Father, you know the state of our hearts and the state of our minds and the state of our wills.
Father, you see us perfectly and you see how much we deceive ourselves and how we are confused about ourselves
and how we are not aware of our deception or our confusion, but think we are wise.
Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would gently but deeply fall upon us
so that we might see ourselves, begin more and more to see ourselves as we really are.
But Father, please do not reveal ourselves to ourselves just in a naked way.
But Father, help us to see ourselves and understand ourselves according to your word
and by the great work that your Son did on the cross for us when he died for us.
So Father, may your Holy Spirit fall upon us,
helping us to see ourselves as we see and hear and understand your word
and draw us to Jesus.
This we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
Why is God absent so often in our lives?
Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
And why is it that not only do many of us experience God's absence as anguish
at many times in our lives,
maybe some of you who are here this morning are experiencing the absence of God
as anguish or as despair,
but why is it that often in church on a Sunday morning
or in small groups throughout the week,
we aren't even sort of allowed to be honest about the fact
that we are experiencing some anguish
because it seems as if God is absent.
And it's even made worse
because it seems that God is absent to us.
But when we come on a Sunday morning
or maybe we meet our good friend at work
or a family member
and God seems to be so present to them,
yet he seems to be so absent to us.
And why, some of you are wondering,
is George even talking about this on a Sunday morning?
I'm asking this question
because those are the two questions
that the psalm that John read
just a few minutes ago,
they, the psalm, God's word,
asks that question.
So it would be very, very helpful to me
and to you
if you open your Bibles right now
and turn to Psalm 10
and let's look at that psalm
and see the question that the psalm asks
and see how it is
that God, in his word,
responds to that question.
And if you've forgotten your Bibles,
there's always some Bibles here
at the front of the church.
I don't know if there's always Bibles
at that door when you enter.
There's something wrong with the mic.
Is it just in my ears?
Just my ears?
Okay.
And that's fine.
And if, or if you come in that door,
there's always some Bibles
that we can give you.
But Psalm 10,
sort of in the middle of the Bible
or you can look it up in the index
and listen again to how the psalm began.
And the psalm began this way.
Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself
in times of trouble?
That's how the psalm begins.
And it means,
if you accept as I do,
Jesus' understanding and teaching
of the Bible,
which is that the Bible
was ultimately written by God,
it means that God
is giving us permission
to ask this question of him,
to say to him,
why, O Lord,
do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself
in times of trouble?
Why are you absent, God?
For some of us,
this is maybe a very,
very profound intellectual question.
For many people in our culture,
one of the main reasons
why they will not believe
in the God of the Bible
is because of the existence
of evil in the world
and God seeming to stand
far away at times of trouble.
For others,
it's not an intellectual question
per se,
but it might be a very
lived question right now
that you're going through
some type of trouble
and God just seems to be hiding
or he seems to be very far away.
And the Bible,
believe it or not,
actually has an awful lot
to say about the absence
and the hiddenness of God.
It's very nuanced
and it's very wise.
And this psalm
isn't going to cover
everything that the Bible
says about it,
but this psalm
raises the question
and one sort of form
or subset
of that type of experience
and question
and addresses it.
And so this,
the very, very first point
this morning is this.
Because this is in the Bible,
this isn't just George
coming at it
from a therapeutic sense,
you know,
because I have a degree
in pastoral counseling,
you know,
100 million years ago
and I'm asking
some type of therapeutic question.
The Bible raises this question.
So here's the very first thing.
True faith can include
asking the living God
honest questions.
True faith can include
asking the living God
honest questions.
You know,
often in life,
stereotypes have,
I mean,
they're always dangerous
stereotypes,
but on the other hand,
often stereotypes
have some truth
in reality.
And, you know,
it's not a big stretch.
Probably many of,
maybe some of us here
feel the same way,
but many of us
have probably come
in contact with people
who say,
don't doubt,
don't even say that,
don't even raise
that question.
What you need to do
is you need to spend
more time in praise.
You need to spend
more time in prayer.
You need to spend
more time in church.
You need to give more money
to God in tithing.
You need to spend
more time with the poor.
Don't even ask
that question.
