WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Lord Jesus, nobody here needs to hear my words. 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:06.780 We need to hear your words. 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:11.620 Lord, my words are fallible and imperfect, but God, you are perfect. 00:00:11.779 --> 00:00:16.420 So I pray as we listen to your scripture being read, won't you speak to us? 00:00:16.420 --> 00:00:20.900 Won't you open the eyes of our hearts, help us to see you, help us to see ourselves, 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:22.980 and help us to trust in you. 00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:24.480 We pray in your great name. 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:25.120 Amen. 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:26.699 Great. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:27.420 Over to you. 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:30.140 Good morning. 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:33.800 Today's scripture reading comes from Psalm 42 and 43. 00:00:34.500 --> 00:00:36.179 Please follow along with your Bible. 00:00:36.980 --> 00:00:41.460 Again, if you do not have a Bible with you, please grab a church Bible from the front of 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:43.900 the stage, at the back, or near the door. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.520 Our passage today is on page 439 of the church Bible. 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:52.880 Hear then God's word to us today. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:57.540 Psalm 42. 00:00:57.540 --> 00:01:05.840 Why are you cast down, O my soul, to the quiet master, a masculine of the sons of Korah? 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:12.980 As the deer pants for the flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:16.840 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:20.180 When shall I come and appear before God? 00:01:20.880 --> 00:01:23.800 My tears have been my food day and night. 00:01:24.460 --> 00:01:27.960 While they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:30.339 These things I remember. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:36.859 As I pour out my soul, how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the 00:01:36.859 --> 00:01:40.280 house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise. 00:01:40.839 --> 00:01:42.739 A multitude keeping festival. 00:01:42.739 --> 00:01:46.459 Why are you cast down, O my soul? 00:01:46.759 --> 00:01:49.119 And why are you in turmoil within me? 00:01:49.919 --> 00:01:55.739 Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. 00:01:56.519 --> 00:01:58.519 My soul is cast down within me. 00:01:59.139 --> 00:02:04.019 Therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Misa. 00:02:05.019 --> 00:02:08.280 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls. 00:02:08.939 --> 00:02:11.800 All your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:15.200 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love. 00:02:15.920 --> 00:02:17.960 And at night his song is with me. 00:02:18.640 --> 00:02:21.219 A prayer to the God of my life. 00:02:22.100 --> 00:02:26.000 I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? 00:02:26.420 --> 00:02:29.700 Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 00:02:30.660 --> 00:02:35.000 As with the deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:38.980 While they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 00:02:38.979 --> 00:02:42.079 Why are you cast down, O my soul? 00:02:42.659 --> 00:02:44.859 And why are you in turmoil within me? 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:51.560 Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. 00:02:52.459 --> 00:02:53.359 Psalm 43. 00:02:54.099 --> 00:02:56.199 Send out your light and your truth. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:01.959 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people. 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:05.540 From the deceitful and unjust man, deliver me. 00:03:06.180 --> 00:03:09.000 For you are the God in whom I take refuge. 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:11.000 Why have you rejected me? 00:03:11.700 --> 00:03:15.140 Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 00:03:16.180 --> 00:03:18.280 Send out your light and your truth. 00:03:18.920 --> 00:03:19.840 Let them lead me. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.080 Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:28.880 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. 00:03:29.220 --> 00:03:31.439 And I will praise you with the lyre. 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:33.740 O God, my God. 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:36.840 Why are you cast down, O my soul? 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:39.420 And why are you in turmoil within me? 00:03:40.100 --> 00:03:46.180 Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. 00:03:47.820 --> 00:03:51.820 Let us believe and respond to God's true and living word. 00:03:51.819 --> 00:03:52.819 Great. 00:03:54.819 --> 00:03:55.939 Thank you, Lonnie. 00:03:58.659 --> 00:04:04.120 Pastor Mark Froichrup wrote the book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy. 00:04:04.739 --> 00:04:08.019 And he wrote it after the passing away of their young daughter. 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:09.519 And he writes this. 00:04:09.579 --> 00:04:13.240 He says, we step into the world with a cry. 00:04:13.879 --> 00:04:15.979 Although none of us remembers that moment, 00:04:15.979 --> 00:04:21.480 the first sound we uttered after leaving the warm and protected confines of our mother's womb 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:23.259 was a loud protest. 00:04:24.060 --> 00:04:25.540 We entered this world wailing. 00:04:26.259 --> 00:04:28.660 However, we don't stop crying after birth. 00:04:29.080 --> 00:04:31.939 It continues because the world is broken. 00:04:32.900 --> 00:04:36.240 Our world has been infected with the broken effects of sin. 00:04:36.960 --> 00:04:40.360 Death is the elder reminder that something is not right with our world. 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:42.300 But there are other examples too. 00:04:42.960 --> 00:04:50.000 Cancer, addictions, failed marriages, relational conflict, loneliness, abuse. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:53.360 To cry is to be human. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:01.080 Friends, how do you handle the pain and grief and sorrow and sadness 00:05:01.080 --> 00:05:04.420 that comes to us through living in a broken world? 00:05:04.420 --> 00:05:09.520 Where do you go and what do you do when life becomes unbearably difficult? 00:05:10.840 --> 00:05:17.259 Friends, when your heart breaks, when anger arises, when you feel scared or alone, 00:05:17.960 --> 00:05:20.240 we all enter the world wailing. 00:05:20.740 --> 00:05:23.160 But as we all know, the tears don't end there. 00:05:24.060 --> 00:05:27.560 And while this is true for all of us generally, if you're a human being, 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:30.100 you live in a broken world and pain is part of our world. 00:05:30.100 --> 00:05:34.640 For some of us, more than just the regular hardships of living in life, 00:05:34.760 --> 00:05:39.780 for some of us, the particularity and the intensity of hardship and suffering 00:05:39.780 --> 00:05:43.040 is particularly intense and deep. