Logan Hice "Summer in the Psalms" - Sermon 8 (7/12/2026)

The Book of Psalms is God's gift to us for every season of life, addressing not just our minds but our hearts. Whether life is good, hard, messy, or confusing, the Psalms show us what to do with what we feel rather than telling us what to feel. From David's praise in times of joy to his honest confession after failure, the Psalms model a raw and real relationship with God. Doubt is not unbelief, and failure does not have to be the final chapter when grace is writing the story. Whatever you are carrying right now, whether it is praise, fear, guilt, or unanswered questions, the invitation is the same. Bring it to God.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Morning, I'm going to take a different approach to the ending of our series of psalms in the summer. Instead of preaching just one of the psalms, I'm going to preach as many of them as I possibly can in the next. According to some people, they needed about 10 minutes. It won't be 10 minutes. But I'm going to preach as many of them as I possibly can in the next 30 minutes or so. And the goal is that we can tell a story. And that story is that life will bring every emotion imaginable. But the Psalms teach us that every season of life is an invitation to bring our hearts to God. Have you ever noticed that music has a way of finding you in the very season of life that you're in right now? Whether it's a songs from a road trip, songs from your wedding that you and your spouse may have danced to, or a song from a funeral. Whatever it is, you may hear a song and it takes you right back to a place in your past. I have one of those in my own. I have several, but the one I want to talk about this morning is that if I close my eyes and I hear this song, I go back to Taylor Farm Park in about 1999, 2000 area. And the song is The Bluest Eyes in Texas by Restless Hart. Anyone know the song? A few people? Okay. Well, we'd be in my dad's Camaro. He'd say, get the tape out, son. And I'd be like, and for the, I gotta see some young people in the back, get the tape out is a cassette tape. And there is a side A and there's a side B, okay? And we look on the case to see which side our song was on, okay? And then once you press play, then you have to fast forward or rewind till you hear it, and then you're like, got it. Here we go. Flu aside in Texas. And I would be going home in my dad's Camaro at the top down from baseball practice. And so to this day, I hear that song. That is what I think. The book of Psalms is God's playlist for every season of life that you're in. The longest book in the Bible is not a theological theology textbook. It isn't a list of rules, but instead it's a collection of songs. Songs about joy and fear and victory and songs of waiting, songs of grief, songs of celebration. And you ask why are all those things touched on in the book of Psalms? Well, it's because God knew that we wouldn't just need truth for our minds, we would need words for our hearts. The Psalms don't teach us what to feel, they teach us what to do with what we feel. Have you ever heard someone ask, and it may even happen this morning, how are you doing? And you knew they either didn't really want to answer or they were going to lie and just be like, I'm good, can't complain, I'm making it. But if we're honest, everyone in this room has walked in with something. Some are carrying fear, some are carrying pain, some are celebrating answer prayers, while others are wondering why God hasn't answered theirs for months or years. Some are excited about what's ahead, but some are barely hanging on. Here's what's amazing: God already knew we'd come in feeling every single one of those things, and that's why He gave us the book of Psalms. It's a collection of songs written by real people with real emotions who experienced real life. And they discovered that every emotion can become an opportunity to meet with a holy God. They don't ask us to pretend, but they ask us to be honest. When life happens, God has already given us the words to bring so that we can express our hearts to Him, whether you start in Psalms 1 or you end in Psalms 150. This morning I want to give us five truths that no matter what season of life you may find yourself in this morning, that one of these can be you and that you know there is a chapter or a book of the Bible that can walk with you through what you're going through. Like I uh before we get into these points, if you grew up in church, you may have done this. I'm looking across the room, and I know a lot of you did. In fact, I'm looking across the room and see one of my old Sunday school teachers sitting in the room this morning. And what we would do, if you've ever heard it, is called Bible drills, right? Some of you are nodding at me. What that basically meant is that when the Sunday school teacher ran out of stuff to do for the last 10 minutes, we would go through as many Bible verses as we could find and race to see who could get there. Well, this morning, we're gonna do a little bit of Bible drills, okay? We are going to be in Psalms and we're gonna be in a lot of them, okay? So get your Bible out. We're gonna start in Psalms 100, and then we will go from there. So if you have your Bibles this morning, turn with me to Psalms 100, and we're gonna start reading in verse one. And it says, Make a joyful noise to the Lord all of the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness and come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord He is God, it is He who made us, and we are His. