PSALM 39
the title of the message this morning Is Hope restored? I know we've all had seasons of life where we've been discouraged where there's frustration that seems to be growing and mounting you maybe in the beginning of entering into those tensions. You may be right now in a state where you feel you've lost all hope.
There's a Darkness there.
Psalm 39 speaks to us of a hope that was lost but restored And still I pray that as we look into the word of God this morning you too will realize hope can be restored. You can indeed smile again. Let's pray. Lord we come before you you are a great God you are the creator of this world.
You are our savior.
You are a father.
you are the only one that has the perfect vantage point on life. And there was so much that swirls in this world and there are mines. But sometimes can become so overwhelming to us. That we despair. So God, I pray would you use your word this morning to speak to us to help us to have Insight that we need to help us? In Jesus name amen. now suffering Does impact us all because of sin that's in this world and when I say send. I mean, it's that Brokenness that affects the world around us. That's why we have floods. That's why we have disease. That's why we have death
But then there's also suffering that's inflicted upon us. From others because they're also broken inside. And there will be words that are said there will be actions that are taken. And they will expect us. They bring the heat as it were into our life. And I will respond.
Thirdly, there is suffering sometimes of her own doing. And we often self-sabotage. And so as we look at this song and re-read it together. I want you to realize that there are a diversity of reasons why there is suffering in this world. I don't want you to conflate everything together into one because sometimes it's just happening to us because we're in a broken World. Sometimes it's happening because someone that is broken. Is speaking to us in a very harsh way and they're speaking from out of that Brokenness. And sometimes sometimes it is because of her own foolishness and our own Brokenness. So keep that mind don't conflate everything together. Don't be reduction II and bring it all down. Don't do that. Let's read the song together. So I'm 39 and hear David hear the narrative just unfold. Some 39 verse one. I said I will guard my ways that I might not sin with my tongue. I will guard my mouth with a muzzle. So long as the wicked are in my presence. So I was mute and silence I help my peace but to no avail and my distress grew worse my heart became hot within me as I mused the fire burned. And then I spoke.
Oh Lord, make me to know my end. What is the measure of my days and let me know how fleeting I am? Behold you have made my days as a few hand breath and my lifetime is as nothing before you surely all mankind stands is a mere breath. Then there's a pause. The word Selah means pause and think about this.
Surely a man goes about as a shadow Shirley for nothing. They are in turmoil man keeps up wealth and does not know what we gather. And now oh Lord. For what? Do I wait My Hope Is In You Deliver Me from all my transgressions do not make me the sport of the fool. I am mute. I do not open my mouth for it is you who have done it remove your stroke from me. I am spent by the hostility of your hand when you discipline a man with rebukes for sin. You consume like a moth what is deer? to him Shirley all mankind is a mere breath. Ceylon pause think about that.
Hear my prayer O Lord and give ear to My Cry hold not your peace at my tears for I am a Sojourner with you against like all my father's look away from me that I'm a smile again. before I depart And I'm no more.
so in life We can have circumstances that happened to us that we don't really anticipate and we don't always see why until we've got a little bit of hindsight and we can look back upon it and David is looking back upon some things and he's reflecting upon some of the challenges that came into his life. And my mind reflected to a sports figure that I follow in CrossFit. He's a professional athlete is name is Matt Fraser. Some of you may have known him. He was interviewed recently by CNN. And the reason was is because he has a really interesting story part of which will will look at right now in the interview. He discusses his back-to-back second place medals. Which most of us would think second place at the CrossFit games? That's pretty phenomenal is more than I could achieve and that was in 2014 and 2015. However, Matt said this he couldn't get out of his head that second-place represented to me all the cut Corners the slacking off the thinking I could out train a bad diet simply. stuff like that if I had one in 2015 while carrying those bad habits, I would have kept those bad habits. I would have thought okay. I can do this while eating terribly I can do this while training sporadically. So for a long time I hated that metal. It kept me up at night. It was the source of my disappointment and Matt describes how he began to lose hope for a few months. You didn't go to the gym. Actually. I mean this guy was a with a CrossFit athlete. And I'm using that analogy because in this situation of the songs that were reading David made some choices. He made some bad choices never talked about three aspects of suffering, but we don't know exactly what David's problem was, but we do know that David did play a role in the problem and the suffering similar to Matt Fraser. He was running the race to win as we're told in 1st Corinthians 9 Ivory Runner that's in a race runs to win Sao Paulo exhorts us. You need to run to win. Matt shows to cut Corners. He chose some bad habits. They thought well, that'll be good enough. So when he saw that silver metal, it wasn't his best effort. It wasn't really firmstrong discipline that he brought into his life. It wasn't setting a good example. It was really the results of half-hearted So what you look at David's problem? In versus 1 2 3 and I want you to see the impact that it had in his life.
notice what it says in verse 2 David said I was mute and silent. I held my peace. but to no avail in my distress grew worse my heart became hot within me as I mused the fire burn and then I spoke.
