Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This is the time of year at the Enrollment Services office at Penn State DuBois when if I can hear phone calls sneaking up on me.

Our phone system is laid out in such a way that if you call into the main admissions number and don’t get an answer, you can choose to leave a voicemail or be re-routed to one of the admissions counselor’s lines.

And if you don’t get an answer there you can either leave a voicemail or be routed to another counselor’s line.

So the effect of this arrangement is that I will hear the main line ring at the receptionist, and then at Holli’s desk, and then at Dan’s desk—and if they are all unable to answer, the call will eventually get to my desk.

And when I hear each phone in the office ringing, getting closer to me all the time, I know it’s probably a parent or student too anxious over their issue to leave a voicemail.

They keep calling because they want an answer to their problem right away—and so I know by the time they get to me they will probably be pretty frustrated and a bit grouchy and will need to cool down a bit before we can handle their question.

But I really can’t say as I blame them—we’ve all been there, right?

When you are in distress, you don’t want to wait for help, do you?

In the grand scheme of things, a question about a college student’s loan application is not a life-or-death emergency (one long-time staff member at the University is well-remembered for saying, “No one has ever died as a result of a financial aid issue!”), but there are other kinds of problems and distress that really are crucial: Sitting in the ER waiting to see a doctor, sitting at home waiting for an organ transplant, anxiously watching the road watching for the fire company or police to respond to your 911 call, or (in David’s case here in Psalm 70), crying out to God with your back up against the wall, surrounded by enemies who want to see you destroyed.

If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you very well may have experienced the kind of desperation David exhibits in this Psalm—crying out for God to hurry, to answer you now and not delay any longer.

And once again I want you to see how marvelous God’s Word is that it speaks to us in every situation of our lives!

I believe there is such a wonderful treasure of grace and encouragement and hope in this psalm, because it directly addresses one of the nagging questions Christians have whenever we find ourselves in a desperate situation.

What I mean is this: As Christians, we affirm that God is in control of every event of our lives, and that no trouble or sorrow or distress comes to us unless it has already passed through His hands.

We believe that God governs our lives, and this includes His governing of the pains and turmoils and distresses and attacks that we suffer.

And so from that we often conclude that the spiritual response to such distress should be a calm, reasoned request to God to get back to us whenever it is convenient for Him.

We are constricted by the sense that crying out in desperation to God is somehow unspiritual, or demonstrates a lack of faith in Him.

Of course impatience and desperation in the face of distress can be evidence of unbelief and lack of trust in God—but here in Psalm 70 we have an example from David’s life that shows us that there are times when it is right for a Christian to cry out to God to hurry to deliver us; that crying out to God in this way glorifies Him.

So the way I want to say it for us here out of Psalm 70 this morning is that when you are in those desperate moments of life,

Let your DESPERATION for God demonstrate your DEPENDENT DELIGHT in Him

Psalm 70 is copied almost word for word from a longer psalm of deliverance (Psalm 40:13-17).

Some scholars speculate that these verses were set apart to a different tune as a song to be sung during the offering of sacrifices in worship (the heading says “To the Choirmaster, of David for the memorial offering”).

Psalm 70 is a song that is meant accompany memorial sacrifices, as David remembered the way God had come to His rescue in his most desperate hours.

Your desperation for God demonstrates your dependent delight in Him when you delight

I.

In His PERFECT TIMING (Psalm 70:1, 5)

We see David’s desperation on full display in verse 1:

Psalm 70:1 (ESV)

1 Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!

There’s a moment towards the beginning of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies when Frodo, who is anxious for his cousin Bilbo’s birthday party to begin, chides Gandalf, saying, “You’re late!”

And Gandalf replies, “A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins, nor is he early.

He arrives precisely when he means to!”

When you are in the middle of your anxiety and desperation, it may feel like God is dragging His feet to answer you—but the truth of the matter is that God’s timing is always perfect!

He arrives precisely when He means to!

Search the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, and you will see that He has always been the God of the last-minute rescues, the victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, the eleventh-hour deliverance against all hope—Abraham’s knife moments away from being plunged into Isaac’s neck, the Egyptian army bearing down on the Hebrews trapped on the shores of the Red Sea, Jairus’ daughter drawing her last breath, Paul standing on the deck of a ship breaking apart in a nor’easter—Christian, your God loves to orchestrate the nick-of-time, skin-of-your-teeth, hair’s-breadth rescues, because it exalts His power to save!

And David shows us here in Psalm 70 that, while we are waiting for that nick-of-time rescue from God, it is entirely appropriate to call out to Him

With holy IMPATIENCE (v. 1)

God is honored when we cry out to Him to hasten, to hurry, to not delay in rescuing us—because that desperation, that holy impatience is a highly emotionally-charged form of worship!

