Westtown Church
Westtown Church
Tears of Repentance
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Psalm 6 is a wonderful example of teaching us how to pray honestly to God when we are downcast and depressed, especially when we have a troubled conscience due to our sin. It also reminds us that God is a good Father to His children and, therefore, He disciplines His children in love.
Summer Psalm Series
Speaker 1Good morning . I think half the sanctuary cleared out with Kidstown there . I noticed that . Wow , so glad some of you are over fifth grade . That's great . We're going to look at Psalm 6 this morning together in the Summer Psalm series and I hope you've been encouraged so far . The Psalms I think are good in the summer with people coming and going . I'm going to give an introduction and then I'll read it to you and then we'll pray .
Speaker 1Of course , as I mentioned , I think , a couple of weeks ago , martin Luther called the Psalms a little Bible . And he called it a little Bible because all the great doctrines and truths of the Christian faith are to be found in it . So it's not surprising . Sometimes when you see a New Testament you'll see the Psalms attached , and some of you have taken anatomy classes one time or another back in high school , maybe some of you in college , whatever . But you learn about all the different parts and systems of the human body . Well , john Calvin called the Psalms an anatomy of all parts of the soul . It explores every part . He says for in the Psalms , all the griefs and sorrows , and fears , doubts , hopes , cares and perplexities . In short , all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are prone to be agitated are here in the Psalms . And so he calls the Psalms a mirror . When we read the Psalms we say , hey , it reflects back , that's going on in my own heart and soul . And so the Psalms are very powerful , they're experiential , they're God's hymn book and prayer book , and for three it's amazing that most of the Psalms they were written between , say , a thousand BC , around the time of David , all the way up to around 500 BC or so , you're talking 2,500 to 3,000 years old these psalms are . And yet they're just as fresh and relevant to us today as they were back then . In these psalms we come across out of the 150 , almost half not quite , but almost half of them are laments , and a lament is just when you cry out to God in prayer , in distress and in pain . You need help . And so it's in that sense that in the Psalms we hear Jesus' voice saying to us come to me , all you who are weary and heavy laden , and I will give you rest . That's his invitation to us in these Psalms . It's quite a remarkable thing . I I I'll emphasize many times the importance of the psalms for spiritual health and growth . You see this , that the old testament is directly quoted almost 300 times in the new testament and about about one third of those quotes are from the Psalms , 116 to be exact . When you take that 116 quotes from the Psalms and you add to it the allusions to the Psalms where they don't quote it but they allude to the Psalms , now you're up to 250 times throughout the New Testament . And I mentioned that because it's clear that Jesus and the apostles saw the great importance of the Psalms for the Christian life today .
Speaker 1Historically , psalm 6 has been called one of the seven penitential Psalms . Penitential in the sense that the psalmist is very mindful of their great sin and yet God's grace and compassion and love and forgiveness come flowing through that psalm . These psalms were Luther's favorites . Four of them he called the Pauline Psalms Psalms 6 , 38 , 51 , 102 , 130 , 143 . These are the penitential psalms . They're great psalms to pray when you know you've sinned and you just need just a cup of God's grace to drink . So I commend them to you .
Speaker 1If you're weary this morning , if you're discouraged , if you're depressed , psalm 6 is for you . If you have a friend or somebody in your family who is deeply depressed or discouraged , this psalm is for you . If you have a friend or somebody in your family who is deeply depressed or discouraged , this Psalm is for them as well , and so , with that introduction , I'd like to invite you to stand . I'm going to read Psalm 6 to you , and it is the inerrant word of God . It's infallible and it's holy , and I want to remind you . God sends it to you with love , so let's receive it with faith , expecting him to minister to our hearts . This morning .
Speaker 1Psalm 6 , I'm reading from the English Standard Version To the choir master with stringed instruments , according to the Shemineth , a Psalm of David . O Lord , rebuke me not in your anger , nor discipline me in your wrath . Be gracious to me , o Lord . Forbuke me not in your anger , nor discipline me in your wrath . Be gracious to me , o Lord , for I am languishing . Heal me , o Lord , for my bones are troubled . My soul also is greatly troubled . But you , o Lord , how long Turn ? O Lord , deliver my life , save me for the sake of your steadfast love , for in death there is no remembrance of you In Sheol . Who will give you praise ?
