Psalm 71

Psalm 71 “A Prayer of Reflection, Repentance, Resolve, and Rejoicing”

This is our Last Sunday of 2024.

Congratulations you made it. The excitement of Christmas has passed, maybe you have already taken your Christmas decorations down, or if you're like me it will be February before you take your tree down. Maybe for you 2024 was a season of trials. Maybe for you 2024 you lost family members, Maybe there were joys of new birth. Maybe you felt smothered by life.

No matter what season 2024 was for you, you were looking forward to a new year. It is crazy to think that we are entering into a new year so soon.

the Lord has been faithful. has he not? I think that because of what happened this year God has caused us to love him more and this year has caused us to grow as disciples of Christ.

This morning, we are going to do our service a little differently. This can be seen by the format in which we are sending it out. This morning we are going to have a time of studying scripture, prayer, and worship. This is an opportunity to worship as a family at home this Sunday morning.

We will use psalm 71 this morning to bring about Reflection, Repentance, Resolving, and Rejoicing.

Please turn with me to Psalm 71

Read

Pray

Father, as we open your word this morning, fill our hearts with your spirit, help us navigate together the deep mercies that are found here. You are our Rock, our shield, and our salvation. Help us worship you this morning. Amen

Reflection

Psalm 71 is a prayer of reflection. An old man sits down at the end of his life, processing the events of his life, both the good and the bad. He shows the utmost confidence of his faith in the LORD even when he faces trials and sufferings. The Psalmist here uses the language like the other psalmist in his prayer/song to God to process the way that he is feeling. While reflecting on the past, the psalmist remembers the circumstances surrounding his life that has caused him heartbreak, stress, and suffering. He looks back in verse 4 saying Rescue me O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

In verse 7 I have been as a portent to many but you are a strong refuge

and in verse 10 for my enemies speak concerning me those who watch for my life consult together and say, “God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him.”

The trials that the psalmist was going through caused those around him to think that he had somehow lost the favor of God. The Psalmist cries out in Lament, “O God be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt.”

This morning as we reflect upon this past year, let us lament. Let us cry out to God like the psalmist over the pain that we are experiencing or have experienced. There is nothing wrong with lamenting. It is biblical for Christians to lament.

In lamenting we address God, we turn to him in prayer, we lay out the reason for our sorrow, and we ask God to intercede for us upon our suffering, all of this leads to newfound trust and praise for God. See the psalmist adds a but, in verse 14 he says Buts in scripture are very important.

He says… But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. For the psalmist Reflection brings about lament. For us when we are suffering we can look back and do the same. Reflection leads lament, while lament leads to praise. Through lamenting we grow in our faith, we learn to lean on the one who is always faithful, the one who is steadfast in his love for us. We call out to God after we have reflected upon the troubles and calamities that have happened to us this past year. Sickness, heart ache, trials and sin we have faced. But the Lord will revive us again. He will bring us up, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

Maybe your reflection of 2021 is like the Psalmist here. Calling out to God asking him to incline his ear to you, the psalmist feels far off from God. He feels as if God is not even listening to his cries, but yet the psalmist still trusts in the Lord. Reflection brings about lament. Lamenting is a gift from God for us to call upon his name, see his mercies and love.

Lamentations 3:31-32 says For the Lord will not cast off forever, but though he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.”

Lamentations 3:31–32 ESV

For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

One writer writes it this way, Through lamenting we mourn the brokenness of suffering and we look expectantly toward what is yet to come.

When we reflect upon the year that we have had, the pessimist that I am wants to focus on the bad, the hurting that I feel and the trials that surround me. But reflection also looks back on the good that has come from the past. When we reflect, we can see God’s past faithfulness. Even the psalmist here in his situation that he is in says in verse 15, my mouth will tell of your righteous acts of your deeds of salvation all the day for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

This past year we have seen many mercies and graces from our Lord. He has sustained us through the year. Through the Lord’s grace, We as a church have finished Philippians, Jonah, Ruth, and went through a topical series of the Church, we spent a summer in the Psalms, and a lot of weeks in John.

