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[0:00] Let's open up our Bibles to the book of Psalms. Normally it's our practice here at Seawee Bay to preach through books of the Bible. We were in a series in the book of John, and we'll pick that back up, Lord willing, in the fall.

[0:12] But for the summer, we're spending some time together in the Psalms. And this morning we've made it to Psalm chapter 5. So if you're using the Pew Bibles there in front of you, if you didn't bring your own Bible, I believe you can find this passage on page 419 of the Pew Bible there in front of you.

[0:28] But we want you to have God's Word open in front of you and look to what He says as we read it together. So if you would, follow along with me as I read Psalm chapter 5.

[0:45] This is a Psalm of David. He says, Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God.

[0:56] For to you do I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness.

[1:10] Evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies.

[1:21] The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.

[1:33] I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make your way straight before me.

[1:45] For there is no truth in their mouth. Their inmost self is destruction. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God.

[1:58] Let them fall by their own counsels. Because of the abundance of their transgressions, cast them out. For they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice.

[2:11] Let them ever sing for joy. And spread your protection over them. That those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord. You cover him with favor as with a shield.

[2:26] Amen. The grass withers and the flower fades. But God's eternal, perfect, beautiful word stands forever. Would you bow with me once more as we pray? Lord, I cannot begin to know the various sufferings and trials and difficulties that are represented in this room.

[2:49] But you do. And so we pray now as we open up this psalm of suffering. This psalm of groaning. Lord, that you would comfort us with your presence.

[3:00] And with the hope that can only be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray in his glorious name. Amen. How do believers respond in the face of danger?

[3:13] This is the question that we've been taking up week after week after week from the psalms over the past several weeks. And here as we make it to Psalm chapter 5, it is no different. David is still facing threats, still facing trials.

[3:26] I believe that he is still on the run from Absalom, his son, and the army with him. And I thought, you know, just for a change of pace this morning, we would quote three different prosperity teachers to hear what they might say about how we should respond to the dangers in our lives.

[3:46] These are our prosperity gospel teachers. The prosperity gospel, you may be well aware, is a false teaching that tells us that believers should have really no difficulties and no dangers, no trials.

[3:58] And if we just simply have enough faith, then we'll live a life of health, wealth, victory, happiness, and everything will be well. I'm willing to bet that we've seen enough just four chapters into the book of Psalms by this point to not listen to anything that these people have to say.

[4:16] All right, so let's take a look at three of them. Creflo Dollar from My Stomping Grounds. Creflo Dollar says, Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

[4:41] Yet here in Psalm chapter 5, David trusts God and he groans. He trusts God and he cries out day and night. He is irritated by the disturbing circumstances around him.

[4:55] Number two, Joseph Prince. He says, You are destined to reign in life. You are called by God, the Lord, to be a success, to enjoy wealth, to enjoy health, and to enjoy a life of victory.

[5:11] It is not the Lord's desire that you live a life of defeat, poverty, and failure. But here, David is on the run from his son.

[5:22] Once again, he's in danger. He's in turmoil. He's in trials. His throne has been ripped away from him. He's been torn out of his city. His entire life is in shambles. This is not a life of comfort and victory.

[5:36] Last one. Joel Osteen, he says, That difficulty is not there to defeat you. It is there to promote you. You can handle it.

[5:47] Take hold of your strength. But here, of course, David hasn't taken hold of his strength. Has he? What's he doing? He's taking hold, trusting in the strength of the Lord.

[6:02] He's responding as believers do in the face of danger and looking to the strength of God. You know, this type of false prosperity teaching, it sells books.

[6:14] It draws crowds. It's very popular. But it simply doesn't fit well with the testimony of Scripture. In fact, it doesn't fit well with the message of our passage this morning.

[6:26] You know, the book of Psalms, one of the reasons why we are drawn to the book of Psalms, one of the reasons why we love this book is because it gives us an honest picture, an honest look at the sufferings and the trials and the difficulties of life.

[6:43] The Psalms give us bad news and good news, and we'll see both this morning. The bad news is that the life of a believer is filled with groaning. The life of a believer is filled with groaning.

[6:57] But the good news is that we groan with hope in the Lord. So this morning, what I want to do is to let God's Word equip us to groan as those who have hope.

