David laments turns into an expression of confidence and trust in God. Four times he cries out "How Long?" Lord. We often find ourselves in these moments.
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Family good morning. It is a privilege and a pleasure as always to stand here in the heart seat. Thank you, Pastor Bev, for the Voto Confidence as always, so let me share God's word. Today we are in Psalm 30. So as we go through our preaching schedule, normally we read through the books of the Bible, and I'm hoping very soon we will, you know, have read through the entire Bible, or have studied the entire Bible, but we are in the Psalms and we use the Psalms as a pallet cleanser as we prepare for the Proverbs if you'll be going through next. So looking forward to that series. So we are in Psalm 13, and I hope we've read Psalm 13. For those who haven't, it's a very short Psalm, so we'll cover it now. Me thinking this is going to be the quickest preparation ever, just six verses. There should be Charles Play, but as you know God's word, the first two verses had me for days and days, so I'm going to just trust in God to help me get through through the Psalms, so if you have your hand on Psalm 13, we're going to spend most of our time there, and we are just going to take a segue into the Book of Isaiah. So Psalm 13 reads as follows, trust in the salvation of Lord, to the chief musician, a psalm of David. How long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Consider me, consider and hear me, oh Lord, my God. In light in my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemies say, I have prevailed against him. Lest those who troubled me rejoice when I moved, but I have trusted in your mercy. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he is dealt bountifully with me. Amen. God bless you, I was reading his word. Let's just pause for a moment in a just a quick prayer. Father, we give you things, we give you praise. You are good, you are great, you are merciful, kind. Father, we just bless you. We thank you Lord for just the meditation of your word Lord. I just pray Lord that I would decrease and you may increase Father in this pulpit. I pray Father that we can spend time in these six short verses Father and just extract the nuggets of truth that you have hidden in here for us Lord. As the proverb says, it's the glory of God so you can seal a matter by the honor of kings to search that matter out Lord. And I pray we'd be diligent students, Bereans, who would search your word Lord. I pray Father that there be a truth for somebody here Lord, that life will be changed and I just pray Father Lord that we will meditate on your word Father and even as Paul admonished us Father to pray continually Lord. Let prayer be in our hearts always Lord. Father, let us not focus on the clets and glamour, the highlights Father and position and power Father but just pray. We pray Father we can just focus on the the most basic basic truths Lord that you are good and Father we are nothing without you. So Lord we thank you Lord that you in our lives we thank you Father even for for those who take that that bold step today Lord we pray you be with them you bless them Lord we pray that you bless your word today Father bless it to our hearts bless it to good soil Father and may it grow and maybe go and achieve things for your kingdom in Jesus name we pray. Amen. So just an intro to the song. This is a lament song so we are 13 songs in and Pastor Bev, Pastor Clinton, myself would have probably covered what a lament is but I just want to recap very quickly what is a lament. A lament generally begins with a cry to God so it's an appeal cry out to God to draw his attention to prayer. Then the speaker may outline the complaint itself and just say listen Lord this is my issue this is what I'm struggling with explaining the circumstance that he needs God to intervene on. Then the Psalmist would then formally ask for God's help it's a plea for God's help either he protests his innocence or he confesses his sin. Ella states a lament typically ends with the speaker anticipating deliverance and either praising God for for it right then or promising to praise him when he when the deliverance comes. So while these features are typical the request for help is key in a lament song and it's characterized as a complaint to a lament. So this is sort of how a lament is seen there's a difference between a lament and a complaint we understand that right. So complaint generally if you look at it in simple terms a complaint is made to somebody else you go complain to your spouse you complain to your boss but a lament is made to God it's a complaint that is made to God with the with the mindset of God intervening on your behalf. So verse 1 to 2 contains the lament the lamentation and there's an entire book called Lamentations which gives sort of a broader view of a lamentation of Israel. Verse 3 to 4 so you're looking at them in sort of three stanzas or three strophies. Verse 3 to 4 is the prayer and verse 5 and 6 concludes with an affirmation and a trust in a vow of thanksgiving to God. So that's the structure and that's sort of how the Psalm is very simple simplistic but so deep and so rich in the content. So the heading is the same as Psalm 12. I'm not sure if you recall but we preach through Psalm 12 and the heading is the same. So you'll see the heading of the Psalm it says to the chief musician, the Psalm of David it's exactly the same except there's an omission of the word Sheminith in the in the heading and although the cause of suffering is different between Psalm 12 and so of 13 it starts with the plea of God in the introduction. So you see a similar structure in Psalm 12 to Psalm 13. Psalm 12 says help O Lord 12 verse 1. 13 verse 1 says how long O Lord. So recognizing this continuity there's a Jewish commentator Rashi actually who read both Psalms concurrently just omitting the title Psalm 13. So you read them as one Psalm because you see a similar structure in Psalm 12 and in Psalm 13 help O Lord how long O Lord is a plea there's the same structure there's a cry for help and then obviously a proclamation of faith in God's goodness. Calvin's view of the Psalm is a little more cautious stating that the Psalm quite simply is about faith in providence, simple plain puts like Psalm 11. This was important for David for later generations as he speaks of the nature of faith when it comes to God's absence. So Calvin had this view that the Psalm is straightforward it's about faith and God's providence and what do we do when God seems absent. So when doing some research I came across a contemporary reference here. So the movie Apollo 13 I'm not sure those of you old enough to have seen it I think back in the 90s I think with Tom Hanks was the start it's about this space journey Apollo 13 was the name of the