[0:00] Psalm 13.
[0:17] How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?! How long will you hide your face from me?! How long must I take counsel in my soul?
[0:30] And have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God.
[0:40] Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemy say I have prevailed over him. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
[0:52] But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.
[1:05] This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. How long? This is a question that each of us have asked, and I'm curious when the last time you may have asked it.
[1:19] For our children and youth, this may be a daily question we ask our parents with respect to video games or playing outside or curfew in the hopes that it would be a lengthy amount of time.
[1:30] In contrast, many times we ask this question in the hopes that it would be a short amount of time. Pastor Tyler mentioned a meal that is coming, and so a question may have popped in, how long until we get to eat?
[1:43] And classic questions of every road trip are, are we there yet? And how long until we get there? Historically for me, this time of year makes me ask that question with a bit more agony.
[1:59] As you know, I'm an Oklahoma State Cowboys fan. And this time, year after year, growing up, as I endured life as a Cowboys fan, we played the Sooners.
[2:11] And if you know anything about that rivalry, the University of Oklahoma owns a staggering advantage in football. So year after year, as I grew up, it was how long until we can win, until we can defeat them?
[2:30] But more recently, much to my continued surprise, we've actually won a few. But when I've posed this question to the Lord, I confess to you that it's not been regularly asked in such a light manner.
[2:44] No, in fact, I think we can each think of a time, or many times, when we have asked the Lord this question, or at least wanted to ask the Lord this question. How long?
[2:56] How long will what I'm experiencing continue? How long will the pain and the anguish persist? Lord, I'm on the verge of despair.
[3:10] And it can be from any number of circumstances. Maybe an enemy is pursuing your life, like David is experiencing here in this psalm. Maybe you're being taunted or slandered.
[3:22] Maybe a bully at school or at work has you in his crossfire. Maybe a loved one, a parent, a spouse, a child, a friend has died.
[3:36] Maybe a diagnosis or disease is here. Maybe infertility persists. Maybe there's a broken relationship. When you don't get the job or you lose the great job that you had.
[3:47] When you don't make the team or you don't make first chair. Maybe you yearn for a child or a friend to know Jesus. And day after day after day, they rebel and reject him.
[3:59] Maybe it's just the evil that's on display throughout the world. Mass shootings, human atrocities, the list goes on. How long, oh Lord, how long, oh Lord, how long?
[4:17] When will this end? When will you fulfill what you have promised? Well, in the remainder of our time together this morning, we will see from Psalm 13 how David moves from the verge of despair to delight in God.
[4:33] And our main idea this morning will be this, that those in despair who trust in the Lord will delight. Those who despair, who trust in the Lord will delight.
[4:45] And our passage divides nicely into three sections. First we'll see David's pain in verses 1 and 2. Then we'll see David's plea in verses 3 and 4. And we'll end with David's praise in verses 5 and 6.
[4:59] So David's pain, David's plea, and David's praise. Now as we parachute into Psalm 13, we need the lay of the land. We need some context.
[5:10] And so we find this psalm in the Psalter or the songbook of God's people. God's people would sing songs and hymns to the Lord out of these 150 psalms, just like we did not a few minutes ago, singing in praise to him.
[5:28] And these psalms are individually written but intentionally arranged. And we find our psalm in a section of psalms, about Psalm 10 to Psalm 14, as pastor and scholar Jim Hamilton points out, where the Lord is responding to the wicked.
[5:43] And remember David, the author of this psalm, he's the Lord's anointed. He's the king of God's people, meaning that God chose David, he installed David, his Holy Spirit has come upon David. Now we're not sure when David wrote this psalm, but we can remember multiple times in David's life when he may have written this.
[6:03] You might think, or you might remember, Israel's previous king, Saul. Well, Saul was jealous and feared David after David defeated Goliath. And so Saul sought to kill David.
[6:15] And while fleeing Saul, David says this. In 1 Samuel 20, there is but one step between me and death. One step.
[6:26] Oh, so close. Just within grasp. Closer than you are to me right now. That's how close he was. We can think of other times in David's life when he may have written a psalm like this.
[6:39] Potentially when his son Absalom, his own son, rises up and rebels against him trying to take the throne. But in whatever circumstance, what we're going to see is that in Psalm 13, David is moved to delight.
[6:53] So, firstly, David's pain, verses 1 and 2. Look with me in verse 1. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?
[7:05] How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
[7:16] As you hear those words of David, you can hear the, and really see the pain and the anguish just overflowing. Notice David's questioning of the Lord and how he feels.
