Reeling and Remembering: How Reflection on God's Work Comfort His People
Notes
Transcript
Prayer of thanksgiving for 8 years of ministry
12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Brandon R: 1. Thankfulness in keeping our church unified and loving one another
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. 5 “On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt; 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your grumblings against the Lord; and what are we, that you grumble against us?”
Stuart 2. Thankfulness in the Lord for providing for us and sustaining us in prosperous and difficult days
16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Brandon 3. Thank…growing us spiritually through his word
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Terry 4. Thankfulness in allowing us partner with him in reaching the nations
VIDEO
In lieu of the past week of my life, I wanted to teach this week about how pivotal it is that we remember and find rest in God. As you know, my family suffered the loss of my grandfather and I appreciate your prayers and support in that way. If that wasn’t enough, my biological mom called me to tell me my aunt Donna had left a suicide note and has now been missing for 7 days. She wrecked her life through substance abuse and drugs for most of her adult life. Now, her three children and my mom are desperately searching for alive somewhere in this city.
I think about how calamity and tragedy befall all of us because of the curse of sin upon the world. We are not immune to tragedy in one form or another. Mass shootings, natural disasters, the loss of loved ones to disease and death. I watched the faces of those in attendance at my grandfather’s funeral and so many were hopeless. They were bruised and tattered by their circumstances of life. Their next drink of alcohol, their next mindless binding on entertainment, their dependence on temporal pleasures was the greatest antidote for their pain. What they would soon come to discover is how temporary that comfort in earthly pleasures will be.
abide with me
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me
But the church knows better. God’s people have hope in Jesus Christ to be our satisfaction and our joy in times of despair. He has shown himself worthy to conquer our greatest enemy to provide for us hope that superceded hopelessness. He promises us in Phil 4:7
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
But what we come to realize as people who follow Christ, is that even the distresses of this world make us stagger. Like a boxer in the ring of life, there are evils that throw such a punch that our knees begin to buckle and we find ourselves reeling from those beatings. Life in a sin cursed world is a battle we fight and as believers, we are also susceptible to despair and grief in the midst of this fight. If you haven’t faced such a test, you will. You shouldn’t be embarrassed that in that struggle you will stumble into doubt and fear. It reminds us that we are human and our sinful struggle is a reality. But God overcomes our weaknesses. He doesn’t say…you are strong…you can handle it. Instead, he says I am your strength
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
14 The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.
One way that he is our strength is when he helps His people remember his words of power and victory. His word informs our minds and hearts by the Spirit of His goodness and His power so that we can be renewed with his strength by that testimony. This is the theme of our worship gathering today as we give thanks for God’s great faithfulness after 8 years as a church family. We want to remember all that He has accomplished so that in dark days we will refrain from losing hope.
Psalm 77 instructs God’s people to do this very thing: Remember the Lord when dark clouds of grief are upon you. He doesn’t deny dsitress will come to the people of God. Instead, he embraces those distresses and shows us the process of how God’s people must always find strength in the Lord by reflecting upon all his good deeds.
The background of Psalm 77 is obscure. We don’t really know what circumstances led to the Psalmist writing this psalm. All we know is that it is attributed to the family of Asaph. But do not let its authorial obscurity lead you to reject its powerful truth as we consider how to remember God in our grief.
1. Reeling from Distress in this World
1. Reeling from Distress in this World
A. Wrestling with God in Prayer (1-2)
A. Wrestling with God in Prayer (1-2)
1 My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud; My voice rises to God, and He will hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness; My soul refused to be comforted.
One of the first things we see from the Psalmist in v 1-2 is the how a child of God should respond in distress. The writer reflects on his persistence in prayer in the midst of a troubled soul. The writer uses words of distressed prayer showing us that no matter what, communing with the Father in prayer is the best medicine for a troubled soul. When trouble comes, let the believer’s first action NOT be to raise our chest in confidence or raise our fists to fight, but to drop to our knees in humble prayer to the Lord.
Notice the phrases of v 1-2,
My voice rises to God
I will cry aloud
He will hear me
I sought the Lord
This is the problem for the unbelieving heart when trouble comes. Trouble leads an unbeliever towards substitutes for God’s comfort that never satisfy. But for the child of God, they seek the Lord because they have already tasted his goodness and grace. It is a familiar experience that they recognize from their time of salvation and the know it is good.
But oftentimes, wrestling with God in these dire moments occurs because the follower of Jesus still battles the sinful flesh that once upon a time he/she were enslaved to. Prayer is the arena where the humble follower of Christ fights the flesh and succumbs to the Spirit’s power of hope in God.