Speaker 1I am weary with my moaning . Every night I flood my bed with tears . I drench my couch with my weeping . My eye wastes away because of grief , it grows weak because of all my foes . Depart from me all you workers of evil , for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping . The Lord has heard my plea . The Lord accepts my prayer . All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled . They shall turn back and be put to shame . In a moment , the grass withers and the flowers fade , but the word of the Lord endures forever .
Speaker 1God's people said amen , you may be seated . Thank you , father . It's always a privilege to come to your holy word . We need your word . We need a word of hope . We need your word . We need a word of hope . We need a word of stability . We need a word of encouragement . So reveal the glory of Christ here this morning . Reveal yourself through this psalm . And even as we come to your word this morning , lord , as we come to your word this morning , lord , we thank you for preserving the life of former President Donald Trump yesterday , deeply saddened for those whose lives were taken and whose families now bear that grief and that loss . Lord , would you revive our nation again ? Let it begin with us In Jesus' name , amen .
Speaker 1Well , this psalm is in four parts , so you guessed it . I'm gonna take it in four parts , and so let's look at the first section here Again , I'm not going to read these verses again to you , but you can see them on the screen . Here you have round one of David's agony . He's going to come to a second round in just a few minutes , but here's round one of his agony . How long ? Notice in verse one why David's in agony ? It's because of God's rebuke and God's discipline .
Speaker 1From verse eight we can come to see David mentions his enemies , and so David has become beaten , david's become battered . And what is he battered by ? He's beaten down and weary from a guilty conscience . That's on the inside , and he's beaten down and battered from the attacks from his enemies on the outside . He's getting it from within and he's getting it from without . What's interesting to me is that the enemies which are mentioned down in verse 8 and beyond , david is clearly more worried about the wrath and anger of God than he is about the treatment of his enemies . He's concerned about his enemies but not as concerned as he is about being right with God . And if we learn with David to admit that we are sinful . You see , david comes with an uneasy guilty conscience here and yet he comes to God acknowledging his sin Verse . One makes clear David in his conscience . He knows he deserves an angry response from God . He knows he deserves God's wrath and discipline . His conscience is not just a little burdened , it's deeply burdened .
David's Troubles and God's Grace
Speaker 1And I think the best way to understand historically what's going on in this Psalm Psalms 3 through 7 , I think James Hamilton makes a very strong case . These are all from the same period in David's life when he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had Bathsheba's husband , uriah , which was one of his top commandos under David's authority , knocked off so that he could steal his wife . And then Nathan the prophet , comes to David in 2 Samuel 11 and 12 . You can read there we don't have time this morning . But then one of the punishments for David Absalom , david's own son . You read about that in chapters 15 to 18 of 2 Samuel . He rebels and brings a gang against David and the pain that goes along with that in David . David's realizing these enemies and these problems are linked to his sin .
Speaker 1But that's not always the case when people have troubles . God brings things into our life for all kinds of reasons , but sometimes it is because of our sin and in this case it is . And so here's David with his guilty conscience inside , troubles outside . The father , our father , has him under heavy discipline . This is not light discipline , this is intense . Why does God do this ? He does it to draw us back to himself .
Speaker 1John Knox says what God is doing in David here is he's working repentance in his heart . The grace of repentance doesn't always feel good . When God works repentance in our heart , where we learn to hate sin and turn away from it unto God , it doesn't always feel good . Sometimes grace feels wonderful and it's comforting , but sometimes grace hurts . Sometimes grace feels wonderful and it's comforting , but sometimes grace hurts . Sometimes love hurts . And God is loving David to get David to draw near to him .