of the of the spaceship that went there you remember the the the famous quote you used and we have a problem and this woman she was her name is Libby Larson she was a classical composer so in 2004 she wrote an unusual piece and if you like me a little bit nerdy you look at classical music and you analyze it and she wrote an unusual piece she combined text adapted from Apollo 13 flight transcript so she read the transcript of Apollo 13 she used the text of that in her song and she also mixed that with biblical references from Psalm 13 from Psalm 90 and Psalm 131 and the song is about the role of faith in survival it basically has a baritone singer so the the present worship team would understand baritone is a certain certain level of singing a baritone singer kind of narrates the song she's got this text from from Apollo 13 she's got also songs mixed in with it and at the end of it it's basically about faith and this work ends with the resolution taken from Psalm 13 it ends off but I've trusted Newstere first love so I quote from from Libby Larson in our technological age I've begun to wonder if our faith in number itself is inextricably intertwined with our with our spiritual faith we do in fact believe in infinity we also believe in zero without zero all technology without services and that drives our contemporary lives computers engines and the like are not possible travel in spaces not possible wait not for a faith in zero and all that zero makes possible telling the story of Apollo 13 right juxtaposing faith in science so what she's doing is she's looking at the faith in technology and the faith in numbers infinity to zero and she's saying without that nothing is nothing is possible space travels not possible engines on possible and she talks it poses that's with with faith because if you know the story of Apollo 13 the engines failed and there to use their natural senses and she she juxtaposes faith with technology and what she says here is that when technology fails us when chariots and horses fails us when the banking system fails us when the Rand Dolly exchange rate fails us when what we expect in life that we trust so dearly fails us what do we do we are left to have just faith and she it closes off this this this the song and then the the purpose of the songs cut up in four but a lot of analysis there but basically she ends off with some 13 I've trusted in your grace and there's a faith and a trusting grace and a faith in trusting God that is that is juxtaposed to our trusting things and and and and what we hold here so the structure of the song it's consists of three trophies or three stanzas the first is the address to God verse one to two a request for help in verse three to four an affirmation of confidence regarding thirteen verse five and and three B is a vow of praise so elements so basically the lament is expressed in a four-fold statement this four times it's mentioned how long how long oh Lord pause and then he states how long what what he's complaining about he goes again four times so you see their structure for and then verse three to four there's a sudden change of mood and a confidence in God so you see this complaints and you see that structure in the Psalms there's a complaints and a plea and a cry out to God like all is lost and then you find this change of heart that David has mid-sum most of these lament songs and is like but I will trust in your steadfast love surely goodness and mercy will follow me you find this this mindset that David has this changing in hearts and it's very strange to see that you complaining and all of a sudden there's just this joy that he finds so what I want to do is just segue quickly to the book of Isaiah because what what's um what David is doing here he's complaining basically that God is taking long how long Lord how long are you gonna allow me to enjoy these things I'm suffering I'm struggling dealing with things and how often have we gone through life asking God how long Lord these people aren't calling me back for that interview how long are things gonna stay this way Lord my my partner is unsafe for all of these years how long am I gonna wait until things can change how long am I gonna wait for my breakthrough I'm going month to month sometimes week to week the pocket is empty what's how long Lord how long am I gonna suffer Lord I've got this illness I've got this this thorny my side how long am I gonna have to deal with this problem how long is unemployment gonna be my problem how long am I gonna have to deal with poverty for those who grew up like like me and possibly will attest to this bit sometimes the stories we would hear every time can I please have a new pair of shoes there's no money boy it's no money for anything how long Lord am I gonna have to have had me down how long are things gonna be so bad in my life how long Lord and David in this case is complaining most likely about an illness Lord how long am I gonna have to suffer under the weight of this thing how long am I gonna struggle with this thing and this is cry unto God and that makes up the 90% bulk of the heart of what he's complaining about that first two lines Lord how long the rest is complaining about you know he makes his appeal to God then he talks about his confidence in God but that how long is really important and I want to talk about waiting on God on the talk about waiting on God this is something that we as people struggle with we we find it so difficult to mention this is from the pulpit especially men we find it so difficult when we have a problem we go and we act we don't think because it's built into us it is something that's hard-wired into our DNA is meant to just go and go and do to just go and make a plan you know man of action Friday action night Jean Claude Van Damme we just want to go in Skopskit and don't it and we don't we go and think later we think about it later and we we don't consider the consequences we go and beat someone up before and then you know we shoot and take names later we we don't follow through and and seek the Lord's counsel when we do certain things and sometimes our wives are the voice of reason as men how many times have I done this way there's a problem and I just go in acting wife I done this thing she's like but did you think of this and think of that and think of this consequences I'm like I didn't consider all of it then the consequences come back and bite me and sometimes our wives are the voice of reason and sometimes as wives we go and act emotionally and we go and say something and we go and talk to somebody and we go and you know confide in somebody or share truth that we shouldn't have shared and then we find that we've got to deal with the consequences of that these are our natural you know we we we we we plead you know we have this this thing programmed into us to go and act and sometimes