Sermon Tone Analysis
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God is perfect, we are are not.
Let’s first change our mindset on what unanswered prayer is.
Anytime you place a un before a word, the person who was suppose to perform the action, is the one to blame.
Opening
Please turn with me to Psalms 42.
By show of hands how many of you have ever been in a situation where you really needed an answer from someone, but when you tried to call them they didn’t pick up?
You tried to text them and email them, but they didn’t respond, at least in the time that you wanted them to.
And so while you were waiting on them to respond, you found yourself getting angry with them?
Anybody?
How many of you have ever felt this way in your prayer life?
You got down on your knees, you’ve been crying out to the Lord to do something or to give you answer about something, but it just seems like he’s just not listening.
Anybody ever been there?
Well I want you to know that you’re not alone.
I’ve been there, and as you will see, the writer of this psalm has been there.
Scripture
Psalm
Introduction
Introduction
Today, I want to talk to you on the subject “HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH UNANSWERED PRAYER?”
If you look at the top of the Psalm, you will see “For the director of music.
A maskil of the Sons of Korah.”
It’s not clear on what a maskil specifically is, but it is said to either mean a psalm of wisdom and instruction or a skillful worship song.
The Sons of Korah were a group of Levites designated to sing praises to the Lord.
In other words, the writer of this psalm is their ancient praise and worship leader.
Observations
And so this psalm is a song that would be sung in worship.
However, this is not a song, we today, would want to start the service with, for this song is in the genre of lament.
When I say genre, it’s like rap, R&B, hiphop, country, rock, jazz, gospel, etc.
All of those are genres or different types of music.
This song is in the genre of lament, which means the purpose of the song is to express one’s grief or sorrow.
So what we have here is a praise and worship leader singing about their grief and sorrow towards God.
The Sons of Korah were a group of Levites designated to sing praises to the Lord.
In other words, the writer of this psalm is their ancient praise and worship leader.
Now you would think that because of the writer’s position as a praise and worship leader that they would never sing about grief and sorrow, heartache and pain, worry and anxiety, struggle and strife.
You would think they would just praise their way through.
Well, let me tell you that it doesn’t matter whether you are the praise and worship leader, the deacon or the preacher.
It doesn’t matter how mature you may be in your walk with God, you can know a lot about what God can do, and yet it not change how you feel when you’re going through something.
And so this psalm is a song that would be sung in worship.
However, this is not a song we today would want to start the service with, for this song is in the genre of lament.
When I say genre, it’s like rap, R&B, hiphop, country, rock, jazz, gospel, etc.
All of those are genres or different types of music.
This song is in the genre of lament, which means the purpose of the song is to express one’s grief or sorrow.
So what we have here is a praise and worship leader singing about their grief and sorrow towards God.
Now you would think that because of the writer’s position as a praise and worship leader that they would never sing about grief and sorrow, heartache and pain, worry and anxiety, struggle and strife.
You would think they would just praise their way through.
Well, let me tell you that it doesn’t matter whether you are the praise and worship leader, the deacon or the preacher.
It doesn’t matter how mature you may be in your walk with God, what you know about God, may not change how you feel when you’re going through.
You can know that God is:
Psalms 42
The imagery here of the deer is not bambi leaping towards a stream of water to go get something to drink
You can know that God is:
Your lily in the valley (that means he is your life in dark places)
Your wheel in the middle of a wheel (that means he gives direction)
Your bright and morning star (that means he is your hope in the dark midnight hour)
Omnipotent (All-powerful)
Omniscient (All-Knowing)
Omnipresent (Present Everywhere)
Jehovah Jireh (the one who provides)
Jehovah Nissi (the one who gives victory)
Jehovah Shalom (the one who gives peace)
Jehovah Rapha (the one who heals)
weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning
He will never leave you nor forsake you
You can know all the promises given in Scripture and all of the names given to God yet it not change the way you feel when you are going through something.
There are some people here today, that have been asking God:
To be your light, yet you still feel like you are darkness.
To give direction, yet you still feel lost.
To reveal his power, yet you still feel powerless.
To provide, yet you are still pinching pennies.
Jehovah Jireh (the one who provides)
To give victory, yet you still feel defeated.
To give peace, yet you are still full of fear and worry.
To heal, yet you still feel sick.
To give you joy, yet you still feel depressed
To show up, yet you still feel abandoned and alone.
And so the question is what do you do when it seems like you have prayed all that you can pray and it still feels like God is not listening?
How do you deal with unanswered prayer?
Look at the imagery that this praise and worship leader gives in verse 1-2 (can you put that up there Dre):
The imagery here of the deer is not bambi leaping towards a stream of water to go get something to drink, but the imagery here (in out of breath sounds) is a deer tired, exhausted and dehydrated.
And it’s not like the deer doesn’t know what it needs to be refreshed.
It’s not like the writer doesn’t know that the only one that can quench his thirst is the living water which is Jesus.
This is not one of those situations where he’s he is out looking searching for drugs, sex, boys, girls, getting likes on social media or something else to help him, but he was searching for God.
He knows that his help comes from God.
The problem is that he can’t find God.
Anybody ever been there before?
It’s not like your’re not looking for God.
You want God.
You know he’s the solution to your problem, but you just can’t locate him.
Anybody ever been there before.
Where
Look at verse 3:
Pslam 42:3
The writer gives some more imagery here.
Since he couldn’t find God to quench his thirst, his tears of sorrow became his drink.
But notice he says, while people are saying to him all day long “Where is your God?” Now the writer says this twice, once in verse 3 and another time in verse 10, but in neither time does the psalmist answer the question.
And perhaps the reason why this praise and worship leader doesn’t answer the question, is because he probably is asking the same thing... “Where are you God?”
Remember
But then in the midst of his wondering, in the midst of his grief, the writer begins to show us what we can do when we feel like God is not listening.
Look at verse 4 & 6.
Psalms
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