Don't even let it
into your mind.
Don't even let it
start to come to you
at all.
You just got to
push it away
and keep going forward.
And I've met
people like that.
And maybe at some time
in my life,
I was a person like that.
Maybe it'd be one of
those things that
in heaven,
God's going to replay
those times in my life
that I said something
like that to somebody.
And I,
well,
in heaven,
I'll get over the shame
pretty quickly
because I'm in heaven,
right?
But it probably
would be embarrassing.
And so it's very,
very easy for churches,
often the churches
that seem to be
the most faithful,
to say that you're
not allowed to ask
honest questions.
You're not even allowed
to raise the question
of why God seems
to be absent.
But as we see here
from Psalm 1,
it's in God's word
that true faith
can include
asking the living God
honest questions.
So,
God has said,
we can ask,
why, O Lord,
do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself
in times of trouble?
So what is the Bible saying?
Like,
how does it handle it?
Well,
let's look.
Here's how it goes.
In arrogance,
the wicked
hotly pursue the poor,
verse 2,
let them be caught
in the schemes
that they have devised.
For the wicked
boasts of the desires
of the soul,
and the one greedy
for gain curses
and renounces the Lord.
In the pride of his face,
the wicked does not seek him.
All his thoughts are
there is no God.
His ways prosper
at all times.
Your judgments are on high,
out of his sight.
For all his foes,
he puffs at them.
He says in his heart,
I shall not be moved.
Throughout all generations,
I shall not meet adversity.
Let's just stop for a second.
Let's be honest.
This is a very disappointing answer.
Like,
if we're honest with ourselves,
we were hoping
for something better
from God.
God's word.
Now,
that's another type of thing
that we feel
very uncomfortable
acknowledging.
But if we're honest,
this isn't going anywhere
that we want to go
particularly.
In fact,
very quickly,
our eyes glaze over,
our ears glaze over,
our mind glazes over,
and we internally
are saying,
whatever,
to God's word.
Whatever.
Yada, yada, yada, yada.
But you see,
here's actually
one of the very,
very powerful things
about God's word.
Why am I disappointed?
Why am I disappointed
by what's happening?
I'm going to suggest
one of three reasons
why we're disappointed.
The first reason
is because,
especially for those of us
who are suffering,
what were we hoping
that would happen?
we were hoping
that God would do
a miracle
so that when we leave
this church,
our abusive husband,
the abusive boss,
that we would go home
and we would get news
that in Iraq,
ISIS has been completely
and utterly annihilated,
and the survivors
are building churches
and giving money
to the people
whose kids
they beheaded.
And on one hand,
we're hoping that
when something's going to happen,
so that there's a miracle,
and at the same time,
if we're feeling
God's absence,
we would get something
like Prozac
that would come into us
and completely
and utterly
make us feel good.
The other thing
some of us
are maybe hoping
is that God
would give us
a knock-down,
drag-down,
guaranteed,
block-buster,
philosophical answer
so we could refute
Hitchens and Dawkins
and Harris
and our boss
and our nephew
and everybody else,
and we could just say,
you just read that,
that's going to completely
and utterly refute
everything you said.
Ha-ha!
Or the third thing
we were hoping
might happen
is secret knowledge,
that God would give us
secret knowledge
about what was going on
so we could be
insiders with God,
and the rest
of the hoi polloi
don't really know
what's going on,
but I'm part
of the Illuminati.
I know what's
really going on.
Now maybe I'm just
vastly more sinful
than the rest of you,
but if when you start
to read verses 2 to 11
you realize
that your mind
is wandering,
it's showing
that you're disappointed
in God,
and the Bible
in a sense
is saying to us,
examine yourself.
Why is it
that you think
that wisdom itself
is not wise?
See, here's
the second point.
When God's word
disappoints me,
I do not have
to kiss my brains
goodbye
or become cynical.
I am being invited
to carefully examine
God's word
and myself.
When God's word
disappoints me,
I do not have
to kiss my brains
goodbye
or become cynical.
I am being invited
to carefully examine
God's word
and myself.
You see,
God's word
examines us.
