THE SOUL OF PRAYER 5

PSALM 13 - TEXT

Psalm 13:1 ESV

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

Psalm 13:2 ESV

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?

Psalm 13:3 ESV

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

Psalm 13:4 ESV

lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

Psalm 13:5 ESV

But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

Psalm 13:6 ESV

I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Working proposition

Prayer is not the posture of the life as much as it is the posture of the soul before God

THE THOUGHT WE WILL BE EXPLORING TODAY ABOUT THE SOUL OF PRAYER IS THIS:

THE SOUL’S PATH FROM AGONIZING TO ADORATION

I REMEMBER WATCHING A DAD PLAY HIDE AND SEEK WITH HIS LITTLE BOY.

THE BOY CAME OUT OF THE ROOM CALLING HIS NAME BUT THE FATHER KEEP MOVING AND HIDING. AT FIRST, THE BOY LAUGHED AND THEN, ALMOST AS IF YOU COULD SEE HIS HEART CHANGE, HE BEGAN TO CRY - LOUD.

THE REASON: HE COULD NOT CONCEIVE OF A REALITY IN WHICH HE COULD NOT SEE HIS FATHER AND FEEL THE COMFORT OF HIS PRESENCE

ALL OF US UNDERSTAND THAT. WE GET THE FACT OF WHY THE BOY WOULD CRY AND WE DO NOT THINK, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, THAT THE CHILD WAS WRONG. ITS HIS DAD, CERTAINLY HE WOULD FEEL THIS WAY.

MY QUESTION IS THIS: WHY DO WE THINK DIFFERENTLY WITH REGARD TO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD?

THIS PSALM IS KNOWN AS A PLSAM OF LAMENT

TO LAMENT MEANS TO AGONIZE, TO MOURN, TO WEEP, TO BE IN SORROW, TO CRY, TO GROAN - SYMBOLIZED AS ONE WHO BEATS THEIR BREAST

IT IS THE FEELINGS OF THE SOUL DUE TO TRAUMATIC CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE AND EXPERIENCE THAT MOVE PEOPLE TO THE POINT OF EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWN.

THIS IS BEYOND HAVING A BAD DAY:

IT IS LIKE AN AFFLICTION THAT WILL NOT STOP AFFLICTING

LIKE A BEE THAT STINGS YOU OVER AND OVER AGAIN

THE BEAUTY THAT WE FIND IN THIS PSALM AND MANY OTHERS, IS GOD’S INVITATION TO US TO LAMENT:

TO AGONIZE, TO MOURN, TO WEEP, TO BE IN SORROW, TO CRY, TO GROAN - SYMBOLIZED AS ONE WHO BEATS THEIR BREAST

THIS TEACHES US THREE FUNDAMENTAL REALITIES THAT WE MUST FIGHT WITHIN OURSELVES NEVER TO FORGET AND ENCOURAGE AND COUNSEL EACH OTHER IN THE SAME:

THREE FUNDAMENTAL REALTIES:

1. Being a child of God does not mean that we will always have good days

2. Crying to God in pain, confusion, fear, etc.. are all appropriate

3. Those moments of agonizing, when God seems silent and distant, are actually moments of grace and mercy making us to long for His perspective

SO, LAMENTING IS THE GOD-GIVEN STRATEGY THAT ENABLES US TO RISE ABOVE THE INEVITABLE DIFFICULTIES OF LIFE UNTIL WE, BY A RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF GOD’S PERSPECTIVE, AWAKEN THE DAWN OF A NEW WAY OF SEEING.

LET ME TEACH YOU THE SOUL’S PATH FROM AGONIZING TO ADORATION:

STEP NUMER 1: I MUST BE HONEST ABOUT MY FRUSTRATIONS

THREE AREAS OF FRUSTRATION THAT DAVID SPEAKS OF

1. HIS FRUSTRATION WITH GOD

Psalm 13:1 ESV

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

HE FEELS THIS WAY BECAUSE NOTHING IN THIS SEASON OF HIS LIFE SHOWS EVIDENCES OF GOD ACTING ON HIS BEHALF; GOD’S FAVOR SEEMS TO BE GONE

2. HIS FRUSTRATION WITH HIMSELF

Psalm 13:2 (ESV)

How long must I take counsel in my soul

and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

JUST CANT SEEM TO GET YOUR LIFE TOGETHER, YOUR SOUL TOGETHER. ALL YOUR PLANS FAIL ETC..

