Sermon Tone Analysis

How Long O Lord?

Chair Bible pg.

453

Main Idea: Difficult seasons give way to rejoicing for those who trust in the LORD.

Difficult seasons come in all of our lives.

For some, they are more intense and carry a longer duration.

In this text, the Bible acknowledges difficulty in the life of the believer and reveals the honest and forthright way that David deals with the difficult season before the LORD.

To the choirmaster.

A Psalm of David.

A song to be sung...

Two typical responses to difficulty: Emotional response and inward contemplative response.

The psalm implies that especially in prayer you must hold both emotion and reason together.

In a true knowledge of God they(emotion and reason) combine.

At the throne of grace, tears fall from your eyes and arguments from your lips.

(Ralph Davis, p. 20)

David questions the LORD concerning his long season of difficulty

Notice right away the repetition of the question…”How Long?”

All repetition in prayer is not forbidden, but only vain repetition, vv.

1,2.

Four times does David cry out, How long?

(Plumer, p. 188)

1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2 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?

How Long, O LORD?

Anguish and intense desire for deliverance…

Anguish and intense desire for deliverance…

four “How long’s?”...

It is an effective way of saying that the struggle being described has continued for a long time.

(Boice, p. 108) Our timetable is often shorter than the LORD’s.

four “How long’s?”...

It is an effective way of saying that the struggle being described has continued for a long time.

(Boice, p. 108) Our timetable is often shorter than the LORD’s.

1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?

Asking...Have you forgotten me?

Implication is an uninterrupted forgetting...

Note the paradox…asking will you forget me forever or have you forgotten me, yet he speaks to the LORD.

2nd question...How long will you hide your face from me? or Are you turning away from me?

How long will you hide your face from me? Are you turning away from me?

The hiding of God’s face is an anthropomorphic expression for alienation and curse (cf.

30:7; 44:24; 88:14).

The shining of God’s face signifies blessing (cf.

; ; ; ; , , ). (Longman/Garland, pg.

170)

Though his face appears to be hidden, it does not mean that He has forgotten us.

A hidden face is the not the sign of a forgetful heart.

“if we are faithless, he remains faithful-- he cannot deny himself.”

Questions #3

2 How long must I take counsel in my soul

and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

I am my own worst enemy.

Sinking into depression.Worry, anxiety, stress...listening to yourself instead of preaching to yourself.

The enemy of our souls is still saying “did God really say”

“The devil [is] the adversary of our souls.

He can use our temperaments and our physical condition.

He so deals with us that we allow our temperament to control and govern us, instead of keeping temperament where it should be kept.

There is no end to the ways the devil produces spiritual depression.

We must always bear him in mind.”

(Boice quoting Lloyd-Jones, p. 110)

Question #4

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

My enemies are in my face.

The laughter and taunting of our enemies make the grief and pain more intense.

Simply their looks of disdain as we languish are hard to bear.

The laughter and taunting of our enemies make the grief and pain more intense.

Simply their looks of disdain as we languish are hard to bear.

Argument…You are God, I am your child, why are you allowing the wicked to dominate me?

Do these questions make you uncomfortable?

If you found the journal of someone you look up to spiritually and read similar questions...how would you feel?

Would you think less of them?

Have you ever expressed out loud or on paper similar questions...ASK…...

Am I coming before the LORD honestly, yet reverently, during difficult seasons?

Note reverence...our God is a consuming fire, we are not addressing an equal.

To cry out under the hidings of God’s countenance is not sinful.

Even the man without sin cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Plumer p. 188)

To cry out under the hidings of God’s countenance is not sinful.

Even the man without sin cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Plumer p. 188)

He who bore our sins, and carried our sorrows, may likewise be presumed to have made it a part of his devotions, in the day of trouble.

(Horne, p. 71) Let us imitate his lowliness and his faith.

We must guard our souls against the great error of (deciding that God is not going to deliver us…postponement and refusal are two different things.)

We must give God his time.

(Plumer, p. 188)

As we wait we must pray.

David cries to the LORD for relief from his season of difficulty

Honesty and forthrightness continue in his cry for relief.

He uses arguments, reasons, in his petitions...this implies...that prayer is a thinking exercise?... Do you press reasons upon Yahweh as to why He should answer your plea?

Can you make an argument for the petition you bring?

(Ralph Davis, p. 19)

3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;

light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”

lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

In the midst of the difficult season and as the LORD appears silent, David prays, “Consider and answer me, O LORD my God” Covenant keeping God...His very name speaks to the unchanging nature of who He is and of his covenant promise to David and to his people.

“We cannot too often plead our covenant relation to God, v. 3.” (Plumer, p. 189)

3 requests

1. Pleading for consideration(“consider” look on me not away)

2. response(answer me)

3rd request is for relief…”light up my eyes”

Perilous place physically...not just tired...dangerously exhausted and harrassed.

V. 4 What will it say about the LORD if my enemies conquer over me...It is not the Lord’s will that the great enemy of our souls should overcome his children.

This would dishonor God, and cause the evil one to boast.

(Spurgeon, p. 152)