we struggle to wait on God because God is the one who says he will fight for us as we'll see in our text so God loves to work for those who wait on him God loves to work for those who wait on him and this is the core of our Bible talk this morning so so does does waiting for God mean that we do not act and when we do stop waiting and start as is 64 and I'm just gonna read quickly from verse one to four oh that you would rent the heavens that you would come down that the mountains might shake at your presence I'm gonna rush down right to the end to verse four the end of verse four God says who it says no no has the eye seen any any God besides you who acts for the one who waits on him saying that God acts for those who wait on him so let's talk about grace you have general grace and you have special grace so general grace you can perceive it this way general grace is the rain falling on the just and the unjust alike you see sinners driving Ferraris you see and repentance and sinners reaping the harvest of things that they never sold you find there's a general grace for everyone God has given grace to everyone the rain falls on the good farmers and the bad farmers blessings fall on the evil and the good this is just something that God does for everyone there's a general grace that even the sinners in Noah's time enjoyed the benefits that that that came with with the living on the earth they get to plead fresh air they get to see the sunrise every day even if they're rebellious he sends rain on the good and evil he brings sea time and harvest even to those who are living in open rebellion even atheists get to enjoy the same blessings that you do sometimes even better than you do this is general Christ but God works for all these creatures and sometimes this is also to lead men to repentance Bible says it is put eternity in our hearts he's he's put something inside of us that makes us look at nature and say surely there's a card out there surely I should be questioning he's done all of his things to show the goodness of God even to the most unrepentance of sinners so this is to lead people to repentance but there's a special grace that is given to those that have a certain disposition a certain mindset a certain way of thinking you set up a certain way there's a special grace that is given to you believers saints of God that the general grace applies to everyone but it's a special grace where God comes and fight for you specifically that same verse says no as has the eye seen any God besides you who acts or works for the one who waits for him so the work mentioned here is not just the work of creation or preservation not just talking about just him sustaining you and setting up it's not just a meeting of a few natural needs that he does for everybody rather it's the investments of all God's infinite sovereign power to do everything for his people all that his people need for they could refer to Romans 8 this is God investing all of his power into making things work out for your good so when we read Romans 8 28 says all things work for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose this is what is talking about this is that special grace that doesn't apply to everyone doesn't apply to everyone you see just making it in life is talking about God gearing some but gearing every power that he has towards those whose minds are set on waiting for him and who does he do this for he does it for those who wait for him now we'll talk about what does waiting mean does it mean just blooming chilling just waiting feet up just waiting for him to act there's this there's there's some method behind that so the people in Aziah that that Aziah was talking to writes they were in trouble in trouble of danger from the Assyrians and then the Babylonians but the danger that God sees here in this passage of Scripture is not just the Babylonians and the Assyrians come into attack God is not afraid of anybody he sees the end from the beginning the beginning from the end God's concern here is that the Israelites are gonna run back to Egypt instead of running to God so you remember that God never wanted a king you know you see the book of first kings and second kings you see the chronicles of different kings saw David Solomon all of these different kings and you see that same line and the king done evil in the sight of the Lord that was never God's intention Israel was supposed to be a theocracy we live in a democracy where every one of us has an equal vote nobody's more than the next and whoever we vote for maturity rules that is democracy you have one form of government God is setting up a theocracy where he would be king there's no king there's no prime minister there's nobody above him nobody beside him he is the autonomous sovereign ruler of Israel that was his intention but he said because you've nagged for this king realize he's gonna text you he's gonna take you off your lands he's gonna send you to war is this what you really want yes what we want to be like them okay take your king and see what happens and you see what happened you have the period of judges you have the period of kings and all of this until the king of kings and the king of the Jews arrives on the scene so this is what God is saying yeah you wanted them still to turn to him but he was afraid that they were gonna turn to Egypt instead of waiting for God's help he sees the temptation looming large that they were gonna go after human help and this is something that is so present in our life that's when trouble strikes that's the first thing that we do we run for human help you call a friend you go and phone a bank you go and phone a macho nisa you go and look for somebody who can intervene on your behalf and help you fix this problem that you got yourself into and you go and look at yourself to try and get yourself out of their problem as I 31 verse one says woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are they are very strong but do not look to the holy one of Israel or consult the Lord the first thing that waiting on God means is before you make any effort to solve your own problems or hire human agency pray the first thing that we do is we need to pray we need to seek the counsel of God what is his way to solve the problem and bring you out of trouble so I'm 106 verse 13 but they soon forgot his works they did not wait for his counsel you see the common theme here first the first act of waiting therefore his prayer before we make one move to solve the problem and if you anything like me after many efforts you say I forgot to pray how many times my wife remind me of this after I've found enough done things and I've exhausted every option maybe have you prayed yes last thing I was thinking of last thing when somebody sick in the house every medicine cabinets is opened exhausting every other option have we tried