We have started a budget process, We have started talking about what we can do with the ball field. We have had many studies in scripture on wednesdays and sundays nights. We have seen the lord work in and through baptisms. We had new members come into our local assembly.

We have seen what Christ has accomplished through his death, burial and resurrection and now we live as kingdom citizens in a world that is not our own, awaiting the time when in his promises will be fulfilled and Christ shall come again.

We are able to see God’s past faithfulness and trust the promises we await to be fulfilled. God promises that the universal church would not fail.

Our local church has been provided for financially, where other churches have closed this past year. . God has brought to us new members, who Love Jesus and are servant hearted.

There has been a lot of change for each of us. For each change and season there comes mercies. Many and many more mercies and grace from God that is seen when we reflect.

When we reflect on what God has done in the church, we can also reflect what God has done through the world and history, not just a micro view but a macro view. We see the plan of God to bring about salvation to the world. Think through the whole narrative of scripture and the mighty works God has done. We have seen this past year continued growth in the universal church.

This time of prayer is a time to lament, it is a time to reflect, it is a time to carry your worries to God. The Psalmist here understood that there was only one place that he may bring his lament. That is to God himself. He understood what the apostle Peter would remind the church years later. That we bring our anxieties to God because he cares for us.

Maybe you’re here listening today, and are burdened by life. Maybe you see only darkness. There has come a light in this world that has vanquished the darkness. There has come a hope for the broken hearted, one who is gentle and lowly, one who does not break the bruised reed or quench the smoldering wick, one who is everlasting hope. Jesus has come to make things new. He has come to right every wrong. Even though we may not see it in the midst of the suffering, he has come. He has brought us to God so that we may go to him with our cares, hurts, anxieties, burdens, anything and everything we can bring to God.

This is our savior, the humble one who came in the form of man to die for our salvation. He was raised again for our sake so that we may become children of God. We now are able to enter the throne room of grace because of our savior Jesus.

I’m going to give you a moment to reflect in prayer, to Lament over your suffering, and thank God for the mercies and graces that have come this past year. Reflect upon this past year and pray accordingly. Then after a moment I will come back up close to us corporately in prayer and then we will sing a song of Praise to our God.

Lord, as we recount the wondrous deeds that you have done. You are the mighty one who has created all things. You have made a people for yourself. Yet we have fallen away from you. O most high God. You have brought into history a plan of redemption. Through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you have looked upon your people, even if it seemed as just a remnant, with Grace and Mercy. You have rescued your people from the control of Pharaoh, brought them to a land in which they squandered. But yet, your plan continued. You sent your son, to bring a second exodus, a better one, a one that brought salvation to all peoples, tribes, nations, and languages. Through your son you have provided salvation for us. Truly you are our rock and our refuge to which we may continuously come. Lord, often we feel as if you had your face from us, that you do not listen to our weeping and cries. This world that we are living in is broken, and sometimes the light is hard to see through the midst of the darkness. Sin hurts, it breaks, it destroys, and it kills. Father, comfort us in our affliction. Rescue us from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For you O Lord are our Hope, trust and our praise. Lead us o Lord to hope in you continuously. We are thankful that you have saved us. We are thankful for the things that you are doing amidst your people, we are thankful for what you are doing here at Pineview. Use us for your glory to expand your Kingdom here and afar, till all the coastland know your name. Lord, you have promised good to those who are in Christ Jesus. Even when we can see no good around. Make haste to help us. Take the pain, sorrow, hurt that a broken world creates and cause in us to see your love, mercy and grace. Even when our enemy’s look at us a cheer at our calamity, you are faithful. You have promised good toward us. Lord we seek you now. Father, we pray for this virus, Lord, people are dying, sick and depressed. Help us navigate the waves of life. We have seen your past faithfulness to your people, we rejoice in your continues faithfulness now. Amen

Repentance

Reflection if we do it right brings about repentance. When we reflect, we can see God’s holiness and our sinfulness just like the psalmist in verses 19-21. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

God’s righteousness is like no other. His being is perfect, holy and without sin. Yet, we are but sinful creatures. From the Garden, we have sinned against a Holy and righteous God. Through Adams fall, sin entered into the world. Through sin, death reigned. Sin brought about disease, calamity, and death. The whole world has seen the effect of sin this past year. It is on every news outlet, every door as we walk in. And even when we come to church and sing praises. We are often reminded that we live in a broken world. As we see God’s holiness, we see our brokenness. God has given us his law. He has commanded us to live a certain way and if we break his law, we sin against him. We are called for those of us in Christ, we should run quickly to him repenting of our sins and asking for forgiveness. We are not able to deliver ourselves from the hold of sin that we have. This is the reason the psalmist says, “In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me.”

