Psalm 119:145-152 - God's Word for the
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Introduction
Introduction
Q: What does desperation look like? What does it sound like?
In our passage this evening, we actually see that desperation looks like a man praying and sounds like a man crying out to God.
The Christian life can be a bit of balancing act: at the same time we are to be anxious for nothing but desperate for God.
Trials make us anxious but we are called to cast all our cares upon God trusting that He cares for us. But seeing that care result in tangible deliverance from the trial that makes us anxious is often a matter of desperation.
Psalm 119:145-152 is God’s Word for the desperate because in this passage the psalmist is desperate for deliverance.
We’ll see his desperation in the intensity of his cry for help and in the way he prioritizes crying out for help.
But in his desperation, the psalmist doesn’t lose hope in God, and he knows that true relief only comes according to the word of God.
Trials may be drawing near, but God is closer still.
[TS] Let’s consider a few major ideas from this passage…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: The Cry for Deliverance (Psalm 119:145-147)
#1: The Cry for Deliverance (Psalm 119:145-147)
145 I cried with all my heart; answer me, O Lord! I will observe Your statutes. 146 I cried to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies. 147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.
Q: What do you notice about the psalmist’s cry for deliverance in these verses?
[EXP] The cry for salvation is with the ‘whole heart.’ It is intense. The cry for salvation is undivided. It doesn’t look back at life in Sodom fondly while being pulled toward salvation. No, it focuses on salvation and sprints!
“Hear me, O LORD” is equivalent to “save me, (O LORD)”. The psalmist knows that if God hears, God will act. He will save.
In v. 147, the intensity of his cry rises. The word for ‘cry’ in v. 147 is a stronger word than that of ‘cried’ in vv. 145-146. The essential difference seems to be that the word in vv. 145-146 just means “cried,” while the word in v. 147 means “cried for help.”
The psalmist is begging God for deliverance.
[APP] We don’t know exactly what threat faced the psalmist except that some wicked men were accusing him, but we can already tell that he is desperate to escape the threat.
We face trials to our selves, families, communities, state, nation, and world. Some of these threats are physical, but many more are spiritual.
We should be desperately crying out for salvation and sanctification for our selves and for others.
But perhaps we don’t beg because we aren’t desperate. And we aren’t desperate because we don’t see what trouble we are in.
[ILLUS] In Acts 2, when Peter preached his Pentecost sermon, some of the people were cut to the heart. Their eyes were opened and they knew they needed salvation. They were desperate for it. So, they asked, “What shall we do to be saved?” And Peter said, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”
The Holy Spirit working through the Word of God opened their eyes to see their desperate situation, to see their need for salvation.
We need to ask God the Holy Spirit to open our eyes by the Word of God so that we can see the threats that loom over us individually and corporately.
Maybe if we see, we’ll feel the desperation.
Maybe if we feel the desperation, we’ll cry out to God as we should.
[TS] …
#2: Deliverance Leading to Obedience (Psalm 119:145-146)
#2: Deliverance Leading to Obedience (Psalm 119:145-146)
145 I cried with all my heart; answer me, O Lord! I will observe Your statutes. 146 I cried to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies.
[EXP] Notice that the psalmist wants to be delivered so that he can “observe (God’s) statutes” and “keep (His) testimonies.
The psalmist understands that deliverance leads to salvation.
In his commentary on this verse, W. S. Plumer wrote, “Deliverance is to be an animating motive to obedience.”
James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
It would be odd for God to save us so that we can continue to rebel against Him!
The psalmist understands that if God saves him, it will not be so that psalmist can do whatever he wants but so that he can do whatever God wants.
[ILLUS] In the early church there were some who taught that salvation meant they could sin in whatever way they wanted too. Their thinking was, “If Jesus died to save us from the penalty of God’s law, then we can break God’s law without penalty!”
Q: How would you respond to that sort of twisted thinking?
To that sort of twisted thinking, the Apostle John offered the following reply in 1 John 2:3-6…
3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
[APP] We must not fool ourselves: if we have been saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, then we will strive to live as Jesus says to live.
Salvation is motivation for obedience.
[TS] …
#3: The Psalmist asks to be heard because of God’s grace and revived according to God’s Word (Psalm 119:147-148)
#3: The Psalmist asks to be heard because of God’s grace and revived according to God’s Word (Psalm 119:147-148)
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words. 148 My eyes anticipate the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word.
[EXP] The psalmist says, “Before the sun comes up, my prayers will rise up to you.” In his trial, the psalmist prioritized his crying out to God.
This was early, intense praying but it was not hopeless, unbelieving praying. The psalmist was hoping in God’s word—God’s covenant, God’s promises, the record of God’s faithfulness to His people.
The psalmist meditated on God’s word when others were sleeping, and in God’s word he found the hope to pray believing prayers.
[APP] We are told to pray believing prayers, to pray with faith. In Mark 11:24 Jesus said…
24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.
And in James 1:6-7, we read…
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
But where do we find the faith and hope to pray believing prayers? In the word of God!
But that belief, that faith, that hope will come to us by osmosis. We must prioritize not only our crying out to God but also our meditation upon His word.
We must dig deep in the word of God to find the faith, hope, and belief we need in our praying during times of trial.
Q: Let’s work together: What trials are you facing? (And as people share, the rest of us will think about what Scriptures might provide faith and hope for believing prayers.)
Trial with children
24 He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
Trial with marriage and family
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.
Trials with work
23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Trials with forgiveness
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Trials with temptation
13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
[TS] …
Conclusion
Conclusion
Threats and trials are certain to come. Let us be desperate for God when they arrive. Let us cry out to Him for salvation and sanctification even now. Let us find hope and faith to prayer believing prayers.
And let’s remember that as we cry out desperately, Jesus also cries out for us at the Father’s right hand.
He who died for us and rose for us now intercedes for us and shall continue to do so until we are home with Him.