What was the impact on David with the circumstances that pressured him? Well, he had a loss of Direction and verse to it says what he did try to do was to no avail. He lost Direction when we start to lose direction in our life purpose. We can start to feel a sense of hopelessness.
Secondly is verse 3. He says his stress or his distress grew worse his heart became a hot within him as he mused the fire burned. He had an increase of not only a loss of Direction, but an increase of distress and not only that but an Outlook of despair cuz then he says oh Lord numbers for make me to know my end.
in our lives when life hits us. Depending on how we choose to respond to it. If we respond like David did here. You can lose perspective.
You can have a loss of Direction even doing good things. The stress can become increasingly mounting, doesn't it? And then we have an Outlook of despair. Now why why did this happen to David? Because wasn't he doing a good thing? That's why I skip the first one wasn't David actually doing a good thing. Look at verse 1. He said well, I I will choose the guard my ways that I might not sin with my tongue. Isn't that a good thing? Wasn't David choosing to do a good thing there? He was trying to guard protect his ways his ways are that traveled and established path that he would walk outwardly that others would see any tried to control that you said I will manage that. So isn't that a good thing? Will the Bible says in Ephesians 5:15 carefully how you walk not as unwise but wise making the best use of your time because the days are evil, so wasn't that a good thing that he did absolutely was an awesome think that he did. What was the second thing he did so I will guard my mouth with a muzzle. So long as the wicked are in. My presence will isn't that a good thing? You said? I'm going to guard my mouth using a muzzle to restrict or prevent himself from saying and blurting out things. That would be hurtful. And would be disparaging to the name of Lord wouldn't isn't that a good thing? Yes, absolutely. It's a good thing and often that's where we stopped in our lives. Life hits us and so we get back. And we try to say okay, how can I manage this situation to the best of my ability? I'm going to muzzle my mouth.
So that I can't talk. I can't see what's actually stirring inside. I'm going to try to manage my ways where I go. And that's actually a good thing. I mean Jesus talks about Extreme Measures as if your hand causes you to sin cut it off and your iPad causes you to sin gouge out. Those are good things. But if that is how we view Our Lives. It's merely outward Behavior Lee managing ourselves. We will end up just like David. Because what happened no matter how much you could manage where he went or didn't go no matter how much he could manage. Wrapping that duct tape around his mouth around his mouth this way.
What happened? He became hot within himself. It says his heart became hot. So where did David go wrong? He didn't guard his heart.
David guarded his ways. David guarded his mouth. But David didn't guard his heart.
We so much want to have life go easy. We so much want to be able to manage and control the details of what we can see but the Bible talks very clearly that the problems. often are right here inside of us there in our hearts the Bible talks about the heart of man being how he thinks. How he feels how he chooses to act. We have a body and we have a soul or a heart. We have the Mind emotions and will that's our heart.
In Proverbs 4:23. It says keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the Springs of Life. at this moment David forgot that Proverbs 23:7 says as a man thinks in his heart his heart thinks.
Moses said love the Lord your God with all your heart.
the heart has affection it has feeling
We want something more than we want something else and whatever that is drives us forward. It really it in for David. He was trying to do something good when he saw what was going on around him the wicked were in his presence, and he said I'm just going to muzzle myself. Not going to Bridal to redirect. I'm going to muzzle.
I'm I'm going to control where I go.
But the source of it all. I'm going to walk away from I'm going to cut the corner this time just like Matt Fraser set. I'm going to cut the corner. I'm going to allow some bad habits to come in and I'm not going to guard my heart.
Do you see what he did in verse 3? It says he mused. And that's what we do. We Muse we meditate. Word muse has the idea of processing information by giving consideration to various aspects of it.
When when you wake up your mind starts going like this with a narrative that just starts going the movie hits play as soon as you your eyes open and it starts rolling. You don't even know what that movie. Is this often. You just know that all the sudden you're thinking things.
