The End of Ourselves

Context

David brings the theme of waiting to the forefront in Psalm 37, and expands on that theme is Psalms 38 & 39. We know that David was an old man when he wrote Psalm 37 (see v. 25), but whether we are young, old or in between, waiting is very much a part of life. And often waiting is connected to suffering of some kind. None of us enjoy waiting, but often what we are waiting for is relief, help or an answer of some kind.

In the 37th Psalm, the theme of waiting brought David to say:

Psalm 37:1–4 ESV

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

While we wait for the Lord to deliver us from our suffering, David counsel is to trust in the Lord, do good dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

But, as we noted before, waiting is often suffering. David expressed this in Psalm 38

Psalm 38:5–8 ESV

My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning. For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

When we experience hardship in our hearts… a deep concern, grief or disappointment, there is a sense of groaning we experience, even if it is not audible.

And when we wait, if we have any concern for honoring the Lord in the midst of our waiting, we struggle against ourselves. We struggle this way because there is part of us in our desperation for the waiting to end that wants to take matters into our own hands. To give up on waiting on the Lord, and attempt to manufacture the relief we crave.

David expresses this tension in Psalm 39

Psalm 39:1–3 ESV

I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.” I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse. My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

David was guarding his ways…, muzzling his mouth, holding his peace, but he confessed that it was to no avail. His efforts in self control didn’t seem to make any difference. His desperation continued to increase no matter what he did.

But waiting is God’s design for His people. Certainly, waiting is difficult and can even feel unbearable, but it can be used by God to spur our growth in Him (for our sanctification).

We see David’s waiting giving way to restoration and joy in the 40th Psalm:

Psalm 40:1–3 ESV

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

Much of Psalm 40 is a celebration us God’s deliverance of David. But as an old man, who has been through much heart ache, and certainly much waiting, David had perspective on his life. He waited, God provided in such a way that he didn’t have to wait, but then he needed to wait again, and we see that in our sermon text.

Psalm 40:17 ESV

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

Introduction

The year before we came to New Life

I felt I came to the end of myself, and there were times I was tempted to conclude that coming to the end of myself was the end. I felt that the only option at that time was to give up. I had nothing left to give and no more energy to strive for progress. Nearly 9 years later I find myself contending with the same struggle. I don’t think I’m alone in this feeling. Perhaps the reason for getting there varies, and perhaps you aren’t there right now, but you remember that feeling well.

FCF: If we’e not careful, we can conclude that coming to the end of ourselves is the end.

No other options except to give up. Coming to the end of ourselves is the end… it’s the worst place one can be.

But what I think David expresses here is really the opposite. Coming to the end of ourselves is not only, not the end, it is good.

Coming to the end of ourselves is good

How should we think through coming to the end of ourselves in order to conclude it is good?

The problem

David describes his problem in the first line of this verse: As for me, I am poor and needy. This is king David near the end of his life saying this. He knows what it is to suffer and to be delivered from his suffering. He knows what it is to be in a time of blessing and to experience the bareness seeking answers and relief with no apparent progress. This is life as we know it.

And despite the fact that David began this particular Psalm with a word of hope and deliverance, he ends it with this confession: I am poor and needy

poor: afflicted

needy: possessing little

Again, King David refers to himself this way. I suggest that the affliction and the lack he describes is one that is not so obvious as physical illness and little resources. David sees the affliction of his own sin and of the trials he has endured throughout his life. He sees that despite all the power he possesses as King, he really does not have anything in himself to preserve him. He needs God.

This is his problem, this is my problem, this is our problem and while feeling the effects of this problem us unpleasant, it is good. Why? Because being acutely aware of this reality, that living in this world, in our bodies of flesh contending with Satan and his evil forces all brings to the surface that we are unable to contend with all of these struggles with our own strength. We can’t do it. And knowing this, admitting it, confessing it like David does kills ambitions of self-reliance that well up inside all of us.

We are all poor and needy. Whether in a time of blessing or a time of suffering, we are always poor and needy. Afflicted and possessing little. We all therefore need the loving, nurturing, sustaining consolation of God to contend with our poor and needy state. This brings us to another consideration when it comes to understanding coming to the end of ourselves as good.

The consolation

The next line is the consolation that David takes while confessing his problem: but the Lord takes though of me.

In other words, the Lord considers me, the Lord pay attention to me.

Paying attention to my kids at the beach when they were little was exhausting

When we are experiencing and feeling the effects of our affliction and neediness, we need to remember that God is paying attention. Yes, we may wonder whee God is in the midst of all that. We may feel the cry that the Psalmist and Jesus cried out to God: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. But don’t loose sight of reality. reality that has been created and is sustained by God. He’s paying attention to us.

