Talking to Yourself

Talking to Yourself

Many times, when we are faced with trials of various kinds, we find ourselves listening to our ‘self’ speaking.  What I mean is that we speak from our emotions, our fears, our doubts, and our questions.  Instead of listening to our ‘self’ speak, we need to start speaking to our ‘self.’

David spoke to himself on occasion.  In Psalm 42:5, he asked himself, “Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (NIV)

In Psalm 103:1-2, David is again talking to himself.  He says, “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” (NIV) He begins to recite to himself the many things which God has done, choosing to encourage his ‘self’ rather than listen to his ‘self.’

While fleeing from Saul, David wrote Psalm 57.  He mentions how he has been in the midst of ravenous lions that have dug a pit for him.  He is obviously feeling very low and lonely.  Yet, in spite of how his ‘self’ felt, he declares in verses 7-8 that his heart is steadfast and that he is going to sing and make music.  He speaks to his ‘self,’ saying, “Awake, my soul!”  He knew that he needed to speak out loud to awaken his ‘self’ which was dealing with a great sense of despair.  He ends this psalm in exultant praise to the Lord, edifying his ‘self’ in the process.

One way to encourage ourselves is to pray for God to help us in making the words of our mouth and the meditations of our hearts to be pleasing before Him. (Ps. 19:14) Anytime that we are speaking that which edifies our Lord, we will be edifying our ‘self.’

In Psalm 66, David sets a great example of how to remind our ‘self’ of past victories that God has brought forth in our own lives.  It helps to keep a journal to jot down those victories so that when our ‘self’ is trying to speak negatively to us, we can pull out our journal of past victories, and speak back to our ‘self.’

Ephesians 5:19 admonishes us to sing and make music in our heart to the Lord.  Many times, for it to truly get it into our heart, we need to be singing it to our ‘self.’  In singing it to our ‘self,’ we conquer the negative that our ‘self’ will try to bring forth.

What about you?  Do you need to start speaking to your ‘self’?
© 2004, Stacy R Miller