That's why we have to actually guard our hearts because if that narrative that rolls is something that
I want to be mad at you because of what you did to me. I don't want to forgive you because of what you did to me. I'm going to find a way to get back at you. Even if it's just in my head.
What happens? our hearts go dark
And it affects us deep within we want to avoid our hearts. all the time
David didn't deal with his heart. And he got so dark. He was like tell me when it's going to end Lorde. Sometimes that's how we feel.
So David thought his problem was the situation but God knew that David had stop guarding his heart and like Matt Fraser. He was cutting Corners in creating bad habits. What about you? things that
You're stressing over. They may not be because of your own making. But a principal you can still extract from this and say how am I doing at guarding my own heart? This may not been have been caused because of me but still I am here now, it may be because of you you may have done something you may not have muzzled your mouth properly and you reacted on someone and you created a whole Firestorm out there and you don't want to deal with it.
We still need to guard our hearts. We have to start there. We have to reconcile with our God and look at what David did David pivots and verses 6 & 7 member we read through versus 1 to 5, and then there was the Sailor.
Stop and think about this will be just did that he that moves on and sit in 2 verses 6 and 7 with a pivot. He leaves that the initial conversation as he's leaving be starting the next conversation in these kind of bleed together.
He says surely a man goes about as a shadow surely for nothing. They are in turmoil and man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather.
David's pivot, was he began to view his simself and realizing? He wasn't in control. He could gather up all the wealth in the world. He could work as hard and hard and hard as he wanted 70 hours a week.
But who's going to gather it? Who's going to own it in the end? Is he? What do we invest ourselves in?
It doesn't mean we shouldn't work hard at work or we shouldn't work hard the things that we put that are put in front of us, but it does mean what is it that is absorbing our time and energy for David. He realized he wasn't in control really.
The one effect of sin was death and he couldn't control when that would happen. So he began to get a right perspective on himself. No one is really in control. Well, you might say what how is that hopeful well because with a right view of yourself, you can now have a right view of God and that's verse 7 and now oh Lord. What do I wait My Hope Is In You How did this view of God change? Right in the middle of the song. He uses the word Lord. Capital L lowercase o r d at the beginning in the end of the song he use capital L capital O capital r capital D again. You say why does that matter? Because in the beginning of the song at the end of the song Lord spell with the capitals means Yahweh the self-existent one the Covenant keeping God. It's his personal name to Moses. I am that I am so it's it's like saying Rick.
my personal name you can say director of biblical counseling at West London Alliance. That's the title for seven. Lordkat lowercase L O R D is I don't know why me Lord.
He humbled himself here. This is where David changed in his headspace about how he looked at himself and how he looked at his circumstances. He realized he wasn't in control of those details, but God. And so he cries out to Adonai. Lord I'm going to humble myself. Speaks of his posture. He said it's enough of my musing. It's enough of my moralizing. It's enough of my jockeying and maneuvering. I'm going to stop that because I'm not King and I'm also not a victim. I am a child of the king.
And so his Hope was restored in this regard. Because he found his source of strength. In Adonai in Yahweh in his God and not in how he could control his circumstances.
It wasn't based on how he could control where he went or how they could muzzle is mouth. Often left unchecked from the heart can go awry because we can spend time looking like we're good outside to others, but I'm daresay that inside your heart's right now. For those of you that are screaming inside out of the pain that you're feeling of the frustration that you're feeling the suffering that you're feeling.
How's your heart doing?
The Angst that can be in our life can become overwhelming when we choose to not guard our hearts it's doesn't mean that we won't feel pressure and weight, but it does mean We're working within the Dynamics of how God is wired us.
In Psalm 19 verse 14 you want to flip back there? Psalm 19 verse 14
David said let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord my rock and my redeemer, so the words of his mouth and the meditation of Spokane do this.
But in this circumstance he chose to cut the corner. So this isn't a time for us to beat ourselves up. It is a time for us to just have a sense of humility before God and say Lord. I I chose to cut corner. See I don't want to do this. I need to guard my heart where my heart is far from you.
In Psalm 42:5 David talking often about how he feels overwhelmed like the like the circumstances are like waves of the sea crashing upon him an overwhelming him. He feels it in Despair and he just keeps talking and talking like this and then all the sudden there's two parts of that song where he stopped. And he says why are you cast down? Oh my soul. Hope in God. What was he doing? He was confronting. His part is thinking. The Narrative was going and he was listening to it and he was fixating on it and it was bringing him down. What did he do? He confronted it and he started to speak to himself and preach to himself. Why are you cast down? Hope in God. If we have a right view of who God is and we know who God is. That won't sound too crazy. It's on 40 verse 4. It says blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust who does not turn to the proud to those who go astray after Ally.