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.960 The depth of sorrow and sadness can't be easily shaken off. 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:51.700 The intensity that results in a kind of leaving us in a place of helplessness 00:05:51.700 --> 00:05:54.879 or hopelessness, not knowing where to turn. 00:05:55.520 --> 00:05:58.680 For some of us, the dark clouds, when they roll in, 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:00.480 they don't just darken your life. 00:06:00.840 --> 00:06:04.240 They kind of make you question, will the sun ever shine again? 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:08.920 For some of us, friends, when sorrow or grief is so utterly intense, 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:14.280 we feel like we may never be able to smile or laugh or experience joy. 00:06:15.259 --> 00:06:18.519 And some of us here in this church have had to bury our children. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:21.819 An unbelievably difficult experience. 00:06:22.579 --> 00:06:25.920 Some of us, friends, have never got to say goodbye to loved ones 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:28.180 as death stole them away from us unexpectedly. 00:06:29.100 --> 00:06:32.620 Some of us have experienced the trauma of marriage coming apart, 00:06:33.259 --> 00:06:36.720 of marital unfaithfulness, of being the victim of abuse. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:40.660 Some of us mourn a relationship that is currently under strain. 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:43.680 Some of us feel the hopelessness of unemployment 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:49.420 or the anger of unjust policies and politics and war going on in our world. 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:54.140 As one medical practitioner said recently, trauma does not discriminate. 00:06:54.740 --> 00:06:58.199 It doesn't matter your social status, your financial status, 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:00.780 your ethnicity, your religion, your background. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.020 All of us are equally vulnerable to the trauma and the pain 00:07:05.020 --> 00:07:08.439 and the harshness of this broken world creeping into our lives, 00:07:08.900 --> 00:07:10.160 creeping into our souls. 00:07:11.060 --> 00:07:12.240 Friends, where do you turn? 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:13.740 Where do you go? 00:07:13.740 --> 00:07:17.439 How do you handle the hardness of living in this world 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:20.199 when the storms don't just come close 00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:22.680 but threaten to make shipwreck of everything you've known, 00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:25.019 everything you've believed, everything you've held onto? 00:07:26.139 --> 00:07:29.040 Now, before we look at our scripture today, 00:07:29.180 --> 00:07:30.819 which Lonnie read so well to us, 00:07:30.840 --> 00:07:34.400 I want us to think about this from a secular point of view for a few minutes. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:38.340 How do we handle the sorrows and the sadness of life 00:07:38.340 --> 00:07:42.980 if God is not real and if the scriptures are not true? 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:44.920 Where do we turn then? 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:46.400 How do we handle these things? 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:48.139 I want us to think about it. 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:51.639 And there's many different variations and permutations of this, 00:07:51.900 --> 00:07:53.740 but let's think about it in three categories. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:57.579 One way is to numb ourselves through distractions, 00:07:58.019 --> 00:08:01.300 whether it's excessive drinking or excessive exercise, 00:08:02.019 --> 00:08:04.139 whether it's extreme hours in the office 00:08:04.139 --> 00:08:06.540 or extreme doom strolling on social media, 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:10.220 more hours in the gym or maybe more tattoos on our bodies. 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:14.680 One way that we can distract ourselves from the hardship 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:18.280 and the difficulty of life is to give ourselves to something else 00:08:18.280 --> 00:08:20.960 that will kind of escape from the hardship. 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:25.320 And I personally think that exercise is actually a very sinister distraction 00:08:25.320 --> 00:08:27.440 because it's so good and it's so healthy 00:08:27.440 --> 00:08:30.320 and the endorphins get you feeling really good. 00:08:30.760 --> 00:08:33.080 But if it's a merely escapist behavior, 00:08:34.040 --> 00:08:35.519 there may be something wrong. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:38.440 So distraction, escaping it. 00:08:38.440 --> 00:08:39.860 What about denial? 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:44.020 This is something I think that maybe younger people don't struggle with as much. 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:47.580 Maybe older generations, we tend to put on a happy face, 00:08:47.700 --> 00:08:50.440 put on a smile and just pretend that life is okay. 00:08:50.540 --> 00:08:52.440 We kind of keep calm and carry on 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:56.480 as the famous British war poster had in the 1940s, right? 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:59.280 Just tell yourself that you're just tired, 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:00.740 you're just overworked, 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:01.940 you just need a holiday. 00:09:01.940 --> 00:09:04.440 But it's a way of maybe masking, 00:09:05.340 --> 00:09:08.960 denying some of the pain that we carry in our hearts. 00:09:11.100 --> 00:09:12.860 We're actually in a desperate place, 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:15.180 but we don't want to face it. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:17.180 Friends, some of us maybe, 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:19.020 we just end up in despair. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:21.680 We see no light at the end of the tunnel. 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:23.000 There's no hope. 00:09:23.660 --> 00:09:25.000 This is the way the world is. 00:09:25.160 --> 00:09:26.080 This is the way we are. 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:27.480 This is how God has made us. 00:09:27.560 --> 00:09:28.740 We will always be depressed. 00:09:28.740 --> 00:09:30.120 We will always be melancholic. 00:09:30.899 --> 00:09:32.200 And the best we can hope for 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:35.259 is some kind of way to medicate the symptoms 00:09:35.259 --> 00:09:37.060 so that we can get through life 00:09:37.060 --> 00:09:39.220 and get through work and carry on. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:42.159 But no real solution, no hope, no way out. 00:09:43.259 --> 00:09:44.539 Well, against this backdrop, 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:48.139 the scriptures actually have a remarkable different approach. 00:09:48.580 --> 00:09:49.879 And we see this in the Psalms 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:51.200 that we're looking at this morning. 