Hope for the Deep
Notes
Transcript
Deepest point of despair of this Psalm.
This “middle point” of the psalm is considered lowest point.
psalmist is growing weary, the weight is growing heavier, nearing breakdown.
verse 84 is the first time the Word of God isn’t specifically mentioned, suggesting at least a momentary loss of bearing.
Kaph is helpful because it deals with the dark night of the soul – reality of deep anguish and despair without leaving us in despair.
followed by Lamed - a taste of deliverance; of hope, even though the trouble isn’t completely gone.
This is important because we’re never going to be trouble-free this side of heaven, and there will be times when we find ourselves in utter darkness and we need to know that God is still there.
A good reason for why God’s providential inspiration put this right in the middle of Psalm 119 -- often somewhere in the middle of our journey that we experience the worst – maybe because earlier in our lives we are optimistic and excited about opportunities.
inexperience leads missteps that cause conflicts with consequences.
Certainly my experience!
Later we learn the pitfalls and land mines to be avoided – we experienced God’s deliverance making it a bit harder for despair to overtake it.
We learn that fighting the battle is most often done with a less obvious strategy.
We’ll talk about in a couple of minutes.
Individuals and Churches alike
This can happen to us individually or even corporately as a church - can cause deep anguish and lasting hurt, but both can be endured and overcome.
We’re a big target
If we are committed to the absolute Truth, authority, and sufficiency of Scripture, we will experience deep, dark, painful attack.
The Word of God breaks through the darkness, so those who proclaim and teach that Word – and live according to that Word -- must be silenced by the Enemy.
Encouraging, but still challenging.
The same is true in your own life.
As Paul reminded Timothy, his young son in the faith, “All who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12)
Important: sometimes external persecution/attack, but it can also be fully internal.
The Enemy will manipulate your thoughts to make you turn on yourself, speaking lies within your own mind, accusing you to yourself of your short-comings, unworthiness, and failure.
ILLUS
If you don’t know this, you will fall to anguish, depression, and despair.
For a while, we feel strong, but eventually, we weary. It will either lead us down a self-destructive road, or it will provide an opportunity for us to experience the rescue of God and make us stronger than before.
We need to know how to win. We need a winning strategy.
The Key: Learning how to WAIT.
Psalmist is beyond tired. He’s weary to the point of exhaustion. In (Psalm 119:82), his eyes grow weary looking for God’s deliverance.
82 My eyes grow weary looking for what you have promised; I ask, “When will you comfort me?”
He asks, “When will you comfort me?”
can’t see God at work delivering him. He can’t see how things are getting any better, and the temptation is to believe they never will.
In (Psalm 119:83), he talks of becoming like a wineskin dried by smoke.
83 Though I have become like a wineskin dried by smoke, I do not forget your statutes.
[EXPLAIN]
This is how the psalmist feels he has become. (doesn’t mean it’s reality)
In (Psalm 119:84), again he asks, “how many days must your servant wait? When will you execute judgment on my persecutors?”
84 How many days must your servant wait? When will you execute judgment on my persecutors?
There’s that moment of desperate cry that is lacking a reference to God’s word.
He sees the problem clearly. What he doesn’t see is help – and he’s beyond the point of helping himself.
What he may not know (and what you may not know) is that he is in a really good place.
Sometimes your lowest point might be your best point for a couple of reasons:
1. You are at the end of yourself. You’re spent.
2. You are looking for the movement of God – so you’re more likely to recognize it.
Notice the positives in the psalmist’s life and his posture in the face of this darkness of the soul:
1. (81) I long for your salvation – not “eternal salvation” here. Temporal deliverance of God.
Until you’ve gotten to the end of your resources, you won’t long for God’s intervention.
The psalmist understands his resources are all dried up, the opposition is too strong, and so he longs for his only hope. He’s in a good place because He’s looking to the one who can and is willing to save him.
2. (82) I put my hope in your word - He’s looking to the promises of God.
