Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction
-{Psalm 30}
-In August of this year, in Oklahoma City, a pedestrian out on a walk called police when he found a vehicle where the bodies of a father and three children lay.
Police determined that the father shot his three children before turning the gun on himself.
In September of this year, police were called to a house in Maryland where a man shot and killed his wife and three children before turning the gun on himself.
~I would love to say that these were isolated incidents, but unfortunately these are becoming much too common place.
You cannot help but wonder why.
How could life be that bad that you take the life of your family and yourself?
How could someone be in such desperation that they go to such extreme measures?
-We call this extreme feeling of helplessness and hopelessness: despair.
It’s like you’re in a pit that you can’t get out of.
And I would love to say that God’s people are immune to despair, but they’re not.
And if that feeling of being in a bottomless pit describes you, then know that you are not alone.
And know that God sees and cares.
And know that you don’t have to hold on to despair—or let despair have a hold on you.
-This Christmas season, I have been doing a series on gift exchange.
The day after Christmas, you take all the presents that don’t fit or are not the right color, and you exchange them for something else.
For God’s people, sometimes we take on attitudes or dispositions that are not spiritually healthy, and we need to exchange them for something that will help us grow and flourish.
We exchange worry for trust.
We exchange hurt for comfort.
-Despair is one of those temperaments that can really put a halt to our walk with Christ, so it’s important to deal with it.
And I think that this is especially appropriate at Christmas time when so many people struggle with despair during the holidays.
What I want us to take away from today is that in spite of circumstances that might drive us to despair, God can still gift us with joy.
I want us to exchange our despair for the joy God gives in Christ.
-We find that even a man after God’s own heart, King David, can feel despair; but he also shows that through God he exchanged it for joy
Psalm 30 (ESV)
1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
7 By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
8 To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!”
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
-{pray}
-According to vv. 6-8, David brought upon himself the circumstances that led to his despair.
God made David prosperous, which led to him being conceited and prideful, so God sent a trial that brought him down a few notches.
But David did not allow the despair to overtake him and lead him to constant hopelessness.
Instead, he turned to God.
-Be it God’s discipline or just the circumstances of a fallen world, things may happen that drag us down, but we don’t have to stay down, because God gifts us with joy.
I want to answer two questions today about exchanging despair for joy.
1) How does God give us joy?
-What does God do in our lives to get us out of despair and allow us to live with true joy—not merely tolerating what’s going on, but actually living in a state of joy.
And what we find is that it is not a change in circumstances—those may never change—but it is a recognition of God working in our lives.
So, what does God do?
a) God lifts us above our circumstances (vv. 1, 3)
-In our psalm, David uses a lot of imagery of being in a deep, dark hole.
For example, in v. 3 he describes his situation as like being in Sheol.
The word is sometimes is translated as grave.
It was a word that the Hebrews used to describe the place of the dead.
It could both reference a body being in the ground, but also the abode of the dead.
We might say that his circumstances led him to the brink of death either literally or metaphorically.
In vv. 3 & 9 he uses a parallel term of pit.
There’s a reason why we call it a pit of despair.
Despair feels like you’re in a pit, in a hole, in the abyss, roaming the abode of the dead, surrounded by darkness.
-But in v. 1 David says that God had drawn him up (ESV), other versions will say that God lifted him up.
The word is used of drawing up a bucket from a well.
Just like the shepherd pulled the bucket up from the bottom of the well to water the sheep, so God draws his people up from the pit of their despair.
And then in v. 3 David says that God brought him up from Sheol.
-Why this is so important is because it reminds us that we might go through a season where we feel that we will forever be in the pit, but we must remember that God will not leave His children there.
God does not abandon His children to Sheol.
If you belong to Christ, there will come a time when God will lift you up—maybe not in your timing or way.
But there is hope that God will lift us up—even if it won’t be until our death and we are in heaven.
But just the sheer knowledge that God does not abandon us to our circumstances is a constant source of joy.
God will lift us up above whatever our circumstance might be, just like He did David.
But we also see...
b) God heals our souls (v. 2)
-God doesn’t allow our souls to remain in the sickness from our time in the pit.
The psalmist says in v. 2 that God healed him.
We know that ultimately in heaven we will be completely healed—no tears or pain.
But God also heals in the here and now.
-I think of days when we are busy and we do a lot physically, and at the end of the day our body aches.
You do various things to ease the pain and heal the hurt.
You might take some medicine.
You might use a heating pad.
You might soak your feet.
You might take a hot bath—to help the body rejuvenate.
-Our soul goes through a lot too, especially during the trying circumstances of life that might lead us to the dark pit.
Our soul goes through wear and tear just like our body.
But God heals us.
He heals us through encouraging Bible verses.
He uses the words of a friend to lift our spirits.
God uses reminders of His presence in nature—something as simple as the sunshine, or the sight of one of our favorite birds.
-There is a lot of negative in the world that sickens our soul.
But God lifts us up out of the pit, He heals the sickness of soul, and we have joy.
Now, I’ve known a lot of people over the years that refused some sort of treatment or medicine out of stubbornness, and then they remained sick.
You need to let the doctor heal you if you want healing.
And I’ve also known a lot of Christians to do the same to their souls.
God offers the way of healing, but they choose to stay in the pit.
Don’t blind yourself to the ways of healing that God places all around you.
Allow the Divine Physician to do His work of therapy upon you.
And in the healing, you find joy.
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