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:53.419 Now, if you've been coming for the last few weeks, 00:09:53.480 --> 00:09:56.039 we're doing this series called Praying Through the Psalms. 00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:58.860 And we've been looking at various categories of Psalms. 00:09:59.079 --> 00:10:04.419 Trust, meditation, confession, intercession, praise, 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:06.500 various categories of the Psalms. 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:08.639 And the categories we're looking at today 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:10.339 is the Psalms of lament. 00:10:11.179 --> 00:10:12.139 Psalms of lament. 00:10:12.599 --> 00:10:15.519 Scholars tell us that 30 to 40% of the Psalms 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:17.339 actually make up Psalms of lament. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:21.819 And to lament means to grieve or to cry out or to complain. 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:25.299 Some of the Psalms of lament are corporate. 00:10:25.299 --> 00:10:28.859 They're meant for an entire nation or a community or a church 00:10:28.859 --> 00:10:32.539 as the whole nation laments the brokenness of their community 00:10:32.539 --> 00:10:35.099 or their world or maybe war that's come against them 00:10:35.099 --> 00:10:37.319 or God's judgment or their sin. 00:10:37.779 --> 00:10:39.339 And together they cry out and say, 00:10:39.500 --> 00:10:41.379 God, how long must this continue? 00:10:42.039 --> 00:10:44.179 They bring their complaint before God. 00:10:44.819 --> 00:10:47.279 But many of the Psalms of lament are also individual. 00:10:47.959 --> 00:10:50.319 They're written for a person in a particular situation, 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:53.599 facing a difficulty, oppression from an enemy, 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:55.659 being driven out by family members, 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:59.800 unloved, war, sickness, darkness. 00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:02.659 And the beautiful thing about the Psalms of lament 00:11:02.659 --> 00:11:04.759 is the fact that the Bible tells us 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:07.519 that not only does it understand our pain 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:10.899 and understand our grief and our sorrow and our sadness, 00:11:11.460 --> 00:11:13.320 the Bible gives us a language 00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:15.820 to express that sorrow and sadness. 00:11:16.420 --> 00:11:17.519 So the Bible doesn't just say, 00:11:17.800 --> 00:11:19.660 it's okay that you feel that way, 00:11:19.659 --> 00:11:22.159 but once you find and come back, 00:11:22.699 --> 00:11:25.819 the Bible says, let me give you language how to express that, 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:27.759 how to be honest with God. 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:31.279 And so the Bible gives us language to pour out our hearts to Him. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:32.519 So what is biblical lament? 00:11:33.219 --> 00:11:38.339 It's talking to God honestly about our sorrow and our sadness 00:11:38.339 --> 00:11:42.600 in order to renew our hope and our confidence in Him. 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:44.399 It's bringing to God, 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:48.379 it's bringing our real selves to the real God 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:50.879 in order to find real grace 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:52.680 for the sorrows of our hearts 00:11:52.680 --> 00:11:54.620 and the sorrows of this world. 00:11:55.259 --> 00:11:59.000 And the Bible calls us and invites us to lament. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:01.340 So let's look at these two Psalms. 00:12:01.420 --> 00:12:03.420 If you have your Bible, keep them open with me. 00:12:03.480 --> 00:12:05.340 We're going to look at a lot of the scripture here. 00:12:05.659 --> 00:12:08.440 And we're looking at these two Psalms, 42 and 43. 00:12:08.680 --> 00:12:09.820 Why two Psalms? 00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:13.280 Well, I trust that you picked this up as Lonnie was reading to us. 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:15.440 These two Psalms actually go together. 00:12:15.700 --> 00:12:18.240 Many scholars say that maybe we're one Psalm originally 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:19.620 that somehow got separated. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:21.820 And we see this in a couple of ways. 00:12:22.300 --> 00:12:25.280 I'm sure you noticed there's that refrain, 00:12:26.100 --> 00:12:27.760 why you downcast over my soul? 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:30.460 Why in such turmoil within me, hope in God? 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:33.680 It's like a chorus, that verse, chorus, verse, chorus. 00:12:33.760 --> 00:12:34.840 It keeps on coming back. 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:37.040 And it's there in the middle of Psalm 42. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.799 It's at the end of Psalm 42. 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:41.500 And then again, at the end of Psalm 43, 00:12:41.839 --> 00:12:45.439 this repeated chorus appears in both Psalms, 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:50.039 verse 5, verse 11, and then again, verse 5 of chapter 43. 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:52.779 But also notice, if you've got your Bible, 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:55.539 almost all the Psalms have got a title in it. 00:12:55.639 --> 00:12:56.559 So 42 says, 00:12:56.719 --> 00:12:59.379 To the choir master, a mascal of the sons of Korah. 00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:02.379 But then Psalm 43 is one of the only Psalms 00:13:02.379 --> 00:13:04.500 in this entire section that doesn't have a title. 00:13:04.500 --> 00:13:07.500 The author didn't give it any kind of title, 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:08.460 say who it was by, 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:11.779 because it was probably actually following on from Psalm 42. 00:13:12.700 --> 00:13:14.259 And then the other thing is, 00:13:14.539 --> 00:13:17.840 notice that the theme of lament, 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:19.779 it carries through in both of them. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:23.840 So let's look at this two-in-one Psalm together. 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:26.860 And Psalms are not just meant to be studied or analyzed. 00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:27.960 They're meant to be felt. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:30.159 They're meant to be experienced. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:32.620 And so let's point out a couple of things 00:13:32.620 --> 00:13:35.939 as we think about these two Psalms and lamenting. 00:13:36.779 --> 00:13:38.860 Notice, firstly, the three sections. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:42.459 So there's section 1 to 5, section 6 to 11, 00:13:42.620 --> 00:13:45.419 and then chapter 43 is 1 to 5 again. 