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good, and His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness is to all generations. This psalm reminds us that worship isn't reserved for just the difficult seasons. It is easy to pray when life falls apart. It's much harder to praise God when life is comfortable, when everything's going exactly like you want it to, because we ultimately start enjoying the gifts more than the giver. David constantly reminds himself, and even in Psalms 103, he says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of his benefits, not just his blessings. Praise keeps our hearts centered on God instead of just his blessings. David praised God while he was hiding in a cave and running from Saul. Paul and Silas saying while they were in prison, Joy is not the absence of our problems. Joy is the confidence that God is still good in spite of all of our problems. Possessing our joy, we choose whether to value God's presence, promises, and work in our life. Y'all, most of you know me and know that I got two beautiful little girls. And most of the time when they're here, they are very well behaved, and I'm thankful for it. But that is a show. And I love them. I really do. And in our house, it is loud, there's noises being made because they're breaking something, arguing with each other, tattling on each other, you name it, they're doing it. But every once in a while, the house goes quiet. And if you're a parent, you're like, uh-oh, what happened? What are they doing? Me and Laura look at each other and be like, they're in trouble. Like, we don't even know what it is, but they're in trouble. And I'll peek around the corner and they're doing something sweet. They're sitting with each other, cuddling, reading a book, doing something that's sweet. And I have to sit there in those moments and thank the Lord for his goodness, regardless of whether they're being good or bad. It's just a little easier to do when they're being good. But in Psalms 100, verse 2, it says, serve the Lord with gladness and come into his presence with thanksgiving. God is telling us to celebrate intentionally, to worship intentionally. Tell your family what God has done for you and what he continues to do for you. Remember yesterday's blessings before asking for tomorrow's miracle. Remember that his faithfulness endures through all generations. And if he's been faithful to you, he will be faithful to your kids and to their kids, and so on. Praise isn't the result of a good life, praise is the response to a good God. So when life is good, praise God. Number two, when life is hard, trust God. Turn with me to Psalms twenty-seven. Psalms twenty-seven, we're going to start reading in verse one. This is a Psalm of David, starting in verse one. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When evil doers assail me to eat up my flesh and my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me my heart shall not fear, though war rise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all of the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple, for he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble, and he will conceal me under the cover of his tent, and he will lift me high upon a rock. If you'll go ahead and jump to verse eleven inside that same chapter, teach me your way, O Lord. Lead me on a level path because of mine enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witness have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. I say wait for the Lord. So point number one, when life is good, praise God. And number two, when life is hard, trust God. David wasn't writing this book from a position of comfort. In fact, he was running, he was hiding, wondering if he would survive. Yet he writes this the Lord is my light and my salvation. The psalm never tells us to deny fear, but it teaches us to redirect our fear towards trust. Faith doesn't pretend that our storms don't exist, but faith remembers who is in the midst of us. I think pastor has shared this before, but in a thunderstorm, he's mentioned that some of his kids will come in and get in the bed with them because they're nervous, right? Well, and my house is a little bit different, but they come into our bedroom. I immediately get up and go back with them to their bedroom and put them back in their bed, and then I'll proceed to sleep at the foot of their bed for the next hour until they calm down. Okay. But they ultimately do calm down. And it's because the storm did not stop, right? But their confidence changed because dad was in the room with them. Psalms 56, 2 through 3 says, When I am afraid, I put my trust in you, in God whose word I praise, and God I trust. I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? I believe in this room we can all, if we pass the microphone around, we can all testify of hard times we've been in and struggles we have faced. And I'm gonna share one with with y'all. Prior to coming to Tabernacle, Lauren and I served at another church. And it was there was no doubt in our mind that God had orchestrated us being exactly where we were supposed to be in that moment. We knew that we belonged at that church. But when I tell you, from the moment that we walked in to that church, it was nothing but heartache and pain and troubles and frustration and every negative adjective that you can think of from the moment we walked in to the moment that we left. And I sat there