[7:13] To groan as David is groaning here in this psalm. So this morning, we're going to see four ways that believers groan in suffering. This will be our outline this morning. If you're taking notes, we'll see four ways believers groan in suffering.

[7:28] First, believers groan with frequency. Believers groan with frequency. Look with me again to verse 1.

[7:40] David says, It's clear that David is once again in distress.

[8:00] We've seen over the past several weeks that David is on the run from his son Absalom, and the Lord has sustained him through the night. Last week, we saw Psalm chapter 4. He laid down and slept in peace.

[8:13] And now, Psalm chapter 5, he wakes up again. And once again, what does he do? First thing in the morning, he groans. Cries out to the Lord. Now, if indeed this is the same event as I believe Psalms 3 through 9 are all focused around this event with Absalom, I think it's important for us to realize that David's prayer for deliverance, his lamenting of his situation, his groaning to the Lord, his crying out to God, is not just a one-time event.

[8:46] This is constant, frequent, regular groaning, praying for deliverance, calling out to the Lord. It's day and night.

[8:58] In fact, I wonder if you've noticed the pattern here in the book of Psalms over the past several weeks. Psalms 1 and 2 kind of gives us the introduction to the whole book of Psalms. And then Psalm 3 was a morning prayer.

[9:11] Psalm 4 was an evening prayer. Psalm 5 this morning is another morning prayer. In the morning, he calls out to the Lord. Lord willing, next week, Psalm chapter 6, we'll see another evening prayer.

[9:25] See, there's a rhythm here of frequent suffering, frequent groaning, frequent calling out to the name of the Lord. Day and night, day and night, day and night. He wakes up again here.

[9:37] The Lord has sustained him through the night, but the issue is still there. And because the suffering is still there, he is still groaning. As we read through the Psalms like this, Psalms that have groaning and calling out to the Lord like this, we should ask ourselves, is this how we call out to the Lord?

[9:57] Is this how we speak with him? Believers are those who groan constantly to the Lord. Are you crying out to the Lord now because of pain?

[10:09] Because of weakness in your flesh? Because of sickness? Because of illness? Are you groaning and crying out because of loss? Because of grief? Are you groaning and crying out to the Lord because of your sin?

[10:25] We have to realize, Christian, that this type of groaning and crying out to the Lord is not abnormal for the believer. The groaning and pain and suffering, I'll be honest with you, are a normal part of the believer's life on this side of eternity.

[10:44] All of us, I don't know the issues that you're facing in the room, not all of them, but I do know that all of us face all sorts of various trials. Some may be trials of attack like David is facing here.

[10:58] Others, trials of loss and grief, trials of sickness, trials of temptation, trials of sin. And all of them ought to lead us to groan and to cry out to the Lord, Lord, save me from this.

[11:12] Lord, look at what's happening here. Lord, help me. Day and night, we should groan and cry out to the Lord. You know, that is good and normal for a believer.

[11:28] If we're not grieved by anything in our life, if we look around us, the world that we live in as broken as it is, if we're not groaning for the Lord to act, if we look within us and notice our own sin and we're comfortable with everything in our life, we're not grieved by our own sin, we're not groaning and crying out, who will deliver me from this body of death?

[11:52] You know, if we're not groaning to the Lord frequently, something might be wrong. Believers groan regularly. I want you to hear me on this very clearly.

[12:05] Please don't listen to anyone who would tell you that having a stronger faith would mean less suffering here in this life.

[12:16] Don't listen to anyone who would tell you that if you just believe, just trust, just have a stronger faith that you would be relieved of your groaning in this life.

[12:27] And don't listen to anyone who would tell you that you're not allowed to groan in your suffering. What do I mean by that? Well, I think if you're like me, we all try to be tough, don't we?

[12:43] And we tend to believe that the Lord is most pleased with us when we just tough it out. We just grit and bear it. Men especially, I'm talking to you, I'm talking to myself, we don't want to whine.

[12:56] We don't want to seem weak. We don't want to seem less than. But listen, our groaning to God in suffering is not a sign of weakness. Our groaning out to the Lord in suffering is not a sign of lack of faith in God.