00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:48.059 And if you notice, when Lonnie's reading, 00:13:48.459 --> 00:13:50.699 there's kind of lament and questioning, 00:13:51.179 --> 00:13:52.839 and then there's this hope that, 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:54.200 why are you downcast? 00:13:54.340 --> 00:13:56.360 Trust in God, my God, and my salvation. 00:13:56.759 --> 00:13:58.340 And then he goes back to questioning, 00:13:58.540 --> 00:14:00.960 and lamenting, and hurting, and wondering. 00:14:01.280 --> 00:14:03.720 And then he comes back to hope and trust in God. 00:14:04.040 --> 00:14:06.100 And then in 43, he goes back to questioning. 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:07.940 There's this back and forth, 00:14:08.040 --> 00:14:09.860 this to and fro about the Psalm. 00:14:10.060 --> 00:14:10.740 Did you pick that up? 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:12.220 Why is that? 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:13.980 Why didn't the Psalmist just say, 00:14:14.379 --> 00:14:15.920 God, life sucks, blah, blah, blah, 00:14:16.019 --> 00:14:17.100 vomit all his complaints, 00:14:17.180 --> 00:14:17.720 and then say, 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:19.940 but, you know, I'll still hope in you. 00:14:20.760 --> 00:14:23.140 Actually, there's this kind of wave after wave 00:14:23.140 --> 00:14:25.080 of anguish and questioning, 00:14:25.520 --> 00:14:27.000 but then he kind of finds a rock, 00:14:27.040 --> 00:14:27.840 and he holds onto it. 00:14:27.860 --> 00:14:29.660 And then the waves come back again, 00:14:29.740 --> 00:14:31.040 and he's questioning and wondering, 00:14:31.160 --> 00:14:32.800 and then he stands on the rock, 00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:34.180 and then the waves come. 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:36.940 Well, I think one of the reasons for that 00:14:36.940 --> 00:14:39.360 is because that's how life works, isn't it? 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:41.460 That's how pain works. 00:14:41.500 --> 00:14:42.660 That's how sorrow works. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.660 Friends, for us, lamenting is never just, 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:48.140 you know, a linear graph up and to the right. 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:50.699 But it's always, it's anguish. 00:14:50.860 --> 00:14:52.620 It's good days and bad days. 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.179 There's waves of grief that come, 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:56.439 and sometimes you feel better, 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.659 and sometimes it feels overwhelming again. 00:14:59.539 --> 00:15:03.159 The Psalmist knows that lamenting is dynamic. 00:15:03.399 --> 00:15:03.840 It's raw. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:04.460 It's real. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:05.279 It's messy. 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:07.139 It's unpredictable. 00:15:08.199 --> 00:15:10.179 And Christian lamenting involves knowing 00:15:10.179 --> 00:15:12.759 how both to be honest with our pain 00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:14.580 and turn to God. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:16.539 And sometimes these happen at the same time, 00:15:16.539 --> 00:15:18.299 and sometimes this is more real, 00:15:18.379 --> 00:15:19.980 and sometimes the pain is more real. 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:22.279 Christian lamenting is knowing 00:15:22.279 --> 00:15:26.079 how to both face the facts of our hardship in life 00:15:26.079 --> 00:15:28.559 as well as facing the Father 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:30.439 who is sovereign over all things. 00:15:30.959 --> 00:15:32.819 But sometimes you face the Father, 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:34.819 and then the waves of lament come. 00:15:35.419 --> 00:15:36.819 And there's this back and forth, 00:15:36.899 --> 00:15:40.159 this journey of faith. 00:15:40.860 --> 00:15:42.259 Notice, secondly, as we look at the Psalm, 00:15:42.259 --> 00:15:44.819 how honest the Psalmist is with God. 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:48.100 I mean, if you've ever struggled 00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:49.059 or gone through hardship, 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:50.259 maybe you felt depressed, 00:15:50.439 --> 00:15:52.799 or you know that kind of pithy sayings 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:55.240 or, you know, trite little words like, 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:57.080 everything will get better, 00:15:57.340 --> 00:15:58.539 or God is in this somehow, 00:15:58.639 --> 00:15:59.539 don't really help. 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:02.620 But the Psalmist here doesn't throw out pithy sayings. 00:16:02.980 --> 00:16:06.019 He uses this powerful word imagery, 00:16:06.220 --> 00:16:08.220 language that expresses his feelings. 00:16:08.319 --> 00:16:09.360 Look what he says in verse one, 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:12.180 as the deer pants for flowing streams, 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:14.320 so my soul pants for you. 00:16:15.860 --> 00:16:17.800 My soul thirsts for God. 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:19.340 If you've ever been on the sports field 00:16:19.340 --> 00:16:21.820 out for a run on a hot day like today, right? 00:16:22.419 --> 00:16:24.419 You know when your throat burns 00:16:24.419 --> 00:16:25.940 and you're desperate for a drink of water? 00:16:26.019 --> 00:16:26.659 That's what he's saying. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.639 He's saying, God, I'm burning with desperation for you. 00:16:29.940 --> 00:16:30.759 Well, look at verse seven. 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:34.139 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:37.060 Your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:41.839 Okay, friends, picture being placed under Niagara Falls, okay? 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:45.399 You've got 100 million tons of water crashing down on you. 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:46.659 You're not going to stand. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:48.519 You're going to get pummeled into the rocks. 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:50.939 Or maybe you've gone to the sea, 00:16:51.639 --> 00:16:52.639 not to Big Wave Bay, 00:16:52.719 --> 00:16:54.519 because Big Wave doesn't really have big waves, 00:16:54.599 --> 00:16:55.719 but maybe you've gone somewhere. 00:16:55.839 --> 00:16:57.059 They really are big waves. 00:16:57.379 --> 00:16:59.219 And the waves crash you into it 00:16:59.219 --> 00:17:00.219 and you're flipping over 00:17:00.219 --> 00:17:01.559 and you don't know which way is up 00:17:01.559 --> 00:17:02.379 and which way is down 00:17:02.379 --> 00:17:03.839 and you're completely lost. 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:06.339 Psalmist saying, that's how I feel, God. 00:17:06.339 --> 00:17:09.779 I feel like the waterfall is pummeling me into the rocks. 00:17:09.859 --> 00:17:10.779 I feel like I'm turning. 00:17:10.939 --> 00:17:12.619 I don't know which way is up or down. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:13.740 I am lost. 00:17:14.639 --> 00:17:16.179 He's using this honest language. 00:17:16.419 --> 00:17:19.000 Or look at 42 verse 10. 