No me Quitte Pas
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
We are learning how the book of Psalm teaches us to pray
We began this series last Sabbath about praying through the Psalms
As Pastor Jeff awakened us to the sovereignty of God.
That God is still on the throne standing up for the defenseless
There are 8 Genres for which all 150 Psalms fit into
Hymn, Lament Thanksgiving, Confidence, Remembrance Wisdom Sovereignty
Today we talk about the Lament
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Q1 Which is not a Genre? (Last time winners, Candy man)
What is a Lament?
A lament is the psalmist’s cry when he is in great distress
he has nowhere to turn but to God.
There are 3 types of complaints we read of in this genre
For example He may be troubled by his thoughts or actions
Distressed about the actions of others against him
Frustrated with God Himself.
Despite the fact that Lamentations are melancholy in nature
There are one or two moments with which the Psalmist makes clear his basic trust in God.
All Laments include some expression of trust in God.
Laments are similar in structure
Invocation /Plea to God for help, /Complaints,
Confession of sin or assertion of innocence /Curse of an enemy,
Confidence in God’s response, /Hymn or blessing
When is lamenting appropriate? (Think Job)
I always thought you were supposed to just suck it up
Because there is always someone doing worse than you.
The good thing is God always listens (Think Jonah)
Have you ever Lamented?
Lamenting makes me think of sackcloth, ash, fasting
Its like something you sit in for a while and have a good cry.
I know a guy who fasted 40 days and 40 nights.
(Watch Guess Ne Mi Qi Te Pas)
Its like someone broke in
and taped him without him knowing with all
The sweat, ugly tears, and indifference to audience
The strange message (shadow hands)
Is it possible to understand the intensity of his message in another language?
Thats what were talking about in looking at this kind of work
An intensity lost in translation over hundreds of years
Like Bulls Bashan he describes his enemies
We see David living out this lament
With words that point to the future even prophetically
To the experience of Christ several years later
Jesus makes this Psalm His own in His final moments
My God My God why have you forsaken me
Why are you so far from me?
This lament is not...
a hopeless begging for something that will never be.
it is not a break or breach of trust.
The Psalmist is disoriented
I tend to wonder what David was going through
I know he has been through a lot (shepherd)
I cant imagine any situation that could warrant the phrase “My God..”
The only time I think of is the loss of his son
What are the benefits of this kind of prayer?
Can we find something valuable
in the prayer of lamentation
that you and I can begin experiencing today?
It leads me to the question,
How do you respond when you feel God has suddenly left you
Why is being alone worse than Halloween doll heads
Is there any such thing as alone, unless the Omnipresent withdrawals.
The threat of true loneliness itself is a creepy thought
And to imagine the Son of God truly forsaken
and left alone by God the Father.
Have you ever felt alone?
Some of you this morning are alone
Alone because you believe it’s true.
And I have no space to try and convince you otherwise.
I have never known lament like this
There was a woman I knew, who lamented like David
She said, as bright as the sun shone through the window that morning
For her It was total and utter darkness.
She said that when she looked at the people
She loved, she did not recognize them.
She only felt numb, empty, terrified.
She described herself as the walking dead.
I want to pray this Psalm with you this morning
for all who feel like the walking dead.
If you know someone who feels forsaken, pray this with them.
And point them to the one who understands rejection and sorrow
Let’s Pray
Please turn in your Bible’s with me to Psalm 22
In verse 1-2 The Psalmist feels alone, Far far away,
like long distance, day and night.
He is restless without answers
Ever felt like that?
David knows feelings feel real
He also knows that while feelings change
God does not. V3 he says “yet you are holy.”
1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
bFar from my deliverance are the words of my cgroaning.
2 O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I have no rest.
That woman described the smell of that old carpet in her living room
Face down, fingers gripping the ground as if to secure her very sanity
She got up one morning and got outside with a friend to help with head space
She walked for 10 hours that day nonstop. Anxiety/Dep is real.
Despite the voices that demanded she give up
She remembered the Bible stories her mom read as a child
She remembered the stories of deliverance her parents had
This is how David did it, by remembering the past.
In You our fathers trusted;
They trusted and You delivered them.
5 To You they cried out and were delivered;
In You they trusted and were not disappointed.
So we learn thus far to lay your case your cause before the Lord
Because whether you are wrong or right He will listen.
Secondly we observe the young lady we will call her Dennise
We observe David and how He reframes his negative feelings
Q2 he does this in verse 4 looking back he
Follow me in V 6-8
But I am a worm and not a man,
A reproach of men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me asneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,
8 “Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”
V 6-8 He describes the mockery of his enemies
He describes himself as a worm and not a man.
