The God of Hope
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Intro: Over the summer I did a series on the Psalms—summer of the psalms. There was good feedback; I think it ministered to people. The only problem is that we ran out of summer.
One new did not cover was Ps 42.
Now a good amount of scripture deals with the problem of our sin—pressing us to gospel and conformity to Christ.
But there is a large swath of scripture that meets us in our suffering—
Ps 42 is tailor made to meet God’s people in their suffering
Illus: If you use the NASB, the heading reads “Thirsting for God in trouble and exile”
Apply: For some in this church body, this year has been large dose of suffering.
At our last staff we said if we had a blank sheet of paper and starting to list all the trouble that people in our church body have faced this year (death of family, severed sickness, emotional turmoil….suffering the consequences of sinful behaviors and lifestyle….it would fill up the page really quickly)
**And a large dose of trouble can make us lose sight of God, and even despair of hope
The driving force of this Psalm is the repeated emphasis on hope
Structurally, the Psalm is guided by a series of repeated questions;
--Where is your God (v3,10) —asked by (they) —taunters, skeptics, cynics.
--Why are you cast down, O my soul (v5,11) (asked by himself)
But it’s also written with a back and forth lament/hope.
The major emphasis is on hope, 5, 11 (Ends Ps 43)
Hope and longing for God (1-2)
Hope and longing for God (1-2)
The way that many of us are wired, when trouble hits—we start trying to work a plan to get out of trouble;
Or we can get very frustrated and angry—at the situation, at ourself, others….even God
But this Psalm points us in another direction—longing after God
Numerous hymns and songs have been composed with this language. If you are a Tozer fan, his well known book The Pursuit of God is a meditation drawn from this text.
This is not the longing of a person who just wants to go deeper—this is the cry of soul who feels abandoned by God ; feel that God is extremely distant
This is his great trouble
The question in v2: Essentially: When can I encounter God’s presence again
We don’t now the exact circumstances, but the author is far from home—maybe in exile, but he knew something vital was missing.....
Apply: Some people have no idea what is missing in their life—but they know something is off. That may be you today.Maybe you are longing. Maybe you try to fill it with stuff, projects, productivity,
but what makes this man different ….He knew what was missing from this life—an encounter with God’s presence.
Apply: This is the starting point for understanding true hope.
If all our hope is for all the problems and trials in life to be fixed, we set the bar too low.
Now I don’t think it’s wrong to want shalom—but what is your greatest longing?
Our greatest longing ought to be more of God.
Apply: As you close out a year and get ready for a new year—was that your longing? Did you long for more of God in 2021; do you long for more of God entering into a new year?
Hope and our emotions (3-5)
Hope and our emotions (3-5)
The psalms help us to grow in our emotional maturity
A lot of time we focus on spiritual maturity—growing in Bible knowledge, prayer, spiritual disciples, witnessings….but do we give attention to our emotional maturity?
Piper: “{Psalms}....are written to awaken and express and shape the emotional life of God’s people. Poetry and singing exist because God made us with emotions, not just thoughts. Our emotions are massively important.”
One one side if the spectrum are folks who let emotions rule them (subjective approach: everything becomes subject to my emotions—I feel therefore i believe)
But on the other side, are those who are suspicious and suppress emotions, especially the negative ones (stoic approach)
Neither are the ways of the Psalms—
We get a glimpse of the mans emotions through his diet: tears (v3)
One of the strange things that social media has done is somehow given people permission to take a picture of the delicious food they are about to eat, and share it with the entire world.
If this guy lived in 2021, he could take a picture of an empty plate and say:
Tears being food day and night is a poetic way of saying—my depression is so bad that I have no appetite. Those who have suffering with depression know…
Apply: The Psalms teach us that we can pray with raw honesty in our prayer about our feelings—It’s the way Jesus prayed
Q: How to you think he cried out Ps 22—My God, Why have you forsaken me?
Jesus was honest about his troubled heart:
Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”
“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.
Apply: Jesus did not deny strong emotions, and he never lost hope.
