Choose to Trust

Dark Clouds Deep Mercy  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  48:52
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Trust is only proven in suffering.

Psalm 13 ESV
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 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? 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. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Suffering refines what we trust in and how we talk about   it. Pain can bring clarity. Loss affirms trust. (pp. 71-72).
Pain can become a platform for worship. Suffering can lead to trust. Lament is the language for this transition. Songs of sorrow are meant to move us from complaint to confidence in   God. (p. 73).
We’ve reached our destination. I hope you sense the opportunity that’s before you. But you’re going to have make the choice to take this final step. Unfortunately, I know far too many people who are stuck in their complaints. Others never move beyond their requests and what they want God to do for them. I hope you’ll be different. (p. 73).
Trust looks like talking to God, sharing our complaints, seeking God’s help, and then recommitting ourselves to believe in who God is and what he has done— even as the trial continues. Lament is how we endure. It is how we trust. (p. 74).
Lament has the possibility of providing a pathway and a language that allow people not only to deal with the reality of their pain but also to be refocused on the trustworthiness of God. As we wait for future deliverance, our spiritual posture need not be passive. (p. 75).
Laments are designed to lead us toward decisive, faith-filled worship.(p. 75).
Trust is believing what you know to be true even though the facts of suffering might call that belief into question. Lament keeps us turning toward trust by giving us language to step into the wilderness between our painful reality and our hopeful longings. (p. 77).
Christians don’t leave behind trusting God after coming to faith. On the contrary, being a follower of Jesus requires that we walk through life in continual trust. Seasons of suffering are no different. They are just harder and more intense. The stakes are higher and the emotions more raw. But trusting is still how we live. (p. 78).
Choosing to trust requires reinforcing what we know to be true. Prayers of lament are designed to remind us that God is worthy to be trusted— even in this! (p. 79).
Lament calls us to point our hearts Godward by rejoicing in God’s grace.
(p. 81).
Lament leads to trust, but the path is not always clear or straightforward. By turning to prayer, laying out our complaints, and boldly asking, we are brought by God to a place of growing trust in   him. Lament creates a path through the messy wilderness of pain.
(p. 84).
Though no one taught you how to cry, the steps of lament must be learned. It is vital to the Christian faith. It is how we make our way through the pains of life while clinging to the hope of the gospel. To lament is Christian as we turn to God in prayer, lay out our complaints, ask boldly, and choose to trust. (pp. 84-85).
While lament is a journey, the wonderful news is that you don’t walk this path in your own strength. It’s not simply a matter of your grit and willpower. Instead, God helps you to keep trusting him. He helps your lamenting. (p. 85).
Learning to lament gives us the grace to keep trusting. (pp. 85-86).
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