[7:29] He asks how long four times. Verse 1, will you forget me forever? David feels forgotten, neglected, ignored. How long will you hide your face?
[7:41] He feels distant from God. God, where are you? Are you going to show up? Are you going to remain idly by? You can picture a child who calls to his father and runs to his father only for his father to turn the other way.
[7:54] That's how David feels. Verse 2, how long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? Lord, you're not answering me.
[8:05] I'm left to my own troubled, anxious thoughts. Sorrow consumes my heart every minute of the day. How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
[8:19] Lord, my enemy who hates you is prospering. Yet I who love you and follow you and keep your law am in ruin. When will you intervene, O Lord?
[8:38] It feels as if the Lord is withholding David's love. That's the honest expression of David's heart. Now David is being pursued by an enemy, wicked ones, which to many of us may seem foreign.
[8:53] We typically don't have someone physically pursuing our life and so it may seem strange. But for many of our brothers and sisters in Christ historically and even now throughout the world, this is not a foreign or abstract or far-fetched idea.
[9:07] If we consider our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, this is what, according to Voice of the Martyrs, they endure day after day. Afghan Christians cannot open worshiply.
[9:18] They must worship in homes and other small venues and evangelism is forbidden. Christians and those interested are forced to be highly secretive about their faith, especially since the resurgence of the Taliban.
[9:32] Beatings, torture, kidnappings are routine. A small number of Christians are martyred every year in Afghanistan, but their deaths generally occur without public knowledge. Few are also in prison, but imprisonment is not common.
[9:46] Christian converts from Islam are often killed by family members or other radicalized. Muslims, before any legal proceedings can begin. You can imagine how they, like David, might cry in this way day after day.
[10:01] And how that feeling may have even been intensified in 2021 when the enemy grew in power and control over the country. Lord, an enemy of yours who persecutes your people is being lifted up, expanding in power and control.
[10:17] How long, O Lord? And to a much lesser degree, but still true, Christianity here in the United States is being viewed in the public square more and more as outdated, as oppressive, as hateful.
[10:37] So do not think that this is not applicable to us. 2 Timothy 3.12 tells us that indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
[10:52] And do not forget that we have an enemy in Satan who comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. How long, O Lord, will the enemy remain?
[11:03] How long, O Lord, will the enemy be exalted? Now, David's feelings here are real, but they're not always trustworthy. In fact, a former pastor of mine said it like this, feelings are gauges, not guides.
[11:17] Feelings can reveal and communicate much to us. They can report back to us. Think of a fuel gauge on your vehicle. It tells you if it's full or empty or somewhere in between. It can tell you if you need to change course and get gas, or if you're all good.
[11:31] That fuel gauge helps you to know. So feelings are our gauges. For example, if I have a happy feeling when I get to serve someone, that could be an indication that I treasure loving others and loving Christ.
[11:43] But if I have a happy feeling when I slander someone, or gossip someone, or tear someone down, and that kind of reports back that, and maybe my heart doesn't treasure loving others, or loving the Lord.
[11:57] It's not just feelings we have, but also the absence of feelings we should have. See, the Lord tells us in Jeremiah 17, 9, that in our fallen sinful states, our hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.
[12:14] Therefore, if we follow our passions, and desires, and feelings, they will lead us to destruction, and to death. And do not mishear me.
[12:25] I'm not saying that feelings are inherently bad, or that we shouldn't have feelings. What I am saying is that feelings are not the arbiter of truth. They're not the decider of truth.
[12:36] God is. Jesus said in John 14, 6, as Nick preached on two weeks ago, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life.
[12:48] No one comes to the Father except through me. Instead of following your feelings, follow God, who is truth. Now here, David feels pain and agony, but he knows that his current feelings do not change the truth of God's character, or his promises.
[13:06] So let's quickly look at these four questions, and what I hope to show you is that David knows these aren't true, even though he feels as if they are true right now. So in your Bibles, you're looking at Psalm 13, turn back to Psalm 10.
[13:19] Turn back to Psalm 10, beginning in verse 11. So his first question, will you forget me forever, Lord? David knows that the Lord will not forget him forever.
[13:33] Psalm 10, beginning in verse 11. He, now this is the wicked one, he says in his heart, God has forgotten. He has hidden his face, he will never see it.
[13:45] And now David speaks, Arise, O Lord, O God, lift up your hand, forget not the afflicted. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will not call to account?