[13:12] On the contrary, we honor God when we cry out to Him in faith in the midst of our trials. We need to feel the freedom to lament.

[13:27] Not grumbling and faithless complaining like the Israelites in the wilderness, but faithful groaning, groaning in faith to the Lord.

[13:38] There's an eternity of difference here. We're going to see this more as we go through the book of Psalms, but do you realize that over one-third of the book of Psalms is lament? Over one-third of the book of Psalms, the author is calling God's attention to some particular trial, some particular issue, some particular enemy, some particular difficulty, calling God's attention to the trials and groaning to the Lord, asking Him to do something about it.

[14:05] We need to recover a sense of freedom to groan and cry out to the Lord. His frequent groaning isn't a demonstration of lack of faith, it's a demonstration of strong, deep trust in the Lord to do what only God can do.

[14:23] The Psalms, they invite us to cry out to God, not in bitterness, not in despair, but in faith in a good God who hears our cries. Believers groan frequently.

[14:36] Not only this. Second, believers groan with confidence. Believers groan with confidence. Let me ask you something. What makes a believer confident in the face of trials?

[14:52] When trials, temptations, suffering comes into your life, what is the source of your confidence? What will you cling to? For the believer, the believer's confidence in the face of suffering is the character of God.

[15:09] It's the character of God. Look there at what David says here. King David, ruler of God's people, what does he say in verse 2? He cries out to God and he says, you give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God.

[15:24] He calls out to God, his God, his Lord, his covenant God, the covenant faithful God. His confidence is in the person and the character of God, his God.

[15:37] It's like a child who falls down on the playground and scrapes his knee. What happens? Where do they turn right away? To mom or dad? Out of all the people there on the playground, many kids, many parents, they run straight to mom, run straight to dad.

[15:53] Why? Because they trust in the character of mom and dad. They know that they are there to protect them, that they are there to serve them, that they love them.

[16:04] There's relational dependence and trust and love there. And so it is with David. This is David's confidence here. His confidence in the face of suffering is the character of God.

[16:16] Look there to verses 4-6. 4-6 because David gives four statements of confidence here. All of them rooted in God's holy character.

[16:30] And I'll be honest, some of these are hard for us to swallow. Some of these statements of confidence are hard for us to hear. Some of these will not sell books, it will not draw crowds, but when we understand them, these are the root of our confidence in suffering.

[16:48] So look there to verse 4. He groans with confidence because, number one, truth number one, because God is holy. Because God is holy.

[17:00] What does he say in verse 4? You are not a God who delights in wickedness. David's confidence is rooted in the holiness of God.

[17:12] When we look at all the evil around us, the evil inside of us, wicked acts against us, how can we be confident that God will deal with it? It's because God is holy.

[17:25] And so we can call out to God in confidence because we know that as much as it displeases us, it really does not please Him. Our confidence is that God will deal with wickedness because God is holy.

[17:41] It's in His holy character. And so because of this second statement, we can be confident with David that the wicked will not dwell with God.

[17:54] The wicked will not dwell with God. He says, evil may not dwell with you. This is what Psalm chapter 1 has already laid out for us, isn't it? The wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

[18:09] David is essentially praying back the truth of Psalm 1 back to God and affirming this is who you are. This is what you've said. This is my confidence.

[18:21] So whatever success the wicked may have here and now, whatever victory it may seem like they've gained here and now, at the end of the day, with confidence, David prays, the wicked will not dwell with God.

[18:37] They will not triumph. Why? Truth number three, because the Lord sees every sin. Look how David draws attention to the specific sins of his enemies here.

[18:50] Do you think that God doesn't see this? Do you think that God isn't already aware of what David calls his attention to here? Of course he knows. God sees every act, he knows every thought, he hears every word, but David here, he calls God's attention to the specific sins of his enemies.

[19:09] He's calling on God to see and to act. He says, those who boast will not stand before you. His enemies are boastful. The proud will not stand before the Lord.

[19:22] And not only that, David says that these enemies are liars. They're bloodthirsty. They're full of lies. I wonder if you've ever been lied about. If you know how this feels.

[19:33] David's enemies, they want him dead. They've lied about him. Now they're boasting in their arrogance. David's confidence in the midst of all of this is that surely God sees it.

