Welcome to the Paul Tripp podcast, where pastor and bestselling author Dr. Paul David Tripp

connects the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

In today's episode, we're going to listen to the next three episodes of Paul's brand new Bible study in the Psalms.

In today's first segment, Paul dives into

Psalm 4, which will show us how we can have joy in hardship. Here's Paul.

So we're going to look at Psalm 4, and I've titled Psalm 4, Joy and Hardship.

Before we look at this Psalm, I want to ask you a question,

does the unexpected, the unwanted, the unplanned, the difficult, the hard thing, remove your joy.

How sturdy is your joy?

You know, we've been through a pandemic that seemed like it was stretching on forever.

For many of us, that meant physical hardship. a pandemic that seemed like it was stretching on forever.

For many of us, that meant physical hardship,

a loss of a job,

struggles in our churches,

loneliness, and the list goes on.

I had a pastor contact me recently and said,

my people just seemed discouraged.

They seem to have lost their joy.

Well, joy and hardship is one of the primary themes of the Psalms.

It surely is the theme in Psalm 4. If your joy is circumstantial, if it's relational, if it's work-related, if it's financial,

or material, when hardship in those areas come,

you will then experience a loss of your joy and with it your motivation to continue.

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