[13:57] Verse 14. But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands. God does see. And if you'd like it even more plainly, listen to these words from Isaiah chapter 49.
[14:16] And this is the people of God saying, Zion has said, that's the people of God, Zion has said, the Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.
[14:27] That's what God's people are telling God. God, you've forsaken us, you've forgotten us. And this is how the Lord responds. Can a woman forget her nursing child? That she should have no compassion on the son of her womb.
[14:42] The Lord responds with that question. And I think all of us in here can think of the obvious answer. No, absolutely not. She will not forget.
[14:54] And this is how the Lord finishes his response. Even these may forget. But I, yet I, will not forget you.
[15:06] Now that's got to put a smile on your face and comfort your soul. The Lord has not forgotten David. He has not forgotten his people. He's not forgotten us. He's not forgotten you.
[15:20] Okay, so that's the first question. Let's quickly move to the second question. How long will you hide your face from me if you look at Psalm 11, verse 7? David knows that the Lord's face will not be hidden.
[15:32] Psalm 11, verse 7. For the Lord is righteous. He loves righteous deeds. The upright shall behold his face. The upright will see God's face.
[15:47] And as simple as it sounds, if you can see the Lord's face, he's not hiding it. Okay, the third question. How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
[16:00] We think of Psalm 18, what we just had read before us. And we think of verse 6 in particular. In my distress, I called upon the Lord. To my God, I cried for help.
[16:11] From his temple, he heard me. My cry to him reached his ears. David knows that he will have the Lord's counsel, that he will not have sorrow all the day. He knows that the Lord has heard his prayer.
[16:24] And if you read the rest of Psalm 18, God delivers David. And the final question, David asked, the fourth, how long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
[16:37] David knows that his enemies will not be exalted over him finally. Look back at Psalm 10, verses 16 through 18. Psalm 10, verses 16 through 18.
[16:50] The Lord is king forever and ever. The nations perish from his land. Oh Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted. You will strengthen their heart.
[17:03] You will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that the man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. The evil, wicked ones, the ones of the earth, not of God, they will not be exalted and prosper forever.
[17:21] The wicked one who can strike terror no more is the one who is defeated. And these truths were true for David, they were true of God then, they're true for God's people now, and true of God today.
[17:33] Today, David is in pain and agony, and he's crying out to God in light of God's promises, in light of what he knows to be true of who God is and what he's promised.
[17:47] Lord, I know these things aren't true, but this is how it feels in the midst of my circumstance. So that's David's pain. Now let's look at David's plea, verses 3 through 4.
[18:02] Notice that David does not stay wallowing, only voicing sorrow and frustration, doesn't wallow in self-pity or in his circumstances. Instead, he makes his plea to the Lord.
[18:13] He pleads and petitions the Lord to act in his time of distress. Verse 3, Consider and answer me, O Lord my God. Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.
[18:27] Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. So David's plea, there are three actions he asks of the Lord. Lord, consider, answer, and light.
[18:38] Lord, consider, take note of what's going on. Look around. Lord, answer, answer my prayer, O Lord. Thirdly, light, light up my eyes. Lord, enlighten me, restore me physically and spiritually lest I die.
[18:52] Lord, Lord, fix this. This made me think of my 19-month-old son, Luke, who loves calling his papa. So his grandpa, he calls him papa.
[19:04] He'll run over to the phone and he'll say, papa, papa, papa, papa, because he wants to call us papa. And so we'll get the FaceTime or the video call, Skype, we'll call him.
[19:16] And if he's unavailable, if he doesn't answer, Luke is distraught. Luke, you can imagine his eyes just looking down, you know, upset, despairing, as if nothing could ever redeem what's going on.
[19:34] He throws himself on the ground throwing a fit, which I don't encourage you all to do. But he's despairing, he's moping around, the tears walloping up.
[19:49] But when we call back later and papa answers, oh, does his face light up. Oh, does the smile from ear to ear. His face is beaming.
[20:00] You know, he screams, yay! He runs through the house, ah! He's so excited. His face has been, he'd lit up. He's lit up.
[20:14] His face lights up. And I think that's the picture here, that David desires to be physically and spiritually restored. Lord, light, light. Light up my eyes.
[20:32] David also asked the Lord to prevent three outcomes. Prevent me from dying from this. Prevent the enemy from prevailing over me. Prevent them from being victorious.
[20:44] And prevent the enemy from rejoicing over me because I'm shaken. Lord, don't let your anointed be shaken. David's plea is that God would help him by intervening.