We cannot bring any righteousness of our own to God, but rather we must be delivered from our sin by God. God has made a way for us to be delivered. Jesus the messiah has come upon the earth, to vanquish sin and death. Jesus has brought about salvation for us. Jesus took our sin upon himself; he took the divine judgment that we deserved for our sin. By faith in Jesus’s death and resurrection. we may have salvation. Through repentance we turn away from sin and turn to Christ. We leave the darkness and turn to the light. We turn from the power of sin, and turn to the power of our savior. Remorsefully we approach the throne of Grace as we recognize our need for Jesus, we confess our sins that we have held on to and we trust in Christ. God did not leave us to our sin, but it was through his loving kindness that he has provided us a way to come to him through the shame that is seen in sin. Just as he called out to Adam and Eve in the Garden to come to him and confess what they have done, so now we can come to God and confess our sins because of Jesus.

Maybe you are listening to this today, and you have sin that is unrepentant. Maybe you have held certain sins deep that you haven’t let out. Maybe as you reflected on this past year you saw your sinfulness. You may feel the groaning of your heart to turn from the sins that in some way brings you ungodly comfort and fleeting hope. Maybe today you feel the affects of your sin, maybe you’re like the psalmist that notices that you have been a portent to many. The sin not only affect you, but it affects your spouse, children, family, friends, church, and your relationship with God. Maybe you reflect back and see your lust in addiction to porn, your habitual lying that has hurt many, your gossiping, your pride, your self-filled thoughts, your anger toward others for even the stupidest of reasons. Have you not been faithful to your spouse, have you been envious toward others, have you been unkind, have you been foolish, and boastful, have you put other things above God? Have you been living in unbelief? Do you have idols that you are looking toward?

Repent, no longer go to these for comfort come to Christ. You may think my sins are too many, I cant, God will never forgive me of the wicked things I have done. As the writer once said, our sins they are many His mercy is more. See the mercy of God in repentance. No longer do these things have to burden you, rather let your burden fall off, let your burden go, run to the Jesus where your sins have been paid for. Leave them behind. Is it Through Jesus you can approach God. The righteous one came for the unrighteous so that we may be brought to God. Come to him today.

Turn from them, come approach the throne of Grace in which you have been hiding from. God, who is rich and mercy has provided a way for you to turn away from your sins. See your savior, leave your sin, come to Jesus.

In this moment we will enter a time of prayer. This is a perfect time to look back and see where you have sinned and haven’t repented. Come before the savior. If you want turn to Psalm 51 and pray through this psalm where you are. Lets go to our merciful God in repentance.

O most powerful God. Have mercy upon us, it is through your love and mercy that we are able to have our sins blotted our and washed away. Cleanse us from our pride, our idolatry, our boastful hear, our anger, our adultery, all of our sins. Lord, you know all of our sins, do not let us harden our hearts to you. Purge us of our sins, let us rejoice in your discipline. You have not let us stay in our sin, but you have allowed us to repent. Create in us a clean heart. Cast us not away from your presence nor take away the Holy Spirit from us. Let us praise you from a clean heart. Let us praise you from a repentant heart. Help us not clamor our way back to those sins that hold us tight. Keep your grasp upon us. Help us o Savior. Thank you for Jesus. You have provided him for us, he has brought us to you, o God. Let us remember your mercies which are new every morning. You are a loving and kind savior for allowing us time to repent. You are magnificent Lord in your grace. Thank you. Amen.

