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As Derek mentioned earlier, we are talking about a psalm of lament this morning.
Psalms of lament are actually the most common type of psalm in the hymn book of God's people.
About 40% of all the songs he gives us.
I noticed reading through the psalms this time in our reading plan, it just felt to me like every page I turned,
the psalmist was being attacked by his enemies or oppressors.
He was discouraged, again, page after page, chapter after chapter.
And these are psalms that put into the mouths of God's people singing to him, praying to him words of distress,
of depression, of despair.
They're put into our mouths because sometimes we are so overwhelmed that we have no words.
We will read today of feeling so troubled you cannot speak.
While God is holding your eyes open so that you also can't sleep.
And some of you know right now about sleepless nights and speechless days that are in the title of this sermon.
I suspect if we're really honest that most of us, including me, would be uncomfortable with our worship services being that full of lamentation.
Of crying out to God and hurting and mourning.
There is more than one different psalm of lament for every Sunday of the year.
Can you imagine if that was over and over and over what we would sing?
But remember, we're in the psalms to ask God to shape our hearts in relationship with him.
So perhaps where our hearts are most uncomfortable, we most need his help.
Let's read Psalm 77 together and then ask Holy Spirit to shape our hearts according to God's holy word.
Rather than our own selfish comforts.
Psalm 77.
I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord.
In the night, my hand is stretched out without wearying.
My soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan.
When I meditate, my spirit faints.
You hold my eyelids open.
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old, the years long ago.
I said, let me remember my song in the night.
Let me meditate in my heart.
Then my spirit made a diligent search.
Will the Lord spurn forever?
And never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?
Then I said, I will appeal to this to the years of the right hand of the Most High.
I will remember the deeds of the Lord.
Yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy.
What God is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders.
You have made known your might among the peoples.
You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.
When the water saw you, O God, when the water saw you, they were afraid.
Indeed, the deep trembled.
The clouds poured out water.
The skies gave forth thunder.
Your arrows flashed on every side.
The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind.
Your lightnings lighted up the world.
The earth trembled and shook.
Your way was through the sea.
Your path through the great waters.
Yet your footprints were unseen.
You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
God, we give you thanks for your word.
God, we acknowledge how deeply we resonate with some of the feelings and experiences that we just read.
And so we ask for your help.
That we not just understand, but that our hearts are truly shaped by what you would have us to hear and to feel.
And to speak to you.
Speak to us and for your hearts to speak to you also this morning.
We ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
If you asked me when I was a kid what emojis should most be used to depict the life of a Christian,
I would have asked you what an emoji was.
But then, after understanding what you meant, I would have certainly chosen the big smiley faces.
Yes, probably especially the one on the end.
That's what it means to be walking with God.
Now that I've lived a few more years and read a few more psalms,
I realize how appropriate others can be.
This one, or even this one, or my favorite.
That one, which means I am so confused.
I don't know what's going on, but it is out of my control.
And I don't even know how I feel right now.
It's a favorite of my grace group when I ask them to give us an update on how their week has gone
through sending an emoji to the group.
Aren't you sad you're not in my group?
Yes, it's true that there is always a joyful hope for those who know Jesus.
But these painful emotions are part and parcel of life in relationship with God.
And he wants to hear them.
I mean, think about the history of God's people.
For generations and generations, they were in bondage in Egypt.
Seemingly neglected by a God of big promises.
But they're slaving away and they're getting nowhere.
Even after God delivers them, that very generation ends up wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years.
Not too long after they get settled with some happy days in the promised land, God's people are exiled.
Not too long after he brings them back from exile, they end up waiting silently for generations and generations.
With no word from any prophet, where is God until John and then Jesus finally show up?
Jesus and the New Testament writers tell Christians that suffering is not abnormal.
In fact, we should expect persecution, they say.
God's people are a lamenting people.
Maybe now we can understand a little better why so many of the hymns of God's people are laments.
God's people ought to lament.
God says his people should cry to him when they're hurting, afraid, discouraged, despairing.
In fact, we should do it often.
It's repeated there in verse 1 by Asaph.
I cry aloud.
Allowed to God.
All night praying over and over.
Hands outstretched.
Begging loudly for help.
But isn't that a little inappropriate?
