WEBVTT 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.879 This is Psalm eighty-eight. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:31.359 A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah, to the choir master according to Mehilith Leaneth, a maskul of Haman the Ezraite. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:37.280 O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:41.280 Let my prayer come before you, incline your ear to my cry. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:45.200 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:48.640 I am counted among those who go down to the pit. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:50.960 I am a man who has no strength. 00:00:51.200 --> 00:01:00.479 Let like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:04.719 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:08.799 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:09.760 Saylah. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:14.719 You have caused my companions to shun me. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:16.959 You have made me a horror to them. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:18.959 I am shut in so that I cannot escape. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:21.120 My eye grows dim through the sorrow. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:24.879 Every day I call upon you, O Lord, I spread out my hands to you. 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:27.040 Do you work wonders for the dead? 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:29.120 Do the departed rise up to praise you? 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:30.000 Saylah. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:35.760 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:41.200 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:43.760 But I, O Lord, cry to you. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.159 In the morning my prayer comes before you. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:48.719 O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.640 Why do you hide your face from me? 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:54.560 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up I suffer your terrors. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:55.599 I am helpless. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:57.359 Your wrath has swept over me. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:01:59.359 Your dreadful assaults destroy me. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:01.599 They surround me like a flood all day long. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:03.439 They close in on me altogether. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:06.560 You have caused my beloved and my friends to shun me. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:08.879 My companions have become darkness. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:10.560 And so reads God's word. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:12.080 Oh, here it is. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:12.800 Good morning. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:14.080 Welcome once again. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:17.360 I'd like to add my welcome to Peter's to City Church this morning. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:18.080 My name is Ben. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.000 I'm the executive pastor here. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:29.759 If you are new, if you are visiting, if you've never been here before, you've uh managed to come here during our summer psalm series. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:31.199 We've been counting up the Psalms. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:33.120 We've made it all the way to 88, right? 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:36.080 So we're more than halfway through the Psalter here. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:44.240 But you've managed to come on what is regarded to be the saddest of all the Psalms, right? 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:49.840 150 Psalms in the book, 149 of them, not quite as sad as this one. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:03:07.840 Now, don't misunderstand, there's other Psalms of Lament, other Psalms that cry out to God in the midst of difficult times, but this one here is uniquely cheerless, uniquely melancholy, uniquely the product of a crushed spirit. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:13.759 Now, before we get into the psalm, I just want to deal with the elephant in the room here. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:15.599 The problem of suffering. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:27.759 I can sum it up in the words of a Dublin man in a group I was leading a few years ago, and he said something to the effect of, yeah, having faith and all that, that's great for some people. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:36.879 But those of us who've lived in the world and have suffered, have seen others suffer, we really have a hard time believing that there's a good God up there. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:38.080 Right? 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:40.319 Maybe you've heard people share that. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:42.560 Maybe you've said it yourself. 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:45.039 Maybe you'd say it yourself now. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:49.039 This is not a treatise on suffering. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:54.479 We're not going to get into an entire uh theological lesson on what the Bible has to say about suffering. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:04:00.960 But let me give you three points to kind of address that before we jump into the Psalm. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:06.800 Number one, suffering in the world was never part of God's original design. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:10.800 Suffering came into the world as a result of sin. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:21.279 And we can certainly see in the world today so much of the suffering is a direct result of someone doing something wrong and it affecting someone else. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:27.279 Second thing, God is not unmoved, God is not uncaring when it comes to suffering. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:32.959 And we as Christians, we look ahead to a day when He will make it all right. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:42.399 And finally, the suffering that we face in the world is not wasted, it's not meaningless, it's not purposeless. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:49.040 And in the middle of it all, we have the promise of God's presence as we go through various trials. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:57.519 Now, if you'd like to talk more about the problem of suffering in general, please feel free to come and talk to me after the service, or better yet, talk to Mark. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:02.160 But in the meantime, let's uh let's dive into Psalm 88. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:13.040 A lot of times when we start looking at a passage of scripture, it can be helpful to think through some questions to help get you into the headspace, into the mindset of the psalmist. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:19.519 For this psalm, I might want to ask something like, have you ever found it hard to pray? 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:25.839 I might want to ask something like, do you ever feel like God isn't hearing you? 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:32.160 I might want to ask something like, have you ever been in a hard situation that you didn't see any way out of? 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:32.639 Right? 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:34.079 Those kind of questions. 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:39.680 And I think that can be helpful to really immerse ourselves in this psalm. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:43.040 But I know those aren't just hypotheticals. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:47.920 I know that it's not just a rhetorical question when we think about it here. 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:52.879 For some people, some people even right here in this room, those are very real questions. 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:59.040 And that's not just me, you know, kind of playing the odds, a group this size, there's got to be some people going through some stuff. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:05:59.680 No. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:02.319 This is what I've heard, right? 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:08.399 This is what you've told me or told other leaders in the church from your own words, your own experiences. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:18.639 You know, this question of distress, of pain, of not finding relief, that's a daily companion for some people. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:22.000 Not a what if, but a what now. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:31.759 We have people feeling empty, people feeling alone, spiritually dry, hollowed out. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:36.720 People crying out to the Lord and feeling like he's just not there. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:40.720 Or maybe he's there, but I'm not sure that he cares. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:46.079 Doing all the right things, but experiencing no relief. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:50.800 Day after day, night after night, on and on. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:54.160 So take a look around you. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:57.600 To your left, to your right, row in front of you, row behind you. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:02.720 Chances are this is the experience of someone, if not yourself. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:09.439 People feeling empty, alone, dry, unseen, helpless, hopeless. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:12.879 Psalm 88 was written by someone going through something like this. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:17.839 Psalm 88 captures this experience and doesn't shy away from what it's like. 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:30.399 The psalmist here has some unnamed distress, something not just of this week or this season of life, something that's been going on for I don't know how long. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:39.519 And like so many of the Psalms of Lament, unlike so many of the Psalms of Lament, there's no sort of lifting of the clouds. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:41.920 No turning point in it. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:45.439 I think of Psalm 13, just to just to give you an example here. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:49.439 Psalm 13, I kind of think of that as the as the prototypical lament psalm. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:51.120 It's six verses long. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:56.399 The first four have the psalmist asking God, How long will you forget me? 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:58.720 How long will I wrestle with my thoughts? 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:02.160 How long will my enemies triumph over me? 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:06.800 And then after those four verses, it flips. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:17.759 And suddenly there's a resolution to continue trusting, to rejoice, to sing praises, to be reminded of God's good work. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:24.639 But in Psalm 88, those last two verses, so to speak, they never come. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:32.480 There's no point where the psalmist finds the relief he was seeking, no point where he lifts his eyes and sees it through a different lens. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:37.519 No note of hope, no stanza of praise. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:42.399 We start with a soul full of troubles, and we end with darkness. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:44.159 My only companion. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:54.240 So if you're going through major distress in your life today, whether chronic or acute, you might ask, What's the point? 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:56.960 Why is this psalm even in the Bible? 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:58.480 How does it help me? 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:00.240 Well, stay with me. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:01.919 We're gonna dig into this. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:04.799 We're gonna go right through the darkness with the psalmist. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:08.159 We're gonna see some truth about troubles in life. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:14.799 My hope for you, whether you're going through distress now or whether this is something that you tuck away for your own rainy day. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:17.200 My prayer is that you'll see the hope. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:22.559 The hope that's not quite in this psalm, but it's there. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:25.919 It's clear and it's bright when you know where to look for it. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:27.120 Let me pray. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:34.639 Father, we thank you that you are the God of our salvation. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:45.759 Lord, I pray for each person in this room here this morning, Lord, uh, as we come to you from different places and different experiences that have brought us to this day. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:10:03.360 Pray, Lord, uh, that we would enter into this psalm together, that we would see uh the hope that's hidden in it, that we would see just a template for our own sufferings, for our own difficulties, our own distresses. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:08.960 Lord, may you be glorified, and may you by your spirit teach us and grow us all. 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:10.080 In Jesus' name. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:10.879 Amen. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:17.840 So our first point for the psalm is just send it. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:18.320 Okay? 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:19.840 Send it. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:25.919 Don't stand on principle, don't hold back, don't wait. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:28.559 Bring your complaint to the Lord. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:30.799 Share your experiences with the Lord. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.919 Pour out your heart to the Lord. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:40.799 The psalmist here spends the bulk of this psalm communicating a very simple message. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:46.399 If you boil it all down, he's saying pretty clearly, I'm dying here. 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:47.360 Right? 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:49.120 You may have noticed that. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:51.919 It's immediate, it's pressing. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:55.679 Verse 3 says, My soul is full of troubles. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:00.399 Not just there's trouble in my soul, there's nothing else in it. 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:01.600 It's full. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:04.240 And it's not just the soul that's afflicted. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:07.360 Verse 9 he says, My eye grows dim through sorrow. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:10.720 Then he says, I spread out my hands to you. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:14.399 My eye, my hand, my soul. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:16.799 It's all intensely personal. 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:21.600 And he's calling on God to be intensely personal on his behalf, right? 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:24.080 Incline your ear to my cry. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:28.080 Talks about in verse 5 being cut off from your hand. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:31.759 This pain, this distress. 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:34.960 It's not something far off or half remembered. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:37.039 It's right here and right now. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:40.080 And it involves all of his being. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.679 Not just the physical, but the mental and emotional. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:45.200 Look at verse 15. 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:47.840 I suffer your terrors. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:49.519 I'm helpless. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:52.720 Not just in himself, but among his peers. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:53.759 Look at verse 8. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:56.559 You've caused my companions to shun me. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:11:58.799 You've made me a horror to them. 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:02.080 Not just with people, but with God as well. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:07.200 Verse 7, your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with your waves. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.559 Every aspect of the psalmist's person, right? 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:14.399 The bio, the psycho, the social, the spiritual. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:17.200 All under distress. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:25.120 So it's immediate, it's holistic, it's global to his whole self. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:28.399 But it also feels like it's too big to describe. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:34.000 You look at all of these references in the Psalm here to death and to darkness. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:36.879 Verse 3, my life draws near to Sheol. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:42.159 Sheol is the Old Testament sense of the grave, the place of the dead. 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:56.159 Verse 4, I'm counted among those who go down to the pit, like a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, those whom you remember no more. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:05.200 Whatever's going on with him, whatever's happening here is robbing him of his humanity, of his very life. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:07.440 And there's darkness too, right? 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:12.799 Verse 6, you've put me in the depths of the pit in the regions dark and deep. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:23.600 I have a friend who suffers with bouts of deep depression, and he talks about, you know, can feel the clouds coming, can feel that black cloud. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:28.639 For the psalmist, the darkness is his native land, his only friend. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:34.639 Now I want to point out a couple things, things you might have spotted already as we're looking at this. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:42.480 First, you'll see a strong sense from the psalmist that he's blaming or accusing God for what's going on with him. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:42.960 Right? 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:44.000 Look at these words here. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:46.159 You have put me in the depths. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:49.120 You overwhelm me with your waves. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:58.080 You've caused my companions to shun me, you've made me a whore to them, you cast my soul away, hide your face from me, cause my friend to shun me. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:01.840 And it's not immediately clear why he feels this way. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:06.000 Did he commit some awful sin that brought about God's wrath? 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:08.320 He talks about God's wrath in verse 7. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:12.720 Or is this all happening for some reason that he just doesn't understand? 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:14.879 We don't know. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:18.000 But he recognizes that God is sovereign. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:28.399 He recognizes that God rules, God reigns, God has the power to do away with this suffering, and up to now, he hasn't. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:37.200 Secondly, you might notice that I'm not really going through a particular section of the Psalm to bring you these themes and ideas. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:39.840 They're absolutely scattered. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:49.519 References to physical ailments are in verses 3 to 6, but there's also mental and emotional ailments in there as well, you know, to say nothing of verse 9, verse 15. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:58.000 Relational problems in verse 8 and 18, problems with his relationship with God, 5, 6, 7, 14, 16, 17. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:14:59.679 You get what I'm saying? 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:02.240 It's a big disorganized mess. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:08.240 Starts going one way, then turns around and covers something else before starting over again. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:10.559 On and on, back and forth. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:13.840 Even the end of the psalm doesn't even feel like an end. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:18.080 It's almost like he just ran out of energy to keep talking about it. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:23.519 It just swirls round and round, like a bowl of spaghetti or a box of Christmas lights. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.279 Not something you can see from end to end here. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:32.480 I don't know if you've ever seen a school of fish swimming through the ocean. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:39.519 He used to go to the aquariums and see, you know, big, massive hundreds of sardines and a big mass going. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:41.919 And it looks really cool to see them swirling like that. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:47.759 But if you try to follow one, follow one single sardine in that mix, you'll see him for about two seconds. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:48.879 Then he disappears. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:50.240 Ten more take his place. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:51.120 They all look the same. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:52.320 There's no making sense of it. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:53.200 There's no tracking it. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:55.919 That's kind of what this feels like. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:57.200 Let me tell you about this. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:58.639 No, let me let me tell you about this. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:00.320 No, I want to go back to this. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:01.840 Where was I? 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:05.600 So, how does this help us, right? 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:06.320 This idea here. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:07.039 How does it help us? 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:11.840 What can we pick out of this box of Christmas lights that's tangled up before us here? 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:17.279 Well, like I said, this point is send it. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:20.240 Don't try to clean up your thoughts. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.440 Don't try to make sense of the senseless. 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:29.279 Don't sanitize or deflect or pretend that's not actually all that bad. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:30.480 Send it. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:34.240 We don't straighten ourselves out to come before the Lord. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:38.080 We come before the Lord and ask Him to help straighten us out. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:40.399 In the middle of our distress. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:48.480 There's no sense in this psalm about what a prayer should be or how we should approach the God of the universe. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:57.360 The words I, me, and my appear, if I've counted correctly, 35 times in just 18 verses. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:59.360 It's almost twice in every single verse. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:04.480 If I tried to introduce a song for Sunday morning that had that much me focus on it, Peter would string me up. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:09.920 But we have no sense of that from the psalmist. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:13.359 All the messiness just serves as an example to us. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:15.599 Sometimes it do be like that. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:16.799 Don't worry. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:18.319 Don't hold back. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:20.000 Be real with the Lord. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:21.039 Send it. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:25.039 Second point's a bit like the first. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:26.480 Fire away. 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:31.359 And by that I mean bring your questions to the Lord. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:32.720 You got questions? 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:34.000 Fire away. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:40.799 This point is actually pretty neatly arranged in that group of rhetorical questions from verses 10 to 12. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:48.559 It'd be very easy to read these as the psalmist trying to guilt God into action or trying to manipulate. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:50.880 But I don't think that's what it is. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:52.400 I'll tell you why in a minute. 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:58.559 But this section comes across more like the psalmist is just bewildered. 00:17:58.640 --> 00:17:59.599 He's just astonished. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:02.720 He doesn't understand how this can be. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:09.200 His experience in the world, all of the suffering and distress that we've been looking at, it just doesn't add up. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:13.440 If X is true, how can Y even be in the same equation here? 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:21.920 The reason I don't think that the psalmist is trying to manipulate is because none of the questions are self-focused. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:27.440 Remember, we saw all the instances of personal first person pronouns. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:30.640 In this section, these three verses, there's none. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:32.640 He's not looking at himself there. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:35.599 He's not saying, Don't you know who I am? 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:43.279 He's not saying, don't you see how faithful I've been, how I've lived, what I've given up for you? 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:47.359 How I've cared for my neighbor, how I've obeyed your commands. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:49.920 No, we don't see that at all. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:54.400 All the questions are focused on God, and in particular, on the glory of God. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:57.759 It's like the psalmist is saying, why would you allow this to happen to me? 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:01.440 Don't you see that this is going to reflect badly on you, Lord? 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:05.759 Doesn't it miss an opportunity to show your goodness, your power? 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:10.400 Now, just as a side note for us, what if we prayed like this? 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:12.240 With this perspective, right? 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:17.519 Your glory, God, your purposes, your kingdom come, your will be done. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:28.079 The three verses that we're looking at here have six questions in them, and they all point to the psalmist feeling, like we've seen, that death is near. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.680 That the troubles and distresses are about to consume him. 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:32.799 So let's go through them. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:35.039 You can follow along from verse 10. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:36.000 Right? 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.680 Question one: Do you work wonders for the dead? 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:43.839 Do the departed rise up to praise you? 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.400 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave? 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:51.119 Is your faithfulness declared in Abaddon? 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:53.200 Abaddon just means destruction. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:20:00.559 In the book of Job, death and destruction are translated from Sheol and Abadon. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.079 Number five, are your wonders known in the darkness? 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:08.079 Six, is your righteousness known in the land of forgetfulness? 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:12.079 All of the questions point to some attribute of God. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:22.240 God is the God who works wonders, who's worthy to be praised, who is full of steadfast love, who is faithful and righteous. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:30.799 And all of these marvelous attributes of our Lord, they are all contrasted with something the psalmist just doesn't think can go along with them. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:34.480 The dead, the departed, the grave. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:37.839 All of these things, how can they go together? 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:42.960 It's like he's saying, Lord, you are light, and all I see around me is darkness. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:46.799 It's not just a mismatch in theme. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:53.920 The psalmist is saying, How can I display all of these wonderful attributes if I'm dead and gone? 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:57.920 You can think about the miracles of Jesus. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:06.480 If we want to skip forward in redemptive history a little bit, the four gospels we can see times where Jesus worked miraculously in people's lives. 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:11.119 You start with someone undergoing some physical or spiritual trauma, right? 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.640 Blindness, leprosy, demonic possession. 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:24.319 The person might be isolated, might be unable to care for herself or himself, might be suffering in various and unspeakable ways, right? 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:27.519 This bio, psychosocial, spiritual, broken. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:31.920 Pre-miracle, pre-miracle, probably a lot like our psalmist. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:35.599 But then the script gets flipped, right? 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:41.440 Jesus does something, interposes his grace, and the trauma's reversed. 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:54.160 Jesus' own words in Matthew 11 5 says, you know, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:59.599 For each of these cases, each of these people, the work of Jesus becomes a testimony. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.359 Of his goodness. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:09.039 And that testimony not only applies to the person who received the miracle, but those around him as well. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:09.599 Right? 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:13.039 Friends and family, neighbors, community. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:21.279 That old trauma and old distress, it's part of the story, but only as much as the story itself is about God's work. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:25.039 Only God can turn a mess into a message. 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:30.799 And in our psalm, the psalmist is saying, when is my mess going to be a message? 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.960 Because nobody's going to receive that message if I'm dead and gone. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:40.480 It's just unfathomable, impossible to understand. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:46.319 But you want to hear something good here, some stirring of hope, good things to come? 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:49.279 The answer to every one of those questions is yes. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:52.000 Does God work wonders for the dead? 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:52.480 Yes. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:53.519 Yes, he does. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:59.039 In fact, God's people are promised unimaginable wonders when this life is over. 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:02.400 Do the departed rise up and praise God? 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:02.960 Yes. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:04.000 Yes, they do. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:11.599 The Apostle Paul writes that to be departed, to be away from the body, is to be at home with the Lord. 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:14.400 Are the Lord's wonders known in the darkness? 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:14.960 Yes. 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:17.759 And in fact, the psalmist already knows this. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:19.680 He's already seen this. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:23.279 He said, He's been in darkness. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:28.640 And there he is declaring God's steadfast love and faithfulness, the wonders of his love. 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:31.920 Maybe that's why he's talking about the land of forgetfulness. 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:36.720 But here we come to an action point for us in all these rhetorical questions. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:40.960 The psalmist has determined on his own that the answer is no. 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:42.799 I know you wouldn't do this. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.200 I know you couldn't do this. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:48.319 He's pretty much put God in a box. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:51.839 And how often do you and I do the same thing? 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:56.720 We put limits on what God can do or how he can work in a situation. 