Speaker 1You see , david had that uneasy conscience . You know , in your car when the little check engine light comes on , god gave you a conscience , for a reason , you see , he gave you that conscience . And when that conscience kicks in , he's saying don't forget me now Check in with the Lord . That's what that means . When your conscience pricks you , god gave that to you to help you keep close to him . And when we blow those stop signs in our conscience , that leads to major trouble . And so God's working repents in David's heart here .
Speaker 1But you see , for all the troubles David has brought on himself , he's doing the right thing here . He's taking his troubles to the Lord . He's not grumbling and complaining about his troubles per se . No , he's taking it to God in prayer . Is that what we do with our problems per se ? No , he's taking it to God in prayer . Is that what we do with our problems ? We can take our problems and use them to grow close to God . We can use in fact , that's some of the most fertile soil for us to grow close to God when we feel deeply our need of him . And that's what David's doing .
Speaker 1And the Proverbs teach us , and so does Hebrews , that when God disciplines us , he does it in love , which means it's proof of his love . And what that means is is that David is feeling the pain of God's discipline and it's coming through his own burdened , heavy conscience and these enemies that God had sent upon him . But this is actually proof of God's love for him , and it's important that we see that it didn't feel like God's love . It didn't feel like his love , but God was for him even when he was disciplining him . Don't trust your feelings . Feelings are a terrible , dangerous thing to trust . Feelings are important , but we can't always trust our feelings to know if God is for us . We're going to see , david knew God was for him , but he was struggling to feel it . He knew it here , he couldn't feel it here . And that's what we have in our Christian life . Sometimes we know who God is , we know all the things about him , but sometimes we just can't experience in our hearts what we know up top .
Speaker 1And so you see , here David comes to the Lord , but he brings the gospel into his prayers . I want you to see this . He appeals to God according to gospel principles . You notice he doesn't appeal to God saying well , you know , lord , I'm trying hard , I promise I won't mess up again . He's not saying you know , I've done A , b , c and D and all these good works , and so you know , and it outweighs the bad I've done . There's none of that .
Speaker 1Notice how David prays . Look at the beauty of verse two . He appeals to God and his grace alone . He says be gracious to me , o Lord . Why ? Because I'm languishing . He says Heal me , o Lord . You see , heal me .
Speaker 1Sin does sin not only needs to be forgiven . Sin does damage . It needs to be healed . Our society talks a lot about all the damage stress does . Sin does way more damage than just mere stress . Sin needs to be healed as well as forgiven .
Speaker 1And so David's praying . I'm languishing , lord . That's why I want you to help me . Heal me , o Lord , for my bones are troubled . David's praying . I'm languishing , lord . That's why I want you to help me . Heal me , o Lord , for my bones are troubled . Body and soul , he's overwhelmed . Do you see what he's appealing to here ? All he's appealing to for God to hear his prayer is the gracious character of God . That's it . Help me , lord . Why ? Nothing in himself does he name ? He only appeals to the fact that God is gracious . And you and I can do the same .
Speaker 1When we've messed it up , you'd say well , why would God help me ? I've just done A , b , c and D because God is gracious . He gives his people what they do not deserve . Aren't you glad for that ? This is our God . If you're glad for that , let me hear an amen . I saw you clapping earlier . You can give me an amen . I love amen corners . I'm counting on you over here today . All right , I like amen corners .
Speaker 1You see this in Jesus , in the gospel . What's Jesus doing ? He became incarnate to do what ? To reveal to us what the father is like , what God is like . He himself is truly God , truly man , but in all that , the compassion , when he was compassionate to sinners , you see what the love of God is like . Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners , but he also came into the world to save saints too . You see , god doesn't just save us when we become a child of God . He saves us when we screw up along the way . Aren't you glad for that ? You see the gospel's for believers too .