Won't God wait until we speak in a more put-together manner?
Theologically rich with a very polished tone?
Wouldn't he prefer that?
That's not what Asaph says.
God hears these cries.
That's not what Jesus did.
Hebrews chapter 5.
In the days of his flesh, when Jesus was here experiencing life on this earth,
Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to him who was able to save him from death.
And he was heard because of his reverence as he cried out and wept tears.
It is reverent to run desperate to one who can help.
It's the proper response of a hurting child to cry out for a helpful parent.
It is the right way for Christians to handle our pains.
To cry loud to God.
I mean, after all, what kind of relationship do you have with someone?
If you only tell them about your good days and your happy feelings?
The laments of Scripture are calling you to be honest about your heart.
It's not only that you experience hard things,
but you must also express the full range of emotions.
I don't have to tell you that life is hard.
Just in the last few days,
you have shared with me things like overwhelming family drama,
chronic pain that is wearing you down,
defeat in battles with sin,
heartbreak over adult children,
slow progress by the church in reaching our neighbors.
We lament school shootings and social injustice and poverty
and persecution of God's people around the world.
And God calls us to express the emotions we feel
in such heart-wrenching circumstances.
And there are many, many others just in this room.
To whom do we express them?
Where do we go with such feelings?
To him.
Don't miss this.
I cry aloud to God.
In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord.
See, lament is a part of worship.
It's a part of, that's the way you relate to God.
You know, a relationship of worship with him.
Because lament demonstrates faith in
and dependence on God.
It's pleading for help from a God who is sovereign and faithful.
It's crying out against injustice to a God who has promised to bring justice.
It's bringing our weariness in struggle to a God who offers peace and rest.
That's why a vital part of lament is talking to God himself about who he is,
what he has promised,
and how he has acted in times past.
Is that where you go?
When life falls apart?
When it just feels like too much?
Do you go to God?
Sometimes I do.
Sometimes I look to myself and work harder to make things work the way I want them to.
Sometimes I look to another area of life where I can feel some more positive inputs
and ignore the hard places.
Sometimes I seek to escape the hard things.
Just avoid them altogether.
Some ways that are healthier than others,
but I just want to get away from them.
Anyone else?
In the day of my trouble,
I seek the Lord.
Listen, I want to make sure you hear this.
This is more than permission for the weak who just can't handle it sometimes.
They're just not strong enough.
No, no, no.
This is instruction to all of our hearts to relate to our God this way.
Faithfully relying on him to be strong enough and to be our only hope.
Cry aloud to God.
And by the way, when someone is bemoaning things to you,
listen.
Listen patiently to them, right?
And ask if they've told God what they're processing with you.
How are you talking with God about that?
How could I be asking God to help with what you are sharing?
Biblical lament teaches us that God's people must cry at times
in a world that is not our home.
And we must cry to Him.
Anne Steele wrote in her hymn,
Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul.
By the way, please sing some of the hymns from this service,
from the meditation through the end.
If you're hurting her,
great lyrics of lament in the Psalms
and in the hymns of God's people through the ages.
Anne Steele wrote,
Hast thou not bid me seek thy face?
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace be deaf when I complain?
No!
Still the ear of sovereign grace attends the mourner's prayer.
Oh, may I ever find access to breathe my sorrows there.
If you've never cried out to God,
come.
Let Him be your refuge.
He longs for that.
If you've often cried out to God,
come again.
He never tires of being your refuge.
Puritan Thomas Brooks had seen God
meet him in dark places
and he wrote,
Oh, despairing souls,
you see that others whose conditions have been as bad,
if not worse than yours,
have obtained mercy.
God hath turned their hell into heaven.
He hath remembered them in their lowest state.
He hath pacified their raging consciences
and quieted their distracted souls.
He hath wiped all tears from their eyes.
And he hath been a wellspring of life unto their hearts.
Therefore,
be not discouraged,
oh, despairing souls,
but look up
to the mercy seat.
That's good advice.
Look up to the mercy seat.
But,
let's make sure we don't think
crying out to God
is a quick fix solution
to our troubles.
Making the pain go away
is not
the purpose
of lament.
lament.
This is,
frankly,
where Psalm 77
gets even more
disturbing.
But,
I think also more
helpful
and hopeful.