You have to believe a lie, whether it's someone else's our own concocted one. Which leads our hearts astray?
What's the lie that you're believing about your circumstance? What's the lie that you're believing about yourself or about God?
What's that? Prompting of the spirit that God's been doing in your life and trying to get you to open your eyes and you're just been resistant to him. He's doing that because he loves you and he cares for you. He's not doing it as a punitive God. He's doing it out of the loving Father's Heart that wants the best for you and for me and he knows if we don't guard our hearts how we think what we think about what we give her ourselves over to him. We won more than anything else in the choices that were willing to make that Will's decision if we give ourselves over to things that are a lie. But what happened in Genesis when? Adam and Eve gave themselves over to a lie very seemingly simple
created this Firestorm. There is no small lie. There is no Corner that you can cut that isn't cutting a corner that isn't a bad habit. And so it's really important. That we pursue God blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord who trusts whose trust is the Lord. Because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick who can understand it. I the Lord search the heart and test the mind only God has the perfect vantage point. So when I look at this song, I am so thankful for David's transparency. He said you know what I really tried to do a good thing here. I saw a problem out there. I didn't want to shame God's name. So I chose to muzzle my mouth and not speak falsely not speak in a way. That would be that's that's good David, you know, I I didn't want to send with my tongue. I was trying to be more I was trying to act morally true, but you allowed That would to be stoked in the fire of your heart. Not for the holy things of God, but
after his own flesh and what he wanted. He got mad and he got turned all around.
It doesn't have to be us. It doesn't have to be you. so encourage you pivot like David did Get a right perspective of yourself. You're not in control get a right perspective of God. He is the one that's in control. He is the one is not a way in control, but he can help and care and heal your own heart. That is why he sent Christ into this world. Is it not No way to make a tournament for our sin. Different to save us from the penalty of it. But also from the presence of it in our own lives. the power of it in our own lives
we often Focus. Thankfully on the Salvation that God has brought to us in Christ and one day he's coming again. To deliver us and there will be no more tear there will be no more sorrow, but we forget about the here and now you forget about the here and now I forget about the Here and Now.
Is there not salvation today? Is there not Deliverance today? Absolutely. It says in Romans 8:29 that we were actually called. We were four known we were predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Jesus de Paul said in Philippians that God will complete the work he began in you will what's that work? Christlikeness? What's christlikeness? It's so that when the circumstances of Life hit us we respond like Christ. What how is that possible? Because for David is Brighton in this regard it wasn't true. The only way it's possible is if we actually takes seriously guarding our heart. So David's prayer, you'll see here. It's a simple prayer. It's not a perfect prayer, but it's a prayer of confession deliver me from all my transgressions. He was transparent. He said do not make me the form of the school do not make me the scorn of the fool. The fool was the one who says what there is no God.
And so David is saying I don't want to be the scorn of that. I I know I missed up here.
Notice now what he says, I am mute. I do not open my mouth. For it's you. Who have done it? David wanted to not open his mouth and speak incorrectly right to sin. Boiled up inside and spoke anyway so much what we do we try to manage the situation we boil up inside and then we verbal vomit anyway on people it's what we do. If we don't go to her heart as David turned his heart over to the Lord and begin to Hope in him again. God controlled his heart so that he could be in silent in the midst of the very same circumstances. What a difference. We get it all backwards. We get it all backwards.
He says here in verse 10 remove your stroke from me that word stroke has the idea of his his Touch of bringing into his world that correction. Jesus is Lord move it for me. Why what's painful? But also he could say that because he learned. said that the Lord disciplines him with rebukes for his sin.
You consume like a moth what is dear to him? He lost some things that were dear to him.
You didn't have to. But here's the point. God's love loves you so much that he's willing to do whatever it took to get your attention. And if he has to work through circumstances of suffering to get your attention he's going to do it because he wants your attention because he wants your heart to be transformed from the evil have that sin brings into our life.
And so I want to encourage you.
Pray, like David did search me and know me. See if there is any wicked way in me. And Lead Me in the way Everlasting.
It needs to be our prayer. There's a confession that he has there is a correction that he recognizes there's Contrition in his own heart hear my prayer O Lord and give ear to My Cry hold not your peace at my tears.
