Break The Cycle Of Negative Thinking

• What do you do when you’re in a situation where   what God did is so much different than what  you thought he should do? That is Psalm 77. “I remembered you, God, and I groaned.” Not  shouted…groaned. Not clapped…groaned. Not   danced…groaned. “I remembered you,  God, and I groaned; I meditated,   and my spirit grew faint.
• ” People will tell  you all the time how much they’ve grown,   but they won’t tell you how much they groaned  so they could grow into the place where they   are today. This is the process of becoming a  person God can use, and it is not easy. He said,   “My spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes  from closing; I was too troubled to speak.” Then verse 5 gives us the entire problem, not  only with the psalmist but with ourselves.
• “I thought…” Everybody say, “I thought.” “I  thought about the former days…” Justin, do I even   have to say it? Circle “I thought.” Circle it for  everybody in here who’s having doubtful thoughts.   Circle it for everybody in here who’s having  fearful thoughts. Circle it for everybody in   here who’s having jealous, petty… Jelly thoughts.  “Jelly thoughts” we’re calling them right now.
• Circle it for everybody in here who is  dealing not with an external threat,   and maybe not even a personal sin, but with an  “I” thought. Now, when I read this at first,   you’re going to be like, “He did the right  thing. This is what you’re supposed to do.”   This is what we teach in church, that  you’re supposed to go back and remember.
• If you’re in a season right now where  you don’t know what God is going to do,   just remember what he did. That’s  what it sounds like on the surface,   but I want to dig a little bit, because I’ve  been waiting two months to preach this message,   and I’m going to preach it today. I thought about  the former days when my jeans fit a little looser.
• I thought about the former days when my hamstrings  weren’t so… I thought about the former days when I   didn’t need these readers to look at my Bible and  this size 67 font in order to preach it to you. “I thought about the former days, the years of  long ago; I remembered my songs in the night.   My heart meditated, and my spirit asked…”  What’s wrong with any of this? It’s an “I”   thought. “I remembered my songs in the night.