LOOK UP WHEN YOU'RE DOWN

INTRODUCTION

-I have read the Bible, and have yet to find the place where it tells us that His children can get by in life without trials and troubles

-Sometimes we have bad days

-I read a story about a parakeet that had a bad day. Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage singing, the next minute he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. His problem began when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum. She stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers and stuff in the bottom of the cage. Then the phone rang. Instinctively she turned to pick it up. She barely said hello when – sswwwwwppppp! Chippie got sucked in. She gasped, let the phone drop, and snapped off the vacuum. With her heart in her mouth, she unzipped the bag. There was Chippie – alive, but stunned – covered with heavy black dust. She grabbed him and rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast, and held Chippie under a torrent of ice-cold water, power-washing him clean. So she did what any compassionate pet owner would do: she snatched up the hair dryer and blasted the wet, shivering little bird with hot air……Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore……but that’s a bad day

-But life isn’t full of just bad days—it can be full of bad weeks, months, and years

-Life isn’t full of just minor inconveniences…life is full of times of despair, suffering, anxiety, and heartache

-Some of you sitting in the pews are going through times of great anguish – you are suffering silently, bearing this great burden, and you feel helpless and hopeless

-It could be your marriages, finances, illnesses, etc.----so what can you do?

-When we’re down, we need to look up

-LOOK UP TO THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR GOD WHO ALONE KNOWS OUR SUFFERINGS AND WHO ALONE CAN HELP US THROUGH THE TRYING TIMES

Psalm 3:1–8 ESV

1 O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; 2 many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah 3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. 4 I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah 5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. 6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. 7 Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. 8 Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah

-2 Samuel 15-18 gives the story behind this psalm. King David’s son Absalom started to gain favor in the eyes of the Israelites, and he led a rebellion and took over the kingdom. King David fled with many of his mighty men, but many of his former friends turned on him and supported Absalom. While on the run he ran into many difficulties. This was one of the lowest points in his life; but God did eventually restore him to his throne.

-It was during this time of running that this Psalm was penned. I believe what David says and how he handled his trouble gives a good lesson to us.

I) Overwhelming Opposition (vv. 1-2)

-Whether it is human enemies like David faced, or troubles of circumstances in our lives, we all have had them, are having them, or will have them==& they are so overwhelming we may not feel we could bear the weight of them much longer

----What David endures resonates with the cries of our own hearts—he talks of the:

A) The Growth of Difficulties (v. 1)

-Troubles always seem to come in flocks

-Often times we use the theory of threes (PROBLEMS ALWAYS SEEM TO COME IN SETS OF 3)

-Whether or not that is actually true, we understand what it means – As if the one problem wasn’t enough, something else comes up, and then another problem, and another

-The difficulties grow and grow with no end in sight

-King David’s troubles literally increased. David’s enemies grew in number as more and more people joined the cause of Absalom against him, while his own friends and troops continued to diminish

-Even our own Savior knew that feeling of growing difficulties as the longer his ministry went, the more people seemed to turn against Him----then he suffered from

B) The Gloom of Discouragement (v. 2)

-While David was on the run, his enemies said of him that even God couldn’t help him

-In their arrogance, they thought that not even God could protect him from being killed by their hands

-David records this in the psalm to show the depths of the discouragement he had felt at the very thought that not only did members of his own family turn against him, not only did some of his friends turn against him, but possibly God Himself had abandoned the king

-When you are in the midst of your trials and tribulations, do you ever become discouraged to the point that you may think that God has abandoned you, or at least has forgotten about you?

-Discouragement knows no boundaries. There is no one safe from its grips. Not even preachers or pastors.

The late great Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, said himself, “Discouragement…creeps over my heart and makes me go with heaviness to my work…It is dreadfully weakening.”

-BUT, IS IT TRUE THAT EVEN GOD CAN’T HELP? WAS IT TRUE FOR DAVID THAT EVEN GOD COULDN’T HELP HIM? IS IT TRUE FOR YOU AND I IN THESE TROUBLESOME TIMES THAT GOD HAS ABANDONED US?

-NO. Although there may be Overwhelming Opposition, our God gives us:

II) Powerful Protection (vv. 3-4)

-If we keep our eyes upon our enemies or our problems, we will be discouraged as they seem to grow and grow

-But, if we turn our eyes to our God, we will see what a powerful God He is, Who is mighty to save

-With our eyes on Him we see He is:

A) God, Our Defender (v. 3)

-in v. 3 David says God is a shield for him

-A shield was an important part of a soldiers equipment, worn on the left arm, it was used to defend against the attacks of the enemy armies

-But, unlike a shield that was limited in what area of the body it could protect, in the Hebrew David calls God a shield that is around Him, that completely surrounds him from top to bottom, protecting him on every side

-I guess if we were to use more modern and technological terms, it is as if God is a force field around us, that although it might seem our problems or troubles or enemies grow in staggering proportions, God is there surrounding us and guarding us

- Sherri Conley, of Oklahoma, told the Daily Oklahoman Newspaper, "We said a prayer that God would watch over us." She said this referring to how she, her husband, and two sons had huddled in their hallway linen closet for protection from a deadly tornado. After the storm passed, she discovered the closet was the only thing left standing from the family's home.