Do you think because he's crying?
God is
thinking he can't right. Is truly repentant. Are we always by the way? Repentance and truly change their thinking when we cry.
when we moan About our circumstances. Come on be honest when you moan and you cry about some of your circumstances should surely isn't because you're repentant it's because you're irritated that this is happening and it shouldn't And my will is not done. I know cuz I do the same thing and I will and I moan. Can I give you an example?
this past week I needed to learn a lesson. And God use my wife to teach me.
Self-induced frustration is what I call this while we were cleaning through the house doing some different tasks and all those that was good. I was actually excited to be part of that and I was going in and out of the house. So I had my my Bruins had Ansari Bruins hat on and I set it down on the table and I then took my wallet out and put it on the table and then I took my keys out and I put it on on the table over here and she kept saying throughout the day Rick. Can you please make sure you put your hat away? No problem. Could you make sure that your wallet gets put away? No problem. Can you make sure your keys get hung up? Sure. Yeah, I remember it as I'm running around doing stuff. Well, I wake up. It's 4:50 in the morning for 4:50 cuz I'm getting ready to go to the gym and I'm looking around and going where's my keys?
Where's my wallet? This doesn't make any sense. I know I wouldn't have done this. What where is my keys? And I know I left it somewhere. Yeah, I left it somewhere. All right. anyway I spent a good 15 minutes almost late getting out my was late getting out and like what is happening. I don't want to wake up my wife. So I said I've got to bite the bullet. Theresa any idea where my keys are in your hat and on the chair at the table and I slid it for the plate. That's awesome. I thought to myself thank you so much for teaching me a lesson to clean the space and put it away. That's not what I thought. I was so agitated. I'm driving to the gym thinking this is irritating. Why would you do this to me?
I can't believe it. There was nothing wrong with leaving those things right there that we do it we so do it you do it I do it. And then I sat down and I'm reading this song. I'm gone you goof. You didn't guard your heart you let your mind wander to a narrative that wasn't true and you believe the lie. And and so I had to say Lord forgive me. How you corrected me and in a in a humorous way. I need to learn how to put things away and honor my home in that regard. Well as change hasn't taken place until change takes place. So I want to encourage you to learn how to guard your heart again don't conflate every issue of suffering together as far as it's cause but you can extract principles from the suffering and how you choose to respond to what's come at you and that's really what is going on in this song. David is beginning to see how he is choosing to respond. Is he Imaging God? Paul said to Timothy train yourself for godliness.
It means exercise. That's the word train for Christ likeness. So just want to encourage you. Learn what it means to guard your heart. There's a whole nother sermon on what that could mean. Search the scriptures. What it means to guard your heart. Search the scriptures for what it means to train yourself like an athlete would for godliness and I'll give you a hint you can turn to 1st Timothy and I'm not going to do it but you can look at 1st. Timothy 4 or 6 to 16 and it gives you some principles of how you can train yourself in 1st Timothy 4:6 1st, Timothy 4:6 to 16. Oh, by the way, Matt Fraser, he went on to win after 2015 three consecutive CrossFit Games. And as he's going into his fourth this year, he says I'm dedicating everything I have for the month prior and there's a real possibility that the things won't go right. It's frustrating to hear some people's have this perceived perception. Oh you just show up and when but they don't see behind-the-scenes how much goes into it how dedicated my day today is that my life revolves around eating sleeping training social life and everything. And now today he is the fourth time Champion he trained and he won this past July again. So just a lesson allow. Hope to be restored by getting a right perspective of God a right perspective of yourself guard your hearts and you can smile again in the midst of your suffering. Or we thank you for your word. We thank you for its Candor. It's open Ness. We thank you Lord that you don't hold any punches. You will do whatever it takes to transform us from the inside out and Lord. I pray for those that are here that have chosen a path whether that's through their health whether that's through. Their relationships with family or with friends whether that's Lord engagement here at the church and they chose to do this in a wrong way and they chose to bring it upon themselves in bring about horrible consequences or stress or strain God. I pray that you'd help them to see that the how to reconcile these relationships how to reconcile these circumstances and that they would start with allowing you to transform them from the inside out hold them fast. For so much Lord, we lose sight of it all and if it wasn't for you doing that we would fall away forever. But we know that the salvation in Christ Springs New Life in us and that new life is the spirit of God within and he will never let us go maybe praise you for that in Jesus name.