DEEP

Main Idea:

Bring honest with God can bring us closer to Him.

Scripture:

Psalm77.

Questions:

Who is Asaph?

celebrated musician in the time of DAvid

Head over musical band in the temple

his name is found in several Psalms (possible he wrote them)

In our walk as Christians, things can obviously become challenging. Sometimes, So challenging we feel like giving up or quitting. The psalm were gonna break down today speaks about that battle. And hod God can help us even when it feels like He’s nowhere to be found.

One of the things that’s gained popularity is deconstructing form the faith. A lot of people, some people that are well known, have “deconstructed” what they’ve been taught and believed their whole life.

The act of (not the trend) deconstruction can be good in a sense. We all grow up believing various things to find out it’s not true.

Example:

When I was a kid, I remember my friend telling me that if I ate the white part of a watermelon I’d die. This was after I ate the white part of course. And me being a gullible little kid believed it and thought I’d be dead in the net few hours. I learned that wasn’t true. But you know what I didn’t do? I didn’t just stop eating watermelon cause one “fact” I learned about the fruit turned out not to be true.

A lot of people today have deconstructed their faith and it’s resulted in many leaving the faith altogether.

Sometimes this route becomes a reality because the person felt like they couldn’t ask the hard questions. Either their church didn’t allow it. Or they felt that if they questioned anything, they were questioning God altogether.

My hope tonight through this message is that we’d see there’s a place for questions. There’s a place for doubts. For disappointment. I’d argue, those rough moments in our faith can bring us closer to God than we were before.

Think of a time you felt like God let you down:

maybe you prayed a specific prayer and it seemed like God left you hanging.

maybe you felt close to Him at one point and today you feel distant.

maybe you know someone who used to be close To God and now there nowhere to be found and just doesn’t make sense as to why God would allow that

maybe you’re reading some things in the Bible that are challenging what you’ve always believed.

When we face challenging times and we feel the need to ask God some questions. Or we just feel downright disappointed it’s easy to push it to the side and pretend like it’s not happening. Maybe we’re just afraid to get real with God

But if you look through the Bible, you’ll find there are Plenty of people who felt disappointed and abandoned by God. Now does this mean God abandons us? No, of course not. He always upholds his promises. But God also has grace and meets us where were at. He can handle your frustrations

Psalm 77:1–3 (NLT)

1 I cry out to God; yes, I shout.

Oh, that God would listen to me!

2 When I was in deep trouble,

I searched for the Lord.

All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,

but my soul was not comforted.

3 I think of God, and I moan,

overwhelmed with longing for his help.

Can you see Asaph’s disappointment? He’s crying out and shouting to God. He’s pleading with God to listen because from His perspective he feels as if God isn’t

Why does he feel this way?

Psalm 77:2 (NLT)

2 When I was in deep trouble,

I searched for the Lord.

All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,

but my soul was not comforted.

Asaph found himself in dark place. And he reached out to God for help. Asaph is praying for relief or deliverance from whatever this “trouble” is. But is God listening? Well Asaph’s perspective He isn’t.

Is this true? Well we know from Scripture that God is all-knowing, everywhere at all times, and promises to protect us.

Psalm 55:22 (NLT)

22 Give your burdens to the Lord,

and he will take care of you.

He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

But Asaph in this situation, doesn’t see this truth.

So what’s the first thing to understand here?

Be honest with God.

He already knows your thoughts. He known how you’re feeling

you can be vulnerable and honest about what’s going on in your head. You’re not gonna scare HIm off.

Does this make us right ? No Of course not, but by coming to the Lord with our misguided confused minds were also saying, “Lord I can’t do this on my own.”

Asaph continues in verse 4-6

Psalm 77:4–6 (NLT)

4 You don’t let me sleep.

I am too distressed even to pray!

5 I think of the good old days,

long since ended,

6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs.

I search my soul and ponder the difference now.

Asaph is getting as real as possible. He’s saying “i can’t sleep, I’m freaking out…”

What does he do?

He searches his soul.

2. Searching your soul through God.

This practice of “soul searching” is vital.

But this is something we need to be very specific about. Many people go “soul searching” to find their own truth.

But from a BibliCal perspective we have to understand that this can’t exclude God. Trying to search within on our own will never work.