-Literally all hell may seem to be breaking loose in your life, yet God Our Shield is there defending you, protecting you in the midst of it all

-Even in overwhelming opposition, God is Our Defender. He is also…

B) God, Our Responder (v. 4)

-In v. 4 David tells us that in his desperation he cried out to the Lord in a loud voice, and God heard his cries

-Isn’t it good to know that no matter where we are, whether we cry out to God with a loud voice or within the depths of our hearts, He hears us and responds to our cries?

-The Bible records over and over again God answering the prayers and heeding the cries of His people.

-The Israelites, being in Egypt for 400 years were turned into their slaves. Because of their troubles they cried out to the Lord for deliverance.

-What did God do? Did He ignore them? Did He turn a deaf ear to their pleas? No, He responded in a marvelous way.

-God called to Moses from the burning bush, and said to him,

Exodus 3:7–8 (ESV)

7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,

8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

-It is so good to know that God is not like a man. He doesn’t have hearing problems and He doesn’t ignore His people.

-Not only does God give us Powerful Protection, He gives us a:

III) Calming Conviction (vv. 5-6)

-David’s faith in the Almighty God was so great that he held the firm conviction that the Lord would sustain him through everything

-So strong was this conviction, that v. 5 tells us that he was…

A) Perfectly at Peace (v. 5)

-David says that he was able to lie down, sleep, and wake up because of the Lord

-You say, so what? I do that every night.

-But remember, David is being hunted down by Absalom and his men

-What David is saying here is that in the midst of this trial, although from a human perspective he should be experiencing so much anxiety and stress because of the situation, God gives him such peace that he isn’t losing any sleep over it

-Have you ever been so anxious over something going on in your life or maybe the life of a loved one that you couldn’t sleep a wink for days, or if you did sleep, it was a very fitful sleep?

-I think we’ve all been there.

-David is telling us to place our faith in God and have the conviction that He will sustain us. If God is always awake to watch over us, why should we be the one’s losing sleep?

1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

-In a sense, it is as if we can have peace because God does all the worrying for us

-One man told another, “I have a mountain of credit card debt, I’ve lost my job, my car is being repossessed, and our house is in foreclosure, but I’m not worried about it.” “Not worried about it?!” exclaimed his friend. “No, I’ve hired a professional worrier. He does all my worrying for me, and that way I don’t have to think about it.” “That’s fantastic. How much does your professional worrier charge for his services?” “Fifty thousand dollars a year,” replied the first man. “Fifity thousand dollars a year? Where are you going to get that kind of money?” “I don’t know,” came the reply. “That’s his worry.”

-With the conviction that God will sustain us, we can be perfectly at peace. We can also be…

B) Free from Fear (v. 6)

-In v. 6 David says he won’t fear his enemies even if 10,000 people are after him

-He had such faith in the Lord; he had such conviction that the Lord would uphold him through the difficult times; that he would not fear what the enemies could do

-If I have God, why should I be afraid?

-As David himself would state in another Psalm,

Psalm 27:1 (ESV)

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

-There is no situation or person to fear if our eyes are upon our Lord Jesus

-There was a businessman who worked in the wool business that decided to spend the night with a shepherd on the Texas prairie. During the night, the long wail of coyotes pierced the air. The sheep lumbered to their feet, alarmed, and started bleating pitifully. As the shepherd added more logs to the fire the businessman noticed the sheep were not looking into the darkness for the enemy, but they were keeping their eyes set in the direction of their safety, looking toward the shepherd.

-That should be us, looking toward our shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, and when we do so we shall be free from fear

-Finally…

IV) Earnest Expectation (vv. 7-8)

-We have confidence that God will take care of our enemies, take care of our situations, and take care of us in the midst of it all

-First, we have the expectation that…

A) God will Retaliate (v. 7)

-In v. 7 David expects God to take care of his enemies for him

-As much as I would like it to mean that God is going to bust the chops of our enemies when it says that God will strike the enemies on the cheekbone and break the teeth of the ungodly…that is not really what it means

-For God says,

Romans 12:19 (ESV)

19 “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

-David is picturing his enemies and his problems as wild beasts…with the pictures of the broken teeth and cheekbone really depicting that God will disarm the harm that the enemies could cause

-Whatever the problems, God has disarmed the threat that they may cause us so that they will not eternally injure us.

-I’m an only child, so I didn’t have a big brother to protect me or a little brother or sister to protect. But hopefully in my family the older brother will stand up to protect the little sister.

-That’s the same way with God. We don’t have to be concerned about our opposition or problem, because God has our back. He is going to take care of it…He will retaliate.

-Not only do we have an earnest expectation that God will Retaliate, but also that…

B) God will Reward (v. 8)

-In v. 8 the psalmist reminds us that even in the times of trials and troubles God’s blessings (His rewards) are upon His people

-God is such a loving and powerful God that He can take our sufferings and turn them into blessings

-We have to trust God that whatever the opposition or problem we face

Romans 8:28 (ESV)

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

-Not that the trials themselves are rewards within themselves, but God can turn the trials into great blessings

-Just like when Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, God used those events to eventually save Israel and his family from a famine

-Your trials and sufferings may not seem like a blessing right now, but God can and will use it for something greater in the perspective of eternity.

CONCLUSION

-Are you now going through tough times? Do you feel like you are down for the count, and life is kicking you while you are down there? I encourage you to look up while you are down.

-If in life you have Overwhelming Opposition, look up to the God who gives Powerful Protection, giving you a Calming Conviction and an Earnest Expectation that He will take care of it all.

-But the only way to have such a relationship w/ God is to come to Him thru Christ…