Speaker 1Don't forget that Christian David's sins were not small ones . Murder and adultery is kind of serious . It's an understatement . But have we learned to look at the troubles in our life as not just troubles that just happened to come into our life , like we got some bad break , or these people are in our life and what they're doing is wrong ? Our tendency is to get fixated on our troubles or upon the people that are making things in our life complicated or bringing pain into our life . But if we learned with David to see our life by faith , we begin to see God's hand and ask humbly before him Lord , is there a reason that you've brought these troubles into my life . I wanna understand what shall I do ? God and it's not always from our sin . Sometimes God just wants to grow us in wisdom . He wants us to be more Christ-like , more humble , to maybe grow in our compassion for other people who are hurting , and so on and so forth . You can't always just draw a line between your certain particular sins and your troubles or other people mistreating you , but sometimes God does that . And if we get fixated upon the people who are hurting us , we'll become bitter
Suffering and Hope
Speaker 1.
Speaker 1What saved Joseph from bitterness ? At the end of Genesis , the book of Genesis , you remember when his brothers betrayed him , sold him into slavery . What saved Joseph from a heart just full of bitterness ? He says to his brothers Genesis 50 , verse 20 , you meant it for evil , but God meant what Meant it for good . You meant it for evil , but God meant it for good .
Speaker 1We have to learn to see the sovereign hand of God in everything that comes into our life . Not a hair falls from your head without his command , which makes yesterday's incident even more amazing . You see , job's friends had forgotten that God does sometimes bring troubles into our life for his purposes , not because of our sin , but to glorify him in some way . Nothing comes into our life by chance . So why has God brought your current troubles into your life , your current disappointments , your current pain ?
Speaker 1We need to pause before him . We have to wrestle not just with the devil in the christian life . We have to wrestle with god in prayer . That's one of the things the psalms shows us . We wrestle with him and you notice david's questions . They're rooted in agony and that's the word . Agony is the word the niv uses here , and I think rightly .
Speaker 1In these opening verses , verse three , my soul is also greatly troubled . But you , oh Lord , how long . Verse three . He just starts speaking to God and he cuts it off right mid-sentence and then just you can almost see his hands go up . His prayer just turns into . I don't even know what to ask anymore , how long you ever been there .
Speaker 1Again , this is not David having a bad day or a bad week . He's languishing , he's hurting . David's humbly before God , but he's also frustrated because he feels like God is silent . You ever feel that God is silent . Be careful of the assumptions you make about God when you're experiencing him as silent . He does a lot of good things in his silence , but David knows about God in his head . He just can't feel in his heart and life right now what he desires . So he's living between where he's experiencing the promises of God in part , and that day when we'll all experience God's promises in full . We already experienced some of the promise , the cash value , if I can put it that way , of the promises of God . But none of us experience , on this side of glory , the fullness of the promises he's living in . The already and not yet is how the theologians put it . We live in the gap and that can be hard Time crawls when you're hurting .
Speaker 1You see that with David this word for troubled here also sometimes is translated dismayed . When Joseph's brothers came down to Egypt and saw their brother had , after they sold him into slavery , saw that he'd risen to the second man in charge in Egypt , they were dismayed . It says in Genesis 45 , verse 3 . They thought they were going to die . Uh-oh , look who's in charge down here . And in a military situation . In Judges , chapter 20 , verse 41 , the tribe of Benjamin . When they thought they had this military disaster and they thought they were going to die , they became dismayed same word troubled because they were facing death . So this trouble isn't that he had a flat tire , this is deep trouble had a flat tire . This is deep trouble . His life is in danger . He was feeling the weight of darkness , beyond discouragement to deep spiritual depression .
Speaker 1Sin can cause depression . Sometimes it has to do with people's you know their body and maybe something you know internally in your body . Or there can be other reasons , Sometimes there are other explanations for depression . But sin can cause depression or it can contribute or add to it . And David's hanging on by a thread .
Speaker 1Now see , here's the amazing thing . I want you to notice this God had him , but David couldn't feel it . Don't trust your feelings . Live by the promises of God alone . Your feelings will come and go . Aren't you glad Jesus Christ is the same yesterday , today and forever ? Aren't you glad Jesus Christ is the same yesterday , today and forever ? You see , that is how we put our feet upon the rock , by faith .
