Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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This is both a penitential psalm and a messianic psalm (vv.
25–27 = Heb.
1:10–12).
The anonymous author probably wrote it long after the destruction of Jerusalem (vv.
8, 14, 16), about the time he thought Jeremiah’s prophecy of the seventy-year captivity was about to be fulfilled
According to the title, the psalmist was afflicted and faint and burdened to present his complaint to the Lord.
He was groaning in distress (vv.
2, 5) and weeping over the ruins of Jerusalem (v.
9).
His opening prayer in verses 1–2 draws from a number of other psalms, giving us an example of what it means to pray the Word of God.
As believers face and deal with the painful crises that come to us, if we are to overcome and glorify God, we must keep three assurances before us.
I. Circumstances Change
vv.
1–11
The longer we live, the more evidence we see that things will change.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, “There is nothing permanent except change,” a statement that John F. Kennedy paraphrased as, “Everything changes but change itself.”
There are the normal changes of life, from birth to maturity to death, but there are also providential changes that God sends for our good and His glory.
Many Jewish leaders in the days of Jeremiah the prophet thought that God would never allow Judah to be captured and Jerusalem and the temple destroyed (Jer.
7), but the Babylonian army did all three.
They also took prisoners to Babylon and left only the poorest of the people to care for the land.
Because of their rebellion against the law of God, Israel was left without a king, priesthood, temple, or sacrifice.
Instead of the Lord’s face shining upon them with blessing, His face was turned away from them in judgment (Ps 27:9; Deut.
31:17–18).
David understood the feeling of God’s face being hidden from him...
The Lord even told Moses that after he died the children of Isreal would go after other gods, and he said...
Whether we are suffering because of our sins, or because we stand up for the Lord, or simply because we need to be better equipped for service, these changes are not pleasant.
The psalmist recorded his personal plight in a series of vivid pictures.
With his days as flimsy and temporary as drifting smoke, and his frame burning with fever (Psalm 31:10; 32:3; 42:10), he was like a man in a furnace.
His heart was like the cut and withered grass (vv.
4, 9), paining him so much that he forgot to eat.
When he did eat, the food tasted like ashes and his drink like tears (v.
9; Ps 42:3; 80:5).
Therefore, he became a living skeleton that could only groan because of his wretched situation (v.
5).
He compared himself to the unclean birds that lived solitary lives amid the ruins of the city.
He was awake all night, a lonely man, like a sparrow bereft of his mate and chirping his lament on the roof.
The enemy officers showed no sympathy but used his name in their curses (v.
8).
It was as though God’s hand picked him up and threw him on the trash heap, like a piece of discarded junk (v.
10)
David and other psalmists had felt this...
Israel had been warned...
Like the evening shadows as the sun goes down, his life kept changing, but his days had no substance.
(11)
Then the darkness fell, and the long, hard night lay before him.
The Levites spoke to the nation of Israel, before they went into the promised land and warned them of the cost of disobedience...
One of the first steps toward personal peace and victory is to accept the fact that there will be changes in life, and how we respond will determine what these changes do to us and for us.
The psalmist responded by turning to the Lord for help.
II.
God’s Covenant Does not Change
(vv.
12–22)
“But thou, O Lord” marked a change in the psalmist’s outlook as he turned from himself and his problems to behold by faith the Lord enthroned in heaven
No doubt the Psalmist must have remembered Scripture and the other Psalms...
The throne of David was gone and would not be claimed until the Son of David came to earth, but the throne of God in heaven was secure.
Judah and Jerusalem were experiencing shame, but God’s “memorial name” of great renown would not change.
One day the nations would respect that name (v. 15) and praise that name in a new Jerusalem (v.
21).
From generation to generation, His people had known and revered that name and the Lord had not failed them, but they failed the Lord.
He had made a wonderful covenant with His people and had not changed it.
If His people obeyed His law, He would bless them, but if they disobeyed and turned to idols, He would chasten them.
Either way, He would show His love and faithfulness.
The writer was confident that God would arise and rescue Zion, for it was time for His promises to be fulfilled (Jer.
25:11–12; 29:10).
Even more, the Lord loved Zion more than the Jewish people did, and they revered her very dust and stones!
(Ps 132:13)
Even more, the restoration of Zion means the glory of the Lord (vv.
15–16, 21–22),
and this involves the salvation of the Gentile nations.
When the Jewish exiles were released from captivity in Babylon and allowed to return to Judah, this was a witness to the surrounding nations that Jehovah was on the throne and guiding in the destiny of His people.
And what about the future generations in Israel?
The Lord made His covenant with them as well, and He will fulfill it (vv.
18, 28).
God’s compassion, God’s covenant, God’s glory, and God’s people are all a part of the future of Jerusalem!
As Alexander Maclaren wrote, “Zion cannot die while Zion’s God lives.”
Surely the Lord will keep His promises and His glory will return to Zion.
He hears the prayers of His people and one day will answer them.
Israel and the Gentile nations will assemble and worship the Lord together (vv.
21–22; Isa.
2:1–4).
III.
God’s Character Never Changes
(vv.
23–28)
The psalmist was afraid he would die in midlife and never see the restoration of Judah, Jerusalem, and the temple.
The eternal God would remain forever, but frail humans have only a brief time on earth.
This passage (vv.
25–27) is quoted in Hebrews 1:10–12 and applied to Jesus Christ, which reminds us that it is in Him that these promises will be fulfilled.
He is God, and He is the same from generation to generation (Heb.
13:5–8).
Leaders come and go, cities and buildings appear and vanish, but the Lord is the same and never abdicates His throne.
God’s eternality reminds us of our own frailty and the transitory nature of our lives, but it also reminds us that His promises and purposes will be fulfilled.
The psalmist closed his prayer by remembering the future generations, for though he did not see his prayer answered in his day, he knew that the answer would come.
May we today be concerned about God’s work on earth and the future generations who will serve Him after we are gone!
May the future not weep because we have not been faithful!
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