[19:45] Surely God knows about the wickedness of these people. But not only that, he knows about it. Number four, verse five, his confidence is that God hates it.

[20:01] Verse five says, the Lord hates all evil doers. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and the deceitful.

[20:12] Now, here's where we have to pause. This is hard for us to hear. Did he just say what I think he said? That the Lord hates all evil doers?

[20:27] What happened to love the sinner, hate the sin? This is a lot of hate for a God of love. How can we understand this? That David is saying here, the Lord abhors bloodthirsty and deceitful men.

[20:40] The Lord hates all evil doers. Well, we have to understand, church, that the Lord deeply, deeply hates sin.

[20:52] He hates sin. This truth is both an offense to the sinful and it is the hope of the righteous. We can't minimize this, that God hates sin.

[21:07] And of course, that's an offense to the sinful. Everybody wants to be affirmed in their sin. Everybody wants to keep their sin around like a pet. And nobody wants to hear a message of God hating their wickedness.

[21:17] We all want a God that just loves us and accepts us just as we are. We don't have to change a thing about us. That's the God that we want, but that's a God of our imagination. That is not the God of the Bible.

[21:31] The God of the Bible hates sin. It's truth. This is the offense of the gospel. But, it's also the hope of the righteous.

[21:43] David's confidence in the face of evil is God's hatred of it. We have to understand, if we take away God's hatred of sin, then we should have no confidence that God will deal with it.

[21:57] If we minimize and undermine God's complete hatred of wickedness, we should have no hope that God would ever do away with it as He's promised that He will.

[22:08] But God hates sin. Because God hates wickedness, we can be sure that He will do away with all wickedness. But here, He says, God hates the sinful.

[22:22] sinful. Now, this is hard for us to swallow, isn't it? This is hard for us to swallow. You know, one reason why I think this is hard for us to understand, why we struggle with this, is because we tend to want to divorce sinful actions from people.

[22:41] As if sinful thoughts, sinful words, sinful actions, sinful motives exist apart from sinful people. They don't come from sinful people.

[22:51] But the Bible doesn't speak like that. The Bible, Jesus says, the good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good. The evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil.

[23:04] Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Lies come from a lying heart. Murder comes from a murderous heart. Boasting comes from a boastful, prideful heart.

[23:16] And the Lord sees it and the Lord hates it. But you know the real reason why this is hard for us to swallow? It's because all of us know that we are wicked.

[23:33] That we are wicked. Look there to verse 9. He's describing his enemies. He says, there's no truth in their mouth. Their inmost self is destruction.

[23:44] Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. This is not a very lovable image. And Paul in Romans chapter 3, in fact, turn there with me if you can very quickly.

[23:55] Paul in Romans chapter 3, he takes these same words, these same descriptions of the wickedness that God abhors and he applies them to everyone.

[24:08] You and me. Turn with me to Romans 3. Look there. Romans 3 verse 10 very briefly. Here's what he says. None is righteous. No, not one.

[24:19] No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. I'd love to hear a prosperity teacher preach on this passage.

[24:31] I'm not going to hold my breath. No one does good. Not even one. Their throat is an open grave. There we go, quoting this passage. They use their tongues to deceive.

[24:42] The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known.

[24:55] There is no fear of God before their eyes. If this is us, if this is our wickedness and if God feels about our wickedness the way that David says he feels about our wickedness, this is not good for us.

[25:20] No one is righteous. No, not one. But if this is true, and it is, then how in the world could this possibly give us any confidence?

[25:35] If this is true, how can David, a wicked man, a bloodthirsty man, one who is deeply sinful, has already demonstrated his sin and the issues with Bathsheba and with Uriah, how can David pray with any confidence that the Lord would judge his enemies for their wickedness and not him for his wickedness?

[25:54] Do you see the issue here? There is one hope. Point number three. Third, believers groan with hope in the steadfast love of God.

[26:10] Believers groan with hope in the steadfast love of God. What is David's hope? God hates the wicked. God hates sin.

[26:20] When David looks out and sees armies approaching, when he knows that wicked men are coming for his life, but he knows that he himself has shed innocent blood, that he himself is guilty and sinful.