The psalmist
is doing all the right things,
it seems.
And yet,
his soul
refuses
to be comforted.
Verse 2.
In fact,
he does
what we just talked about
last week.
He remembers
God,
and yet,
what happens?
He moans.
God may be meeting others,
Thomas Brooks,
but I don't feel him
showing up for me,
so the fact that he's
showing up for others
just frustrates me
even more.
Now I'm angry.
Now I'm confused
why he's not showing up
when I cry.
Why?
The psalmist
meditates.
That's what Psalm 1
told us to do,
right?
He remembers
the good days,
the times he could sing
in the dark night
of the soul,
but that only seems
to remind him
that God hasn't been
giving him a song
like that lately,
the way that he did
back then.
And so he meditates
more on God himself,
and yet,
his spirit
faints.
Maybe you're saying,
Will,
I'm one week into
the Psalm 119
challenge you gave us,
and I don't feel
different.
Something must be
wrong with me,
or it's wrong with God.
I'm just more
disheartened
than when I came
last Sunday.
Why?
Great British preacher
of the 1800s,
Charles Spurgeon,
knew the feeling
all too well.
Like many famous
Christians,
he battled
persistent depression.
He relates to
verse 4
of this psalm,
No respite
has been afforded
us by the silence
of the night.
Our bed
has been a rack
to us.
Our body
has been in torment
and our spirit
in anguish.
Have you been there?
God,
I just
want to go
to sleep.
And it seems
God is
keeping you
awake.
Sometimes when it's
really dark,
thinking on God
actually intensifies
the pain,
doesn't it?
Going to God
is not some
magic eraser
of bad feelings.
Many of you
know that.
I talked
with a guy
recently who
grew up in church,
but he's struggling
after decades
of feeling
that God
doesn't respond
to him
the way he
seems to respond
to all of his
friends.
It seems
to him
after all this
time,
the best path
forward is to
lower his
expectations,
quit talking
to God
altogether
so that he
doesn't feel
the pain
of the disappointment
or the pretending.
He wonders
if a God
who hears
prayers
doesn't hear
his.
Such a
tough place
to be,
right?
I told him
without sarcasm,
it sounded
like he could
write a psalm.
Those are the
kinds of
questions that
Asaph
starts asking
about God.
Look how they
pile up
in verses
7-9.
Will the
Lord spurn
forever?
Will he
never again
be favorable?
Has his
steadfast love
forever ceased?
Are his
promises at an
end for all
time?
Has God
forgotten to
be gracious?
Has he in
anger shut
up his
compassion?
Asaph has
been where
my friend
is.
Some of us
have asked
some of those
questions,
haven't we?
These are
genuine
questions.
They're
expressing
real doubts.
Aren't you
glad you
can take
your real
doubts to
God that
he actually
wants you
to sing
them and
say them
to him?
But they're
also questions
that point
to their
own answers.
If God
is by nature
favorable in
pouring out
grace, then
he will be
again,
right?
Steadfast love
by definition
is love that
does not
cease.
Promises are
kept by
God.
They don't
end.
So no
way is he
out of
grace or
compassion,
but it
surely does
feel like it
sometimes.
That's what
the psalmist
is saying.
When you're
seeking diligently
and not
finding an
answer, it
feels like
those things
are happening.
I tell you
this because
it's really
important that
we realize
that lament
is not a
formula to
get something
transactionally
or automatically
or immediately
out of God.
Best I can
tell in this
psalm, and I
wrestled hard
trying to see
if I was
missing something,
when things
start to turn
more hopeful
for the
psalmist,
there are
only very,
very slight
changes to
what he is
doing.
I don't
know the
length of
time Asaph
spent stuck
in verses
1-9,
but I know
for Israel
at times it
was generations
long.
Why does it
take so long
for God to
change the
way the
psalmist
feels?
Why so
many sleepless
nights before
finding rest?
Why so
many doubts
before faith
is strengthened?
It doesn't
say.
The picture
the song
paints for
us, though,
is Asaph
continuing to
lament.
Biblically,
he keeps
crying honestly
to God,
remembering
who God
is,
what he has
promised,
and how he
has been
faithful.
The biblical
lament is
needful for
relating to
the biblical
God.
Asaph does
it again.