Jesus proves that you can be emotionally mature and still express brokenness without shame
On the other side of the coin is the positive emotions (v4)
Part of his self -counseling is remembering times when the Lord blessed and his presence was there in a powerful way.
He was separated from the temple by some physical distance. Mt Hermon is considered the Northern border of Israel
Thoughts of these places trigger strong memories…of God.
When I pastored in Iowa, our church had bought a really old church building that was over 100 years old. It had a certain smell to it. My wife Emily, said the smell reminder her of the church she grew up in (mixed of oak pews asbestos under the carpet??)
Apply: Now there can be a danger here—we don’t want our emotions to be the driving force of our spiritual life. We don’t want experience to be the standard of truth…that’s breathing the air of our postmodern culture....
Yet we don’t want to deny the influence strong emotions play in our life…that help us foster and regain hope
Hope and prayer (6-10)
Hope and prayer (6-10)
One thing is noted about this Psalm—is all self talk.
Now when I think of a person taking to themselves, my mind goes back a man who used to walk up and down the streets in the neighborhood I grew up in. The story was that he had some sort of traumatic head injury. Two things stood out: He smoked cigarettes out of his nose. And he had full blown conversations with himself
There is an aspect of healthy self-talk. Speaking truth to ourselves
That’s one productive conversation here; the other is With God in prayer.
(V9) “I say to God”
In the background though, is his understanding of God
It’s not just that we pray, or believe in prayer. Knowing who the God we pray to is so so vital. If you pray, but don’t trust God’s sovereignty or his goodness, it will effect how you pray, and what you pray for.
If a new believer came to me and asked me for a resource on growing in prayer—I would recommended something that teaches them about God, his attributes
(AW Pink attributes of God)
The water metaphor is a way that describes his understanding of God…and trust in his total sovereignty
—(v1) Water is Flowing streams: life giving
—(v7) Waterfalls, breakers and waves: life taking (trouble)
*A God who can be tender or terrifying; a God who can comfort, but also crush.
The image of the waterfalls and breakers is another way of showing that God controls the trouble…and even sends it.
“Sufferings are not the touch of an alien hand” (JA Motyer)
In other words, when we pray we can take confidence that the trouble and storms are not “accidental” but “providential” —but we need to have the right view of God in place to take comfort
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Prayer is not just using some pious language that ignores the hurt and pain—
It’s also lamenting in prayer (v9-10)
Apply: We who have a high view of God’s sovereignty, and in addition hold a reverent approach to his holiness—often have trouble with this kind of prayer
“I’m feeling forgotten, God”
“This really hurts and is painful”
Yet true lamenting prayer is not just venting the pain—it’s a prayer with hope
We see that hope in v8
Apply: He still knew that God was sustaining him day and night be his faithfulness
Even when the fog is thick—if we are paying by faith, we see glimpses of God’s faithfulness
The way this Psalm is described is: a prayer to the God of my life
Illus: That’s a strong way of saying that God is real to him.
Not a God of imagination
Not a God of wishful thinking
Apply: Friends, the only way to have and sustain true hope is if God is real to us.
Hope and the gospel (5,11)
Hope and the gospel (5,11)
And as Christ-followers, it’s not just a generic God (the man upstairs)—but the God of the Gospel who is our hope
The KJV has probably the best translation of the Hebrew (v5)
“Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him For the help of his countenance
Lit: The saving acts of his face
It likely reflects the priestly blessings from Numb 6:24-25
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
This is fitting for the Sons of Korah, since they were priests in change of temple music
He was praying and hoping for what God would provide in the gospel
**The Gospel is the Lord providing “the saving acts of his face”
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Dwell on that for a moment:
“The glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ”
That is the hope that every born again believer shares
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
The hope of the gospel is a hope to rejoice in!
Apply: So brothers and sisters—if 2021 has been tremendously hard season for you; if its bee filled with pain and lament
Hope in God
Hope in the God of the Gospel
The face of Jesus shines favorably on you
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.