"A Prayer for Help"
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King David knew a few things about suffering. He struggled with family brokenness, betrayal, the death of a child, and much more over the course of his life. Through the writing in the Psalms, we get to see a first hand picture of King David’s incredible strength and determination to cling to hope in hard times. But what does this look like for me today is the question that I think many of us may ask? Over the next few weeks as we go through several of the Psalms I want to show you how they offer us guidance as we fight through emotional and spiritual difficulties while we lean unto God for the future. Even in our greatest struggles, the Psalms remind us that God is walking beside us, and what may feel like the end of everything is just a bend in the road.
We all encounter difficult seasons and circumstances in our life. Today you may be struggling with family issues or financial difficulties. You may have even faced the sudden loss of a loved on or a diagnosis that has shaken you to the core. When we face really dark days and difficult seasons how do we hold on to hope? Here are 4 things that we see in Psalm Chapter 13. (Just a quick reminder as we jump in here church, that this is a Davidic Psalm, so it comes from David.)
1. Kick complaining to the curb.
1. Kick complaining to the curb.
Get Rid of It!!!!
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
How long O Lord? How many of us have said the same thing? How long God till you restore my health? How long God will it take for you to heal my marriage or give me a job????
How long is mentioned twice in verse 1 and twice in verse 2. Each “How Long” introduces a new complaint.
The first complaint is that David feels like God has forgotten him. Maybe you feel today as if God has neglected you as well.
The second thing David complains about is, how long will you hide your face from me O God? It’s as if God has now intentionally withdrawn His protection and salvation from David.
This complaint is about the sorrow he is dealing with.
4. And finally this last complaint is that he has been abandoned into the hands of his enemies. This enemy could mean death, but more likely it means human enemies. Those who are against David and his God.
Even though David’s feelings were real, he didn’t have to choose to complain. He didn’t realize that complaining never ever changes anything or gets us anywhere. Here is a good definition of complaining. Complaining is expressing dissatisfaction with a circumstance that is not wrong and about which we are doing nothing to correct. We all can complain far more than we like to admit. When we express resentment over circumstances that are beyond our control and about which we are doing nothing, we are complaining to God. And this is sinful.
When we read in the Old Testament about the Israelites and Moses after they left Egypt they begin the grumble and complain. Eventually God had enough, and most of the people died before they entered the Promised Land. They died because they grumbled against God. Now I know that some of you may be here, and say but complaining is not that big of a deal right? I mean stealing, murder sure they are more obvious sins, but who are we hurting when we complain???
First of all you are hurting yourself. Our complaints can lead to anger, bitterness, and even depression. God loves you and He doesn’t want you to hurt yourself. What hurts you, hurts Him, so complaining hurts you both.
Second, it hurts God. Complaining questions God’s sovereignty. What we are doing by complaining is saying God I don’t really think you can handle this, you blew it and didn’t meet my expectations. So, complaining definitely injures you and the Lord.
Finally, in addition to that, we hurt the people around us. We can affect others with our “stinking thinking.” No one wants to be around a Debbie Downer or a Discouraging Doug all the time, or trying to bring them down with you. Sorry if you are a Debbie or a Doug. My point is that complaining hurts more than just you.
In my own life complaining has been an issue. My wonderful wife can call my out on this and help me see the issue. I know I have to stop and pray and ask God to forgive me of this attitude. One thing that has helped me is to replace a complaining attitude with a thankful attitude. Think of all the things in your life that you are thankful for and admit these to the Lord. How can we hold on to hope? Get rid of a complaining attitude and replace it with a thankful attitude.
2. Ask the Lord for His help when things seem hopeless.
2. Ask the Lord for His help when things seem hopeless.
In order for us to hold on to hope we must seek the Lord church!!!
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
In verse 3-4 we see another repetition of 3 things.
Look or Consider.
Answer me.
Illumine or light up my eyes.
These 3 things are said in regards to David’s complaints. The real issue here is when David expresses his distress and talks about his feelings of separation from God. David’s real hope and trust here are the conviction that God alone holds the answer to his prayer. David knows and understands that God is in the center of his crisis whatever that may be, and it is also true that David sees God as the one who can deliver him from this crisis. This is why he is calling out to God. David knows he needs the Lord and knows he needs to seek him. Listen to these verses this morning.