Verse 10,
appealing to
God's powerful
actions in
history.
Verse 11,
remembering
God's deeds.
Verse 12,
meditating on
God's mighty
deliverance.
He's doing it
again.
You hear it?
And this
time,
his heart
begins to
worship.
To worship
the great
and holy
and incomparable
God who
redeems his
people.
Interestingly,
Asaph doesn't
look back to
an event that
was, in his
own experience,
something that
he lived
through.
That can help
sometimes, but
Asaph,
generations
later,
meditates back
on God's
foundational
act of
gracious
deliverance
of his
people in
the exodus
from Egypt.
That's what
this whole
second half
of the
psalm is
meditating on.
Do you
remember what
develops not
far from
Egypt as
they've come
out?
God's people
quickly become
very fearful
and very
discouraged.
They were
stuck between
an advancing
Egyptian army
whose power
and terror
had ruled
their hearts
for generations.
They're rushing
after them
and on the
other side
is a raging
red sea,
the epitome
of chaos
and uncontrollable
danger.
You want to
talk about a
dark night
of the soul.
They felt it
and Moses
heard about it.
Why in the
world had God
brought them
out of Egypt
just to be
taken right
back?
Or worse,
why would
he think
of making
them feel
like they
were special
to him
when they're
about to
run off a
cliff into
the tumultuous
sea?
Is this
Yahweh worth
following if
this is what
life with him
is like?
We're just
getting started.
And the
psalmist
depicts a
storm way
worse than
an Alabama
summer
thunderstorm.
The whole
earth shook.
And you
know what
happens.
God parts
the Red
Sea.
Moses and
Aaron lead
God's people
through the
sea on dry
ground.
The waves
crash on the
Egyptians and
Moses and
Miriam lead
God's people in
songs of
celebration of
their mighty
God that
sound like
some of
this psalm.
There may
have been,
I suspect
there was,
a more
direct and
brighter and
easier path to
the promised land
from Egypt.
But there
wasn't one that
would have
helped God's
people know
him and his
power and his
faithfulness to
his promises
better than the
path through the
sea.
God's people
are
going to be.
Listen, lament
is not the only
way that we
talk to God.
Aren't you
thankful for
that?
But it is a
way that we
must talk to
the God who
delivers not
just in but
through darkness.
If God's way of
redemption was
through the sea,
then those
delivered would
be those who
lamented all the
way to their
deliverance.
Do you see
that?
There was not
going to be a
moment they
weren't lamenting
until they were
brought all the
way through.
If they had
looked for a
quick fix solution,
they weren't
getting it, but
they did get a
faithful God.
If they had
gone back to
Egypt in order
to miss that
awful dark night
of the soul,
they would have
missed the light
of God who
delivered through
the sea,
wouldn't they?
Some of you,
most of your
words right now
are lament.
You can't find a
lot of other
ones.
If the words of
your heart are
mostly lament,
you may be close
to deliverance
and you are
most likely
very close
to God.
Don't lose
heart,
brothers and
sisters who are
hurting.
off-despairing
William Cooper
wrote in his
song,
God moves in a
mysterious way
his wonders to
perform.
He plants his
footsteps in the
sea and rides
upon the storm.
See, it wasn't
just in the
exodus that God
delivered through
darkness, was it?
God of the
Red Sea
is the God
of the cross.
When darkness
covered the
earth in the
middle of the
day, when the
whole earth
shook again,
when the storm
of God's wrath
poured down
upon his
son, Jesus
cried out in
lamentation,
my God,
why have you
forsaken me?
And his
disciples thought,
no, no, no,
this shouldn't
happen.
Why another
false hope
after we've
waited so long?
Is this
Jesus worth
following if
this is what
life with him
is like?
right when
you think
that light
is covered
by darkness,
the light
of the
world is
delivering you
from your
darkness into
his marvelous
light.
Oh, followers
of Jesus, he
is worth
following.
In fact, right
now, he's
making the
greatest statement
ever of his
love for you,
of his provision
for you, of
his meeting
you in your
darkest moment
at your
deepest need.
What's the
point of
this?
Please don't
miss this,
especially if
today you
are hurting
or you're
confused or
you're feeling
abandoned by
a God you
are not even
sure exists.
Being
confused by
God does
not mean
that you're
not also
being rescued
by God.
