God Meets Your Emotional Needs

The key to emotional victory is the presence of God. Dr. Tony Evans says God is not only ready to change the way we live, but the way we feel. If the Lord is your shepherd, he will meet all of your needs.

Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. Christians experience emotional pain just like anybody else, but Dr. Evans says sometimes we're just better at hiding it. Let's join him as he explains how God can heal those hurts and meet our emotional needs in healthy ways. The 23rd Psalm, one of the most magnificent literary pieces that has ever been written, and yet its depth goes much beyond simply a great flow and great harmony. God had him to pin this as part of his inspired record to let you and me know if the Lord is your shepherd, he will meet all of your needs. Verse 4, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. David is dealing with fear. Fear is an emotion. Many today are living lives with emotional deficits. Their emotional account is empty. The forecast is the same every day.

Cloudy skies and rain. If the Lord is your shepherd, he will meet your emotional needs. The context that David speaks from, he says when I go through the valley of the shadow of death, don't misread that. He doesn't say when I go to the valley of death. He says when I go to the valley of the shadows of death. David used to be a shepherd.

He knew exactly what he was talking about. When the shepherd was leading the sheep through some valleys, even if it was 12 o'clock noon, if the sun was at a place where it was hidden behind two mountains in the Judean hills, it would cast a shadow over the valley in between those hills. That would be the valley, the valley between two mountains.

It was the low point. He would have to lead him through that valley. But remember, sheep are dumb, super dumb. And when a sheep sees shadows, as far as the sheep is concerned, nighttime is coming, even though it's noon because it's dark where he is. Because it's dark where he is, as far as he's concerned, it's going to be night soon, and sheep are scared at night. Sheep are scared at night because it's at nighttime the foxes come out. It's at nighttime the hyenas come out. It's at nighttime the enemies devour them. So when they see the shadow, they think the worst.

When they see the shadow, they think this is the pits. It's almost nighttime. It could be 12 o'clock noon, but the light is blocked by the hills. Are you in the valley? It's sunny outside, but it's dark inside. Are you in the valley, the place where darkness has set over, and you feel, watch it, trapped? You ever felt trapped?

You ever felt that you were emotionally tied to a situation that you can't shake, you can't get out of no matter what pill you pop, what drink you take, what movie you watch, what biofeedback you get. It's still dark, and it doesn't get any lighter. You find yourself trapped in the clouds of despair in a valley, and valleys are low. Oh, it's wonderful when you're on the mountaintop because you can see the sun from any angle, but when you're in the valley when stuff is low. But notice what he's doing in the valley. He says in verse 4, even as I walk through the valley. You see, the temptation when you're in the valley is to stop going. The temptation when you're in the valley is to sit down and quit. The temptation in the valley is I can't make it. David says I'm in the valley, but I'm still walking. I'm in the valley, but I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm in the valley, but I'm not quitting. He must have known something that we need to know about life in the emotional valley. When you are down low, and here it is, when you are in emotional despair, watch this now.

This is the whole point. And you have tried everything you know to get out of it. You have sought every remedy available, and nothing has worked. You have gotten all the saccharine substitutes that you could get your hand on, and instead of sweet, it's more bitter.

Nothing has worked. The people you thought could help couldn't help you, or they can only help you for a moment, and you were right back where you started. Listen to me. When God allows you to be in the valley of the shadows, where things are dark, and you just want to die, God has given you a gift. A gift. You say, what kind of gift is it?

Take it back. No, he's giving you a gift. Because when God traps you in the shadows, it is because it is there, and only there, that you get to see who he really is. If God allows you to be in the shadows. Now, don't get me wrong, the shadow to the sheep felt like death, because he was subject to the creatures of the night. It wasn't really death.

It just looked like death, because he was in a position that only God could get him out of. David says, even though I walk through the valley that looks like death, it's not death, it's just the shadow of death, but it feels like death to me. Anybody in here feel like I am not going to make it?

That's the shadow of death. Anybody feels like I'm getting older, the years ahead of me are less than the years behind me, and I'm not gonna make it. Anybody here feel like the dread that I see is shredding me, and I am not gonna make it? David says, I'm not gonna fear.

I fear no evil. Even though it looks bad out there, even though there's an overcast sky, even though it looks like I'm under the situation where the foxes and hyenas could shred me, I am not gonna be afraid. Remember now, watch this, he's in a valley.

He's as low as you can get. He's not on the mountain. Anybody gonna feel okay on the mountain? He's in the valley, and it's a bad valley because it looks like death. But he says, in spite of how it looks, in spite of how it feels, in spite of the darkness that's crowding in on me like death, I am not gonna succumb. I'm gonna keep walking.