To be so desperate for Him, to be crying out to Him, “God—hurry!

I need you now!” is our declaration that He really is our hope!

Your holy impatience as you call out on God to rescue you speedily demonstrates that you have no other hope for rescue.

You cry out to Him with holy impatience, and see in verse 5 that you cry out to Him

With humble HELPLESSNESS (v.

5; cp.

John 6:68)

Psalm 70:5 (ESV)

5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God!

You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!

This is how our crying out to God in our desperation can be glorifying and honoring to Him—this is not a cry of someone who is merely frustrated that God is not doing what we want fast enough.

This is the impoverished cry of someone who has no one else to turn to but God! “God, I’ve got nothing here—there is no one else and nothing else I can turn to; You are my only hope!”

Can you see how that kind of desperation is a God-honoring thing?

That you completely throw yourself onto His mercy, that you have nothing else to depend on but Him.

It’s the same kind of humble helplessness that Peter expressed when Jesus’ hard teachings were causing people to walk away from Him. Jesus said, “Do you want to go away as well?” (John 6:67) and

John 6:68 (ESV)

68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life,

That humble helplessness— “Where else can I turn for eternal life??” glorifies God!

Christian, is that not the way you came to Jesus Christ to begin with?

When you were confronted with the utter and total bankruptcy of your own life, you came face-to-face with the reality of your sin and shame and guilt before a holy and righteous God and said, “I am a poor, wretched, miserable and needy sinner” and you cried out to Jesus to hasten to save you— “Where else can I go?

You have the words of eternal life!”

That humble helplessness by which you cried out to God for salvation magnified His grace to you—and His grace and mercy and kindness is magnified every time you cry out to Him in every distress and every desperate circumstance you face.

Let your desperation for God demonstrate your dependent delight in Him—delight in His perfect timing, and rest

II.

In His POETIC JUSTICE (Psalm 70:2-3)

Psalm 70:2 (ESV)

2 Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life!

Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!

The “presenting issue” for David here in Psalm 70—the reason he was crying out for rescue—is because of the enemies that had him backed into a corner.

And so he cries out to God to turn them back, stop them in their tracks.

(And if you feel as though it is somehow “un-Christian” to pray this way, consider that every time you pray in the Lord’s Prayer “Thy Kingdom Come”, you are praying for the return of Jesus Christ

2 Thessalonians 1:8 (ESV)

8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

So, every time you pray the way our Lord taught us, you are praying for the fiery vengeance of God on all who refuse to obey Him.

But here in Psalm 70, there is wisdom for us in the way David prays for his enemies to be defeated.

He shows us that we must turn our adversaries over to God—to

Let Him HUMILIATE the HECKLERS … (v.

2; Romans 12:19)

Look carefully at the way David prays for his enemies to fall: “Let them be put to shame and confusion… let them be turned back and brought to dishonor...” I don’t know about you, but when I consider the adversaries and enemies that might be arrayed against me I am more than half tempted to pray “Lord, let me put them to shame… let me turn them back and bring them to dishonor...”

Now, think about what that reveals in our hearts—when we are the ones who want to humiliate our hecklers, whose glory and honor do we have in view?

We want our own vindication, our own honor or reputation to be lifted up.

The Scriptures are clear that we are not to look for vengeance for our own glory, but for God to vindicate Himself:

Romans 12:19 (ESV)

19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

And so it is in that spirit that David is careful here in this psalm to take the responsibility for their downfall out of his own hands, and commit it to God: “Lord, You turn them back, You put them to shame and confusion!”

They sought to shame David, so David calls on God to defeat them with shame.

They sought to dishonor David, and so he asks God to visit that dishonor onto them.

God delights to use our adversaries’ own weapons against them—the poetic justice of them falling into the pit they dug for us, hoisted by their own petard, as it were.

Rest in God’s poetic justice in the midst of your desperate cries to Him—let Him humiliate the hecklers who come after you, because in their humiliation

…Because He may SHAME them into REPENTANCE (v.

3; cp.

Psalm 83:16)

Psalm 70:3 (ESV)

3 Let them turn back because of their shame who say, “Aha, Aha!”

Those scornful, arrogant adversaries that hate you because of your allegiance to Christ, who are always scrutinizing your every move so that they can go “a-HA!” when they detect some kind of inconsistency in your life, or when you suffer some hardship and they can exclaim “a-HA!

Look at the trouble you’re facing!

We knew it!

That God of yours is just your imagination!!” David prays that God would bring them to shame for their arrogance, that He would humble them.

And you know what happens when God truly humbles an arrogant and prideful heart, don’t you?

Psalm 83:16 (ESV)

16 Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord.