God and Personal Pain
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Thursday sitting on the couch and Luther climbed up into our lap. (Show Pic) He was acting as if his life was horrible and he just needed love.
A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. 1 O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. 2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. 4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, 5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. 6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah 8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; 9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you. 10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah 11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. 14 O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? 15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. 16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. 17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. 18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
In our text today we are going to look at 9 things we need to learn about suffering from this Psalm. I divided them up into three sections to help us understand them better so off we go,
Attitudes in Suffering
1. It can be viewed as all encompassing. (vs. 17)
2. It can feel overwhelming. (vs. 3)
3. It can cause you to question God. (vs. 14)
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
We acknowledge our suffering but we are not defined by it. The world tells you to be defined by your suffering and circumstance, as Christians we do not do that. This is why we cannot just sit in our minds while suffering, we must make sure we are doing what God calls us to do,
Actions in Suffering
4. Don’t stop Praying! (vs. 1-2)
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
5. Know your Theology! (vs. 10-12)
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
23 “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! 24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
6. Be Obedient to Christ! (vs. 13)
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
The Pilgrim’s Progress The Fourth Stage
Now at the end of this valley was another, called the Valley of the Shadow of Death; and Christian must needs go through it, because the way to the Celestial City lay through the midst of it.
Keep walking through the valley, be obedient. Actions are important but you must have the right perspective in order to carry them out correctly which is why you must get,
Altitude in Suffering
7. Suffering isn’t abnormal. (vs. 4-7)
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
8. Suffering isn’t ultimately about you. (vs. 9)
Heman Suffered - This Psalm has been used for generations.
You will suffer for God’s glory - He will use your hurt
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
9. Suffering leads us to the cross. (vs. 16)
I stand amazed - Hymn Lyrics
He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them his very own;
He bore the burden to Calv'ry,
And suffered and died alone.
How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be;
How marvelous! How wonderful!
Is my Savior's love for me!
Suffering of Christ. - GOSPEL
Suffering now, Glory Later.
When we are able to see and do these nine things clearly we can know,
Suffering is real, I can live through it, and God is using it in my life and for the benefit of others, for the glory of Christ.
The light of the gospel shines even in the pit of our despair and says, I’m here, I know, I have you, I am with you.
Just like Luther, we do not see the big picture, God does. Run to the one who knows.
Admit your hurt
Act in obedience
Keep an eternal perspective