The Rock

Sometimes Life is Just Plain Hard

In Story telling you have to have a conflict. In English class we learned that conflict can come in many forms

Man vs. Man

Man vs. Nature

Man vs. Self

Man vs. Society

Man vs. Supernatural

But it’s not a story

Man vs. Man - there are people in our life that will do us harm. I’d like to say it typically unintentional but sometimes someone actually wants to do you harm.

Man vs Nature - there are natural things that simply happen that apart from something supernatural, they are going to cause conflict in our lives… wind rain snow hurricanes earthquakes....... sickness and the worst conflict.. death.

Man vs. Self - this is the saddest of the bunch… it’s you causing your own conflict. The lie you got caught in, your short temper, your indecision, depression, confusion. For the most part, we are not smart enough, fast enough, strong enough to accomplish a lot of the things we would like to. Then we have those pesky moral dilemmas.

Man vs. Society - if you’re a Christian today they is more and more conflict with society every day. What is counted as an abomination in the word of God is considered heroic in the world. The world has this perverse idea that love = accepting and supporting someone for “who they are” when in fact if you support someone’s sinful condition you might as well just hand the the key to the gates of Hell. Yes it’s true that Jesus accepts you for who you are but he loves you enough to not keep you that way.

Man vs. the Supernatural - Now obviously the Bible tells us that there are supernatural enemies… Ephesians calls them principalities, rulers, and authorities in the heavenly realms. The thing I like about this is that these are the easiest to defeat as long as you are not deceived. Breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, sword of the Spirit.... the only problem is that often we don’t or we forget to put it on… which brings us to Man vs. Self.

Why do I go through all that? Simply to say, life is hard. Story telling separates these sources of conflict but most of the time, we struggle with all of them at the same time. And I don’t want to kid ourselves, any of them threaten to wreck us.

Today I want to talk to you about what God’s response to our troubles are.

We will talk about David as an example.

We will talk about what God did for him.

We will talk about what he will do for us.

Poetry Principal.

For me poetry means you rhyme

The poetry if Psalms builds on thoughts. That’s why they sometimes might seem a little repetitive often it starts with a thought and them defines it.. looking at different facets of the initial statement.

This particular Psalm makes it easy for us and tells us the main thought right in verse one.

Psalm 18:1 ESV

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The LORD Our Strength

Psalm 18:1–3 ESV

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

We Are In Trouble

Psalm 18:3–5 ESV

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

Psalm 3–5 ESV

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

define sheol

Psalm

The correct response

In the middle of our trouble do we:

curl up in a corner and hide until it passes.

stand up and fight because we don’t have to take this lying down

Throw a temper tantrum

What do you do in the middle of trouble...

We call upon the Lord

Upon kaw-raw - to call out by name.

A few days ago I thought of an idea for an app that I thought might be useful for pastors. I have no idea on how to design that so I called on the one person I know personally that I think might be able to help me - Christian Hardy.

Yesterday I couldn’t get the tablet to display the words on the screen. So I called on the one person who I thought could help me — Elizabeth Hardy

I want to turn my garage into an organized workshop but I’ve never done that before, so who do I call on? You guessed it - google.

When we have conflict, ANY CONFLICT, We call out God

What God Does

He hears...

From his temple he hears

His temple is so high,,, mu ch hight than I

but he bends and ear to hear

And watch what happens

Psalm 18:7–15 ESV

Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

ps 18:7-15

His Rescue

Ps 18:16-19

Psalm 18:16–19 ESV

He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

Notice - because he delighted in me.

Know that despite your conflict God always delights in you

conclusion

We go back to the first verse

I love you, Oh Lord, my strength.