B. Weakness is Revealed by God’s Spirit (3-10)
B. Weakness is Revealed by God’s Spirit (3-10)
3 When I remember God, then I am disturbed; When I sigh, then my spirit grows faint. Selah. 4 You have held my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I have considered the days of old, The years of long ago. 6 I will remember my song in the night; I will meditate with my heart, And my spirit ponders:
Consider just how honest the psalmist is when reflecting upon his circumstance. He acknowledges that ‘when he remembers God, then he is disturbed.” Why would he say that? One it is an honest and real statement. Without the circumstances, we can only speculate what would cause such a reaction. It could be from:
1.Guilt of sin- Our guilt over sin causes us to remember God and be disturbed because our sin offends his great holiness. In all his perfections which manifest his perfect love for us, our guilt shines forth and we see the conflict.
2. Ignorance in God’s plan- We also might remember God and contemplate how situations which did not make sense to us may cause us disturbance. Why did you let me get fired? Why did you allow my loved one to die? We remember God and all he does and when we demand to understand why, we are disturbed with Him!
What this actually reveals is the depth of sin in human depravity. God’s spirit continually reminds the child of God war has been won but the battle with the flesh ensues until Christ returns. Followers of Christ cannot lower their shield during the battle just because the victory flag is waving in the distance. We must face the evils around us and find strength in God as our supply.
7 Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? 8 Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious, Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah. 10 Then I said, “It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
The psalmist works through 6 questions about God that reveal the reality of wavering and doubt that all followers of Christ will experience in one moment or another. We understand these questions to be the real struggle with our weakness due to the curse of sin and our need to find hope in God’s power and strength. The psalmist finally makes the declaration in v 10 that he succumbed to his dire circumstances and they shaped his belief about God’s promises instead of resting in what those promises actually say.
“The psalmist acknowledges his sin in questioning to yielding to a feeling of suspicion in reference to the divine love, and the truth of the divine promises and confesses that this flowed from the corruption of his nature and the weaknesses of his faith.”
Plumer, William. Psalms. p740
We must then be reminded that our emotions, influences and the very circumstances themselves can deceive our thinking rightly and purely about God. You can heard people say that “if a person believes something hard enough, they make it a reality.” This is foolishness. Only what is real is reality and the Lord is King over all existence. We can be deceived into thinking the that a particular fruit will make us equal to God if we eat it, but that does not make such belief reality, no matter who told it to us. Instead, we must be keenly aware how deceiving our heart and emotions can be so that we might not be deceived into believing a lie.
But the Spirit’s work in us, in spite of circumstances and emotions, leads us back to the truth. There the truth of God tells us a different story. Jesus promised his disciples,
26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
For example of the Spirit’s work, remember the previous reasons that a person might be disturbed in remembering God which were guilt over sin and ignorance with God’s will. Now apply the truth of God to them:
Freedom from guilt
The gospel reminds us that we have freedom in Christ and therefore we are no longer under condemnation before God. So then when we might be disturbed in remembering God and our sin, then we can find hope knowing that the Father laid our guilt on the Son so we might be free. John 8:36 (NASB95)36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Freedom in sovereignty
Secondly, if remembering God leads us to disturbance, it might be because we lacked the information and reasons as to why God allowed calamity into our lives. But there is freedom in knowing God is always bringing about his good in our distress. Freedom then comes for us because we don’t waste mental energy looking for answers and instead entrust ourselves to a faithful God just as Peter tells us the Lord Jesus did as he suffered as the innocent God-man at the hand of evil men.
This then points us to the freedom that we have in Christ and his words “ the truth shall set you free” ring true. This is what the psalmist reflects upon in the second half of this Psalm. In his doubt and distress, the truth of God’s character and good deeds are the medicine this psalmist needs.
2. Refreshment from Remembering God
2. Refreshment from Remembering God
A. God’s Character and Works Enrich our Faith in Him
11 I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. 12 I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. 15 You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. 16 The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were in anguish; The deeps also trembled. 17 The clouds poured out water; The skies gave forth a sound; Your arrows flashed here and there. 18 The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook. 19 Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters, And Your footprints may not be known. 20 You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
How does he combat the depression and turmoil? He remembers all that God has done. We study deep truths of God not be boastful and arrogant about what our minds possess. We know that the magnitude of knowledge we can learn about God leads us to a deeper love and fellowship with him. All throughout the Bible, most importantly, in the OT, the scope of God’s character and work is revealed to man. I say mainly the OT, because consider the scope of history the OT covers in comparison to the NT. The NT covers one generation but the OT reveals to us our Creator and Lord through the span of thousands of years. In that span, we read stories of his great attributes that lead us to be in awe of His magesty and glory. The psalmist references a few.