Speaker 1David is tasting a little cup of hell itself . Jesus drank the whole ocean of hell on that cross when he died for our sins , not his . David's suffering for his own sins . You see , jesus is that greater David . He's the king of kings . In David we get a bit of a picture . But in David's case he was suffering for his own sins and his own troubles . And David drank . He was drinking a drop out of the cup of hell . Jesus drank the whole cup , the entire ocean of it , and he did that for David's sins and for ours .
Speaker 1In David we see something of Christ , because Christ too is greatly troubled . His body and soul were greatly troubled for our sins . You remember when John 11 , jesus sees his friend Lazarus ? Lazarus had just died , his friend had died , and he says he was greatly troubled in heart , deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled is how John puts it .
Speaker 1And then in Luke 22 , not long before his crucifixion , the next day , jesus is with his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and he's praying there . And here's what he says to them my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow , to the point of death . Now , how deep does your sorrow have to be ? To where you describe it as to the point of death ? To where you describe it as to the point of death . I can't imagine a deeper darkness and depression than that . Yet Christ was without sin . Depression doesn't go any deeper than that .
Speaker 1So if you're experiencing something of that as one of God's children this morning , I can't tell you how long . I can't tell you the particular whys of what God is doing in your life . But I know this . I know the one who died for our sins and rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and sits at God's right hand . I know he cares and he's interceding for you and for me right now . I know that , and so we need to hold on to that . Hold on to it in the deepest part of your darkness and difficulties and troubles . God is eager to help you and God delights to help his children , speaking in a human way of understanding .
Speaker 1I wonder how it was hard for David . Do you think it was harder for God , the Father , not to intervene ? Right then you parents , is it hard sometimes to let your kids suffer for the good of them ? If that's true with us , what about God , who is love ? He loved David . So just because you're suffering doesn't mean God's against you . Remember that , in fact , for God's children , it's one of the very proofs that , when it comes to discipline , that he's for you , he cares for you .
Speaker 1So you see David's agony in verses one through three . How long . But notice , in verses four and five , he gets right to the goal and it's pretty simple Save me , save me . Derek Kidner says he's beyond self-help and good advice . You ever been in a place in your life ? You're beyond self-help and you're beyond good advice . You see , those will eventually run out of gas . Every person will eventually get to a place in their life , whether it's with their personal troubles , whether it's at the time of death , whether it's standing at the final judgment , where self-help and good advice won't do you a thing . There are some problems in this world and in this life that only God can fix , and aren't you glad he's a savior ? David's praying save me Now .
Speaker 1Notice the argument David uses as he prays . Notice the argument he uses with God . He starts giving God biblical reasons why he should help David . I mean , he's not teaching God , right , but you see this again and again . I mean , what does David know that God doesn't know ? He's not informing God , but he's arguing biblical gospel reasons to God in prayer why God should help him .
Speaker 1And David is being mysteriously deeply strengthened , or at least being prepared to be strengthened , by this . And so what happens when we do that ? While our arguments are directed to God , it's as if the Holy Spirit blesses our gospel arguments , as if we're preaching to our own souls . You see this in Psalm 42 and 43 , right , remember that Psalm . It's a little couplet . He's praying to God , but he's preaching to himself . Why are you downcast , o my soul Hope in God ? And then he goes down in the ditch and he comes back out . Why are you downcast , o my , my soul hope in God ? And he goes down , back , down in the ditch . He comes back up three times . He says why are you downcast , oh my soul hope in God ? He's praying to God , but at the same time it's as if he's preaching to his own soul . And so God strengthens us as we pray to him and give biblical arguments back to him that he's given to us first through his word . And David is being prepared to be strengthened In verses four and five . Look verse four turn or return . O Lord , deliver my life , save me .
Speaker 1David knows he can't save himself . Do you know that you can't save yourself ? Ultimately , this fallen world is too much . Ultimately , our sin is too much . I remember going through some difficulties in my life about 15 years ago . I would describe it as hell . And I can remember saying to more than one friend this is a bowl of spaghetti I'll never unravel . But we know the one who can right . We know the one who can . And so David's going to him and he wants to sense God's pleasure again . He wants practical help , but he also wants to sense his pleasure and his life is in danger , whether it's from sickness or his enemies or his conscience that's weighing him down so hard .
