In Troubling Times Remember the Works of the Lord

Introduction

Some things in life are easy. For instance, making your bed is a fairly simple task. A former Navy Seal by the name of William McRaven was given an opportunity to give a commencement speech at the university of Texas in 2014. One of the things that he mentioned to the graduates is that “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” He explained to them that completing a task so simple and easy could give them the start of momentum and could give them a sense of accomplishment to complete other tasks later on that same day.

Perhaps another thing that is easy is your morning routine. Perhaps you start off your morning with prayer or by reading the Bible. After that you move on to the simple task of brushing your teeth, or at least I hope you do. Next, you make yourself that much needed cup of coffee, or for me I get that much needed cup of Mountain Dew. But the point is that some things in life are easy.

On the other hand, some things in life are difficult. For some people, getting enough sleep is difficult. Whether it be because you have the next morning shift at work, or maybe because your kids woke you up in the middle of the night or they woke you up really early in the morning. Approximately one-third of adults do not get enough sleep. Getting enough sleep for some people can be nearly impossible.

Another difficult thing in life is the loss of a loved one. Seeing someone that you knew so well and were good friends pass away is not easy to deal with. What about overcoming addictions, handling divorce, or even having career setbacks. The point is that there are many difficult things in life that many people face day to day. For those who are striving to serve the Lord and are doing their best to live for Him, there will be times of trouble.

This is where we see the Psalmist, who I believe is Asaph, in the beginning of this Psalm.

ASAPH: He was a musician during the time of David, who David appointed to be over the musical band in the service of the temple. Several of the Psalms such as the 50th and the 73-83 have the name of Asaph prefixed on, but it is not certain whether the words or the music were composed by him.

Jeduthun: He was also a musician during the time of David, and was also appointed by David to be of help over the music in the sanctuary during David’s reign.

verses 1-3 In hardships it is possible to have a wrong view of God.

The Psalmist is in a troubled and intense time of suffering. While we do not know what he is going through, we do know that he is going through a difficult time in his life. Through this difficult time, he starts off by praying to the Lord. He was crying to the Lord and was seeking the Lord. But as he is crying out to the Lord to help him with this time of trouble in his life, this difficulty does not stop. We see in verse 2 that this trial “ceased not.” In other words, this trouble in his life is ongoing, its constantly a burden and a struggle and he was not getting any comfort or encouragement. We see in verse 3 that he remembered God and was troubled. But how can one remember God and still be troubled? I believe that he is remembering in light of his trial and suffering. I think that he is remembering God but is so distressed and discomforted that he is wondering where God is now. Yes, he might possibly remember what God did in the past, but is discouraged because he does not know where God is and does not know if God will be there for him. For instance, he could be remembering about how God has provided in his life in the past, but now is angry and discouraged because he has not provided in this trial. Talk about how God provided for the old truck but lost it, and was frustrated because he did not provide how I thought He was going to.

2. verses 4-9 Having a wrong view of God can lead to questioning God

As you can see in the next verses, he feels more suffering and more distress. We see in verse 4 that he is so overwhelmed and so troubled, and that the Lord is keeping him awake. We see that in verses 5 and 6 he goes back “to the old days.” He is going back to when life was better. I think he is remembering back without any hope of the future. One problem with just looking back is that if you always look to the past and are not careful, it is likely that you will miss what God has for you in the present. Unfortunately I see this a lot. When someone is going through a tough time in their life, sometimes they will go back to when they think life was just perfect. Then, in discouragement, they will just sit around and wish that God would make things just like they used to be, and when He doesn’t, they get more discouraged and they missed what God had for them now. Sometimes I see this in everyday church life.

What about when, with the Lord’s help, a new Pastor comes into the church. For some people this can be a tough time. I see some people get all bent out of shape when the pastor does something a little different than what they are used to. And it can be easy to look back when the church was running 700, but if that’s all you look at, you will miss many opportunities that the Lord has for you right now. And to be honest, you are mostly hurting yourself when you do this. Having this viewpoint of God only being able to work in the past is not right.