praying have we prayed before we go and try and do anything on our own because we are so self-reliance and self-reliance is such a devil that you can be the so the problem you can be the solution to all of your problems this is something that we all struggle with family this is something I deal with something that you deal with is I can make a plan I can fix this I got context I know people who know people who know people I can make it happen and this is where the problem is with Israel started that they became so self-reliance that we know people who know people Egypt has chariots and horses and and and bowmen and we know people who have resources we can phone a friend but what happens when all of those things fail you what happens when you have all of the riches in the world and you struck with some disease that is incurable there's no doctors gonna save you there's no amount of gold or silver that's gonna save your bitcoins your investments nothing can get you out of their predicament it is only trusting in God so do we see God's counsel so the first thing that we do in terms of waiting for God is praying we pray and I feel that we don't pray enough I suffer from this sometimes in my prayer I've lacked because of the busyness of life and the first thing naturally you gravitate towards I'll make a plan I will fix it but when you're disposition that's how he gives you special grace to those with a special disposition when your mind is focused on waiting on him your mindset reflects your actions so we wait on God by praying pray family pray we realize this power we say this every week that is power in prayer but do we understand that the power to move heaven and earth rests in your prayers like you can call down God to intervene in your behalf go look at the Old Testament fire from heaven when when the prophets prayed you find that God into veens on your behalf when you pray pray to him pray to him in line with with his word picture this as God is a doctor you found the doctor and you say doctor I'm sick he's either gonna give you a prognosis of take pulse or rest and when the doctor orders rest let's look at Isaiah 30 verse 15 it says for thus said the Lord God the holy one of Israel in returning and rest you shall be saved in quietness and entrust you shall be your strength but you are unwilling you said no we will flee upon horses therefore we shall flee away and we will ride upon swift deeds therefore your pursuers shall be swift amen God was saying on the phone doctor on the phone just sit down I'm gonna do the work for you I'm gonna take care of it take it easy rest and I will be your strength I will fight for you but you wouldn't do it because you trusted in absent more than me you trusted in African Bank more than me you trusted your partner your friends more than I more than you trust me how often do we do we take that from God the one who is able and we go to our friends the ones who are not able sometimes we have to be willing to accept the frustrating news of be still because we want action now what this problem has to be solved now I mean panic and we we go and chase things and we can't wait till tomorrow we got a phone in we closed deals now because we can't wait until tomorrow is done with God says be still so we need to be still as well we need to hear what Moses heard when they stood at the precipice of the sea and the armies of Egypt and he said fear not stand firm and behold the salvation of Lord sometimes we have to just be quiet let God do his job because he alone is God you think that you're worrying God God wants to fight for his people he wants to work for you he wants to show himself mighty when they wrote you off and they said that you wouldn't amount to anything and they said you're not capable of doing that job is your stand back and watch me do my do do my job behold the salvation of Lord stand back sometimes we need to be still and let God do his thing and not take action in his own hands this is the first components is be still so the second thing that we can look at here what the Lord means is after you have prayed you've prayed to the doctor prayed to the great physician and he says be still and rest so resting is the second component and the third thing that we can do to wait for the Lord so he might get you to do exercises he might get you to take a pill bring you back to to bring you back to the Old Testament we look at second Samuel as a reference second Samuel 5 verse 19 so the context for this is David is the king of the soul's death right so David is now anointed king and the Philistines are besieging him there's an attacker in the Philistines and here's what David does says David inquire of the Lord he waited didn't just take up arms gents let's go you waited he said shall I go up against the Philistines world thou give them into my hand wait the answer and the Lord said to David go up for I surely will give them into your hands so the word to David was not till I still then the word to David was to fight he didn't take matters into his own hands at first he waited so he has the essence of it right we are prone to think that you're waiting in stone is only you wait on guard and he will fight for you only but there's another component to it as soon as we start acting we prepare sermon a lesson going to work preparing a report staying up late work work work we don't have to wait anymore that's not the case there's a spirit of waiting in the midst of work probably 21 31 says the horse is made ready for the day of battle but the victory belongs to the Lord so John Piper stated this way and I quote the implication of that for the warrior it means that when the Lord says go he doesn't stop waiting he cat is within into the battle and a spirit of expectation or expectancy it says that yes I will fight with all of my might but I will also wait on the one in whose hands alone is the victory so that no matter how hard you work there's a spirit of waiting a spirit of expectancy a spirit that out and through all of this activity is going to come lightning from heaven to do supernatural work so waiting is not just waiting but also when God says go when God says apply when his God says challenge when God says defend there's also a sense of waiting but waiting with expectancy that the outcome is not based on your efforts so whether you apply I've applied for jobs that I had no right to playing for when I got jobs that I had no right getting I make this joke all the time that I am from Peter Marisburg and I know made the Shakespeare joke early you know three guns but I applied for a job at DBL de Courant and in that I didn't even realize it was media 24 and they said okay Grenville thank you for your time we are going to interview you but we are going to interview in off regards and like which parts that like the entire thing and you know when you're