HE AGONIZES WITHIN; THE CONTRADICTIONS OF FAITH AND FEAR: HE IS EMPTY

How long shall I arrange plans? (Kay). Tossing on a sea of doubt and perplexity, David forms plan after plan, but to no purpose. He seeks to find a way of escape from his difficulties, but cannot discover one. Having sorrow in my heart daily; or, all the day. It is, perhaps, implied that the plans are formed and thought over at night[3]

WHAT IS SO PREDICTABLE IS THAT WHEN WE SENSE THAT GOD IS NOT ACTING FOR US WE BEGIN T THEN SEEK TO PLAY GOD AND SO ORGANIZE AND PORCHESTRATE LIFE TO GET TO THE PLACE WHERE WE DESIRE

· PLAN AFTER PLAN AFTER PLAN

o PROVERBS ON MAN PLANNING

o THERE IS ONLY AGONY IS TRYONG TO ACHIEVE IN OUR MINDS AND ON OUR OWN THAT WHICH ONLY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY GOD

3. HIS FRUSTRATION WITH PEOPLE

Psalm 13:2

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

- Relation to his God: HE FEELS FORGOTTEN, FOREVER: GOD IS NOT THERE

the divine ‘forgetting’ and ‘hiding the face’ meant the withholding of practical help (since in the Old Testament God’s ‘remembering’ and ‘seeing’ are not states of consciousness but preludes to action36),[2]

Ezra 9:8 (ESV)

But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery.

- Relation to his enemies: HE ???: HIS ENEMIES ARE WINNING

STEP NUMER 2: I MUST BE HONEST ABOUT MY FEARS

Psalms (Vol. I) Psalm 13

David will not allow himself to be “forgotten;” he will recall himself to God’s remembrance. “Consider—hear me,” he says, “O Lord my God;” still “my God,” although thou hast forgotten me, and therefore bound to “hear me.”

1. THE FEAR THAT HE WILL LOSE HIMSELF

“LIGHT UP MY EYES” (V3)

IT DAVID’S CALL TO GOD: “REVIVE ME!” RECUSISTATE ME

2. THE FEAR THAT HIS LIFE WONT COUNT

“LEST I SLEEP THE SLEEP OF DEATH” (V3C)

DAVID DOES NOT SPEAK OF A LITERAL DEATH, BUT A LIFE THAT IS ZOMBIE LIKE; GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS BUT ACTUALLY GOING NOWHERE

ILLUSTRATION: CRUISE TO NOWHERE - A LITERAL CRUISE

THIS IS THE

3. THE FEAR THAT HE WILL BE ASHAMED

Psalm 13:4 ESV

lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

STEP NUMER 3: I MUST BE HUNGRY IN MY FAITH

Psalm 13:5 ESV

But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

Psalm 13:6 ESV

I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

ALL OF THIS DAVID HAS FELT AND HE COMES TO VERSE 5-6 WITH THREE RESOLVES THAT HE REMINDS HIS SOUL OF IN HIS AGONIZING:

RESOVLE 1: I HAVE TRUSTED

PAST TENSE:

REMEMBER HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS EVEN WHEN HE SEEMS ABSENT

YOU HAVE TO TRUST HIS LOVE FOR YOU

RESOLVE 2: MY HEART SHALL REJOICE

SHALL - PRESENT TENSE ACT IN LIGHT OF THE A FUTURE REALITY

REMEMBER THE LORD PROMISES TO RESCUE (DELIVER) YOU FROM EVERY DANGER AND CIRCUMSTANCE

YOU HAVE TO BRING YOUR HEART TO REJOICE IN WHAT GOD IS GOING TO DO EVEN WHEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES SAY DIFFERENTLY

RESOLVE 3: I WILL SING

REMEMBER THAT, EVEN IN THE MIDST OF CHALLENGES THE LORD HAS ALREADY DEALT WITH YOUR GREATEST ENEMY: SIN AND DEATH

Romans 8:35 ESV

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Romans 8:36 ESV

As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Romans 8:37 ESV

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

THAT IS YOUR SONG!

THE HYMN WRITER PUT IT THIS WAY

How marvelous! how wonderful! And my song shall ever be How marvelous! how wonderful! Is my Savior's love for me!

1. DAVID TRUSTED THE LOVE OF GOD DESPITE THE CHALLENGES

2. DAVID TRUSTED AS HE FOUGHT THROUGH THE CHALLENGES BY BEING BRUTALLY HONEST WITH HIMSELF AND THE LORD

IT CAN BE BOTH BECAUSE WE ARE OFTEN IN DIFFERENT TIMES IN OUR LIFE AND WALK WITH GOD. BUT IT MIUST BE ONE OR THE OTHER