Why should I even try?" What expectations can you have other than those that are discouraging? But if you instead say to your soul, "I should and I can and I will. This challenge is not too much for me. If I need help, then God is my refuge and my strength.

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I can't wait to see the looks on the faces of the people who say I won't be able to do this. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This kind of talking to oneself is what can make all the difference. So address your own soul.

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First, remember. Second, reconsider. And third, our psalmist says, "Respond." That is, be active in your approach to your discouragement. Build your life around hope.

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"Hope thou in God." She says it repeatedly in the psalm. Don't build it around the hurt. Build it around the hope. Listen and act. Whether you're caught in that long-term aridity which is years of discouragement,

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or whether you know instead that flood which knocks things flat overnight, or whether you experience the ridicule of those whom you thought you would help and be helped by in such a time, whatever the circumstance, go at the application of your hope aggressively. Respond. You know in the Orient, various plants carry different connotations.

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The bamboo is a symbol of prosperity. The pine tree is a symbol of longevity. And the plum is the symbol of courage. And the plum is considered to be the symbol of courage because the plum tree blooms while there is still snow on the ground.

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Well, that's what we're being called to here. Even when there's snow on the ground, bloom. I haven't come this morning just to offer to you some suggestions about dealing with discouragement. Here is a woman who 3,000 years ago went through what we go through. And she wrote down the testimony of her spirit.

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And people have followed that spirit anointed by the Spirit of God across 30 centuries. And their lives have been changed, not just by reading it, not just by thinking about it, but by doing it. By remembering and reconsidering and responding. Following the Civil War, William and Mary College closed down. No students, no faculty, no administration.

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But the president, Dr. Yule, used to go out every day and ring the bell. Mind you, no one to hear it. No students, no faculty, no administration. But he faithfully rang the bell. That's all he could do at the time, but he rang the bell. And today, William and Mary is one of the great educational institutions of the country.

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Here's Dr. William Osler, the greatest teaching physician in America's history. And Osler one day was going through a ward of desperately ill children, many of them suffering terribly. And he had a young intern with him. And when he'd finished serving the children, he straightened up and he began to whistle and he walked out of the room.

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And the intern came up to him and said, "Dr. Osler, how, seeing what you have seen here, all this hurt and pain and puzzlement, how can you whistle?" And Osler said, "Young man, I will either weep or whistle and I choose to whistle." That's what's being called for here. That kind of aggressive response. Whistle.

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Paratrooper introduced himself as such and someone said, "You are a paratrooper, really?" He said, "Yes." He said, "How many parachute jumps have you made?" He said, "I never made any." He said, "If you've never made any parachute jumps, how can you call yourself a paratrooper?" He said, "I call myself a paratrooper because I am a paratrooper.

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And while it is true that I have never made any jumps, I have been pushed out of a plane 47 times." [laughter] Well, if you can't do anything else, let the words of this woman of old push you into some kind of active response. Don't just cope with discouragement. Don't mope your way through it.

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Don't try to dope your way out of it. Instead, apply hope. Weave your life into the plans of God and remember how God has been a part of your yesterdays. Scan the horizons. What new opportunities are available to you? Hide for a while in the arms of God and let Him salute your soul.

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Have expectations. Bloom when the snow's around. Ring when there's nobody to listen. Whistle instead of weep. Jump or be pushed. But follow what this woman of God said a long time ago, remembering, reconsidering, and responding. For hers is a wonderful song of the human heart.

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And if you'll believe it, and if you'll act on it, it will, and I stand before God and you and say it, it will make your heart sing as well. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank Thee for this saint from across so many centuries,

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who led by Thy Spirit, put down the secrets to applying hope to discouragement. May we learn and in our learning be lifted, and in our being lifted live the kinds of lives that will not surrender, but instead will by the power of hope find health and joy and victory once again.

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We thank You for Your unspeakable gift in Jesus Christ our Lord, for it is in His name that we pray. Amen. (Pause) [INAUDIBLE]