00:17:19.199 --> 00:17:21.039 As a deadly wound in my bones, 00:17:21.139 --> 00:17:22.539 my adversaries taunt me. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:24.279 They say to me all day long, 00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:25.579 where is your God? 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:30.500 The language of my bones are infected and infested. 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:31.959 This isn't just a surface wound. 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:34.679 He's honest with his pain. 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:37.080 But then notice something else with the psalm. 00:17:37.320 --> 00:17:40.860 Each stanza is wave-like in its repetition, 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:43.720 but there's also a kind of progression. 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:45.580 The psalm makes progress. 00:17:46.420 --> 00:17:47.160 I don't know if you noticed that. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:50.500 Each wave of lament and hope is a wave, 00:17:50.600 --> 00:17:53.019 but it somehow brings him closer to the shore. 00:17:53.620 --> 00:17:54.759 And so by the end of the psalm, 00:17:54.820 --> 00:17:57.259 he's closer to the shore than he was in the beginning. 00:17:57.840 --> 00:17:59.279 One scholar put it like this. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:06.940 He moves from helpless nostalgia to present afflictions to hope of restoration. 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:08.440 Did you see that? 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:09.639 Look at it with me. 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:11.180 Look at stanza one. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:12.799 In verse four, he says here, 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:19.740 he remembers the time when he used to lead God's people in worship with glad shouts and songs of praise. 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:21.139 But where is he now? 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:24.440 Well, verse six tells us that he's somewhere in the desert. 00:18:24.579 --> 00:18:26.619 He's in the land of Jordan and Mount Hermon. 00:18:26.619 --> 00:18:30.399 He's far away from Jerusalem, and it's like he's in exile in the desert, 00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:34.039 remembering back upon the time when life was so much better. 00:18:34.919 --> 00:18:37.279 And he's saying, God, if only I could go back there. 00:18:37.399 --> 00:18:40.199 Those were the good old days when life was... 00:18:40.199 --> 00:18:41.639 He has no vision for the future. 00:18:41.899 --> 00:18:43.839 He's just remembering how things used to be. 00:18:44.779 --> 00:18:48.419 But then in the second stanza, he's kind of not just remembering the past. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:49.559 He's very present. 00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:53.119 He says, God, my soul is cast down within me. 00:18:53.259 --> 00:18:54.799 Therefore, I remember you. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:56.700 Verse six or verse seven. 00:18:57.220 --> 00:18:59.539 The psalmist talks about the waves that break over him. 00:19:00.019 --> 00:19:02.059 But at least he knows they are God's waves. 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:02.819 Look what he says. 00:19:03.019 --> 00:19:05.799 Your breakers, your waves have gone over me. 00:19:06.419 --> 00:19:08.700 I stand under your waterfalls. 00:19:09.299 --> 00:19:10.139 And then verse eight. 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:14.619 By day the Lord commands his love at night, his song is within me. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.359 He's moving from just remembering the past to being present. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:23.500 But then in the third stanza, he cries out to God. 00:19:23.579 --> 00:19:25.759 And he has hope that things will change. 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:28.159 43 verse one. 00:19:28.359 --> 00:19:29.439 Vindicate me, O God. 00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:30.799 Defend my cause. 00:19:30.939 --> 00:19:31.359 Verse two. 00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:34.259 You are the God in whom I take refuge. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:35.659 Verse three. 00:19:36.119 --> 00:19:37.579 Send out your light and your truth. 00:19:37.659 --> 00:19:39.079 Let them lead me home. 00:19:39.579 --> 00:19:44.319 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God who is my exceeding joy. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.619 And the cries and the complaints, the lament is doing something. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:50.279 He's not just sitting in the ashes. 00:19:51.099 --> 00:19:56.539 He's progressing and he's finding renewed hope and confidence again. 00:19:57.480 --> 00:19:59.639 So friends, how does this help us? 00:19:59.740 --> 00:20:01.700 Well, how should we think about this? 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:04.079 Well, I think the message of the psalm is pretty clear, isn't it? 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:22.659 When sorrow and sadness come our way, when life overwhelms us, we need to learn how to lament well by bringing our real selves to the real God and finding real grace and hope and strength. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:27.039 So now, as we said, this series is not just about studying the psalms. 00:20:27.139 --> 00:20:28.319 It's about praying the psalms. 00:20:28.399 --> 00:20:31.679 So how might we pray Psalm 42 and 43? 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:34.720 How might we apply this to our lives? 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:41.920 Well, in this book, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, Mark Prochrup suggests four things, four elements of lamenting. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.140 And I've added a fifth one. 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:45.560 And he doesn't actually look at this psalm so much. 00:20:45.600 --> 00:20:48.039 He looks at Psalm 13 more, but they're applicable here. 00:20:48.140 --> 00:20:50.080 And so let's look at those five things. 00:20:50.539 --> 00:20:51.500 Firstly, he says this. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:53.680 Lamenting is turning to God. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:21:01.960 When the sorrows and the sadness overwhelm and come in close, we turn to him rather than away from him. 00:21:02.060 --> 00:21:04.860 And look at the overarching refrain of this psalm. 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:11.720 In the midst of all the waves and the taunts and the sorrow and the sadness of his heart, what is the one thing the psalmist does? 00:21:12.180 --> 00:21:13.560 He turns to God. 00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:15.980 Look at 42 verse 1. 00:21:15.980 --> 00:21:20.380 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:23.259 My soul thirsts for you, the living God. 00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:24.319 Or verse 6. 00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:28.160 My soul is cast down, therefore I remember you. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:29.140 Verse 9. 