like H I'm in trouble here and they asked the question give us an example of a time when you handle pressure and how would you deal with things differently and the translations they said in English and I must speak in off regards and then I'm like there was a time to have a set date of a set date when there was a difficult clients difficult harder and I put my tongue through that entire interview they phoned me the very next day and said Mr. Kring congratulations you've got the position and I'm like how on earth oh and the aarda oh but there are times when God will work for you you'll put you in positions that you don't deserve and I only looking back to I only see now how God used that off regards interview to get me to where I am now and it's not a post but God has positioned me in in life by grace by supernatural grace where I mean I've got opportunities that I didn't deserve there was much more qualified people than me there's the the wife I have I don't deserve it the children I have the life I have I don't deserve any of it but God has given it to me by his supernatural grace and there's things that God will work out there's things that God is working out right now for you that you just need to trust in God and have a spirit of expectancy sometimes it's wait sometimes it's peaceful and sometimes it's cold but you don't stop waiting when you go even if you need to go and defend the gospel and you don't have the scriptures in your heart to go and defend at this times I've been in situations battling people and they confounding me with their arguments and I'm like I don't know what to say but God gives you wisdom he gives you a scripture that you never even knew this times I quote the scripture that I never read before God will go and defend for you says when you go before kings don't worry about what you'll say but in that hour I will give you the words what to say so when you whenever God says go there's still a weight there's still a weight in your heart weight on the Lord that he does the work for you God works for those who wait for him and that's the purpose of what I'm trying to say here is that we don't wait and we don't trust in mankind even though we may use these resources we don't trust in people so even though we take precautions of locking the door at night you know we don't take it for granted your songs when it once when you seven verse once is unless the Lord watches over the city those who stay awake stay awake in vain you can do all of the things I had a long systems at my old house I had many many locks chelidos guy's still caught in unless the Lord watches over the city that people watching vain it is God who watches over his purpose but then God that we won't hurt and God protects us through all of that the third form of waiting is even when the Lord says act and we act with the spirits of reliance on his work and we wait for the Lord there's a spirit of expectancy as I've said and the final results of all we do lies in the hands of the Lord so everything we do is in the Lord so a conclusion to some of those things when circumstances conspire around us puts us under pressure which happens all the time people financial is one of those things we are under constant constant constant pressure of the finances fix one thing the next thing breaks just when you've got your finances order the check car engine light comes on in you like I load like one month please man can I ever break but that's how it happens in life at all is like life doesn't spread its problems out one a month it will hit you all at once you'll find there'll be job loss there'll be sickness there'll be problems in your marriage that all of the things happens at one time and this is just the way it happens even in the ocean you'll find that life is not concentrated spread you'll find it spread on the coral reefs and on the the shores life is not spread there's many fish in the sea but they isolated in certain points such as life such as life and this is what we need to do to sum it up we need to pray we need to wait and rest in the Lord and wait while while we waiting wait expectantly so this is how we wait in the Lord and you know just to sit to sum up the second point while I'm closing this is that waiting doesn't mean laziness doesn't mean avoidance of duty when we say wait and it doesn't mean long like a florist you don't just go in chill and wait and wait and wait it's not laziness this is more than just laziness right it's more than just waiting you may have have everything planned you may have your plan sets out you might have a plan to go buy a house you might have a plan to ask that young lady out you might have a plan to apply for a job move to new country whatever it is start a new church whatever it may be you may have it all planning cards his wait because God wants to fight for you so that he gets the glory that is the purpose of God fighting for his people because he would get the glory the walls of Jericho no one could could claim that the walls fell down leaving Egypt no one could claim that they between the between the sea and between the army no one could claim glory for that God fought for the people so that he got the glory so he works all of these things out so that he gets the glory so let's quickly go back to Psalm 13 Psalm 13 how long oh Lord will you forget me forever how long will you hide your face from me how long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily how long will my enemies be exalted in me how long the phrase how long is a fourfold statements as I've said made by David so Jewish commentators for example in the opening Rashi and Kimi say it this way the speakers of Israel suffer oppression from her neighbors Nebuchadnezzar and the exile most discussed all through the fourfold cry so what he's saying here is that this fourfold cry in some commentators view is also a liken to the suffering that Israel experienced under exile you know Israel suffered under Israel exile four countries four nations took them under Israel you see read read the book of Daniel Daniel Nebuchadnezzar this vision of a great statue the head the chest the you know the bronze the gold the silver and the iron and that was representing Babylon Mido Persia Greece and Rome so some scholars equate the how long Lord as Israel's lament Lord how long will you let us suffer under Babylon Lord how long will we suffer under the Assyrians Lord how long will we suffer under Mido Persians Lord how long will we suffer under Rome and the sky you can see echoed and then look at the closing you see the last two verses you see a fourfold expression of gratitude or praise and I trust in your steadfast love my heart shall rejoice I sing to the Lord he has dealt bonds with me attended to be contrasts to these four examples of these four complaints or or or pleas that they refer to sorrow turned into