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Do you have a desire to seek the Lord? To run to Him in Prayer?
Do you have a disciplined prayer life? John Bunyan who wrote the book Pilgrims Progress said this about prayer. “Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ.” When the days and seasons of hope grow dim in our lives, are we running to the Lord to pour out our desperate petitions before him? One of my favorite stories in the Bible is found in Exodus chapter 17. The Israelites are in battle against the Amalekites and Moses, Aaron, and Hur are up on top of this hill. As long as Moses’ arms were held up as he interceded in prayer for his people, the Israelites are winning the battle, but eventually his arms grew weary and the Amalekites began to win. So Aaron and Hur, placed a stone under Moses and standing on either side, help up his hands and God gave them the victory. Church when it comes to hope and wondering how long O lord, we need to desperately hold up our hands in prayer. How do I pray? Confession, Thanksgiving, Petitions. Also you may want to have a prayer list. This would include your family, spouse, children, church requests, present problems, etc… Try to find the best time for you, and make it a priority. The key is whatever helps you focus on the Lord do it and be disciplined. Prayer helps us to hold onto hope!!!
3. Trust in God’s unfailing love.
3. Trust in God’s unfailing love.
But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
As many of us know, trusting God at times can be really hard. David himself wrestled with this. But, here in verse 5 we see a big time transition from where David was. We now begin to see how David move from complaining and doubting to trusting God and praising His name.
In my own life things always go a whole lot better when I place my trust and confidence in God instead of my own wisdom or understanding. As I get older and older there are so many things in this world that just don’t make sense any more and that is why I must lean unto God.
One of the biggest areas we need to have faith in is believing in the Word of God. My trust is in God’s Word, not in Social Media and the things that people post, it’s not in the news, or in politics. God wrote a book, and it is trustworthy and true. It is our hope for the days to come, and we will continue to read it long into eternity. Over and over again God’s Word commands us to trust in the Lord. It is found in the Old Testament and in the New testament. In fact, the word trust, believe, or faithful is found more than 300 times in the New Testament. In Hebrews chapter 11 we come to the Hall of Fame chapter on Faith. I want to just read several of these statements to you.
-Verse 8, “By faith Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going.”
-Verse 11, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive”
-Verse 17, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.”
-Verse 21, “By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph.”
-Verse 24, “By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”
-Verse 30, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell.”
-Verse 31, “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish.” And on and on the list goes. Trusting in God and in his word is what we need to hold onto.
4. Celebrate the fact that God has rescued you from death and sin.
4. Celebrate the fact that God has rescued you from death and sin.
But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
David is now able to leave the enemies and the situation of the crisis behind. It is as if he has turned a corner or even if the crisis remains he has come to believe that God has heard his prayer. And because God has heard his prayer he is able to change his lament to a song of praise.
Here, David acknowledges in the steadfast love of God.
He rejoices in God’s salvation.
His vow is that he will sing to the Lord.
When the difficult season of life hit us we often forget about the rescue of God. We forget the fact that God gave up His one and only Son so that we may have life. When Jesus was on the cross he felt forsaken and was actually was forsaken by his Father. God the Father being holy and righteous could not look at the sin that was put on the Son. God the Father turned His back on His Son so that He would not have to turn His back on us and forsake us. How unbelievably awesome is that church??? Because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we have been rescued and this is the reason why we can have hope today and praise the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”
Take time to celebrate and praise the Lord today. Remember that you have been rescued from sin and the death of hell. When we clearly understand this wonderful news we can have a wonderful hope, not in this world but in the one to come.
I think that sometimes we can wonder why God is taking so long to answer us, or maybe you feel like God is ignoring you. Some people can even feel like God is punishing them for something they have done? Does He not care about me? The truth of the matter is that God’s love for us never ever stops. His mercies never come to an end. (Lamentations 3:22) God is never the one who causes the suffering. Though the Lord sometimes does delay, He never deserts us or leaves us. Because God is faithful, we can sing to the Lord and praise his name. We can recognize God’s blessings in our lives, whatever our circumstances are.
(Pray and lead into Communion)