If you're here today and you are emotionally traumatized, you keep going. I know you want to stop, but he says, I walk through the valley after David's soul has been restored. After he's being led down the right way, now he finds himself in a valley. But he doesn't find the valley in him because he says, I'll fear no evil.

Even though I should be afraid, even though it's natural to be afraid, guess what? I am not going to succumb to the emotional trauma that I face in the shadows. David, what's making you so strong? Simple, thou art with me. His solution to the problem of emotional discouragement was the very presence of God. The key to emotional victory, when you are emotionally down, discouraged, and afraid, is the presence of God. The key to your emotional disappointment, to your emotional traumatization, is the presence of God. Thou art with me. In other words, when you are emotionally down and you have run out of human options, that's where God wants you to discover his supernatural presence. You will not discover that he's all you need until he's all you have.

Until your options have run out and you must throw yourself on him if you're going to make it one step further. Lord, I want to walk, but my legs are too heavy. Thou art with me. He understood that the key was the presence of God. Dr. Evans will return with more about our need for God in frightening times when he continues this message from his powerful audio compilation, Tony Evans Top 40. It contains 40 of the most hard-hitting, life-changing lessons he's taught in his ministry's 40-year history.

It includes messages on loving God first, slaying the giants in your life, demonstrating grace when dealing with racial issues, and much more. And for the final couple of days, we're offering you volumes three and four of this four-volume collection as our gift when you come alongside Tony's ministry and help see us through this season with a generous contribution. Please visit tonyevans.org right away while this special offer is still available. Make your donation and let us send you all 20 lessons on CD or digital download from Tony Evans Top 40 volumes three and four. And if you missed out on the first two volumes of this collection, you can find out more about how to obtain those for your audio library as well. Again, that's tonyevans.org or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat our contact information after part two of today's lesson coming up right after this. Jesus never traveled more than 300 miles from the place he was born, yet his life has changed the world. He never wrote a song, yet more songs have been written about him than any other person in the world. And in his brand-new film, Journey with Jesus, Dr. Evans and family take you to the Holy Land and explore just what made Jesus' life so remarkable and so impactful.

This feature-length film is coming to select theaters in November, so visit tonyevans.org to learn more and find out where it will be showing near you. When I took my kids to an amusement park and we went through the haunted house, when they were small they wouldn't go unless I went with them. You have children who've had nightmares or when it thundered and stormed outside. They woke up and they screamed. They were afraid. They jumped out of their bed and they walked through the valley of their bedroom, down the valley of the hall to the valley of your room.

They jumped in your bed because what they needed was somebody to be with them. You hugging them didn't stop the rain. You hugging them didn't stop the thunder. You hugging them didn't stop the lightning. But it changed how they faced it.

They fell asleep. The fear that they had alone, they no longer had because mama was with me. Psalm 34, look at what it says. David says, verse 4, I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all of my fears.

Watch this there. He says, I told my fears, stop looking at me and start looking at him. I turned my fears upward rather than merely dealt with them inward and when my fears looked at him, my fears began to smile. My fears became radiant. He goes on to say, this poor man, verse 6, cried to the Lord and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles.

But what's that got to do with me? Verse 7, the angel of the Lord encamps about all those who fear him and he rescues them. So if you don't believe me, verse 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

O fear the Lord, you his saints, for to those who fear him, there is no one. When you are at the bottom, God has given you a gift because it's at the bottom. When your emotions have gone haywire and you are ready to pull your hair out, that God is saying, now that you have nothing but me and you only have me, you will discover like never before I am all you need. It is the gift of God's presence.

You know, I've told the story so much but it illustrates the point. Jesus is on the water with disciples. The disciples get in the storm so they get shaky.

In fact, the Bible says they got scared because the boat looked like it was going to turn over and they were in the valley of the shadow. Where was Jesus? Asleep. What good is the Savior who sleeps on you when you in a storm? But not only was he asleep, he was asleep on purpose because if the Bible says his head was on a cushion. That's a pillow.

You don't pull out a pillow unless you intend to go to sleep. So Jesus wasn't up there doing that. He was not.

No. He pulled out a pillow, laid down on the pillow because he intended to go to sleep while his followers were in a storm. Did you know sometimes Jesus will nap on you while the storm is going on because he wants to see what you're gonna do in a storm when he's all you got. They came over and they woke him up, the Bible says. They said, get up Jesus.

And they said what we think. Don't you care that I'm perishing? How can you sleep on me at a time like this? How can the phone be off the hook at a time like this? How can you not be responding to me at a time like this?

How can you not be answering me at a time like this? They woke him up. The Bible says in Mark 4, Jesus got up, went over to the storm and said, peace be still. It said the storm died down.

Then it gets good. They looked at what Jesus did after they woke him up because he was asleep while they were in a mess. And they said, what manner of man is this? That even the winds and the waves do whatever he says.