Speaker 1And notice , again , he doesn't just say deliver me and save me . He adds the argument , the reason why and I want you to take very close notice to this . Look at his reason Save me for the sake of your steadfast love , joseph Alexander says . He doesn't just say save me according to your steadfast love . He says save me for the sake of your steadfast love . You see , god , I want you to save me so that your greatness would be known by those around , for the sake of the glory of your steadfast love . You see , god , I want you to save me so that your greatness would be known by those around , for the sake of the glory of your name .
Speaker 1You see how different David is praying . This is how the Psalms teach us how self-centered our prayers can sometimes be , without a concern for the glory of God . David isn't just saying to God get me out of this pickle , help me , lord . David isn't just saying to God get me out of this pickle , help me , lord . He's saying Lord , I want you to help me . And , yes , david really did want help . It had to do with David , but David's ultimate concern was that God would be glorified in the salvation of himself . You see , there's a radically God-centered orientation that we find in the Psalms , that we so often don't find in our own prayers . And here's the Psalms the Holy Spirit becomes our teacher .
Speaker 1David wanted the greatness of God . I want you to save me , lord , or save me Lord , so that people will know how loyal you are , how faithful your love is , how abundant and kindness you are when your people mess it up . I want them to see how great you are . I want them to see how holy your love is , how full of grace you are . I want them to see how overflowing with mercy and compassion you are , even to your own king who messes it up . He wanted God to be glorified . Notice what David . What's he really want to do ? He wants to get back in that temple with his heart full of praise that will come out his lips .
Speaker 1Verse 5 save me Lord . Save me because in death there's no remembrance of you in Sheol . Sheol , meaning the grave in , or the realm of the dead in Sheol . Who will Sheol ? Who will give you praise ? Who will give you praise on this earth ? If I die , lord , my lips run cold . I'll no longer be able to praise you .
Speaker 1And you see , why would David pray like that ? Because the great tragedy , one of the great tragedies of death is that it silences our praise of God on earth . Of course there's praise of God in heaven , but it silences our praise of God on earth . And you see , that goes to the very purpose of why you were created . Why did God create you ? Why did God knit you together in love in your mama's womb ? Why did God do that ? Why does he give you ? Why did he have breath in your lungs this morning ? Why is he upholding your very life right now To praise him .
Speaker 1It's not to become wealthy . There's nothing wrong with becoming wealthy . It's not to get a great education and a great job and rise in your profession or even be a great servant of the Lord and his church . Although all those may have their place in various ways with various people , the ultimate purpose of your life is to praise God . That's it . It's really that simple To have a heart of joy in him and thanksgiving toward him and wanting other people to know about him , not only by what we say , but what we do and how we live our life . It's not to excel at sports .
Speaker 1Parents , I want to speak this in love to you when you take your kids to sports stuff on Sunday and blow off church , what are you teaching your children ? You're confusing them on the fundamental purpose of life . First of all , the chances of your kid becoming a Major League Baseball player are .0000128% . But even if they were guaranteed that , it's more important to teach them that they're on this earth to praise God and some things you just have to forego , even if all the other kids are doing it , because God's people are holy . I just want to encourage you Teach your kids . Nothing's more important than to praise God . That's why corporate worship is so important . It's very important to
Speaker 1God .