I can't remember,
it was one of the novels
I read while I was
on holidays,
but somebody said
that, you know,
with Facebook
and Twitter
and all that,
I'm not dumping,
okay,
Facebook and Twitter
and all that stuff,
that in our age,
what we do
is we exhibit ourselves
but don't examine ourselves.
That we like to exhibit
what goes on
but we don't like to examine
what's going on.
And the Bible here,
in fact,
the beginning of God's
answer to this question
and what he's going
to do in our lives
comes from us
recognizing that
we're disappointed
because as soon as
we realize we're
disappointed,
we can start to ask
ourselves the question,
well,
why is it that I'm
disappointed in this answer?
Why am I disappointed
with where God
is going in this?
And then I maybe
start to realize
that maybe I didn't
identify one of the
three reasons.
Maybe your reasons
are a little bit different
but all of us
will probably have
something in common
which is actually
fairly shocking
to understand,
especially for some
of us who are clergy
who have been
Christians for a long
time and it is this,
when I come to God's
word,
I often believe
that I am God
and I want to see
if God's word
meets my standards.
And when it doesn't,
I'm disappointed.
And I never stop,
often don't stop
to think
that I am acting
like I am
over God's word,
not learning
from God's word.
In fact,
actually,
that starts to begin
a little bit
of an insight
into us
as to how hard
it is for God
to actually,
that when God
hears our question,
part of what
he's wanting to do
is make me start
to realize,
one moment,
do I understand?
Can I understand?
Like,
even when God
starts to speak to me,
if I just dismiss
and write off
what he says,
what's going on there?
So,
in fact,
if you think about it
like this,
like one of the fears
that we have,
even maybe with what
I'm saying about
examining God's word
when we're disappointed
by God,
that it's an invitation
for us to examine
God's word
and to have God's word
in a sense examine me,
part of our innate fear
is that God
will crush me
if I do that.
But this passage
of scripture
doesn't crush us.
It doesn't crush us
at all.
In fact,
let's go back
to verse two
and just pay a little
bit of attention,
especially for the
first three verses
about something
very subtle
that goes on.
Now that we've realized
that we're a bit
disappointed with this
and maybe God's
asking me to examine
myself as to
my disappointment
and actually
give God
the benefit
the doubt
that maybe
he has some wisdom
to speak
into my situation.
So let's go back
to verse two.
In arrogance,
the wicked,
and just remember,
I mean,
it's just so you know,
wicked here
doesn't mean
really cool,
I have to have it.
It means like bad.
Okay?
It means like
rancid meat.
One year
when we lived
in our rectory,
Louise and I
went on holidays
and when we came back,
the power had gone out
while we were gone
and it had been out
for several days
and then it came on
and all of the meat
in our freezer
had gone bad.
It was rancid.
I mean,
if you open the freezer up,
it would make you gag
and that's how you have
to understand wicked.
Not really cool,
I got to have it,
I wish I could do it.
So in arrogance,
the wicked
hotly pursue the poor
like a sign
of being evil
and having evil
within us
is that we pursue
the poor
to take advantage
of them
and then the psalmist
says,
let them be caught
in the schemes
that they have devised.
For the wicked
boasts of the desires
of the soul
and the one greedy
for gain
curses
and renounces
the Lord
in the pride
of his face
the wicked
does not seek
God
all his thoughts
are there is
no God.
In the original language,
you see that word
in verse 4,
thoughts,
all his thoughts
are there is no God
and look up to verse 2,
the second part,
let them be caught
in the schemes
that they have devised.
In the original language,
that's the same word.
it's the same word.
It could be translated
as all his schemes
are there is no God.
It's actually
a very, very clever thing
that one of the things
that can happen
to us as individuals,
we might still have
a very, very high IQ
and we might still
be unbelievably good
at using language,
but what characterizes
what's going on
between our two ears
is scheming,
not thinking.
In thinking,
we want to know.
We're curious.
In scheming,
we want to do
something to others
in such a way
that we come out
on top
and it's easy
for us
to have times
in our lives
where we think
we're thinking
and we are thinking,
but it's not thinking,
it's scheming.
And we can be unaware
of the fact
that that's even
going on within us.
