Don't Be a But (Praising Amidst Pain)

Jim Noble

Pre-Launch • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Habakkuk 3:16–19

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The best prescription for pain is praise

Notes

Transcript

Children’s Sermon

Some of us have big buts, did you know that? (Maybe have a big BUT sign). Hold it up when using the world…I would do this BUT. I would come to church more BUT. I would pray more BUT. I would be nice to him or her BUT, etc.

Scripture

Habakkuk 3:16-19 - When I heard of it, my stomach churned; my lips quivered; my bones rotted; my legs shook. I wait patiently for the day of distress to come for those invading us. Though the fig tree is barren, nor is any fruit on the vines, though the olive crop withers, the fields yield nothing, and there are not sheep in the pens or cattle in the barns, I’m singing joyfully in the Lord. I’m dancing with joy in the God of my salvation. God is my strength. He makes my feet nimble like a deer, he makes me tread on high hills.

Engage

I’ve named this series Pre-Launch. Why? Well, here is my thinking…I had dreams of re-launching St. Luke, in a way, when COVID was almost fully out of the way. But we don’t know when that’ll be, exactly. Truthfully, though, we should always have a mind of re-launching ourselves as Christians…in what positive ways would we act if we were a brand new Christian, just plucked from the fire, in the words of John Wesley? What if we were a brand new church? How would things be different? BACKGROUND PICTURE OF EAGLE, EXPOUND. I’m using Pre-launch instead of Re-launch for two reasons. First, COVID is still a huge unknown and we have a moving definition of what is smart and reasonably safe to undergo. Also, because I’m using stories mainly from the Old Testament. What are some of the stories of people re-launching their lives, their ministries, their relationships in the Scriptures before Christ was born? And what lessons can we learn from those stories? Also, how did people, mainly in the Old Testament, act in times of pain or uncertainty…such as what many of us have been living through as a whole…and some even more as individuals? Folks the New Testament is profound and life-changing…It’s the story of Jesus, our Lord and Savior…but, as perhaps you’ve learned about me already, I believe the Old Testament is FAR from being unimportant. It informs, predicts, illuminates, and explains a great deal about the coming of Jesus and all that he fulfills.

Anyway, today, I focus in general on the relationship between pain and praise. We’re in a season with a fair amount of pain. Deaths, surgeries, cancer, COVID, illnesses, the list is not short. As we, or those we know and love, are experiencing challenges and pain, what does the Bible tell us about our frame of mind?

One of the most positive, praise giving people I’ve ever known was a member of the Alice church named Linnie Key (PICTURE). Linnie died in 2013 at the age of 97. Linnie was a beaming ray of sunshine to all who knew him. He married a bit later than some and yet treated his step kids no different than he would’ve treated his own children had he fathered any. He was an amazing friend, too. He always had a jar full of peanut M&M’s ready for anyone who visited. He was also such an amazing greeter at the church that after his death, I created this (PICTURE): Linnie’s welcome table. It isn’t that Linnie never faced any adversity…he was a veteran of WW2, he lost people he loved, he battled some health challenges, and the like. But he just beamed positivity and faith. He lived a life of PRAISE for God and for all the people he knew and loved.

Encounter

Friends, one of the lessons we learn from the Bible as a whole, even the Old Testament, is that the best prescription for pain is praise. Really, it’s the best prescription for all our lives at all times, but particularly when it’s amidst challenges.

We don’t find this nugget of wisdom just in the Bible, but it’s all over the Bible. We see it in the genre of music known as the Blues. Singing the blues helps take the edge off of pain or grief. As I’ve mentioned before, Neal Diamond sang how a Song Sung Blue is a funny thing, but you can sing it with a cry in your voice and before you know it get to feeling good, you simply have no choice. We see it with laughter that can come via praise. It’s hard to hurt emotionally when you’re laughing. One of the constants I noticed visiting Debbie Coleman in her last weeks and months was laughter…Debbie laughing, her family laughing, her friends laughing. It was glorious, even amidst many challenges.

I said something once in a Sunday School that I didn’t think was profound, yet at least one person found it so…it’s perfectly acceptable to PRAY for laughter. God wants us to have it! Linnie had a great laugh, Debbie had one, many others as well.

Let’s look at some Old Testament examples of this principle of praise amidst pain in action. I always encourage you to have your Bibles open to the passage I’m preaching…or letting your fingers walk around a bit as the old Telephone commercial used to say…if you’d like, I invite you to do some Bible flipping today. There should be a Bible near you if you didn’t bring one. Take it, open it, share it if necessary.

Let’s turn to Psalm 22 - this is a Psalm written amidst intense, real-life challenge David is experiencing. He’s running from Saul, we believe. He’s terrified…moving from cave to cave and such. Look at v1 - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Sound familiar? Jesus quotes this from the cross, of course. As you read on, you’ll see David is in a deep, dark place. But then look at v22 - I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you! - There’s a big switch here…Look at the second part of v26 - those who seek the Lord will praise him! David is practicing praise amidst pain. The best prescription for pain is praise. It’s my belief, though I won’t know until we meet face to face, that Jesus quoted the first line of this Psalm on the cross KNOWING his audience had it memorized…and knowing it ends in resounding praise! Jesus was praising amidst pain!