joy because of the promise of the bounty of the time of harvest refer to General Jeremiah 29 11 Jeremiah 29 verse 10 we we familiar with 29 11 right for I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord and he gives all of the plans that he has for them but 29 verse 10 says I'm sending you into slavery by the way for 70 years but I have plans for you long term so you see that God in even in his prohibitions even in his even in his punishments he says he chastises those that he loves even in his punishments even in his chastisements God is showing the love here that he has plans even in this covenant that the four exiles even these four complaints that you see that this fourfold blessings to say Lord thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you this fall and you see this the sandwiches contrast between the opening and the closing so some assumptions asking how long rather than why implies that there's a reason for cards abandonment but suggests that perhaps the punishments should have run as course done our Lord it's been enough time now I can't take it anymore five years Lord I'm struggling with this thing Lord this addiction that I have where how long is this gonna gonna stay with me Lord I keep making the same mistakes how long will I suffer with this Lord my wife won't forgive me Lord how long is this gonna take Lord my children are repellius how long how long is my family gonna have to deal with this problem there's this assumption here that David is saying Lord this is enough now it's taking too long the Psalmist has a lack of confidence in how long he's suffering will continue he doesn't know if that is the end in verse one but implies that card has a power to stop it but allows these trouble to possess so he's making the appeal and this is the assumption that we're making here is that Lord is taking long you have the power to stop it I don't know how long it's gonna take but you have the power you you can make this thing stop today not understanding cause infinite wisdom he says you will forget me forever will you forget me forever in the Hebrew context to forget or to merely to forget is not a merely cognitive act right to forget is not just I forgot I'll come to that later but it's also to withhold help and comfort so he's saying that not only did you forget me but you also withholding your blessing from me there's a sense of abandonment that that David has here if you're not reading the text how long will you hide your face from me he has made himself absent from the life of the Psalmist who desires God back in his life this is what David is complaining about there since Lord where are you I don't feel you how many times have we felt this sometimes we pray and we feel nothing I spoke to somebody the other day and you know I was like have you prayed about this and they're like yeah but I'm not hearing anything you feel like God is not answering you you feel like God is not there you feel it's not in the midst of your thing I might as well just try and fix this amount God has left me he's abandoned me even though he's clearly said I will never leave you nor forsake you God is not a man that he should lie don't the son of men that he should repent when God says something this promises there that are irrevocable he will never leave you family we need to believe this with all of our hearts but David feels it it doesn't stop us from feeling in certain way feelings don't equate to truth David feels that God has left him abandoned him forsaken him and the punishment was likely due to sin but it is clear that the Psalmist feels that the punishment is gone on for far too long now this thoughts are similar to Jeremiah's exposition in lamentations as I mentioned who while recognizing that the destruction of Jerusalem was a result of sin that felt it is enough enough was enough interestingly lamentation ends with the same same phrase how long or the same question how long before before Carter stores these people so you find a parallel between lamentations the book ends with how long Lord how long are we going to struggle through this this thing and you find David echoing the same thing in the Psalms how long it's a lamentation verses a lamentation so lamentation five why do you forget us forever and forsake us for so long the time you see the the link there verse two or the second stands or the second caller how long shall I take counseling my soul David is now dealing with the psychological effects of what's happened here either there's a sin or a sickness but a distance from God family look at it this way when you're distant from God we discount the psychological impact that it has on us depression anxiety fear sorrow paranoia all of these things come when God leaves the building there's this fear you you are in this array this is what David's dealing with their psychological problems and you find that today there's so much legal drugs to deal with all of these consequences and side effects people are taking so much prescription drugs to deal with the consequences of sin because of God's absence in their lives and this is what's happening now I at one time is also addicted to prescription drugs I just took them for fun because it made me feel nice we do this and because you get addicted to something you get addicted to the feeling because of initial anxiety it grows because you're not you're not taking your burdens you're not costing your burdens upon him because he's yoke is easy and his burden as lights is what his words says but what we do is we take it into our own hands we go and get pulse trampolines and coatings and all of these different ins that they have I don't know what's what's out there but these are the things that are taken so freely and this is a pant it's this is a pandemic across the world that prescription drugs are wreaking havoc and it's all because of the consequences of sin because of the absence of God what David is feeling here David is feeling the psychological effects from the absence of God step away from God backslide you will see for yourself and what you have to do is medicate until you can feel okay it's not as bad and then it hits you like a ton of breaks when that papalas catches you the next day this is just how we how we deal with our problems we don't have a solution only solution it's the presence of God in his presence is joy it is in his bosom is hope you know when God comes into your life that you don't you feel that you don't need anything have any of you felt that when you came to God you feel that you don't need anything when I got got saved I was living in a foreign country forsaken all of my friends my friends had laughed at me guys I'm safe now what's that it's in my life is now in God's hands God told me to leave my girlfriend my fiancé with life changed I lost everything at a house at cause God told me to