00:21:29.500 --> 00:21:32.960 I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:40.240 Okay, he feels forgotten, abandoned, but at least he's crying out to God rather than to his mates at the pub. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:46.720 Nothing in the psalm tells us that the psalmist is going to get his question answered, but what is he doing? 00:21:46.839 --> 00:21:49.299 He's bringing his complaints, his cry to God. 00:21:50.120 --> 00:21:52.559 Friends, where do you turn when the storms of life come? 00:21:53.559 --> 00:21:59.420 Where do you turn when the agony comes close, when wave after wave threatens you? 00:22:00.819 --> 00:22:01.720 What do we do? 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:06.440 Well, how might it look like to pray Psalm 42 and 43 this week? 00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:08.640 It might look like saying something like this. 00:22:08.740 --> 00:22:12.900 Using the words of the psalmist, we might say, God, I feel like the psalmist here. 00:22:13.700 --> 00:22:17.440 Lord, I feel like wave after wave is crashing over me. 00:22:18.059 --> 00:22:20.380 I don't know which way is up and which way is down. 00:22:21.320 --> 00:22:25.660 Jesus, I feel overwhelmed with sadness and sorrow when I read the news, 00:22:26.340 --> 00:22:28.420 when I think of my mother's condition, 00:22:29.120 --> 00:22:32.240 when I think of my child's behavior or how they're being bullied at school. 00:22:32.380 --> 00:22:34.100 God, I feel hopeless. 00:22:34.100 --> 00:22:35.740 I need you. 00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:42.900 Turn to God means choosing to talk to God about what is happening in our lives. 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:45.640 But then secondly, more than just turning to God, 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:47.600 we are honest in our complaints with God. 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:51.500 We bring our real selves to the real God and tell him how we're really doing. 00:22:51.900 --> 00:22:53.279 And look at how the psalmist does this here. 00:22:53.940 --> 00:22:54.860 He says in verse 9, 00:22:54.859 --> 00:22:57.379 Why do I go out mourning? 00:22:57.819 --> 00:22:59.419 Because of the oppression of my enemies? 00:22:59.919 --> 00:23:03.879 Why do my enemies taunt me all day long saying, where is your God? 00:23:04.639 --> 00:23:06.039 Or 43 verse 2, 00:23:06.139 --> 00:23:08.199 You are the God in whom I take refuge. 00:23:08.359 --> 00:23:09.539 Why have you forgotten me? 00:23:10.039 --> 00:23:11.459 Why have you rejected me? 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:17.679 Friends, the temptation is just to ruminate on our misfortune or to simply rehearse our anger. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:19.240 They're like, I can't believe this is happening. 00:23:19.580 --> 00:23:20.440 That is so wrong. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:22.039 There are people like this in the world. 00:23:22.299 --> 00:23:26.519 And we just rehearse the anger of our hearts and we build it up and get worse and worse and worse. 00:23:26.940 --> 00:23:28.500 But actually, and I do that. 00:23:28.840 --> 00:23:30.880 I tell myself I'm justified to be angry. 00:23:31.320 --> 00:23:32.380 It's that person's fault. 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:34.060 And if only they didn't treat me like that. 00:23:34.560 --> 00:23:38.700 But actually what the psalmist does is he comes to God with his honest feelings. 00:23:38.700 --> 00:23:41.720 There's no grace in just complaining. 00:23:42.100 --> 00:23:43.360 There's no healing in redemption. 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:50.420 Friends, the psalm calls us to bring our honest complaints and invites him into our sorrow and our pain. 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:53.420 And so look at how might this work for us. 00:23:53.460 --> 00:23:55.259 How might we pray Psalm 42? 00:23:55.420 --> 00:23:57.299 Well, look at the words that he uses here. 00:23:57.380 --> 00:23:58.559 Maybe you say something like, 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:01.120 Jesus, I feel like you've forgotten me. 00:24:01.819 --> 00:24:03.920 I feel like maybe you've even rejected me. 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:09.759 God, my soul feels to be in mourning like wave after wave pounding me. 00:24:10.560 --> 00:24:13.220 Jesus, there are people who are making my life a misery. 00:24:13.820 --> 00:24:15.480 And I don't know how to get out of it. 00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:20.259 Jesus, my heart is both grieving and angry at what I read about. 00:24:20.840 --> 00:24:21.620 Where are you? 00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:23.279 Are you at work in this world anymore? 00:24:24.259 --> 00:24:27.600 Bringing your honest complaints to the honest God. 00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:30.180 But then we don't just stop there. 00:24:30.180 --> 00:24:35.539 We also see how the psalmist boldly asks for help and he asks for change. 00:24:36.299 --> 00:24:39.640 In the psalm, the writer not only does he directly go to God, 00:24:39.740 --> 00:24:44.519 but he asks God to deliver him and to save him and to change his circumstances. 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:48.940 And we see this most profoundly in chapter 43. 00:24:49.120 --> 00:24:50.740 But actually throughout the psalm, it's there. 00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:53.039 He's making his requests to God. 00:24:53.120 --> 00:24:56.000 He's asking God to deliver him from the taunts of his enemies, 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:58.620 to deliver him from the waves, to bring him near. 00:24:58.619 --> 00:25:00.539 And so look at verse 1 again. 00:25:00.679 --> 00:25:04.159 He says, of chapter 43, he says, 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:05.359 Vindicate me, God. 00:25:05.879 --> 00:25:07.059 Defend my cause. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:08.559 What's he asking for? 00:25:09.019 --> 00:25:12.959 He's asking for God to intervene, to God to defend him against the attacks. 00:25:13.339 --> 00:25:16.039 Or verse 3, send out your light and your truth. 00:25:16.139 --> 00:25:17.439 Let them lead me home. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:19.479 Let them bring me back to your holy hill. 00:25:20.119 --> 00:25:21.339 He's saying, God, this sucks. 00:25:21.399 --> 00:25:22.279 I don't want to be here. 00:25:22.679 --> 00:25:24.299 Won't you do something about it? 00:25:24.299 --> 00:25:27.859 He's not just wallowing saying, well, I guess, you know, God is sovereign. 00:25:28.180 --> 00:25:29.339 And I guess that's what you want. 00:25:29.399 --> 00:25:30.119 Your will be done. 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:31.639 I'll just suffer on like Eeyore. 00:25:32.339 --> 00:25:34.639 No, he's asking for deliverance. 00:25:35.339 --> 00:25:39.480 Saying, God, God, let your tender mercy break in and change the situation. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:45.240 Friends, what might it look like for us to pray Psalm 42 and 43 this week? 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:50.000 Jesus, I need your grace this week. 00:25:50.759 --> 00:25:52.839 I don't know how I'm going to get through without you. 00:25:53.180 --> 00:25:54.799 Give me your spirit, please. 00:25:55.299 --> 00:25:58.240 Or you may say, Jesus, I feel like I'm trapped in a corner. 00:25:58.660 --> 00:26:00.059 I can't see my way out. 00:26:00.180 --> 00:26:01.779 God, I need you to deliver me. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:06.039 Or Jesus, I feel so overwhelmed when I read what's going on. 00:26:06.120 --> 00:26:07.680 I don't even want to get out of bed. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:10.579 God, give me the strength to face today. 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:12.319 Be near to me. 00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:13.359 Give me your spirit. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:16.819 Well, God, I'm asking you to restore that relationship. 00:26:17.259 --> 00:26:21.259 This broken relationship that I have is causing me agony and angst. 00:26:21.379 --> 00:26:24.839 God, won't you help us to talk to one another again? 00:26:26.699 --> 00:26:29.519 Bringing your bold requests before God. 00:26:30.299 --> 00:26:35.779 Now, friends, we at Watermark, the church tradition that we're part of is we call it reformed Christians. 00:26:35.919 --> 00:26:38.339 That's kind of our Christian heritage and what we believe. 00:26:38.339 --> 00:26:45.699 And I think reformed Christians are generally very good at handling suffering and sorrow because we've got a big view of God's sovereignty. 00:26:46.179 --> 00:26:49.579 What we're not so good at is asking God to intervene. 00:26:50.059 --> 00:26:52.819 I think this is something we can learn from our charismatic friends. 00:26:53.459 --> 00:26:56.279 Sometimes we need to say, God, we know you're sovereign. 00:26:56.399 --> 00:26:58.019 We know all things come from your hand. 00:26:58.279 --> 00:27:02.000 But, Lord, we're asking you to come and do something about this situation. 00:27:02.519 --> 00:27:05.039 God, come and break in and change things. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:08.180 Listen to how David does this in Psalm 5. 00:27:08.279 --> 00:27:10.759 He says, give ear to my words, O Lord. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:12.559 Consider my groaning. 00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:14.779 Give attention to the sound of my cry. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:19.559 He's asking boldly, God, come and be involved in my life. 00:27:20.740 --> 00:27:22.519 So, how do we lament? 00:27:23.180 --> 00:27:24.180 We turn to God. 00:27:24.899 --> 00:27:26.220 We're honest with our complaints. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.579 We ask boldly for God to intervene and be at work in our life. 00:27:30.579 --> 00:27:34.240 But then, fourthly, we speak truth to ourselves. 00:27:34.779 --> 00:27:37.980 And I think this is one of the most beautiful things about these two Psalms. 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:41.179 And it's something that we see, actually, again, throughout the Psalms. 00:27:41.379 --> 00:27:43.599 But we see it most particularly here. 00:27:45.699 --> 00:27:47.439 The Psalmist here, it's not David. 00:27:47.980 --> 00:27:51.220 The Psalmist speaks to his own soul. 00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:57.859 And he is, in the midst of his complaints and his cry for help, he speaks to his own heart. 00:27:57.859 --> 00:28:00.299 Look at the constant refrain, verse 5. 00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:15.740 It's almost like he's been pouring out his heart to God. 00:28:15.819 --> 00:28:17.359 He's been crying out to God. 00:28:17.419 --> 00:28:18.819 And he said, God, I need you. 00:28:18.899 --> 00:28:19.859 I need you to intervene. 00:28:20.279 --> 00:28:21.259 Lord, this is how I feel. 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:24.879 But then, for a moment, he stops crying out to God. 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:27.060 And he looks inward to his own heart. 00:28:27.140 --> 00:28:29.340 And he says, how is my own soul doing? 00:28:30.100 --> 00:28:34.540 And he starts to speak to the condition of his own heart in the midst of his difficulty. 00:28:35.420 --> 00:28:39.680 Tim Keller, speaking about Psalm 77, which we see the same dynamic, says this. 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:46.300 The Psalmist is arguing against his own heart, which had determined that things were hopeless. 00:28:46.860 --> 00:28:49.900 He looks at his heart and his heart says, things will never change. 00:28:49.980 --> 00:28:51.460 This is the way I'll always be. 00:28:51.460 --> 00:28:53.779 And he says, no, no, no, heart, don't you believe it. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:56.019 You hope in God still. 00:28:57.380 --> 00:29:01.100 Martin Lloyd-Jones, very, very famously, wrote a book called Spiritual Depression. 00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:04.500 And he based it on these two Psalms, Psalm 42 and Psalm 43. 00:29:05.299 --> 00:29:07.100 And in it, this is his very famous quote. 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:08.059 Listen to what he says. 00:29:08.759 --> 00:29:13.160 He says, have you realized that most of your unhappiness, your sadness in life, 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:18.039 is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? 00:29:18.039 --> 00:29:18.119 Self. 00:29:18.539 --> 00:29:21.799 Those thoughts that come to you, they're speaking to you. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:23.899 Somebody is talking to you. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:25.460 Who is talking to you? 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:27.639 Yourself is talking to you. 00:29:28.159 --> 00:29:30.359 Now, this man's treatment was this. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:34.539 Instead of listening to himself, he starts talking to himself. 00:29:35.220 --> 00:29:37.059 Why are you downcast, he says. 00:29:37.420 --> 00:29:40.059 His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. 00:29:40.059 --> 00:29:44.399 So he stands up and says, self, now you listen to me for a moment. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:46.019 I will speak to you. 00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:53.339 Friends, think of the Israelites in the wilderness as they're traveling through the wilderness in the book of Numbers. 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:55.039 And things are not going well. 00:29:55.139 --> 00:29:55.759 There's hardship. 00:29:55.919 --> 00:29:56.639 There's difficulty. 00:29:57.099 --> 00:29:58.879 And they start grumbling and complaining. 00:29:59.079 --> 00:29:59.779 What do they do? 00:30:00.299 --> 00:30:01.539 They're listening to themselves. 00:30:01.659 --> 00:30:06.619 They're starting to tell themselves a narrative and then believe the story that they tell themselves. 00:30:07.059 --> 00:30:08.200 This is so unfair. 00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:10.480 How could God treat us like this? 00:30:11.019 --> 00:30:12.319 Things were better back in Egypt. 00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:13.600 Maybe we should go back to Egypt. 00:30:13.840 --> 00:30:15.360 Actually, Egypt sounds pretty good. 00:30:15.860 --> 00:30:20.180 Actually, when we think about it, in Egypt we had all this food and there's figs and cucumbers. 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:21.660 It was amazing. 00:30:22.500 --> 00:30:25.799 And they start listening to the narrative that they tell themselves. 00:30:27.100 --> 00:30:31.299 Friends, sometimes you need to speak and say, soul, I know you feel overwhelmed. 