A worm interprets as an object of judgement.
Whose worm will never die
They mock David and even Jesus in verse 8
8 “Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”
Let Him come down off that cross
KAHOOT Q3: What does David calling himself a worm mean?
The response of mockers is a testimony that confirms their suspicion.
Its like when someone says “We knew it.”
They are saying that God’s silence is your (judgement and rejection.)
I remember I used to be the “I knew it couple” I dated Dennise for 10 yrs
As he lifts this Psalm before God,
There is a part of David, and even myself
That wants God to answer in order to silence the mockers
and their false, misguided, short term victory.
V 9-11 David affirms before God that the silence is not inactivity
They say my God is asleep
Their voices seek to define the silence
When I’m feeling low, it is a temptation to believe that they are correct.
Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.
Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.
David has put things into perspective
That while mockers flock like hungry blood thirsty dogs
to fresh meat, gossip, and the latest scandal...
David proclaims that God was moving before
He was born into this world.
For Jesus, since the foundation of the world.
God is moving For you!
KAHOOT Q4: You made me (TRUST)
The next couple of parts of this prophetic poetic prayer
is difficult to quantify into a prayer formula
David talks about enemies and his physical condition
In one image you can almost see Jesus hanging on the cross.
David cries out to God “Be not far from me.” There is none to help.
He describes his enemy as surrounding Him.
V 12-15 David describes his condition in the presence of his enemies
He says his enemies are like Bulls of Bashan circling all around him!
The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land Bashan (The); Batanea
Region northeast of the River Jordan. Most of the area is a fertile plain, with plenty of water.
The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land Bashan (The); Batanea
The land of Bashan was famous for its rich pasture, on which grazed large herds of cattle and sheep (Deut. 32:14; Jer. 50:19, etc.).
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
Who say to your husbands, “Bring now, that we may drink!”
KAHOOT Q5: Bulls of Bashan can be thought of as
Have you ever felt surrounded?
Vulnerable as range of sight of the enemy is limited to peripheral
One has to walk half step circles to keep a paranoid eye on the enemy
Who are the bulls of Bashan in your life?
For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.
The scariest costume you can wear this Halloween
Is the alone mask
The one that appears ok on the outside.
But as cold as the breath of winter on the inside
She wouldn't sleep
She was afraid to take the medicine the doctor prescribed.
She had a breakdown, She was anointed
she had a break through
On one of the worst episodes of anxiety and panic she experienced
She happened upon an openly Christian Therapist
I say Christian because of the importance of prayer in her practice.
One day at a time she worked. Don’t give up friends.
She still works at it, God still hears her. Life is a process.
She said this Psalm reminded her of a type of therapy used by psychologists.
A type called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT is based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we act (behavior) all interact together. Specifically, our thoughts can determine our feelings and our behavior.
In a crisis of life, we can have negative and even unrealistic thoughts
about ourselves and those surrounding us.
Our interpretation can be skewed.
Our actions can be impacted negatively.
So when David describes being poured out, bones out of joint, melted wax, dried up
He’s not being a drama queen
He is expressing the reality of what he feels even if it is unrealistic.
A Psalm like this can help to reframe, refocus.
His cries begin to silence Everything begins to slow,
But you oh Lord, oh you my help, and at the end of v21
“you answer me.” as the scene seems to fade to black
and like resurrection morning when the tomb was found empty as lament turns to praise
Praise that reaches beyond calvary beyond the grave
Families of the nations are worshipping
He is surrounded again, but this time by the assembly
This time by descendants of Jacob
Those who seek Him, those who fear God
Families of the nations are worshipping
Because of what Jesus accomplished for David as David
Taking His place on the cross, dying for him as him
Psalm 22:31 (NASB95)
31 They will come and will declare His righteousness
To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.
IT IS FINISHED
In the Psalm of Lament we saw
that we can lay our case, whether Jonah or Job
How we feel changes, Who God is does not change
We then move into remembrance of deliverance once before.
Express what it looks like from your perspective
Enter into belief and move into praise
YET you have a purpose for my life since the beginning.
Save me, deliver me, answer me, I trust you.
Praise for a deliverance that reaches the cross of calvary
The end of V 31 says, “He Has performed it.”
David was waiting for the day to come
David prayed this Psalm
Jesus prayed this Psalm
So that We can pray this Psalm
Our sorrow will be turned to joy
Good news this morning, He has performed it
It is finished. Jesus died and rose again
Because He lives , I can face tomorrow
Because He lives all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
and life is worth the living just because He lives