But yet he is still struggling. In verses 7-9 the Psalmist in his worry, abandonment, and doubt starts to question the Lord.

Is the Lord going to reject us forever? Will the Lord not show us any more favor?

Is God’s mercy gone forever? Do God’s promises fail?

Maybe the Lord is not gracious any more? Is God so angry that He doesn’t love me anymore?

It is vital that we do not hold on to this false view of the Lord because we soon question the very character and nature of God. Let me make this clear, I am not saying that it is wrong to ask God questions. If you are going through a trial it is perfectly alright to ask God what is going on or perhaps why is this happening? But the Psalmist here is questioning God’s very character and is doubting what God has already said He is. It can be easy to look at the psalmist here with disdain and think that how could anyone ever wonder if God will reject us or if God is still merciful, but it is a whole lot harder to keep the right view of God when the times of trouble come our way.

As you see the Psalmist is in a perplexed state of mind. I hope and pray that some of us do not think that we could never enter into this distress and doubt in our lives. Unfortunately I have seen this multiple times in my life. One story that immediately comes to my mind is from a family at my home church in Illinois. They were such a big help to the church and they participated in many ministries in the church. As they kept coming faithfully to church, the Lord blessed the family with a child. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, the baby passed away. They slowly stopped going to church. One of the things that they said before they stopped coming is that, if God really is as merciful and gracious as people say that He is, then why would he let this happen to me and my family. We have not seen them come back to our church or have not heard of them going to any church. The truth is that any one of us if we are not careful, could start to doubt and to question the Lord when troubles come.

3. Verses 10-15 So one might be asking, what is the solution? The solution is simple: Through troubles, it is necessary to rightly remember the Lord.

What do you mean by rightly remember? I mean that when we are faced with struggles in our life, we must remember what the Lord has done in light of the present. Instead of remembering God and getting discouraged because we are still suffering in this trial, we can remember what the Lord has done and have confidence and become encouraged, knowing that He is with us.

The whole mood of this Psalm changes at the second half of verse 10. It seems almost as if the light bulb lit up in his mind. In verses 10-12 he doesn’t just say that he is going to remember God. The first thing that he mentions is that he will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. He is saying that he will remember the Lord’s past acts of power and protection because the Lord has always had His hand of deliverance and protection on him and the people, as well as remembering the Lord’s past works and wonders. Not only is he going to remember the works of the Lord, but he is also going to meditate as well as talk of His doings.

meditate-like the growl of a lion, speak, proclaim

talk-speak enthusiastically

I love this portion of Scripture, this is what constantly remembering the works of the Lord will do to you and your spirit. You will want to speak enthusiastically about what he has done in your life and others lives. There is a friend of mine at college who is from Georgia. He is one of the most enthusiastic people I have met in my life. He cannot wait to tell other people about how the Lord has blessed him this week or talk about how good the last service was. But he often gets made fun of because of how energetic and enthusiastic his “amens” are during preaching. But he just has not lost sight or mind of the wonders and works of the Lord. I’m speaking to myself here also, but it pains me to hear myself and others get more excited and enthusiastic about a sports game than we do when the Lord does something miraculous in our lives. But this is what remembering the works of the Lord will do, yes the trouble is discouraging, yes the trial can be tricky, yes difficulties in your life can seem unbearable, but we have a God who is greater than any trouble you are facing, and we can remember that by remembering the wonders of God.

As we see the psalmist going through in his mind and his heart about the wonder of God, he asks who is greater than our God? Of course we know the answer, no one is greater than our God. I understand that the trouble is difficult and can almost seem unbearable, but remember that our God is greater than any trial and trouble that you will go through. But we serve a great God. Maybe talk about Lord providing my family with the washer.