Resolve

Reflection leads to repentance, while repentance leads to resolve. What do I mean by resolve? Its exactly what you think in a sermon of the new year. Resolutions. Resolutions bring about a course of action that generate change. We resolve to do something that we haven’t done before or haven’t done well this past year.

The Psalmist addresses six different areas that he is going to change his behavior from before. First the psalmist says in verse 3“Be to me a rock of refuge to which, I may continually come.” God is our refuge. He is a place to go when life is crumbling, when we are hopeless, or when we are distressed. He is the place we should go daily for rest. This idea of a rock also brings to light the fact that we can always go to him and he will never break. No matter how much we think we chip away at him with our problems we can always find shelter in the impenetrable rock. The Psalmist resolve is to come to God as a refuge. Maybe upon reflection you noticed that you haven’t went to God as a refuge when sin is beating at the door. Maybe when trials come you have went to friends or held it in instead of Going to God with every things. Be like the psalmist resolve that no matter what you will come to God because he is a rock of refuge.

The Psalmist recognizes that The Lord is his hope, verse 5, and his trust. Hope is seen throughout the whole of scripture. There is always a hope in God, God is the one that brings about salvation for His people, God is the one that is going to make all things rights, God is the one that fills us with hope. See the psalmist resolves, in the mist of the trials that he is facing, to hope continually in God, verse 14. If our hope is found in other things of this world, they will break and crumble, but if our hope is in the rock and the refuge, He will never be broken, and he will never cease to provide us with comfort.

The Psalmist resolves to praise God, see verse 14, and will praise you yet more and more, and verse 22 I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness. The Psalmist understands that God faithfulness for him and his people produces praise for God’s name. The praise for God is essential for the follower of Jesus even in the midst of troubles. Even though things may seem bleak at the best of times, God is still doing a work that we wouldn’t believe. Remember in the book of Habakkuk, the surrounding nations were coming to tear apart Judah for the wickedness that they have committed. Terrified of the coming destruction, Habakkuk lays out the might and power of the Lord, in chapter three and then at the end he writes this, “I hear and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones, my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yields no fruit, the flock be cut from the fold, and there be no herds in the stalls, yet (the resolve of Habakkuk) I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take Joy in the God of my salvation.”

Often this time of year we make resolutions that are good things but ultimately fail, for instance, Go to the gym, play less on the cell phone, go on a diet, or travel to at least 10 different states. While these are not bad resolutions, they are not grounded on anything. Each of the resolutions that we make should produce peace within us because we are focusing on God. Resolutions should show that our life is for the glory of God, that we are living in light of eternity, and we are guarding our heart against sin. Jonathan Edwards the great puritan preacher made 70 resolutions through out his own life. Here are some of my favorites: Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

Resolved, to live so at all times, as I think is best in my devout frames, and when I have clearest notions of things of the gospel, and another world.

Resolved, to inquire every night, as I am going to bed, wherein I have been negligent, what sin I have committed, and wherein I have denied myself: also at the end of every week, month and year. Dec. 22 and 26, 1722

Resolved, constantly, with the utmost niceness and diligence, and the strictest scrutiny, to be looking into the state of my soul, that I may know whether I have truly an interest in Christ or no; that when I come to die, I may not have any negligence respecting this to repent.

I’m sure you get the point. Each of Edwards' Resolves focused on pursuit of holiness and God’s glory in his life. As we enter this time of prayer, what I want us to do is go to God with our resolutions that we have made. Find some that illustrates the hope that is found in Christ, the trust to look at God’s faithfulness even when yours is fleeting. Maybe you would resolve to praise God more in the mornings and evenings. Maybe your resolve is to read your bible, or scripture memory, maybe your resolve will be to look by daily and see your sin and repent of it quickly. Maybe your resolve is a response to your repentance, maybe your resolve is to seek help with sin that you're holding on to. Maybe your resolve is to seek counseling over the issues in your life. Maybe your resolve is to admit your sin to a brother and sister so they may hold you accountable. Maybe your resolve can be to forgive a brother and sister and to make things right between you both. Make your resolutions personal and God glorifying. Ask God to allow you to follow through with each of these resolves and cause you to see your shortcomings. Write them down so you can remember while you're praying. Or put them in the notes app on your phone. Let’s go to God again in prayer.