countless nights asking God, why did you orchestrate us being here if it was going to be so bad while we were here? It didn't make any sense to us in the moment. But obviously, looking back, it's clear that God had a plan and a purpose for us being there and the things we learned and the things that we were able to take with us as we move forward. But even so, I remember clearly as I packed up my office on a Tuesday afternoon. I was upset and I was angry, wondering what we were going to do and what the plan was. That was a Tuesday morning or Tuesday afternoon. Sunday morning, it was time to find a new church. Not a new church for us to necessarily serve in, but just a new church for me and my family to be a part of. And when I tell you we left our old church on a Tuesday, we walked in the doors of this place on a Sunday and we never left. God orchestrated us being here exactly when we were supposed to be here. And in turn, all of the pain and the scars and the things that we had struggled with for so long were healed in an instant. The joy was restored to us in ministry. The excitement of serving God was immediately back in our hearts and our minds. And it was because God knew what he was doing, even when it didn't feel like it to me. And this morning, David, in verse 3, David says, Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. And what does that mean? It means that no matter how dire the situation that you or I find ourselves in and how hopeless things may seem, David is saying that God is still in control, even when we can't see the whole picture. John Piper says it this way. If you are a believer in God, you will suffer. The question is, will you lean on him during your suffering and allow all senses of our self-reliance to fall aside and lean on him? Because if we do not continually fall into trial after trial, then we and we just have the easy life of comforts and prosperity and the delights, then we would forget about God and go as far as to say that we don't need him at all. Life is hard, which leads to an increased trust in God. And I don't know about you, but I would love to have more of an increased trust in God, especially in the seasons of life where it's so difficult to do so. Um Lauren's, I shared this story in the first service, and I want to share it with you here. Lauren's family about 10 or so years ago were really struggling with some with some things inside of a ministry that my uh wife's family has, and they were really trying to figure out what the next steps were gonna be, and they were they were struggling. They couldn't know, they did not know what the right decision was. And ultimately, Lauren's grandmother told her aunt, don't pray. Don't pray. And we're sitting there like, What do you mean, don't pray? Like that doesn't make any sense. And she said, if you're gonna worry, don't pray. But if you're gonna pray, don't worry. This morning they love that quote so much they put it on a t-shirt. And I'm not exaggerating, they did. Trust isn't knowing what tomorrow holds, trust is knowing who holds our tomorrow. Faith doesn't erase our fear, but it gives our fear somewhere to bow. Point number three, when life is messy, return to God. We're gonna go to Psalms 51. Psalms 51. When life is messy, return to God. This is another Psalm of David, and it says, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words, and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in the truth of inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, and let the bones that you have broken rejoice, hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and hold me up with a willing spirit. The prophet Nathan is confronting David at this point with his sin. The sin that he had had with Bathsheba at this point, and Psalms fifty-one is David confessing, and is a song that he has penned after his confrontation with Nathan. David asked the Holy Spirit not to be removed from him in verse 11. And in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit usually came upon a person to enable him to perform the task that God had inspired and designed for him to achieve. And if the Holy Spirit would have been removed from David, it would mean that he would have been rejected by God as king in the same way that God had rejected Saul. Next, David asked God to restore the joy of his salvation. Their time between David's and Nathan's confrontation is some months from when this book is written, or this chapter is written, because the child had already been born. And during that time David suffered an inner torment, described as this in Psalms 32 when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me, and my strength was sapped as the heat of summer. David had committed adultery, he had committed murder, and then he hid for almost a year until Nathan confronted him in Psalms 51. This book is not the prayer of a perfect man, it's the prayer of a broken one. But one thing I love about it as I read, it says, and David uses his own words, he says, My sin, my transgressions, he he owns up to it. No excuses, no blame. Church, what excuses are you giving to God this morning? What reasons have you provided to justify ungodliness in your own life to a holy God who cannot even look upon your sin? Grace restored him and grace protected him, and it can do the exact same thing for you this morning. AW Tozer says it this way God is not mad at you. In fact, he loves you. Even in your sin, God has not turned his back on you, and instead, his arms are stretched