leave it all behind music all of the things I had and all I had was a Bible and I'm living with this heathen of a woman who rented me a room would bring home random guys at random times of the night and headboards were eating against my wall and I'm like Lord I can't do this anymore it's it's rough here like I need you to help me and all I had was my Bible all I had was my Bible and it was enough for me family I was happier than than I was now because all I had was a trusting God I had nothing left but a reliance on God and that is what happens when in his presence is joy it's pleasures forever more and this is a taste of what we will have one day in heaven where we will be lack nothing there be no more tears and this is what David feels he feels the absence of this the absence of the presence of God he's dealing with psychological effects he says having sorrow in my heart daily dealing with sorrow the Psalmist mind is in turmoil and full root sorrow his mind is messed up because he feels God's presence has left him how long will my enemies be exalted over me the fact that the Psalmist turns to God in regards to his enemies demonstrates that he believes God is the ultimate cause of his misery look at it from this perspective in lamentations the Jeremiah wrote lamentations also said had the same same view that Babylon ultimately was the cause of their problems but they the but ultimately God was the cause of it because he makes his appeal to God and not to the enemy because God sent he even called Nebuchadnezzar he servants God sent these people into the land of Israel to capture to capture them and he was the ultimate cause of David sees God as the one who's who's caused this on him not in a malicious way but it's like Lord you can alleviate this pain and verse three consider and hear me your Lord God enlighten my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death lest my enemies say I have prevailed against him lest those who trouble me rejoice when I moved the second stands of us three to four presses God to change his attitude towards the Psalmist Lord change your mind change your mind about me this series of questions questions God's fairness the implication of how long or how long has been now is the time for God to change from absence to presence thus the second stands are not surprisingly requests that maybe or even insists on his divine response Lord I need you to answer me now I need an answer you've got to come through for me now as he as he's going on he's saying first how long Lord now he's pleading Lord I'm struggling I'm dealing with a lot here and I need you to come and answer me I'm pushing you for an answer so the Psalmist further prompts God into action by saying that if God allows a letter then his enemies will proclaim triumph over him verse 5 but I have trusted in your mercy I my hearts shouted choice in your salvation I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bond safely with me so most laments end with the confidence so praising God this one finishes with both the Psalmist praise emanates from the trusting God and will hear the prayer and will respond so basically he's saying Lord because you are faithful I trust in you and this is the thing this is also an old covenant that David is speaking to he's speaking to the God of an old covenant how much better is the covenant that we have now where God says I'll never leave you no forsake you David did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit's with him we family have day of Pentecost in Acts 2 that this he said he said he sent the helper you have God living inside of you the creator of heaven and earth living inside of you never leaving you no forsake you never there was times I was in dens of sin in places I shouldn't have been but God convicted me heaven always remind me of the time of my metric ball where I decided I'm just gonna do a moon walk into the club and in the club and people are shaking and then baking and I'm feeling so convicted and I'm like I don't belong here but I wanted to be because metric ball in the hype of it you know I want to be in the in the club and everyone turning up and I walked home through dangerous parts of town by myself and I said I don't belong here I'm going home God convicted me in the club he found me in strip clubs and convicted me and I'm preaching to somebody in a strip club and I'm like then brother like what are you doing I'm like I can't help it because the word rests so deeply inside of me that even when I want to walk away from him I can't help a preaching in the in the worst of places this is what God does he lives inside of you is made of covenants with you he made a covenant with me I cannot escape him I he said he's married to the backslide even if you leave me he won't leave you God will pursue you like a hound he will not leave you this is the god that we serve he so loves you he so cherishes you that he will not leave with your own devices he'll rather break your legs like a shepherd wood with the sheep the sheep is rebellious they break the legs and they carry it on their backs leaves the 99 to find the one this is the god that we serve so David is now changing his mindset in insane lord because of this covenant you've made because you are faithful because you are God and you cannot lie because you promise me like we hold it up our parents I remember my father would make me promises boy I'm not by you this thing and he bought me a guitar the ones kids are three strings I think he stole it from somewhere but he brought it to me and then he took the guitar back a couple of days later to go sell it for drink and I remember just not having confidence in my father because every promise he made by a promise for Christmas boy I promise I'll be there for your sports day boy I promise I'll do this thing and let me down every single time but my god who promised and said I will never leave you he was at every sports day he was at every school concert he was at every events of my life even when I was sitting even when I was in places that I shouldn't have been he was there so in that confidence David speaks from his heart and says Lord you are unfailing love you are true let God be true and because of this I know that you will rescue me from the situation I know that you never left me and because you are good because your word says you're good I know your character more than I know anybody else's character better than I know my wife I can trust you more than I can trust my friends and this is the confidence that David closes off the summer with so in closing I want us to look at how this best represents the gospel because when we look at scripture even if Christ is not mentioned Christ is mentioned we find that there's a similarity with how it opens I mentioned that the first two verses echo or are so powerful which represents 90% of