And then comes the killer lie. It says, and then after they saw who he was, they were very much afraid. They were scared of the storm, but they got terrified when they saw who was bigger than the storm. They saw who God was in a storm. God will let you get in an emotional storm so that you can discover who he is. Psalm 56 3 says, when I was afraid, I put my eyes on you and you delivered me.

It is in the midst of a storm that God lets you see him as you've never seen him before. God told Moses, Moses, go tell Pharaoh, let my people go. Moses said, you got to be kidding me. Them people want to kill me over there.

What do you mean? Go tell them, let my people go. Moses, go tell them, let my people go. I will be with you. Moses said, now, the only way I'm going is if you go with me. If you don't go with me, I won't go. But if you go with me, then that will overcome my fears.

And Moses went based on the presence of God. David says, I'm not gonna let my circumstances dominate my emotions. Now, don't get me wrong, he doesn't deny he had to deal with fear. The temptation is the fear, but I will not fear, one, because of God's power, but then two, because of his staff.

Now, watch this. The staff was a long stick with the hook on the top, okay? When sheep would go in to eat berries, its fur, its coat, would often get caught on the thistles, the thorns, and it'd be all in the brush. So what the shepherd would do would be reach in there, hook it around the neck, and wiggle it out.

In other words, it would untrap it. You ever been trapped? You ever been caught in something you can't get out of?

You ever been caught in something you can't be delivered from? God not only has power, but he has grace. Grace is when God reaches in to your caught nests, to your stuck nests, and where he pulls you out.

God reaches in to deliver you out of the situation that you have gotten yourself caught in. It's grace. Oh, do you understand grace? Grace is where God doesn't give you what you deserve. Grace is where God is good when you are bad. Grace is where he is kind when you are unkind. Grace is where he is loving when you don't deserve to be loved. He reaches in anyway and delivers you. He blesses you anyway.

He takes care of you anyway. That's God's grace. You know, I heard about this new sheet that they have that you can put in a washer when you're washing clothes, colored clothes, because the colored clothes sometimes bleed, and they bleed the color that can mess up other colored clothes. So they have this sheet you can put in now, and when the washer is tumbling and spinning and going through the motions, it will suck up anything that's bled from one cloth in order to keep it from discoloring another cloth.

And it does it as the tumbling in the washer is taking place. Sometimes life tumbles you around, and the enemy is out there to bleed and discolor you, disfigure you, and destroy you, and you are spinning and turning and twisting and tumbling. But God in his presence enters into that environment, and he keeps the evil one from having the last say-so in your life. That's what God does. That's why the Bible says, looking under Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

It says, perfect love casts out fear. That when you know how much God loves you, when you know how much God cares for you, when you know how much he thinks about you, when you know how valued you are, it will overrule any emotion that seeks to tear you down. He says, focus on God. Yes, I'd love to tell you today, be a good Christian and you won't get discouraged. Be a good Christian and you'll find that mate. Be a good Christian and your finances will be doubled tomorrow.

Be a good Christian and all that, but you and I know life doesn't work like that. There are good days and there are bad days. Sometimes living is hell and sometimes living is heaven. Sometimes you're on the mountain and sometimes you're in the valley.

The psalmist wants you to know that there are going to be emotional highs and then they're going to be the shadows of death. They're going to be days when it's not going right at work, not going right at home. The kids aren't responding to your right.

You're not feeling up to par. You don't have get up and go. But he says, even in those times, don't let the emotions have the final word. Let your God have the final word.

Go to him and say, God, you promised never to leave me nor forsake me, so I'm going to keep walking. You promised never to go. I don't feel you.

I don't see you. I feel like you sleep on me, but I'm going to keep walking because you promised me that you were going to be with me. Don't you quit on me. Don't you throw in the towel. Don't you do that because God has a plan. God has a purpose. Some of us haven't seen him because we've sat down. He says, as I walked through the valley, it's a valley, but I'm going to walk it.

It's a valley. I'm going to stay in here. No giving up here. No throwing in the towel here.

You are loved too much for that. He says, I'm going to walk, and then I'm going to watch God make my change come. Dr. Tony Evans, with reassuring words about the Lord's love, concern, and presence, even in our darkest times. Now, today's message is part of the historic four-volume audio compilation, Tony Evans Top 40.

And volumes three and four of this collection are available now as a special offer for just a couple more days. They're yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help support Tony's work. Get the details before time runs out at TonyEvans.org, where you can also find a huge selection of life-changing resources and sign up for his free weekly email devotional. Again, that's TonyEvans.org. Or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. Well, on Monday, we'll present the final message from Tony Evans Top 40. Tony will point out that giants are just as big a problem today as they were in the days of David and Goliath, only now they take a different form. Be sure to join us for that. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.