[20:57] Help me, oh Lord, strengthen me because I am yours. And here's what I think David is really getting at. Lord, prevent what you hate. Prevent what you do not delight in.
[21:09] And accomplish what you love. Accomplish what you delight in. That's what I think he's after here. And I think we need to pray this way. This is a model for us to follow.
[21:25] Now in times of fear or worry, pain, we turn to that which we believe can act, can influence the situation, can relieve us.
[21:36] And how quickly I confess to you I am to turn to other things other than our Lord. And so I think that's a question for us. When we're on the verge of despair, what do we turn to rather than the Lord?
[21:50] You know, sometimes we don't turn anywhere. I think sometimes there's a sinful pleasure that we get relishing in our pain because of the attention and the affirmation and the affection that it brings to us from others.
[22:03] I think that's a reality. I think we've all felt that temptation. I know I've certainly sat in that before. But I also think that we can just get angry and bitter and we can lash out at other people.
[22:16] We lash out at God. Maybe in those times we turn to ourselves, our efforts, our abilities, our wisdom to try and fix whatever is going on.
[22:29] Maybe we turn to other people in the hopes that they won't fail us although I think we all know that people let us down. And sometimes we turn to people in the hopes that they'll tell us what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear.
[22:53] That was hopefully pointed out when we went through this psalm in our Sunday school class a few weeks ago. another thing is we may turn to anything that can numb how I feel right now.
[23:08] Substances, hard drugs, prescription medications, alcohol, food, drink. And as I run through that list I think it's easy for a lot of us to think that doesn't apply to me.
[23:20] But I confess to you that my heart can turn Diet Coke and a meal into that which I turn to for relief. And I know that kind of sounds like a joke but that's the true posture of our hearts sometimes when we turn to things.
[23:33] There's a reason that people call it comfort food. It's not that we can't enjoy those things but that shouldn't be who we turn to for relief and comfort.
[23:49] We may look to other distractions social media, video games, television, pornography, anything that we think might give us some relief. But the truth is that none of these things or anything else will fully, finally, eternally satisfy you or redeem what's going on.
[24:14] Only Jesus will. And that's what's amazing is right now you can turn to him and I plead with you to turn to him, to trust him, to look to him. Jesus said in John 6, 35, I'm the bread of life.
[24:28] Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. Those who come to Christ and believe in him are completely and eternally satisfied.
[24:41] There is nothing more they want or need. David turns to the Lord and we should too. David does not suppress his feelings or pretend everything is fantastic.
[24:52] No, he makes his plea in a humble, honest way. He cries out to God. You know, each of us have felt this way before and may even feel that way right now.
[25:08] And God in his grace has given us the Psalms as a whole and particularly this Psalm to give us a language and a vocabulary of how to express our emotions to him both in times of praise and as we cry out to him.
[25:20] Remember, this is the songbook of God's people. These Psalms were meant to be sung in worship by God's people to God. Psalm 13, this very Psalm is meant to be sung in worship to God.
[25:33] God can handle our questions and he understands and cares how you feel in your pain and suffering. Jesus is described as the man of sorrows and we see him in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
[25:47] Remember the night before he was crucified as recorded in Matthew 26, 38. Then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful even to death.
[25:59] Remain here and watch with me. Even our Lord Jesus was sorrowful. God can handle our questions and he understands how you and I feel in the moments and seasons of sorrow and pain and a lot of what we've talked about you might think of as the deepest, darkest parts of being on the verge of despair.
[26:21] But I think this is applicable to the week in, week out hard things. We're exhorted in 1 Peter 5 to cast all of our anxieties and worries to God because he cares for us.
[26:38] And in addition, know that it's okay to pray to God that he would change your circumstances. That's okay. We see David do that very thing right here.
[26:51] But our delighting in God is not rooted in him changing our circumstances. Rather, our delighting in God is rooted in who God is and what he has done and will do.
[27:04] Remember later that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus went to pray. He says, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
[27:16] Father, if it be your will, change the circumstance. But not as I will, Father, as you will. For we know that God does all things for his glory in our good.
[27:32] Lastly, let's look at David's praise. So we saw David's pain, David's plea, and now we'll see David's praise in verses 5 and 6. But I have trusted in your steadfast love.
[27:46] My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. David is trusted in the Lord.
[27:58] David is trusted in the past and he continues to trust in the present. He reaffirms this trust in God's steadfast love. That's God's continual, unwavering, covenantal love toward his people.