the Psalm he says how long oh Lord Christ then is on the cross and says Eli Eli love us abattani my God my God why have you forsaken me that two full clip that he has on a faithful God Christ never lost his faithfulness on the cross when God when Christ in the cross said Lord how long I don't want to go through this because what he feared most was what David was tasting in a small small small dose take not thy holy spirit from me cause me not away from your presence or Lord and renew your rights but it's within me this was this was what Christ felt in fullness in fullness can you imagine for the try holy God to experience absence from his father for the first time it wasn't just the mere absence of when I see when I leave Eli and then I go to the shop she cries and stands by the door daddy daddy come back it is nothing compared to that this is the father that he enjoyed fellowship with from time immemorial from the infinite to the finite and for the first time you never see God Jesus ever complaining about God's absence for the first time in the garden of Gethsemane he bows down and he's praying sweats of blood are coming out and he says Lord if it's possible take this cup from me not about the pain because that's the thing I would have been worried about I don't look forward to that you know the hiding you're waiting for when your father was coming home not that anticipation of pain he wasn't worried about the pain he joyfully went to the cross as the Bible says he was worried about the separation from his father because that is the most important thing and should be the most important thing to us that if we go one day without feeling the presence of God we should be Lord where are you I didn't hear you today we whisper those silent place Lord be with me I need you I need to feel you I don't know what I'm gonna do here from the oldest of the youngest person yeah whatever issues you dealing with school dramas wife and husband traumas children traumas money problems whatever it may be Lord I need your guidance here you the counsel of the Lord and what Christ felt in the cross was incompatible if you go and study the cross which is why we preach the cross every week this is the foundation of our truth the foundation of our belief family that it is so powerful when he said my god my god why have you forsaken me the answer flowed softly into his soul he didn't get an answer horribly from heaven like he told about his baptism behold my son whom I'm well pleased but the answer flowed softly into his soul and he went from that my god my god wife who's forsaken me to saying it is finished triumphantly shouting it is finished so the grief grief of mind is harder to bear than the pain of the body you can plug somebody you can pluck up enough courage in your spirit to deal with with pain to deal with with sickness we've been in the hospital we've been sick you can pluck up courage up get better but grief of the mind is something different we've seen celebrities who are dying in droves because of depression overdoses struggling with grief of the mind i've seen parents who have lost children who've struggled to get over with it even 20 30 40 50 years later still crying my cousin who passed away i see his parents even now i see his grandma she phones me every day on my birthday every year on my birthday and she just burst into tears like to wish me but she just cries like i miss much out there's a grief that's that we struggle to deal with that medication kind of fix but in Christ there's hope for all things and this is what Christ enjoyed so a man has hope as long as he can turn to his god we understand this there's hope as long as we can turn to our god but some 42 of us five why are you cast down on my soul hoping god for i shall for i shall again praise him my salvation and my god David could turn to his god there but if god would draws himself even for an hour there's a torment i can only liken to the prelude of hell as as virgin said this weight led the somers to plead don't hide your face from me don't put your servants away from in anger he endured loss of blood pain scorn thirst making no complaints but when it came down to be forsaken by his god his heart burst into Eli Eli love us about tanny my god my god wife you forsaken me but because of what he endured on the cross what he endured for you and i the ultimate punishments have been separated from car and for those who do not know him will endure the ultimate withdrawal from car record completely withdraws his grace and we see that if he had to do that on earth today we still enjoy the sun the rain the birds nice smells all of these beautiful things on earth but if god was to withdraw his presence from earth for one minute it will turn to hell and go and read what else is eternal darkness complete blackness there's worms that don't die there's weeping wailing gnashing of teeth there's flames that don't die that aren't quench there's a body that is prepared for hell that doesn't get destroyed this is what happens when god completely removes his presence and this is what Christ felt he felt an absence he felt companionship taken from him he felt that he can't deal with this this is too much to ask for me but he could deal with all of the pain so this is what he's done so that we don't have to deal with the family this is the cry how Lord how long and when we deal with this how long we have the confidence that god has promised us that he will never leave us no forsakers so whatever put you in whatever depth you are in in life no matter how bad it gets just understand that god is with us even till the ends of the earth as he promised no i will be with you even till the end of this age even until the the very edge and the precipice of hell David says even if i make not bed in hell or she or you are there with me it doesn't matter where you go you can go make your bed in hell god is still there with you i believe in says there were tormented and tortured in the presence of god and the holy angels even god is in hell there's nowhere we can escape his presence but he loves us he loves us so dearly that he sends his son to die at death that we deserve as propetiation for our sin he's taken our sin and given us his righteousness which is justification on our parts he works the working to make us look like his son which is the work of sanctification every day and one day we will be glorified and be just like him that is the work of glorification and this is what he's done for us so i want to leave you with that encouragement and not scare you but when we in the place where that David was in lord how long i can't take this anymore we know that god is not far from us even in our troubles and he uses our troubles to teach us and grow us and glorify his name and that is the ultimate purpose so i'm just going to ask pastor babe if you can just