I am reminded of a story of a visitor at my home church. This was an elderly lady whose name was iola. We had already started the morning service, and Miss iola drove into our church on her scooter. I dont know how she got inside by herself but she did. The preacher just started to preach when she scooted in the back of the auditorium. The preacher was just flinging it down, and afterward the invitation time came. All you hear is the sound of a scooter scooting down the aisle. My mom was able to share the plan of salvation with her and she accepted the Lord as her Savior. After the service we went to congratulate her on her decision, when she told my family that we would never guess what just happened. Our church is right beside the interstate just fyi, but she told us that she had her very best clothes on. She then said that she was on her way to the interstate on her scooter in her best outfit because she was going to drive in front of one of the semi trucks to end her life. But on her way to the interstate, she passed by our church, and decided to stop in and listen for a little while. Now her whole life is changed. But troubled times are difficult folks. For miss iola she could not handle the struggles she was having anymore, but thank goodness she stopped by the church and was reminded that there is a God that loves her and cares for her. Maybe some of you here are going through a troubled time and feel like this Psalmist where you are perplexed and distressed and you just cannot handle it anymore. Before you go to extreme measures, remember the God who let this trial come your way, and remember all that he has done for you, and all of his blessings he has given you. We can go back to times in our lives and speak about time after time where God has provided, and we will soon realize that we have a great and mighty God.

4. verses 16-20: Just like how God guided the Israelites through the Red Sea, we can trust that God will guide our every step.

What the Psalmist does next is he refers back to God’s wondrous work, accompanied by God’s display of power, when He redeemed His people from Egypt. We see that he refers to waters, which goes back to the Red Sea crossing. Just think, Pharoah had just let the Israelites go, but on the inside Pharoah is battling. He is starting to regret ever letting the Israelites leave even though he had just gone through the ten plagues. Pharoah’s heart is hardened, and he ready’s up his chariots, his horsemen, and his army to go after the Israelites. Eventually they get close to the Israelites, close enough for the Israelites to see Pharoah’s army and become afraid. They go to Moses basically tells him why did he bring them out of Egypt when they are simply going to die right here. When the Israelites were possibly at one of their bleakest moments. When the Israelites had no idea what to do next, the Lord in His wonder allowed Moses to part the Red Sea. And the Israelites passed through safely, and the Lord even took care of the Egyptian army. What an amazing work of the Lord! Sort of like this, the Psalmist also looks back to this time in Israel’s history, when they seemed like all hope was lost, when it seemed as though Israel could not handle anymore of this difficult in their lives, we see that God comes through.

We see this thought continuing in verse 19.

This verse mentions that His footsteps are not known.

Footsteps-footprints

He is saying here that we do not know all of what God has in store next for us.

Personal story: I am a person that would rather have someone tell me like it is. It is not my favorite when someone tries to sugarcoat what they want to say to me. Neither am I a fan of not knowing what is going to happen next. For instance, I knew that was going to go to Heartland since I was in 7th grade. But one thing that I was not sure about was where I was going to go this summer. I know it sounds a little silly, but I was worrying about this my first semester of this past school year. But one things that helped me was remembering what the Lord did last summer and how he has always taken care of me. What once was worry-some now turned to trust and confidence in the Lord. But the truth is that this can worry many people, even though we may not know the Lord’s footsteps we can still have confidence from His past wonders.

What about you? Are going through a troubling time in your life right now? Are you struggling to spiritually stay afloat? Are you drowning in the trials and troubles of life? Perhaps you feel overwhelmed like the Psalmist, or perhaps you are even starting to question the very character of God because you have the wrong view of God. The solution is right here. There is a book full of wondrous works of the Lord that you can look through and become encouraged through your trouble. No, while the trouble might not go away right now, the spirit by which you approach the trial can. Instead of being discouraged, remember what the Lord has done and become encouraged. Not only can you look back to when the Lord parted the Red Sea, but we can look back to a cross and an empty tomb and remember what Jesus did for us on Calvary.