[26:31] What is his hope? It's not his goodness. It's not his strength. It's not his skill. What does it say? Verse seven. But I, he says, through the abundance of your steadfast love will enter your house.

[26:49] I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. So lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make your way straight before me.

[27:02] Now, how does David enter into the presence of God as a wicked man? Listen to this. David escapes the judgment of God through the love of God.

[27:14] Say that again. David escapes the judgment of God through the love of God and so do we. This is the hope of the gospel.

[27:27] Do you know the hope of the gospel, church? I know you do, but do you cling to it as your only hope? Do you cling to the steadfast love of God for you in Christ as your only hope to escape the wrath of God against your sin?

[27:46] Do you realize that that wrath of God against your sin is much bigger, much more serious, much weightier than any trial, any suffering, any difficulty, any attack you could ever face in this life?

[27:59] But if you have the steadfast love of God offered freely through Christ, then no trial, no pain, no suffering, no grief, no loss, no heartache, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[28:19] This is the gospel. This is the hope that we have. And hear me, this love of God is offered freely to sinners in Christ. Any who would turn from their wicked ways and put their faith in their risen Savior can know the steadfast love of God for the rest of eternity.

[28:40] This is good news. There are so many words that we could use to describe the gospel. I want you to remember just two this morning from this psalm.

[28:51] The gospel is a message of love and justice. The gospel is a message of love and justice. And we see both of them here.

[29:02] Now look there with me to verse 10. Psalm 5, verse 10. David prays, Make them bear their guilt, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels.

[29:13] Because of the abundance of their transgressions, cast them out. For they've rebelled against you. You know, that's what the wicked deserve. David is praying in light of the holiness and the justice of God that the wicked would get what they deserve for their guilt.

[29:32] And they will. God will one day address every ounce of wickedness. All of us will have to give an account to the Lord and He will bring justice.

[29:48] But our hope, believer, our confidence is that because of the mercy and the love of God, we do not get what we deserve.

[30:02] because of the mercy and the love of God, we do not get what we deserve. The wicked, because of the abundance of their transgressions, are cast away.

[30:17] But I, David says, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter the presence of God. How? Because Christ has taken the wrath that my sins deserve.

[30:30] That's our confidence. confidence. That's our hope, that Jesus Christ, the true, innocent King of God's people, bore the wrath of God in our place.

[30:44] You know, God doesn't just look away from sin. He can't do that. He's just. All sin must be paid for. All sin must be atoned for.

[30:58] And so Christ died not for His sin, but for ours. Justice was satisfied in Him so that the steadfast love of God might be given to us who believe in Him.

[31:11] You see, the difference between the righteous and the wicked, the difference between those who are righteous in God's sight and those who are wicked in God's sight, is it's not that they sin and we don't.

[31:25] It's that by the grace of God, we have been made righteous, declared righteous because of His faithfulness, not ours. And we stand before Him as holy because of the greatness of His love, not ours.

[31:42] Apart from the unmerited, steadfast love of God given freely to sinners in Christ, we are rebels. We are wicked. We are deserving of the fires of hell.

[31:54] We are deserving of the wrath of God, but God demonstrates His love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[32:08] We were those who deserve His judgment because of our transgressions, but because Christ was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities by His wounds, we are healed.

[32:24] That's the gospel, church. Now, what does that have to do with our groaning and our suffering?

[32:37] Well, because of the love of God given to us in Christ, believers don't groan in despair.

[32:48] we groan in hope. If God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also graciously along with Him graciously give us all things?

[33:03] What can suffering do to us but draw us closer to Christ? What can suffering do to us but make us more like Him? What can suffering do to us but bring us to the presence of God?

[33:16] You know, one of my favorite passages to quote for those who are suffering is 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And Paul says to the believer, So we do not lose heart.

[33:27] Though our outer self is wasting away, your inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

[33:41] As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal.

[33:52] For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.

[34:08] If indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent we groan, being burdened not that we would be unclothed but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

[34:24] He who has prepared us for this very thing is God who has given us the spirit as a guarantee. Do you have this hope?

[34:34] Are you clinging to the steadfast love of God available to you freely in Christ?

