Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy (3) - Ask Boldly

Introduction

Outline

Big Idea: Faith separates complaint from lament with bold requests.

The Yet Bridge

Nine bold requests the scriptures invite us to make.

Arise, O Lord!

Grant us Help!

Remember Your Covenant

Let Justice Be Done

Don’t Remember Our Sin

Restore Us

Don’t be Silent - Listen to Me

Teach Me

Vindicate Me

Ask the Man of Sorrows

Boldness Begets Boldness

Sermon Body

Big Idea: Faith separates complaint from lament with bold requests.

The transition from complaint to bold requests is poignantly seen in Psalm 22.

Psalm 22 ESV

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David. 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” 9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. 10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. 11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. 12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! 22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. 25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. 26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. 30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; 31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.

Verse 11 seems to summarize it well...

Psalm 22:11.

Psalm 22:11 ESV

11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.

Lament begins by turning our hearts to prayer

It gives a place to bring our complaint

BUT it does not get stuck here. It MOVES ON to BOLD REQUESTS.

This next leg of the journey involves confidently calling upon God to act in accordance with his character. It is how lament moves away from the why question of complaint to the who question of request. Mark Vroegop

The cure for complaint is not a thing but a person.

The resolution and solution for complaint is not ultimately found in resolving the issue of the complaint…IT IS FOUND IN LOOKING TO ONE WHO IS GREATER THAN THE COMPLAINT.

Focusing on WHO God is and WHAT He has promised will overpower and overshadow the problem, the complaint.

Rightly pointing out, Pastor Mark says that....

…why questions are not always answered before we move into requests. Mark Vroegop

…the why questions and the who questions coexist, but not equally. Who God is becomes the more prominent reality while not removing the lingering questions. As we make bold requests, “Why is this happening?” moves into the shadow of “Who is God?”

This is often where people get lost and lose their way. The WHY overshadows the WHO.

Psalm 22:1 is cited by Jesus on the cross.

The Yet Bridge

Psalm 22:3-5

The key word is yet. It becomes a bridge that leads from complaint to bold requests.

Verses 6-8 rehearse the cruel mocking that is causing David pain and then we see yet again in verse 9.

Psalm 22:9-10

Do you see what David is doing? In his deep pain and his sense of abandonment, he anchors his soul to who God is and what he has done.

His complaints are not cul-de-sacs of sorrow but bridges that lead him to God’s character.

…the word yet…marks the place in the journey where pain and belief coexist.

Yet means that I choose to keep asking God for help, to cry out to him for my needs, even when the pain of life is raw. Yet reminds us that sorrow doesn’t have to yield before we ask God for help. Part of the grace of lament is the way it invites us to pray boldly even when we are bruised badly.

Has the disappointment of God’s silence, the pain and sorrow of life’s trials

Bold Requests

David now makes his bold requests in Psalm 22:11-21 (Esp 11, 19-21)

The character of God, combined with the desperation of pain, pushes David to be bold.

We are never more aware of our frailty than when hardship comes our way. This is one of the blessings of suffering if we allow lament to lead us. The various trials of life can become a platform to reaffirm our dependence upon the Lord. The requests of lament can become the place where we celebrate our need for God’s help. In this way, our requests become more than just expressions of need. These petitions are prayers of faith anchored in what we believe about God.

But What Do We Ask For?

Nine bold requests the scriptures invite us to make.

Arise, O Lord!

Psalm 3, 7, 9, 10, 17, 74, 94

Psalm 10:12

These laments plead with God to fix what is wrong with the world.

Grant us Help!

Suffering of any kind confronts our self-sufficiency. We are always dependent upon God’s help, but pain makes that gap real. The lament psalms are filled with cries for deliverance, rescue, and strength.

Psalm 60:11-12

By asking God for help, we are not only marshalling the resources of an omnipotent God; we are also reminding our hearts that God can be trusted.

Remember Your Covenant

When the Bible calls upon God to remember, it’s not that he has forgotten. Instead, it’s a way of asking God to be true to the promises he’s made.

It fights against the temptation to believe only what we can see with our eyes. Asking God to remember connects our present struggle to God’s historic faithfulness.

(Ps. 25:6)

Let Justice Be Done

(Ps. 83:16–18)

When you face injustice, and when God’s glory—not just your pain—is your focus, it is appropriate to ask for justice to be done.

Don’t Remember Our Sin

The request that God not remember our sins simply asks that God would not treat us as our sins deserve. It appeals for God’s mercy and grace:

(Ps. 51:1)

(Ps. 79:8–9)

When our sin is the cause of our lament, it’s good to know that we can still ask for God’s mercy.

Restore Us

(Ps. 80:3)

this request asks God to bring spiritual healing at any level and in any area.

Don’t be Silent - Listen to Me

(Ps. 28:1–2)

If you’ve felt the deafening silence of heaven, reach out to the Lord and ask him for help. If you battle the dismay of wondering whether God still hears, keep pouring out your requests. Don’t stop asking.

(Ps. 86:6)

Teach Me

Pain has a way of getting our attention. It can be a wake-up call, a unique opportunity for spiritual growth.

(Ps. 143:10)

(Ps. 90:12)

(Ps. 86:11)

Vindicate Me

(Ps. 35:23–24)

This kind of request can become a balm for your soul as you keep entrusting yourself to One who judges justly (1 Pet. 2:23).

Conclusion

Ask the Man of Sorrows

In the New Testament, Christians are invited—even commanded—to ask boldly. The writer of Hebrews says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).

We ask boldly because he understands deeply. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Heb. 4:15).

Boldness Begets Boldness

To be honest, there are many days when my requests feel really weak. The angst in my soul seems to be stronger than my confidence in God. That’s when I need the bold confidence of biblical lamenters. That’s when I allow the requests of the psalms of lament to buoy my faith.

Their boldness begets boldness in me.

Beyond your own prayers, keep this in mind the next time you are walking alongside a hurting friend. You might think that praying with someone in pain is a small and insignificant thing, but it’s not. You’ll likely be able to ask God for help with a different level of faith than your hurting friend can muster.

If you don’t know what to pray, consider appealing to God through the words of a lament like Psalm 13 or 22.

Lament invites us to ask boldly. We are given permission to lay out our pain and to call on God to intervene. This third step in lament moves us from why to who. The wide variety of requests in the lament psalms help us to see that no matter what the pain or how long the struggle, we need to keep asking.

Application

What would happen if a person stopped the lament process with complaint and didn’t move toward asking boldly?

Do you have a personal experience similar to mine with Bernie? How did the confidence of another believer’s prayer help your faith?

How can bold requests move us from focusing on why to focusing on who? Why is that important?

Why is the word yet so important in Psalm 22? Write out your own sentence expressing pain but also including a personal statement that moves through yet to who God is.

Review the four requests in Psalm 22 and the nine categories. Which prayers are most meaningful to you, and why?

In light of the present struggle you are facing, what bold request(s) do you need to pray?

How might a community of believers be helpful in praying boldly?

How could this chapter change the way you help a person who is grieving and struggling?