And in verse 3,
it's impossible
to be translated
properly into English.
For the wicked
boasts of the desires
of the soul
and the one greedy
for gain
curses and renounces
the Lord.
It's all,
it's idol language
and worship language
and it's as if
that there's a state
of affairs
for what the Bible
is calling wicked
that there's a type
of a worshipping
of the soul,
worshipping of my own soul
and worshipping gain
and it's as if
that there's a way
of me starting
to organize my life
whereby I not only
seek to exalt myself
and worship myself,
but I want to worship
two gods.
I want to worship myself
and I want to worship
prophet
and I believe
that there's such a way
of worshipping
both me
and prophet
that's going to be
good for prophet
and going to be good
for me.
And so it is
that when the prophet
is either just getting
the final word
in the conversation
or getting my way
in my relationship
or getting my way
at work
or making more money
that if I don't get
those things happening
I'm depressed,
I'm anxious,
I'm frustrated
because it's confounding
my idol worship
and even,
and it's impossible
to translate properly
into English
and when it says
and the one for greedy,
sorry,
in verse 3
and the one greedy
for gain curses
and renounces the Lord
it's actually,
it's actually
in the original language
it's actually saying
blesses God
but in a particular context.
It's exactly like
what we do
if you meet somebody
who's stupid
or you know somebody
maybe at work
or in your family
they've done something
really,
really dumb,
okay?
And they come into the room
after they've done
something really,
really dumb
and you say to everybody
look,
here's genius.
Okay?
So it appears
as if you're complimenting
but everybody knows
in that context
you're just rubbing
that person's face in it
and that's what's trying
to be communicated
in verse 3
that there's a way
for us
to so worship
other things
that what we're saying
when we look at God
at all is
oh yeah,
there's God,
look how just he is,
oh,
look how great God is,
ha, ha, ha,
dummy.
And we might think
that we never do that.
I'm going to get to that
in a second
but here's the main thing
about these first three verses.
Remember,
look at verse 1 again,
anguish.
Why, oh Lord,
do you stand far away?
There's anguish.
Why do you hide yourself
in times of trouble?
And now look at verse 4,
in the pride of his face
the wicked does not seek him.
All his thoughts are,
there is no God.
And the person who says that
is happy,
not in anguish.
Here's the point.
I am divided
and confused.
Sometimes I am in anguish
over God's absence
and sometimes I consciously
and unconsciously
organize my world
to keep God absent.
I am in anguish
and I am in anguish
over God's absence
and sometimes I consciously
and unconsciously
organize my world
to keep God absent.
And I am not aware of it.
You doubt it?
When a young man
or a man of any age
is looking at pornography,
does he want God
to show up?
When you're telling a lie,
do you want God
to show up?
When you're slandering
somebody,
do you want God
to show up?
When you're cheating
on your taxes,
do you want God
to show up?
When you're selling
something on Kijiji
and you tell the person
it's been lightly used
and it's two years old
and it's actually heavily used
and it's ten years old,
do you want God
to show up?
When you're overspending
on your credit card
to buy things
because you're feeling depressed,
do you want God
to show up?
When you read a Bible text
and it tells you to tithe
and you don't want to do it,
do you want God
to show up?
You see,
this psalm
is taking us
in a very
startling direction.
You see,
and we'll see it
as we go on,
at no point in time
does this psalm
diminish the fact
that at times
in my life
I experience
God's absence
as anguish.
The psalm
is never going
to deny
that experience
at all.
and it's never
going to deny
that it can be
a very honest
question I ask
in my anguish
about God.
But now the psalm
is starting
to force me
to examine myself
and I realize
that I judge God
to see whether
he's going to meet
my standards.
I realize
that in fact
there's ways
in my world
and in my life
that I organize
my time,
I organize
my career,
I organize
my family,
I organize
my thought life,
that there's things
in my life
that I organize
in such a way
so that God
will be absent.
And I would
experience anguish
if he showed
up in those
times.
So it's actually
not a very simple
question to ask
God.
Why do you
stand far away?
And the Bible
starts to have us
examine ourselves
but not in a way
to crush us
as the psalm
will continue
to go on.