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:01.759 We say, Lord, I don't see how this situation can work out for good. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:07.839 But it's almost like God is saying, you don't have to see how I'm going to work things out for good. 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:09.680 Just trust that I will. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:14.799 Thing I want us to bear in mind is that questioning God is not wrong. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:24.400 Maybe you've got a vision of God as this, you know, unapproachable, unquestionable, you know, being up there, one who can't abide being challenged. 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:28.400 And I'll tell you, questioning God is okay. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:31.200 Wrestling with God is okay. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:45.359 In fact, I think in times of trouble, it's far better for us to wrestle with God, to question God, to scream and cry and seek Him and accuse Him, to be in prayer and in the pages of Scripture. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:49.839 Far better to do that than to disengage. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:50.319 Right? 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:51.039 Let's be real. 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:54.720 When the going gets tough, a lot of times I don't wrestle. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:25:02.799 A lot of times I step back, disengage, operate as if everything's fine, or make myself into a gloriously blameless victim. 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:05.039 That's not wrestling. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:07.200 That's not struggling. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:09.519 You got questions, God's got the answers. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:14.079 He may not share them with you today, but don't let that keep you from asking. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:15.680 You got questions? 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:17.279 Fire away. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.720 The last point for us this morning is where the hidden hope is. 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:24.480 Maybe you've spotted it already. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:30.799 But we've seen that we're to send it, we're to bring God our honest and raw experience, our complaints. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:36.720 We've seen that we're to fire away with our questions, to struggle, to wrestle with the Lord. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:40.400 And now the third point: stick to the plan. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:42.720 Let me tell you what I mean by that. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:45.039 Psalmist gives us great encouragement here. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:52.240 Verse 1, he starts off, O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:57.519 Verse 2, let my prayer come before you, incline your ear to my cry. 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:03.119 Verse 9, every day I call upon you, O Lord, I spread out my hands to you. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:09.440 Verse 13, but I, O Lord, cry to you in the morning, my prayer comes before you. 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:13.200 We have 18 verses in this psalm. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:20.000 In three different places, four different verses, we see the psalmist stop to pray. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:22.079 What's the first praise here? 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:24.000 O Lord, God of my salvation. 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:34.480 Even though he goes on in the Psalm to accuse God and say that God is the reason for his suffering, he recognizes at the beginning that God is going to be the one who's going to be able to do something. 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:37.279 It's only God who can bring his relief. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:41.039 And take a look at how he explains all of this. 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:43.279 When does he cry to the God of salvation? 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:46.640 Well, day and night, around the clock. 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:49.759 How often does he cry out to the God of salvation? 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:52.400 Verse 9, every day. 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:56.319 Verse 13, I cry out to you in the morning. 00:26:56.559 --> 00:27:02.960 In other words, I start my day, finish my day, every day, all day, I'm seeking the Lord. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:08.240 Repeated prayer, consistent prayer, again and again. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:09.119 Why? 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:15.119 Because when we entrust the results to the Lord, all we have is the process. 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:20.640 Our lives are process over results every day. 00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:25.839 But maybe you're saying, well, isn't that the definition of insanity, right? 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:29.359 Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:34.880 Well, first of all, I looked in four different dictionaries and I didn't find insanity defined that way anywhere. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:36.640 But I take your meaning. 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:46.400 If the psalmist, if he's not technically insane, isn't he a bit unsound to keep pulling that same lever, hoping for something different? 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:48.720 And again, I would say no. 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:54.720 He continues to cry out for God to help him because there is no other. 00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:57.440 This is the God of my salvation. 00:27:57.599 --> 00:27:59.839 This is the Lord, there is no other. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:15.279 And he talked about what it's like to plan a military assault, an operation. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.319 You know, what do we need to do to take this position or whatever? 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:31.839 And he says it's a it's this long and detailed process where you're considering every detail, every aspect, every objective, every liability, and coming up with the best possible plan. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:39.440 And then taking that plan, working through every what-if, and coming up with another plan, plan B. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:42.559 And then you take plan B and you work through all the what-ifs. 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:46.960 You come up with plan C, and so on and so forth. 00:28:47.119 --> 00:29:03.759 You keep at it until you have every possible plan at your fingertips, every contingency sorted, every angle checked, and of course, recognizing that no plan survives contact with the enemy, there's a whole other layer of planning for that as well. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:07.119 Plans on plans on plans. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:15.599