How desperate are you for God’s Word? Is your attitude that of the Psalmist in Psalm 42? “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.”
3. In both (82) and (84) he asks honest questions:
“When will you comfort me?”
“When will you execute judgment on my persecutors?
There is nothing wrong with those questions. They express a clear faith in God.
He doesn’t doubt God WILL (he doesn’t ask “if” God will deliver) – he believes He will, He just doesn’t know if he can hold out until God does it.
It is a cry of desperation that says, “If YOU don’t do something, I am destroyed!” “If you don’t deliver me, I am undone.”
Have you been there? Have the external or internal attacks come so fiercely that you can’t see any way of escape? I have. I have had accusations wrongly lobbed at me that I couldn’t see any way to survive. I was left in a heap of depression, able to speak nothing more than, “Lord, if You don’t do something, all is lost.”
This puts me in a position to hear the voice of God through His Word:
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.
8 Come, see the works of the Lord, who brings devastation on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease throughout the earth. He shatters bows and cuts spears to pieces; he sets wagons ablaze. 10 “Stop fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.” 11 The Lord of Armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Come, see the works of the Lord,
who brings devastation on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease throughout the earth.
He shatters bows and cuts spears to pieces;
he sets wagons ablaze.
10 “Stop fighting, and know that I am God,
exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”
11 The Lord of Armies is with us;
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
More than once in my life I have been in situations where “self-defense” wasn’t an option, either because I was too weak, or the opposition was too strong, and the only option I had was to be still and ask God to fight the battle.
This is what the psalmist does in (Psalm 119:85-86):
85 The arrogant have dug pits for me; they violate your instruction. 86 All your commands are true; people persecute me with lies—help me!
The circumstances:
· The arrogant have dug pits – not one but many!
· they violate your instruction. What does this mean?
Charles Spurgeon:“These people were cruel and crafty deceivers, and their pits were contrary to the Levitical law and contrary to the command which tells us to love our neighbor. If people kept the statutes of the Lord, they would lift the fallen out of the pit, or they would fill it up so no one would ever stumble into it. However when such people become proud, they are sure to despise others, and for this reason, they seek to outwit them so they can later hold them up to ridicule.”
The Psalmist’s Response:
He holds onto what He knows: “All your commands are true: people persecute me with lies – help me!”
This is so good!
· He knows what is true: the Word of God
· He knows what is being said are lies – the Enemy always tries to (to use a word I despise) “gaslight” us, telling us what and who we are when we know before God it’s just a lie, so he calls it what it is.
· He says a simple, POWERFUL prayer: HELP ME.
A prayer of faith
A prayer of desperation
A prayer of authenticity
A prayer of surrender
(Psalm 119:87) They almost ended my life on earth, but I did not abandon your precepts.
87 They almost ended my life on earth, but I did not abandon your precepts.
The psalmist acknowledges that they almost succeeded – but they didn’t!
In humility and with lack of arrogance, the psalmist cries: , (Psalm 119:88) Give me life according to your faithful love, and I will obey the decree you have spoken.
88 Give me life in accordance with your faithful love, and I will obey the decree you have spoken.
This is not bargaining with God, it’s commitment to God for his amazing grace.
Amazing Grace (3rd stanza)
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
So far I’m still standing and that is only because of the mercy and purpose of the Lord. Walk in repentance and godly integrity, holding on to the Word of Truth, and He WILL cause you to stand, as well.
Renewed hope: (Psalm 119:89-96)
89 Lord, your word is forever; it is firmly fixed in heaven. 90 Your faithfulness is for all generations; you established the earth, and it stands firm. 91 Your judgments stand firm today, for all things are your servants. 92 If your instruction had not been my delight, I would have died in my affliction. 93 I will never forget your precepts, for you have given me life through them. 94 I am yours; save me, for I have studied your precepts. 95 The wicked hope to destroy me, but I contemplate your decrees. 96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your command is without limit.