You see,
he's not
blowing off
my question.
He's going
to more
subtly
continue
to probe
my desires.
Let's look
how he continues
to subtly
probe
our desires.
I think we
got up to
verse 4.
Let's look
at verse 5.
And this,
by the way,
is going to be
something very,
very,
very shocking
to us Canadians
in our culture.
The direction
that this psalm
is going to
go is
completely
and utterly
shocking
and counterintuitive.
Here's how it
goes.
Verse 5.
He's now
talking about
the person
who says
there is no
God
and likes it.
It's convenient
for my life
to say
there is no
God.
Verse 5.
His ways
prosper at all
times.
Your judgments
are on high,
out of his
sight.
As for all
his foes,
he puffs at
them,
outruns
them,
blows them
off.
He says
in his
heart,
verse 6,
I shall
not be
moved
throughout
all
generations.
I shall
not meet
adversity.
That's
his motto.
That's
his organizing
principle
of his
life.
That's
how his
religion
is
organized.
That's
how his
spirituality
is
organized.
That's
how her
secular
life is
all
organized
throughout
all
generations.
I shall
not
meet
adversity.
Verse 7.
His mouth
is filled
with cursing
and deceit
and oppression.
Sounds hard.
We'll get to it
in a moment.
Under his
tongue
are mischief
and iniquity.
He sits
in ambush
in the
villages
and hiding
places.
He murders
the innocent.
One moment.
This is the
person who
said there
is no
God?
Verse 8
continues.
His eyes
stealthily
watch for
the helpless.
He lurks
in ambush
like a lion
in his
thicket.
He lurks
that he
may seize
the poor.
He seizes
the poor
when he
draws him
into his
net.
The helpless
are crushed,
sink down,
and fall
by his
might.
He says
in his
heart,
God has
forgotten.
He has
hidden his
face.
He will
never see
it.
His life
is organized
around the
absence of
God.
And surely,
as this text
goes on,
it's way
over the
top.
It's way
over the
top.
One of
the unfortunate
parts about
me being
on holidays
is that I
actually had
very few
conversations
about God
because one
of the main
ways I get
into conversations
about God
is I go to
a Starbucks
to work on
my sermon,
and when you
open your
Bible and
work on a
sermon in a
place like
Starbucks,
it often
provokes
different
conversations.
And there's
this one
conversation
that I had
with a fellow
a couple
of months
ago,
and he
was talking
about how
to be
spiritual,
not
religious,
was vastly
better.
Why is it
better to be
spiritual and
not religious?
Because there's
no God
judging you.
That's what he
said to me.
I'm not saying
that's what he
said to me.
And then he
said,
but it's even
better to
believe in
no God
whatsoever.
In fact,
you can be
spiritual without
any type of
God existing.
It's far
better for
there to
be no
God,
because when
there's no
God,
that's when
prosperity
happens.
That's when
freedom
happens.
That the
more you
cast off
any notion
of your
God,
the more
free you
are,
the more
you will
prosper.
That's what
he said to
me.
And I
said to
him,
well,
what about
the Soviet
Union?
What about
communist China?
What about
Cambodia?
What about
Hitler?
He didn't
believe in
God.
Did that
bring
prosperity?
He said,
no,
you have
to look
at
Sweden.
And I
said,
how come
it's fair
for you to
point out
to me a
Russian
Orthodox
priest with
a $25,000
watch while
he's blessing
tanks about
to invade
the Ukraine
as a
picture of
all people
who worship
Jesus.
And I
can't point
to Mother
Teresa or
a holy
person,
but when I
raise up
something against
your thought,
you're saying,
no,
you're not
allowed to
look at
Hitler and
Stalin and
Mao,
you have
to look at
Sweden.
And his
eyes glazed
over,
he couldn't
understand it
because it's
so deeply
ingrained
in our
culture that
spirituality is
better than
religion.
Why?
Because in
spirituality there's
no judgment.
God's judgments
are out of
sight.
And that when
there is no
God,
there's peace
and prosperity.
But this
describes
something more
like what
happens in
the Soviet
Union.