[28:09] And one commentator put it like this, trust is believing what you know to be true even though the facts of suffering might call that belief into question. Trust is believing what you know to be true even though the facts of suffering might call that belief into question.
[28:27] David says, I shall rejoice in your salvation. David is confident that the Lord will deliver him even though his present circumstances mean he's not experiencing or feeling that fully right now.
[28:44] Remember that in the Old Testament salvation generally refers both to physical and spiritual deliverance from danger. David had the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, and you could, he would have known and remembered, you know, God's great act of love towards his people when he redeemed his people up from the captivity of the Egyptians and would bring them later into the promised land.
[29:10] How much more should we rejoice because we have the complete canon of scripture? We have the entire Bible and we know of God's ultimate salvation that is in Jesus.
[29:24] This is why we are not ones who despair or grieve without hope as Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4. No, we have hope in our Lord who has saved us and who will return to bring us to glory with him.
[29:43] And I was thinking for this, you know, pictures of praise that could be easy for us. We certainly see it here in David. When we look at Acts chapter 5, my community group discussed this last week.
[29:59] Remember in Acts in chapter 5, the apostles, they're proclaiming Christ and that lands them in front of the Sanhedrin, in front of the council. And they beat them severely and tell them not to proclaim Christ.
[30:12] And this is, this is what they say. Acts 5, verses 40 through 42. And when they had called the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.
[30:25] Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
[30:42] The apostles were rejoicing in their pain. I think we also encounter this beautiful picture every week when we come here.
[30:55] And sometimes we may forget it. But every week we gather, we sing to the Lord and we hear his word proclaimed. And I confess to you that, or I share with you that it is of great encouragement to me.
[31:08] Because when I look at my brothers and sisters who are here standing singing songs and praises to God, I am often thinking of what they're enduring. I think of the widow or widower who misses their husband or wife.
[31:26] I think of the parent who's lost a child and is here praising the Lord. I think of the ones who long for their children to know Christ and they don't.
[31:40] And yet they're here with their hands high saying, Lord, you are good. And I could go on with the pain in those circumstances, but I think you understand my point.
[31:55] If you're a guest here this morning, some of these terms like salvation and saving and deliverance, they may seem foreign, but they're paramount to the Christian faith.
[32:07] See, the basis of the Christian faith is this, that at the beginning, God created everything and it was good, including us, humans. But we, we sinned. We did not love God the way that we should.
[32:18] We rejected him. We rebelled. We disobeyed. We doubted. We wanted to be our own gods. And the due penalty for that decision and for our sin is death.
[32:30] That's what we deserve. Because of our sin, we deserve death. But God, in his great love, sent his son to come and live the life that we could not live and die the death that we deserve.
[32:42] So that, by having faith and believing in him, trusting in him for the forgiveness of our sins, our debt is paid. The sin and the wrath of God that I deserve has been paid on the cross by Christ.
[33:01] But Jesus did not not stay on the cross. He was buried. He did not stay dead. He arose. He resurrected on the third day. And he was seen by more than 500 people. And then he ascended to heaven.
[33:14] And one day he will return and he will judge the living and the dead where those who have placed their faith in him who have been forgiven will get to enjoy eternal life with him in glory.
[33:26] And those who have not placed their faith in God will bear their due penalty. Eternal suffering. The righteous wrath of God.
[33:37] And this is what we call the gospel that Christ coming to save sinners. So if you have a question about that if you don't believe that if you have a question about who Jesus is or what he came to do or who our God is please come talk to someone.
[33:52] Come talk to Pastor Mike he'll be here at the end of the service. Come talk to me come find someone. Don't leave here without asking someone for more about him. Now the scriptures point us to our Lord Jesus Christ.
[34:07] I think you've heard it many times up here that if we miss Christ we've missed it all. And so I'm going to make a few brief statements to help us make sure that we see Christ here in our psalm.
[34:20] So one Christ is the one who has experienced ultimate pain and suffering. Jesus willingly came and accepted pain and suffering and obedience to the Father to save sinners.
[34:30] David felt forsaken. Jesus was forsaken on the cross. That's why he cries my God, my God why have you forsaken me? Christ is the one who has experienced ultimate pain and suffering.
[34:45] Then we see David says in verse 5 but I have trusted in your steadfast love. So God's steadfast love is our second way we see Christ. We saw God's love most supremely displayed when Jesus laid down his life to save us.
[35:01] We saw God's love most supremely displayed when Jesus laid down his life to save us. David also says in verse 5 my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. It's our third statement.