1. Holiness (13)
1. Holiness (13)
13 Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?
When the psalmist comes to grips with the truth of God’s holiness in light of his calamity, he lands on the truth that God’s ways are pure and therefore are not evil. God is set apart from evil and pure in all ways. To know God’s ways are pure and without intention for malice, then he can find comfort in knowing that His holy ways are for the good of his people.
Also his holiness refers to his grandeur and majesty which is alluded to with the psalmists question, “what god is great like our God?” In God’s holiness, He also reigns supreme above all that is beneath him. In his majesty we understand that his glory fills the earth with all his wondrous works so that all created things are obligated to worship Him as supreme Creator. This truth leads the psalmist to consider the supremacy of God in light of man’s feebleness. This humbles the psalmist and it should humble us as the church.
In our despair, by God’s work through the Spirit and the word, we come to realize our place in this world. We are not afforded infinite knowledge of God’s plan and purposes in all things. We are meager created beings in comparison to the Supreme Creator and King of all. All Isaiah could do in his vision in Is 6 when confronted with a vision of God’s holiness is bow in humility and repentance. Similarly, when the three disciples saw the glory of Christ shine forth through his mortal flesh, they fell to their faces and were afraid.
Friend, in the great trials of your life, God perfect plan will be your comfort. Maybe not in the moment, but the Spirit will guide you there to find rest in Him holiness and be satisfied in it like Jesus sleeping on the boat in the storm.
2. Omnipotence (14-20)
2. Omnipotence (14-20)
14 You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. 15 You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
All of the glorious deeds of the Lord throughout history exude his omnipotent power to accomplish all his purposes without failure, misstep or fault. I have been reading through Exodus and I am reminded the power of God on display to Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. Every power in the world that they thought existed in false gods or demons who have deceived them, the One True God displayed through his supreme power the reality of who rules all things.
v 14- you redeemed your people
this points to the powerful way that the Lord led Israel from Egypt, removing the grip of slavery upon them and yet in His power, multiplying them as a nation, just as he promised, in that enslavement. What a powerful God over all gods!
He alludes further to that redemption in v 16-19
16 The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were in anguish; The deeps also trembled. 17 The clouds poured out water; The skies gave forth a sound; Your arrows flashed here and there. 18 The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook. 19 Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters, And Your footprints may not be known.
Imagine the power of God manifested in that moment of the existence of the Red Sea when The Lord led Israel from captivity. After the powerful force dividing that sea in half so the people could cross and completely evade the pursuing Egyptains armies. Now imagine the powerful force when the Lord released the waters that were bound so that the crashing of the waves upon the Egyptian armies must have shaken the ground and caused disturbances in the atmosphere. Yet the Lord led the peopel through safely without leaving footprints as the psalmists writes.
This redemption is just a foreshadowing of the redemption Jesus would accomplish for all HIS people throughout history, not just one nation. Jesus would be the great Redeemer who leads his people safely through the waters of God’s wrath against sin and death.
Friend, there is hope in Jesus because is power cannot be matched. Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, you can find confidence that the Lords strong arm will prevail. He has already defeated the greatest enemy to exist- death. What greater act could prove that we have no reason to fear nor doubt him!
3. Love (15,20)
3. Love (15,20)
Lastly, as in many of these songs found is the attribute of God’s covenant love. This love is unconditional, not based on man’s prerequisites but on God’s grace. We learned last week from Pastor Stuart that election is based on God’s love for undeserving sinners that He sovereignly chose. He set his love on Abraham and called him out of paganism to be the Father of Israel. He set his love on them before they ever knew about Jehovah. He set Jacob over Esau. He chose to give mercy on whom he chose to receive it. This is divine love of God revealed to all people in God’s word. Two examples are found in v 15 and v20
In love, God chose to redeem and undeserving people. In Egypt, all the plagues of Egypt were directed at the Egyptians for their treachery and unbelief in Jehovah. But the final plague, the killing of the first-born sons, that was directed at both Egypt and Israel. Why? Becasue Israel was deserving of God’s wrath as well for their sinfulness. But out of love, God called them to partake in passover. By faith, they would put the blood of the lamb slain upon their doorposts. If they did, they would enjoy salvation from the anger of God against sin. Did he offer passover to Egypt? No. But for Israel, a way of escape. That invitation was given out of love in order to accomplish a much greater task in history.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Application: You can trust God in your circumstances because he has sealed you by his blood in love. That stain of Christ’s love keeps you even if tragedy strikes. beleive