00:30:31.900 --> 00:30:32.980 Hope in God. 00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:34.400 Trust in Him. 00:30:35.059 --> 00:30:37.059 Things are not the way that they seem. 00:30:37.059 --> 00:30:41.919 So, friends, how might we pray Psalm 42 and 43 this week? 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:47.240 Well, take these words from the repeated friend and preach this gospel to your heart. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:49.399 Kevin, why are you downcast? 00:30:50.099 --> 00:30:51.599 Why are you in such turmoil? 00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:53.779 What story are you believing? 00:30:54.659 --> 00:30:55.839 Turn that over in your mind. 00:30:55.980 --> 00:30:57.379 Jesus, I feel downcast. 00:30:57.460 --> 00:30:58.079 I'm anxious. 00:30:58.539 --> 00:31:00.399 What in particular is causing the sadness? 00:31:00.940 --> 00:31:01.940 But then don't stop there. 00:31:02.019 --> 00:31:03.119 Speak truth to yourself. 00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:04.979 Now, self, you listen to me. 00:31:05.319 --> 00:31:06.759 You hope in God. 00:31:07.299 --> 00:31:08.759 You shall praise Him again. 00:31:08.939 --> 00:31:10.359 This season will pass. 00:31:10.479 --> 00:31:13.479 This is not determining your life story. 00:31:14.299 --> 00:31:16.679 I know you feel forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. 00:31:16.819 --> 00:31:17.739 But it's not true. 00:31:18.239 --> 00:31:23.000 What is true is that God will never leave you, never forsake you, never give up on you. 00:31:23.059 --> 00:31:23.579 How do you know? 00:31:23.579 --> 00:31:27.579 Because Jesus Christ was abandoned and forgotten and rejected on the cross. 00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:34.639 Jesus was rejected and God, when He cried out to God, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:31:34.980 --> 00:31:39.819 He was forsaken so that those who trust in Him will never be forsaken. 00:31:39.960 --> 00:31:41.799 I know that the cross is empty. 00:31:42.399 --> 00:31:43.599 The tomb is empty. 00:31:43.699 --> 00:31:44.659 The grave is empty. 00:31:45.299 --> 00:31:46.939 Jesus has died and risen again. 00:31:46.940 --> 00:31:53.279 Therefore, O my soul, you hope in Him, the one who conquered the grave, and you trust in Him. 00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:58.660 Maybe you can pray, God, the truths of Scripture feel far and distant. 00:31:59.259 --> 00:32:03.539 Come and remind me of your truths and help me to believe your word today. 00:32:04.940 --> 00:32:06.400 Finally, friends, how do we lament? 00:32:06.900 --> 00:32:08.720 We choose to trust in God. 00:32:09.559 --> 00:32:13.400 Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. 00:32:13.620 --> 00:32:14.160 Verse 5. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:14.840 Verse 11. 00:32:15.259 --> 00:32:19.040 Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. 00:32:19.140 --> 00:32:20.380 43, verse 5. 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:26.100 Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. 00:32:26.600 --> 00:32:28.680 Friends, this is the final destination of lament. 00:32:29.220 --> 00:32:32.200 It's not up in linear, perfect chart to the right. 00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:36.980 It's wave after wave. 00:32:37.120 --> 00:32:37.779 It's grief. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:38.420 It's hope. 00:32:38.540 --> 00:32:39.180 It's anguish. 00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:39.900 It's hardship. 00:32:39.900 --> 00:32:40.900 It's not up in the right. 00:32:40.900 --> 00:32:44.180 But the ways bring you to the shore, to the rock of Christ. 00:32:44.300 --> 00:32:48.900 And the final destination is knowing that once again, we will trust in Him. 00:32:49.340 --> 00:32:51.000 Not all that our problems will go away. 00:32:51.380 --> 00:32:53.880 Not that grief is gone and that happiness returns. 00:32:54.560 --> 00:32:57.220 Not that no clouds will ever roll into our life again. 00:32:57.420 --> 00:33:00.180 But trust in the God who is with us in the storm. 00:33:00.820 --> 00:33:05.040 That, Lord, even though the darkness rolls in and my grief is intense, 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:08.680 you, God, are with me, we will trust in Him again. 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:10.440 Ian Thomas said this, 00:33:10.599 --> 00:33:18.420 All of our why questions in the midst of lament are always eventually answered with a who in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:24.299 The one who died and rose again and conquered the grave and lives forevermore. 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:26.619 Friends, we've come out from under the waterfall. 00:33:26.899 --> 00:33:27.920 We're no longer hopeless. 00:33:28.139 --> 00:33:29.339 No longer wave tossed. 00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:33.759 We're firmly fixed on the rock, even as the storms rage on. 00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:36.339 So how can we pray in times of sadness? 00:33:36.940 --> 00:33:38.400 In times of sorrow drawn near? 00:33:38.660 --> 00:33:41.839 We come to the psalms of lament and we let them guide us. 00:33:42.339 --> 00:33:44.099 Give us language to make our own. 00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:46.859 Learning how to turn to the Lord Jesus. 00:33:47.480 --> 00:33:50.200 Learning how to be honest with our real complaints. 00:33:50.779 --> 00:33:53.839 Learning how to ask God boldly for breakthrough and hope. 00:33:54.420 --> 00:33:58.420 And then we speak to our own souls and remind ourselves of the truth of Scripture. 00:33:58.759 --> 00:34:03.119 And then we choose to trust in God who reigns forevermore. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:15.619 Friends, when the storms of life come your way, learn to lament well by bringing your real self to the real God in order to experience real grace and real strength. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:17.799 Mark Froichrup concludes like this, 00:34:17.800 --> 00:34:36.640 Let's pray together. 00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:39.379 Why don't you join me as we pray? 00:34:39.500 --> 00:34:41.239 And then we're going to get into groups and pray together. 00:34:41.339 --> 00:34:43.839 But let me close my sermon with a prayer. 00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:48.079 Father God, this is easy to speak from the stage. 00:34:48.199 --> 00:34:49.199 It's hard to live through. 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:55.659 God, many of us here are in the throes of the waves and the waterfalls crashing over us. 00:34:56.659 --> 00:34:59.299 God, the waves of sorrow are real. 00:34:59.460 --> 00:35:01.659 And we pray, God, we ask you boldly. 00:35:01.759 --> 00:35:02.519 We turn to you. 00:35:02.940 --> 00:35:03.619 We're honest. 00:35:03.619 --> 00:35:05.839 But God, we also ask you boldly. 00:35:05.839 --> 00:35:06.599 Won't you intervene? 00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:08.480 Won't you break into our lives? 00:35:08.579 --> 00:35:12.099 Won't you lift the dark cloud and bring your deep mercy? 00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:16.799 God, be with us in the midst of our sadness and help us to trust in you. 00:35:16.859 --> 00:35:23.420 Help us to choose faith in you and to believe the truth of Scripture rather than the narrative of our world. 00:35:23.960 --> 00:35:26.559 We pray these things in your great and wonderful name. 00:35:27.059 --> 00:35:27.339 Amen. 00:35:27.339 --> 00:35:27.519 Amen.