Sermon Tone Analysis

As we continue our Summer in the Psalms, I want to remind us that these Psalms were often used for worship, as a hymnal was used, or as praise & worship songs are used.

Today we are going to look at a Psalm written by Asaph, who was appointed by King David as a worship leader.

He was a singer, and his family was a family of singers.

We don’t really know a great deal about him, but he wrote Psalm 50, and he is attributed as the author of Psalms 73-83.

We’ll spend time with another of his Psalms later this Summer.

I read through all of the Psalms that are attributed to him this week, and I discovered that the times in which he lived were tumultuous, to say the least.

There are some of the best known phrases of all the Psalms found in the Psalms of Asaph.

We read in Psalm 73:25-26 “25 Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

In his Psalms we also find great devastation and turmoil.

Psalm 79:1-4 “1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 2 They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.

3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.

4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.”

It is difficult for us to fathom the depth of despair and pain that is voiced in that Psalm.

Perhaps that is the setting or background for the Psalm we will be looking at this morning.

At the very least, we can try to empathize with the depth of pain that would be felt in such a time as that.

Sometimes we cry out to God, and like Asaph, before we can give voice to our concern, we first cry out to God that He would hear us.

If we would be completely honest with one another this morning, we would all admit that there are times that it feels like our prayers and cries to Him are not being heard.

Whether it is in the prayers and petitions when we ask God to heal someone we love, only to watch them perish, or if it is in times of distress for people far away, like the people of Ukraine for whom we pray God’s intervention and we seemingly see none, we can sometimes feel like God has gone deaf or that He has chosen to turn His back and not hear our cries.

Asaph, in the beginning of this Psalm is in great distress.

He is crying out to God, searching for Him in the midst of pain, and he is not hearing God’s response.

He says, quite matter of factly, “I would not be comforted.”

Verse 3 makes his response to God even more distressful: Psalm 77:3 “3 I think of God, and I moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints.”

This is not how it is supposed to be at all!

I would like to think that when I think of God, I find an immediate relief from pain and suffering, that He hears my cries, and an answer is on the way.

There is a popular song on Christian radio right now that has a line that haunts me: it makes the claim: “He would cross an ocean so I wouldn’t drown.”

There is some great truth in the song, but that one line disturbs me, because what does it say to the person who has lost a loved one by drowning?

Does it say that God cares more about some people than others, so that He would cross an ocean for some, but would let others drown?

The hard, perhaps even harsh truth is that sometimes great tragedies occur no matter how hard we pray or how faithful we are to follow Him.

I know, you may be thinking about now that if you wanted to be depressed, you could just turn on the news.

We sometimes approach God in such a way to escape our problems and our troubles.

There is nothing wrong with that - I believe that when we take our eyes off of ourselves and our troubles and worship the almighty God, we gain strength, comfort and help to face the troubles head on, knowing that God is with us.

However, along with Asaph, we find that He sometimes seems aloof - we may even find that we are asking questions like Asaph asks in Psalm 77:7-8 “7 “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?

8 Has his steadfast love ceased forever?

Are his promises at an end for all time?”

It is my prayer that none of you gathered here this morning or watching our livestream is at that place.

But if you are - or if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, remind yourself who this God is that we serve.

Take time to look into His word at how He has acted in the past for guidance and direction of how He will act in the present and in the future.

Again, let us turn to the words of Asaph in our Psalm for this morning.

In the midst of despair and discouragement, Asaph reminds himself, and through that reminder he reminds the people of Israel and us of the mighty deeds of God in the past.

I have been reading in the book of Genesis for my personal devotions over the last couple of weeks, and there are incredible stories of God’s faithfulness in the midst of the challenges that they faced.

Joseph - sold into slavery, becomes second in command in all of Egypt and through that miracle, Jacob and all of his family are saved from starvation.

Many years later, God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt after the miracles of the plagues that had devastated Egypt.

On their way, there were many miraculous events.

There was a pillar of fire that went before them at night, the pillar of clouds that went before them during the day.

As they were up against the Red Sea and the Egyptians were coming after them, God divided the waters so they could walk across on dry ground.

Later, He provided food for them in the form of quail in the evening and a dew in the morning that was referred to as Manna, which means “what is it” that they were able to eat during the day.

God led His people out of Egypt and through countless miracles brought them to the promised land where they now lived in Asaph’s day.

This reminder by Asaph is a way to remember that God is the same - yesterday, today, and forever, and this God that had worked miraculously in the past would once again work in the future.

For now, if you read the verses in between the ones that we chose as our text for this morning, you will see that as he was remembering, he was also in pain, because he didn’t understand why God wasn’t acting now.

That is the way that it feels sometimes in our lives.

When we are in the midst of the battles that come our way, we can feel like God has abandoned us, or that He has forgotten about us.

Or, worse yet, we can get the feeling that we just don’t matter to Him or that we somehow deserve the struggle that we are facing.

The truth is that the grace of God works in our lives in ways that allow us not to get what we deserve.

In the midst of our deepest sorrows and pain, the God who worked miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness, leading His people to the promised land is still active and working in our situation even when we don’t see or understand what it is that He is doing.

He is there - He is working - He is active - and He is working for our good.

Romans 8:28 “28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

What that verse doesn’t say is that He works in each and every thing - No - He works all things together for our good.

What are some things that you like to remember in those times when you are facing struggles and challenges that would defeat you, in those times when you feel like you are alone in the battle and that God has turned away from you? Are there stories from the scripture or stories from your personal life where God worked powerfully or even miraculously that you remind yourself of in those times of deep struggle?

I will share one from my life, and then I would like to give you the opportunity to share some of those moments from your lives.

When I was a Jr. in college at Mt. Vernon Nazarene College, my dad got laid off from his job, and my family was really struggling.

As the school year was coming to an end, I had a conversation with my mom that was deeply disheartening as she told me I was not going to be able to go back to school in the Fall to finish my degree.

I was devastated at the thought of that, but I began to make it a matter of prayer.

As I was spending time in prayer for that time, I felt a strong assurance that God was going to work things out for me to be able to come back in the Fall, so I was comforted.

Even though I had no idea how God was going to provide, I believed that was what He was going to do.

It was about this time that pastors were visiting Mt.

Vernon and interviewing candidates for Summer internships as youth pastors, or children’s pastors.

I had interviewed for a few, but nothing was a fit, and the money that they were offering was nowhere close to what I could have earned with a Summer job even if I made the minimum wage of $3.35/hour.

Then there was a pastor in the Cleveland area that was looking for a youth pastor and they were providing a scholarship about double what any of the other churches were offering, along with a weekly stipend and a family to live with.

I interviewed with that pastor, but didn’t think there was much of a chance, but before the day was over he came looking for me to tell me that he was going to be recommending me to his church board, and he wanted me to come to Westlake to interview with the board the next week.

God provided in a way that I did not see coming.

To me, that was His miraculous working in my life, and when I go through times of doubt and struggle, I remember this act in my own life and I am encouraged - even though that was over 35 years ago, I know that God is the same today as He was then.

Maybe some of you have some situations that bring encouragement to you when you are in the midst of struggles - is there anybody that would like to share one of those memories this morning?