Double
negative, I'm
going to say
it again.
Being
confused by
God does
not mean
that you're
not also
being rescued
by God.
Pastor Dane
Ortlund says
it this way,
in the Old
Testament, his
way was through
the sea.
In the New
Testament, his
way is through
the cross.
The gracious
provision of
God confounds
us even as
it delivers
us.
If you're
hearing that
truth about
God today,
remembering his
way is through
the sea can
give you hope
when those
hard times
and those
negative feelings
persist, when
those sleepless
nights and
those speechless
days seem to
pile up and
you don't know
how to make
them stop, you
can actually
enjoy a
completely
honest,
desperately
dependent,
at the same
time truly
worshipful
relationship with
God right there
where you are.
you don't even
have to turn
your frown
upside down
first.
You can cry
out to God
again today.
If you don't
have your own
words, he
understands and
you can, like
Jesus on the
cross, borrow
the lament of
the psalmist.
And when you do
that, you can
know that as
far as you feel
from God in
that moment,
you are relating
closely.
He is with
you.
The God who
always hears,
always has
compassion,
always delivers,
he is with
you.
I want us to
lament together
now because for
many of us,
this is
unfamiliar.
It's so
unfamiliar we
don't know what
to say.
When I say,
hey, you can go
home and lament
to God today.
And for
others of us,
it's so familiar
we can't say
anything else and
if we don't
lament, we're not
going to be able
to talk to God.
I'm going to
lead us in
prayer, but I'm
going to leave
some time for
you to pray as
well, more than
once.
And then the
worship team will
start leading us
in a song of
lament that is a
prayer that begins
in despair and
ends in trust of
a God who
delivers through
darkness.
you can join
in with that
song on the
last couple
verses or
whenever your
heart is ready
to do that.
But make it part
of your prayer as
we experience that
lament is something
God gives us in
relationship with
Him.
It's right, it's
good, it's needed
for our hearts.
When we're together
and on our own,
we join me as we
go to God in
prayer.
Our Father in
heaven, we cry
out to you this
morning.
We look around
us and if we're
honest, we wonder
sometimes what you're
up to in this world.
In many ways, it does
not appear to us that
your kingdom is coming
on earth as it is in
heaven.
all around us, a
human life created in
your image to reflect
your image.
It's being devalued and
discarded at every stage,
young and old.
How long, oh God, will we
hear of school shootings?
Where is your peace?
As wars rage, have you
turned a blind eye to
the suffering of the
weak, the oppressed, the
orphans and the
refugees?
Repeatedly in our own
country, the marginalized
seem to be pushed
further out, not
welcomed in to be
valued and cared for
and learned from.
So hear us, Father, as we
lament over the world we
live in.
And Father, we
acknowledge the problems
of the world are all
too present among your
people.
We grieve abusive
leadership.
We mourn for its
victims.
We grieve absent
shepherds and neglected
sheep.
We confess to you that our
churches more often seem
to reflect the divisions of
the world around us than
we do work together for the
sake of your kingdom on the
same team.
Help us, Holy Spirit.
But even when we don't
struggle in these ways, all
over the world your people
are being persecuted for
following you.
Killed for their faith at
rates never before seen.
Have you forgotten your
people whom you called by
your name?
Will you not come to their
rescue?
Oh, God, be their shield
and defender.
Hear us, Father, as we
lament for your people.
Finally, Father, we bemoan
the struggles of our own
hearts and lives in
relationship with you.
Grief and loss and
heartache and depression
and anxiety and fear,
they often drive us away
from you instead of to you.
Father, I admit it doesn't
take a crisis to see my
my life, neglecting your
word, prayer, the God in
whom our souls are to
delight because we're
addicted to devices and
substances and ourselves.
We chase pleasure instead of
chasing people who need your
hope.
Sometimes it's none of these
particular things going on,
but just no matter what we
try, you feel distant.
And we have been there and
felt that and wonder if
we'll never smile and laugh
and rejoice again, if we'll
never love one another well,
if we'll never live with zeal
for you as we once did.
Oh, Jesus, you sympathize with
our weaknesses.
Thank you.
Draw near to us again.
Help us to draw near to you.
Hear us, Father, as we lament
our own struggles.
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