The Power of God's Faithfulness
Speaker 1David's not praying to the man upstairs . He's not praying if anybody's up there . Do you notice ? He says Lord in all capitals here , eight times in just 10 verses . Eight times in 10 verses . The covenant Lord , the one who keeps faithfulness even when we mess it up big time . I'm going to tell you again anytime . You see all capitals L capital O , capital R , capital E . That's Yahweh . That's God's covenant name , his promise keeping name , his faithfulness name . Great is thy faithfulness , o God , my Father , there's no shadow of turning with thee . Thou changest not thy compassions . They fail not as thou hast been thou forever it will be , even when I mess it up . Lord , you see why David's praying that he's holding on to the promise-keeping God . And the same God who promises to discipline us in love when we get too far afield is the same God who will restore us back to joy in him and deal with all of our problems . Great is thy faithfulness . Great is thy faithfulness , morning by morning , what New mercies I see . All I have needed thy hand hath provided . Great is thy faithfulness , lord unto me , amen me . We see something of Christ here in
Speaker 1David . Remember in Mark 5 , jesus heals the demoniac over in the area of the Gerasenes . The guy was running around in the tombs . Remember that he lived in the tombs . He was running around naked . People were afraid of him . He'd break chains . He was out of his mind . Jesus healed him and he saved him . He saved his soul and also put him in his right mind , and the man wanted to go in the boat with Jesus back to the other side , to Capernaum . Jesus said no , no , no . Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you . You see , he got healed . To do what ? Open his lips and tell other people about the goodness of
Speaker 1God . Peter 1 , peter 2 , but here's how he describes the church and Peter suffered . Peter suffered and he was writing to a church that was suffering . But you are a chosen race , a royal priesthood , a holy nation , a people for his own possession , that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light . God saves us that we would proclaim his excellencies . Do you see ? Why would God shower us with goodness ? What's our obligation to God when he showers us with his goodness and his grace and his saving love ? And his saving love is to open our lips and give him praise . Can you imagine if David had been saved out of his situation and then he just kept his mouth shut ? Notice too , he returns to his agony
Speaker 1here . Spurgeon calls these verses liquid prayers . We don't have time to get deep into these , but it's as if David was so frightened , as if hell was ready to receive him . Calvin says he was shaken to the depths . His eye had wasted away . God's love was hidden from David . It was there , but it was hidden from David , and he had this depression and this exhaustion . He just couldn't get himself out of
Speaker 1it . What do we see here ? We see a picture of Christ himself , that greater king of Israel , isaiah 53 , a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief . How much sorrow and grief did he have ? So much so Isaiah says that men hide their faces from him . Jesus knows what it is to be beaten and battered At Lazarus' tomb . It says Jesus wept these liquid prayers , isaiah 63 , 9, . In all their affliction he was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them . In his love and in his pity he redeemed them . He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old . That's our God . Be careful , trusting your feelings . Don't be shocked by suffering in the Christian life . Don't be shocked . So , david , sometimes all we have to offer God in our prayers is our tears , our moans and our cries . And you know what ? Those are some of the sweetest prayers we have to offer to God . And then , lastly , in the verses 8 through 10 , I just want you to notice that David gets his grace , his confidence , renewed , and God gives him grace to get through it . All of a sudden he realizes anew oh okay , god's going to deal with my enemies . He's got it . He's got it . You see , that's a confidence he didn't have in the first seven verses . So it's between verses seven and eight . The clouds dispersed and the sunshine broke through . He was still in a pickle , but now he had his faith strengthened . And I think I can explain it like this Do you remember there was an English woman , or I don't know if she was English or not she was going to try to swim the English Channel and 1925 and 35 miles across six-foot waves , frigid , cold jellyfish everywhere to sting the daylights out of you
Renewed Faith Through God's Grace
Speaker 1when you hit
Speaker 1them . She swam and swam and swam , and swam , and swam and swam and she ended up a quarter mile short . She got into the boat but it was foggy and she didn't realize until she got in the boat . She was only a quarter mile short . She got into the boat but it was foggy and she didn't realize until she got in the boat . She was only a quarter mile away and she said if I could have seen the shore , I could have kept
Speaker 1going . That's what God restored to David . He didn't take David out of the pickle , but he allowed David to see the shore . Some of you have seen marathon runners and they go along and they get on mile 18 or mile 22 and they grab those cups of water and they just take it and they throw it . Sometimes what we need in life is a cup of God's grace , and he will show that his grace is sufficient , because he who began a good work in you will bring it into completion at the day of Christ Jesus . That's what David got here . All his problems weren't solved , but he got a cup of God's grace and God enabled him to see the shore and renewed his confidence and allowed him to go on with a strengthened faith . The just shall live by faith . So let's pray and ask God to help us .