Psalm 139:23–24 (NLT)

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Who’s Asaph having this whole conversation with? God.

Even though he feels hopeless and like God is absent. He’s crying out to him...

Asaph then goes on with almost a sort of rant of questions

Psalm 77:7–9 (NLT)

Has the Lord rejected me forever?

Will he never again be kind to me?

Is his unfailing love gone forever?

Have his promises permanently failed?

Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he slammed the door on his compassion?

He feels rejected and unloved. And if you thought that was bad listen to the next verse...

Psalm 77:10 NLT

10 And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”

This soul searching has dug deep into his soul exposing how he truly feels. He doesn’t just feel hurt and unloved. He feels like God has turned against Him.

But, this next part is so so important. This soul searching doesn’t just expose these nasty feeling just for the sake of being honest. This is where many have made the mistake in their deconstruction process. There’s no solution. What’s the end goal?

it should be to come to the truth only found in God. This is what Asaph does…

Psalm 77:11–15 (NLT)

11 But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;

I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

12 They are constantly in my thoughts.

I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

13 O God, your ways are holy.

Is there any god as mighty as you?

14 You are the God of great wonders!

You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.

15 By your strong arm, you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Asaph sees the truth. He’s reminded of who God Is.

He dug so deep and was so honest with the Lord he can now look up to God by looking back and recalling the “wonderful deeds,” the “mighty works,” and “great wonders” of God.

3. Look up by Looking back.

Very few times do we encourage people to “look back” into the past. Ususally we’re pushing forward. There’s times where were called not to dwell on the past. But in this case it’s a different outlook.

Asaph finds himself in a terrible place, but He can remember the goodness of God from past experiences. And through his tears, sleepless night, and ultimately through his conversations of the Lord he’s reminded of the hope that is only found in HI’m.

In verse 13 he says “O God, your ways are holy.”

Even though his situation doesn’t feel so holy, He Chooses to place his faith in a holy God.

He even points back to what God has done for others

Psalm 77:15 (NLT)

15 By your strong arm, you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Asaph points back to the descendant of Jacob and Joseph. Two prominent characters we read about in the OT. The Israelites at one point were enslaved to the Egyptians for hundreds of years. And God used a guy named who to free them? (Moses)

God used Moses to free His people and at one point in the story they’re led into a dead end. They have the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptians trapping them from behind.

They found themselves in a situation that seemed to be hopeless. No where to turn no where to run. Some of the people even started to scream at Moses asking why he led them out there to die. It seemed as if God had abandoned them. But, of course, he hadn’t.

Psalm 77:16–19 (NLT)

16 When the Red Sea* saw you, O God,

its waters looked and trembled!

The sea quaked to its very depths.

17 The clouds poured down rain;

the thunder rumbled in the sky.

Your arrows of lightning flashed.

18 Your thunder roared from the whirlwind;

the lightning lit up the world!

The earth trembled and shook.

19 Your road led through the sea,

your pathway through the mighty waters—

a pathway no one knew was there!

Listen to this quote:

“ God had his hand on the people all along. He took the people deep so they could look up at the walls of water and be reminded of His power. He took them deep so they could see who He was. He brought them to a place of deep disappointment, where they doubted his love, so they could look up at those walls and see how high and wide and deep his Love for them was.”

Conclusion:

God’s ways are so much higher than ours. We can’t even begin to comprehend what He’s doing. This sometimes leads us to a place of disappointment. We don’t understand what He’s doing And we feel as if He’s not answering us. When in reality, He is at work. We might just not see it. He may be waiting to reveal something to us. Or, we might be in such a difficult place we’re simply blind to what God is doing in front of our eyes. Either way, God is gracious, loves his people. And will deliver his people.

You will find yourself disappointed with God if you haven’t Already. What will you do with it?

Will you avoid the issue and keep your relationship with God at a surface level?

Or will you be honest? Will you get alone with God and express yourself to Him. Letting him know the good and the bad. Will you do some soul searching by inviting God to search your heart?

Don’t forget who God is. What He’s done. And what He continues to do. Even if you don’t feel like He’s present you can have peace in knowing He is. And He has also placed people in your life to help you along the way...

*Encousage them to find a leader to pray with if needed*

*challenge them to take time to pray*