[34:49] If not, the offer is made now to you to turn from your wickedness and to trust in the risen Savior Jesus Christ who bore the wrath of God for you so that you might know the steadfast love of God.

[35:09] If you do know that love believer then cling to it no matter what happens to you in this life believer we can groan with joy. This is our fourth and final point this morning.

[35:23] Fourth, believers groan with joy. David ends here with another contrast between the righteous and the wicked.

[35:33] Look there with me to verse 11. The wicked are cast out away from the presence of God but he prays in verse 11 he says let all who take refuge in you rejoice.

[35:47] Let them ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them that those who love your name may exalt in you for you bless the righteous O Lord.

[35:57] You cover him with favor as with a shield. David claims two great promises here for the righteous. Do you see them?

[36:09] He claims God's blessing and he claims God's protection over the righteous. And you know this is where those prosperity teachers go wrong isn't it?

[36:20] Because they want to claim these promises right now. Total blessing total protection no suffering total health total righteousness total wisdom total wealth total victory right now no suffering but we have to realize these are eternal promises aren't they?

[36:41] And we get hints and taste of these promises here and now but their fulfillment is yet to come when Christ our King returns. Suffering comes before glory for Christ and for the people of Christ but what we can have right now even in the midst of trials is joy.

[37:04] You see that there in verse 11? He says let all who take refuge in you rejoice let them sing ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them that those who love your name may exalt in you.

[37:20] Do you know what it's like to rejoice in suffering? I know that you know what it's like to suffer. Every morning every Sunday morning we gather we share prayer requests we talk about our suffering I hear it I know it but do you know what it's like to rejoice in your suffering?

[37:43] This is what we're called to believers. This is why James calls us to count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing do you know what it's like to suffer with joy?

[38:09] I want to close this morning by reading to you some of an article that I read this week by someone named Joni Erickson Tata you may know that name if not I would highly encourage you to go read some of what she's written Joni Erickson Tata was paralyzed at a young age through a terrible accident and she doubted was angry was bitter towards the Lord but the Lord restored her joy in the faith if anybody knows what it's like to suffer with joy it's her so please listen to this as we close she says no one understands the relationship between joy and suffering better than the son of man my God became human his love insisting that I might not be alone in my struggles when I hurt he knows but Jesus does not merely sympathize with me he's done something about it through his death and resurrection he has freed me from sin's power and in part from the suffering that results from it and he will free me fully in the age to come that coming age is my joyous hope is hope that sees

[39:24]  Jesus on his throne with his kingdom filling every corner of the cosmos hope that envisions sorrow and sighing erased from the face of the universe hope that eagerly awaits the moment when pain and tears will be banished and evil will be punished but that hope the better country of Hebrews 11 16 is still in the future I've likely got miles to go before I sleep and it's getting harder to adjust to the harsh encroachments of older age and increasing pain I could easily throw down my pick and shovel collapsed by the edge of my ugly field and say God I am so tired of this please no more so listen to this so I stoke my hope I am heartened by my precious savior and the way he endured unthinkable suffering for the joy set before him I follow him parking my wheelchair on Romans 12 12 rejoice in hope be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer now it's easy to see why God commands us to be constant in prayer for it can be a struggle to pray when we're suffering and we understand why God commands us to be patient in tribulation for it's hard to muster patience when you are in misery but it's really hard to rejoice in hope hope can feel so far off vague and nebulous yet God commands it for if Jesus laid aside his robes to put on the enormous indignity of human birth for our sake then his father has the right to command our joy he has the prerogative to call forth in us a happiness that's commensurate with his son's sacrifice we are to cultivate a joy that's worthy of Jesus our blessed hope believer respond to the dangers of this life by taking refuge in him respond to the suffering of life by groaning to him in confidence him who spared not his own son to Christ who suffered for us that we might join him in glory let's pray lord would you lead us because of our enemies would you go before us and lead the way as we walk through yet another week as we go home this afternoon as we face all the many trials of our life lord we pray with confidence in you groaning to you lord would you see our weakness god and give us strength would you see our trials father and go before us lead us lord even through the valley of darkness father and we thank you for sending christ to live and to die and to rise for us that we might have hope even in the midst of our suffering we love you lord and we pray this in christ name amen