Now flip, if you would, further into the Old Testament…past the major prophets…Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and so forth…into the minor prophets. Somewhere in the middle you’ll Jonah. One of my very favorite 66 books of the Bible. Jonah had fled God, tried to get away from a seemingly impossible (ah, but God!) task God had assigned him, and was in a great fish, or whale, or whatever it was. He almost certainly believed he was dead. This was it. Life was over and whatever awaited him after life was coming. Ah, but look at Chapter 2 and v4 - part of his prayer, “Yet I will look again toward your holy temple.” Jonah makes a lot of mistakes, but he gets this right! Then v9, one of my favorites in all Scripture, “I, with a song of Thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” Sounds like praise to me! The best prescription for pain is praise!

Go forward a bit more and you’ll find Habakkuk, our Scripture for today. Also in what we refer to as the minor prophets. Praise Jesus what a fantastic little book Habakkuk is. There’s a great clip of a Billy Graham sermon that is viral on the internet perhaps you’ve seen, or will see. Billy says that God told Habakkuk…I’m not going to tell you what I’m doing because if I did, you wouldn’t believe it! Habakkuk ends his book with our Scripture today…not knowing what’s coming but PRAISING anyway. RE-READ SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY!

Finally, another favorite from the Old Testament perhaps I’ve mentioned before. A much more ancient story…flip back with me if you would just past Esther and just before Psalms…to the glorious book of Job. Talk about pain! Job experienced an overwhelming dose of it. Job is living testament that we WILL handle more than we ever WISHED or thought we COULD handle. Finally, after 37 chapters of Job and his friends expounding their philosophies, complaining, pointing fingers, giving advice, and such…God reveals himself to Job. I believe Job sees the very face of God in this encounter. This is before any part of Job’s health, or family, or wealth, or anything has been restored. Chapter 42 and verse 5, Job repents from his criticisms, yes…but this is a form of praise. He says, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” In my translation…WOW, GOD, I HAD NO IDEA HOW AWESOME YOU WERE! Even at the height of Job’s tremendous challenges comes one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture, Job 13:15 - Though he slay me, yet I will hope (or trust) in Him. That is Praise! Trust IS a form of praise! Job also praises God by praying for his friends at the end of the book…who haven’t really been much help at all. He prays for them because he sees them as God does…important, albeit flawed, children of God. The best prescription for pain is praise!

Now, we humans like prescriptions that REMOVE our symptoms. If I’ve got a backache…doctor, give me a pill that will take my pain away! Just look at how many products, formulas, commercials there are for PAIN on television, the internet, etc. What lengths we go to.

Praise doesn’t necessarily remove pain. But it promises to IMPROVE it. And, it opens up our hearts to God working amidst it. It opens our hearts to see our lives from a different angle, a different perspective. It may prayerfully allow us to re-assess our priorities, our relationships, our worship. We sometimes fall into being buts…B - U - T - S. I would worship God and Jesus, BUT. I would pray BUT. I would Praise God IF, or I would praise God BUT…it may be a challenge, I realize, but don’t be a but...

Empower

Thomas Ken has been called England’s first hymnist. He was born in 1637 and educated in a famous all boys school. Later, he was ordained and returned to the school as chaplain. He wrote three hymns in 1674 to encourage the devotional habits of his students. His morning hymn began with, “Awake, my soul, and with the sun thy daily stage of duty run; shake off dull sloth and joyful rise, to pay thy morning sacrifice.” His evening hymn included this verse, “All praise to Thee, my God, this night, for all the blessings of the light! Keep me, O Keep me, King of kings, beneath thine own almighty wings.”

But, Thomas knew difficulty. His parents died when he was very young. Later, he was appointed chaplain to England’s King Charles II, a man with many mistresses. Once the king asked Thomas to house one of his mistresses in the chaplain’s residence. The King, the head of a majority of the world and likely the most powerful man in the world at the time, was essentially ordering him. Thomas’s response? “Not for the King’s Kingdom!” King Charles after always referred to him as, “that little man who refused lodging to poor Nellie.” Later, Thomas was sent to the Tower of London due to his protestant convictions…He died at the age of 74 residing at a friend’s house. He lived a life of praise…no matter the circumstances.

By the way, the hymns he wrote (the first hymns, really, to that point only Psalms were sung and he told the boys to only sing them in their rooms), all ended with a common stanza. Maybe it’ll sound familiar to you, “Praise God, from Whom all Blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. You can find it, and Thomas Ken’s name, on pp94-95 of our Hymnal!

We can live lives of praise!!! Will you join me in doing your very best to praise through pain! Amen...