wide, waiting for you to turn back toward him. The next portion, David pleads with God to restore to me the joy of your salvation. David could not enjoy God's fellowship while he had unconfessed sin in his life. And even today, we can lose the joy of our salvation. Hear me, church, we cannot lose our salvation. Sin will not separate the believer from God, but it can rob us of the joy and the joyment of close fellowship with our Savior. The enemy says hide, but God says come home. Point number four, when life doesn't make sense, keep seeking God. We're going to be in Psalm 73. Psalm 73. This uh particular chapter is written by Asaph, who we'll discuss here in just a moment, but ultimately he is a worship leader. And he says this, starting in verse one, truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, but as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, for they have no pangs until death, and their bodies are fat and sleek, they are not in trouble as others are, they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace, and violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness, and their hearts overflow with follies, they scoff and speak with malice lawfully, they threaten oppression, they set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. And they say, How can God know? Is there knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease, and they increase in their riches. In the same chapter jump to verse twenty five, and notice as we read how his tone has changed. And how he speaks has changed. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you, but for me it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all of your works. When life doesn't make sense, keep seeking God. Like I said, Asaph was appointed by David as a chief musician or a worship leader at the tabernacle in which they served. And he is asking a very direct, overlaying question to God in this chapter. And he's basically saying, Why do people who blatantly disobey God seem to be the ones getting blessed the most? Why do people who are not a believer seem to have it so easy? Life asks these difficult questions. Why cancer? Why miscarriage? Why betrayal? Why do evil people seem to prosper? But the Psalms do not ignore these questions, but they give us permission to ask them. Psalm 73:17, which I did not read and left out purposefully, says this. And I told you how and you notice a change in his verbiage. What it says in Psalm 73:17, it says, Until I entered the sanctuary of God. His circumstances did not change. His perspective did. In verse 26, it says, My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is my portion forever. Verse 27, for behold, those who are far from you shall perish. What does God say about us? John 3 16. We will not perish, but have eternal life. In verse 28, for me it is good to be near God. Doubt this morning isn't unbelief. It's often faith looking for understanding. Most lament psalms that we read like this one begin with questions and end with trust. This morning, I with if you keep your ear to the ground with what goes on inside the Baptist faith and preachers and stuff like that, you may know what I'm talking about this morning. And I'm going to be very vague because we got young ears in the room. But throughout this week, we have seen a very, very prominent pastor fall to moral failure. And it won't take you long to find it. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can Google it and you'll figure it out. But in the moments where I found out about it and I'm reading about it and all of the details, it infuriates me as I read. One, I'll share with you in a moment, but the first one is that we as a culture have put a pedestal on preachers. We have fallen in love more with the speaker rather than the person that they're speaking about. And this morning, I think I can speak for Pastor Derek and myself to not fall in love and have your faith in the person that stands behind this pulpit. But have your faith in the one who died for you, the one who rose for you, the one who makes intercession for you this morning and guards your heart. Number two, I believe, is because men and women are wicked. We do wicked things because our hearts are wicked, and we may have strayed from God, or we may never even have known Him at all. A great pastor said this as I read on it this week. He says, Name the sin without hesitation. Grieve with the victims without excuse making, and keep believing and being the kind of leader who never gives anyone a reason to wonder. This morning, church, we cannot allow unanswered questions to keep us from the God who holds all the answers. Faith isn't having every answer, but faith is knowing where to take your questions. Number five is whatever life brings, keep worshiping God. This is the last chapter I'm gonna make y'all turn to, okay? Psalms 150 says this praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty heavens, praise him for his mighty deeds, praise him according to his excellent greatness, and praise him with the trumpet sound, and praise him with the lute and harp, and praise him with the tambourine and dance, and praise him with strings and pipe, and praise him with sounding cymbals, praise him with loud clashing cymbals. And this is the last line of this entire book of Psalm. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord, praise the Lord. If we think back through all of Pastor Derek's and Ashes and my and my message, we walk through the Psalms. What do we see? We see joy, we see fear, we see victory, failure, waiting, repentance, celebration, depression, questions. We we cover all of the wide range of emotions that you see throughout the book. But then the final song says this let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Notice that he didn't say psalms are over, every problem solved, you're good to go. Wish you the best. And why? Because worship is not based on our circumstances, but it's based on God's character. I look across this church this morning and in the 9 a.m. service, and I see a lot of people who have shared a lot about themselves and to me and shared their stories, and I'm so appreciative of it. And a lot of people are going through a lot of stuff, good and bad. You have one family who may have just welcomed a baby while another person has buried a loved one. Then you got one who may have just gotten promoted at their job while the other one just lost theirs. One marriage is thriving while the other marriage is holding on by a thread. Yet we are singing the same psalms, and that's the church, different stories, the same savior. No matter what season you're in, I encourage you this morning to keep worshiping. The goal of the Psalms isn't to give you emotional stability, the goal of the Psalms is deeper intimacy with God this morning. As the uh singers and the band are coming up for altar call, all the authors of these psalms have something in common. And it was a kind of a point of conviction for me as I read through it, and they all were very honest with God. They didn't clean themselves up before they came, they didn't search for the perfect words to say, they simply just brought their hearts to God. Can I ask you this morning, church? What did you carry into this room? Maybe you came in praising because God has been great and everything is going exactly how you envisioned it, and I thank the Lord for it. But maybe you walked in carrying fear about what tomorrow holds. Maybe you're hiding guilt and shame from unconfessed sin in your life. But maybe you've been asking God for the same question for weeks or months or years and still don't have an answer. The beautiful thing is that there's a psalm for every one of those emotions. The psalms didn't just write about those emotions, they brought those emotions to God. David didn't carry fear by himself, he prayed. Asaph didn't keep all the questions to himself, he prayed. The other book, the other writers of the book of Psalm, like the sons of Korah, did not hide their grief. They prayed. And David didn't hide his sin, he prayed. The message of Psalms is very simple. Bring it to God. There are churches all over the place that have gotten rid and removed altar call as a portion of their service. And I'm very thankful that we have not, nor will we ever. There's a reason. Because God is telling you every time you walk into this place, no matter what you're going through, to bring it to Him. Maybe today you need to praise. Maybe today you need to repent. Maybe today you need to surrender something that you've been trying for way too long to carry by yourself. Maybe today you simply just need someone to pray with you. The same God who heard David, and every writer of the Psalms is the same God who is waiting on you this morning. In just a moment we're gonna pray, and these altars are open. But if life has happened to you, and you're hurting, if you're celebrating, if you're afraid, if you're waiting, if you've wondered, I don't want you to worry about anything else except for you coming down to this altar. I don't want you to worry about what anyone thinks. Come. What we do here is not about appearances, it's about meeting with God. The book of Psalms begins by pointing us towards the blessed life, as Psalms 1 says. And it ends with let everything that has breath praise the Lord. And through every page, God is saying the same thing. Bring it to me. Follow the Savior who walked through every season of life and invites you to bring every season of life back to the Father. Let's pray this morning. Dear Heavenly Father, God, we love you. God, I pray that this morning that we will set it all to the side. That we will recognize that we have been trying way too long to handle the emotions and the struggles of this life on our own and navigating the best we know how to. God, I pray this morning in a room this size that there are people who will say no more. Regardless if things are going great, regardless if things are going horrible, we're gonna come to you and we're gonna give it to you. We're gonna praise you, we're gonna beg you, we're gonna do whatever we gotta do, whatever emotion that we are experiencing this morning, as we've already discussed, there is a song for it, and you have addressed it. And your address back to us is give it to me. Let me have it, and I'll take it from here. God, I pray if there's someone in this room this morning that doesn't know you, that they'll make the decision this morning to repent, confess with their confess with their mouth and believe in their heart that you died for them and you rose again, and that this morning will be the day they make that decision. And if they've already made that decision this morning, God, I pray that if they're going through something, today will be the day they set it at your feet and give you the praise and bring it to you exactly like you've told us to, God. I thank you so much for this time. We love you and we praise you. It's in your holy name we pray. Amen. As we stand.