[35:14] It is through Jesus Christ that we obtain our salvation and as we just sung he is our salvation. It's through Jesus Christ that we obtain our salvation and he is our salvation.
[35:26] For Christ is who we believers are being made like. We're being refined and made to look more and more like Jesus. Through our suffering you've heard it before our pain has a purpose.
[35:40] God is working all things including pain and suffering for his glory and our good. And then 5 finally in Christ David here is asking how long and so often that's been our cry how long.
[35:55] Well in Christ our pain and sorrow are bookended. They will not last forever. All our enemies are defeated. We need not fear them. Jesus wins.
[36:07] Listen to Revelation 21 verses 3 and 4. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God.
[36:24] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away.
[36:36] look back to verse 6. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.
[36:50] The Lord has treated David with exceedingly great care and dealt with him in abundance. The Lord has done the same for us.
[37:01] And no we're not namely thinking about physical provisions maybe worldly prosperity and health or riches. No, what we're thinking is far greater of him giving us his son of the Holy Spirit giving us new life coming in and dwelling us and being the guarantee of our eternal inheritance and being with him forever.
[37:23] We think of our adoption as sons and daughters. We see the Father loves us even as he loves the Son in John 17 23.
[37:35] And personally I'll add that my family has been abundantly blessed by this congregation by this local church. We continue to be loved and pointed to Jesus. That's one of the ways the Lord has dealt bountifully with us.
[37:48] Now we should also be thankful for the many physical provisions the Lord has given us. God meets our needs praise him but we should treasure him infinitely more than any physical or worldly provision.
[38:03] and all of these that we've listed and all the others should move us to sing to the Lord like David. Now we must conclude.
[38:16] We began our time by asking how long and if you notice David does not record a specific time. Jesus did not record a specific time either.
[38:28] He did say Jesus did say that he would return soon and so it will be soon. I think I've heard Paul say before it's one day closer. Every day is another day closer. However if we step back though we do not know how long if we step back and we see David's progression from verse one to verse six has David's circumstances changed?
[38:55] No. Has God changed? No. He was just as loving just as gracious just as caring perfectly providing for David the entire time.
[39:09] What has changed is that David in his pain has been moved to praise. Why? Because he's not looking at his circumstances and his pain and all around him that is despairing he's looking to God.
[39:22] He's trusting God as he waits for God to fulfill what he has promised. Derek Kidner helpfully points out that David is looking at the basis of his faith God's steadfast love and David is looking at the outcome of his faith God's salvation.
[39:41] This prayer of pain has led to trust in God and those who trust in God will delight. Now we've already mentioned a few different applications during our time together but here are three thoughts as we go.
[40:01] One who is someone that you know that is in pain or suffering or on the verge of despair? Who is someone you know that is enduring that? Reach out to them pray for them like Pastor Tyler mentioned last week take them to Jesus he's who they ultimately need we are called to bear one another's burdens and to weep with those who weep and I think our church does a good job of this continue continue praying continue visiting keep calling texting writing keep inviting keep serving keep delivering meals keep pointing others to Jesus second if you are the one that is in pain if you're in suffering if you're on the verge of despair I plead with you to cry out to God I plead with you to turn to him and cry out just like
[41:03] David does here and what I also ask you to do is to let someone in to tell someone else tell someone here in this room tell Pastor Mike tell Pastor Tyler tell one of the other elders tell one of the deacons you will not be berated thought less of because we all need Jesus and finally thirdly with Thanksgiving coming up a time when our society pauses to reflect on that which we're thankful I encourage you as we're about to go share a meal together share why you're thankful for the Lord to share something from the Lord that why you're thankful and I encourage you to do that later this week as you gather with friends and family do that there as well that can be a great way to share the gospel so that others might rejoice in him as well and know him and be saved and I pray that the Lord would cultivate a thankfulness for him in each of us so that like David here in verse 6 we can say
[42:07] I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me let's pray father you are so good to us father you you love us father thank you for who you are thank you for all that you've done father we're most supremely thankful for Jesus in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins father in our pain and suffering would we look to you would we trust in you would we wait in love God would we would we trust you Lord like like David sometimes our circumstances and our feelings the sufferings that we go through they make us question the truth of who you are so Lord I pray that you'd help us to to believe and Lord help us to to know that those who are yours are forever yours
[43:19] Lord that he who you began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the name of Christ Jesus Lord would you help us to keep trusting you the one who keeps us trusting in Jesus name we pray amen to to you you!
[43:42] you to you! you! you to you you to to!!!!
[43:54] you to you! you