Part of the struggle we have with not allowing our suffering to result in forgetting that God is still there is our expectations. We have bought into the lie that suffering should have little to do with the life of the Christian. Maybe we’re willing to accept that some suffering will happen, but there’s a limit, right? We say, perhaps to ourselves, enough is enough. Time to get back to normal God. Time to get back to reality. At least as we prefer it.

But Jesus established what our expectations should be when it comes to suffering:

John 16:33 ESV

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.”

I want us to see the words that appear together is this same thought: peace, tribulation, take heart, overcome

Jesus told His disciples and we can lay hold of this same promise that we can have peace. But the prerequisite for peace is not that absence of tribulation. Jesus promises peace and tribulation all in the same thought. Jesus is saying peace and tribulation can go together… do go together. How is it possible for us to take heart, that is, to find encouragement in this? Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus has overcome the cause of our daily burdens, and disappointments and sorrows. We can endure through our affliction and neediness not because we have what it takes and certainly not because we can expect that our suffering will end before Jesus returns. But we can expect to have peace, even when we suffer because Jesus has overcome the world. He displayed that most clearly in His resurrection. Remember church, Jesus is alive.

We not through the sermon yet, but when we do conclude, we’re going to sing a song that may be new to many of us here. There is one stanza of the song that speaks to why we, as God’s people, can have peace in the midst of our problem.

God, your grace, like rising seas, has swallowed death and sin in me.

This is our consolation. Yes we are afflicted and in need, but despite our poverty, Jesus has defeated our fieriest enemies: death and sin.

And this brings us to the confidence we can have in seeing coming to the end of ourselves as good.

The confidence

You are my help and deliverer

What does it mean that God is our help and deliverer?

Help: aid - seeing this word in another context may help us understand more.

Psalm 108:12 ESV

Oh grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man!

Here the Psalmist is pleading with God for His help (aid) and also expresses why he is looking to God for help. Vain is the salvation of man. In other words, appealing to man for help will do no good because man is unable to help. He has no real help to offer. The psalmist is acknowledging that only God can provide the help needed. Only God can ultimately deliver him from his enemy. And the help God provides his people is always sufficient.

But the promise of God help is only part of the confidence. There’s also the fact that God is also our deliverer. What does this mean?

Deliverer = one who holds a shield over someone who needs to be protected. A deliverer is someone else’s champion.

Psalm 144:2 ESV

he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

God fends off all that could finally defeat us. Even when we fail and experience temporary defeat, God delivers us from final defeat. How do we know this? Jesus. Jesus, though His death and resurrection delivered His people from defeat.

1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through Jesus Christ. The context of this chapter in 1 Cor. is the resurrection of Christ. Which points us back to His death. God gives us the victory over anything that threatens our ultimate defeat through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We have mentioned here before the need to preach the right things to ourselves. We all preach to ourselves everyday. This has been my struggle. Preaching the wrong things to myself. I’m a failure, I’m pathetic, My only option is to give up.... Instead, we need to preach to ourselves

God you are our help and our Deliverer. You know who we are, what we need, when we need it and you will, all along the way, protect us from what can ultimately defeat us through Jesus Christ.

But we should not delay to plead with God. To plead His promises to Him. Coming to the end of ourselves is good, but when we do we should plead with God.

The plea

do not delay, O my God!

There is desperation here.

But this is not simply asking God to end the misery. This is a plea for more intimacy with God. And I think David understands the connection between our suffering and God’s glory as our means to this intimacy. Why do I say this?

Yes, David pleads that God would take notice of him and not delay to come to rescue him but look at verse 16

Psalm 40:16 ESV

But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

The last phrase in v. 16 more literally says: The Lord be magnified. This is our true rescue. There is liberation from our trouble through seeking that God would be glorified. Consider what Jesus said:

John 12:27-28 (ESV)

John 12:27–28 ESV

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Jesus was in front of a crowd acknowledging that He would be crucified, and in this prayer He connects His sacrifice to the glory of His Father. And the Father responds, proclaiming that He has glorified Christ and will glorify Him. The suffering of Jesus glorified God.

Our suffering is the pathway to Jesus Himself. Real intimacy. But seeing the connection between our suffering and the glory of God is crucial here.

Coming to the end of ourselves is good.

It’s there where we see reality clearly. We don’t need ourselves, a certain set of circumstances, pain-free, trouble-free lives. We don’t need to be free of disappointment. We need Jesus, and when we come to the end of ourselves, we see that clearly. We need His grace, and the good news is, He has given it to His people. Praise God.