Merciful Father, as we come to you today, focusing on your holiness, mercy, love, faithfulness. We see where we have not been faithful, loving, and thankful. Lord, Help us resolve to follow Christ as disciples. Help us lead a life pleasing to you. If we have made any resolutions today that impact your kingdom here, afar and in our life, help us to continue in them. Lord cause us to trust in your faithfulness, even when the enemy, who is prowling around looking for someone to devour comes upon us looking to take a bite. Help us flee from the sins that we hold so closely, cause us to make your kingdom known here and afar. Your ways are everlasting ways, your kingdom will expand, Let us resolve to be a product of your kingdom not a hinderance. Let us resolve to bring your name to those who are around us, to the younger generation. Guide us.

Amen.

Rejoicing

Reflection leads to repentance, repentance leads to resolve, and all of these leads to rejoicing. The Psalmist even through the trails of his life comes to God and says in verse 4, “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For you, o lord are my hope, my trust, o lord from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.” And in verse 12 after he has made the appeal that he has been a sign or portent to many while calling out to God to not forsake him, he says, “O God be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my heart. But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.” And verse 22, “I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O holy one of Israel. My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.”

The Psalmist praise for God is not based upon his situation or his own faithfulness, but is it based upon God’s continued faithfulness. His praise is for the hope that comes in the Lord, even when he is surrounded and in terror. Paul gives this great Christian paradox in 2 Corinthians that we are to live sorrowful yet always rejoicing, and again at the end of Philippians, Paul after being beaten, shipwrecked (twice), shackled and is currently in jail, tells the church in Philippi, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice.”

How can one who has seen many trails as Paul say these things? How can one who has felt the Pain and betrayal as the Psalmist, rejoice in the midst of his pain? How can we in deep depression and anguish, Rejoice in the midst of darkness?

We are able to do this because of Jesus. Our hope is not in this world. We have been born again to a living hope! Not a hope in this world. Not a hope in material, Not a hope in our business, not a hope in our Children or Parents. 1 Peter reminds us that We have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance that is imperishable, it will never die, undefiled (It will never be tainted by sin of this world), and unfading (the years upon this dragged world will never lessen the hope that we have in Christ. And most of all it is not us to us to keep our hope. Our hope is guarded currently for us by God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. This is what we rejoice in. We rejoice even through the trails and the darkness, in Christ, our true and lasting hope. Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trails, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than Gold that perishes though it is tested by fire -may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with gory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of our souls.

We rejoice with hope in our savior. We rejoice in praise for the one who was and is and is to come. We rejoice in the one who has come to bring us salvation, we rejoice in the anticipation that one day Jesus is going to return and make all things new. When he returns he will wipe every tear that we have cried from our eyes, he will make all things right, and we get to be with our savior, and be with him for all eternity. This brothers and sisters is how we are able to hope. This is how we are able to rejoice in the midst of suffering. This is how we are able to Praise God when life is unbearable. We rejoice in Christ.

As you get ready to pray, pray a prayer of Praise to God, rejoicing in what he has accomplished. Rejoice through prayer.

O Holy one of Israel, we praise your name. You are the Most High God, the creator of heaven and earth, the majestic one upon the throne reigning. You are our comfort, our hope, our desire, We praise you with singing, you have redeemed our souls which have been broken because of sin. Those who surround us would love to see us hurt, but you God bring us comfort. We praise you for the work you're doing here at MBC. We praise you for the work that you are doing in Edenton, We praise you for the work that you are doing throughout the whole world. We praise you today, Father, grant us comfort and grace, this coming year to rejoice in you and not in our circumstances. We look forward to the day that we get to see you face to face and sing about your gospel. We love you. In Christ name, Amen.

Brothers and Sisters, As we begin a new year lets make much of our Lord Jesus. Let’s make much of Christ and his kingdom. Let our desires reflect the Lords. I am thankful for you all. May you receive this benediction from the book of Jude as we depart and begin 2022.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, Majesty, Dominion and authority, before all times and now and forever. Amen.