And it's not
just secular
things.
This describes
in this text
what's happening
in Iraq.
because in
fact,
religion can
be organized
in such a
way to
actually keep
God at a
distance and
to deify
ourselves.
That's what
religion does
as well.
It's what
spirituality
can do.
In fact,
at the
heart of
that in
fact,
what often
appears as
religion and
what often
appears as
Christianity,
what often
appears as
spirituality,
what often
appears as
secular life,
is merely a
worship of
power.
A worship of
my power or
my tribe's
power.
So it is
that a
church can
be organized
in such a
way so
that when a
husband is
abusing his
wife and
the wife
complains,
the wife is
rebuked for
not submitting
to her
husband.
That's a
worship of
power,
not listening
to the
Bible.
And so
it is that
what is it
at the heart
of listening
to Oprah
and what
is at the
heart of
Deepak
Chopra and
what is at
the heart
of Islam
and what
is at the
heart of
so much
things is a
worship of
power.
What is at
the heart
of the
secret is
power.
Dostoevsky
very famously
said, and I
believe it's
never been
refuted
properly, that
if God is
dead, all
things are
permissible.
But what
this psalm is
saying is
something similar
but different.
What this
psalm is saying,
and this is
my next
point, is
that if I
am God, all
things are
permissible and
the weak
cower.
If I am
God, all
things are
permissible and
the weak
cower.
Now you're
saying, George,
that's just not
true of me.
Well, first
of all, I
think it's
what the
Bible say,
not George,
but is it
not true?
See, the
fact of the
matter is
that there's
probably nobody
here in this
room that
has God-like
power.
We're
constrained by,
and we're not
all evil, by
the way, because
remember, we're a
divided type of
person and we do
want to do good
things and stuff
like that.
And we do
sometimes experience
God's absence
as anguish.
But the fact of
the matter is,
if we try to,
let me tell you,
if I try to
just boss my
wife around and
tell her exactly
what she would
do, do you
know how well
that would work
for me?
Months later,
when she speaks
to me again,
after having
very properly
refused to do
every single
thing I tried
to boss her
around to do,
she would help
me to examine
my conscience
in my life.
And so,
you know,
often we have
bosses that
push back,
we have kids
that push back,
we have people
who push back,
but what are
we like in
our thought
life?
How would
it be if
God was to
show up and
on that screen,
I'll use myself,
not you,
and God was
just merely to
say, I don't
know what it
is now,
it's coming up
to 11 o'clock,
11 o'clock,
George,
from 11 o'clock
yesterday to
11 o'clock
today,
I'm just going
to replay
everything that
went through
your mind.
I'm going to
put it up on
that screen so
everybody can hear,
see the images
you were thinking
of and hear what
was going through
your mind,
how you
analyze situations,
what you thought
about.
I'm just going
to do that,
George,
because you know
in your mind,
that's where you
sort of are like
God,
aren't you,
George?
And I'm just
going to replay
all of the things
that you wanted
to do and
didn't want to
do and your
reactions to
other people
and what you
said.
And George,
the congregation
won't just do
like in your own
mind where you
have that telling
thought,
but they still
have to be with
you because
you see,
if I actually,
if all of a
sudden for the
last 24 hours
I just was
every single
thing that went
through my mind
actually happened
in real world,
people would
cower.
And all I would
think all sorts
of things were
permissible for me
and many of
those things
that were
permissible for
me would
lead people
to cower.
And you as
you watch it
all on the
screen would
be horrified.
And I actually
think I had a
pretty good 24
hours.
I had pretty
worse ones than
that.
You see,
this psalm is
trying to bring
to us that
if I am
God,
all things
are permissible
and the
weak cower.
It's trying
to communicate
to me that
I often
consciously and
unconsciously
organize my
way in such
a way to
keep God
far away.
And that I
actually think
that I will
be happier
for much of
my day and
much of my
life if God
is absent.
And that's
who I am.
That's who
you are.
Now, some
of you might
be wondering,
okay, George,
I have my
time.
Does that
mean the
Bible is
saying that,
okay, we
all sin, so
therefore you
can't say
anything to the
abusive husband?
You can't say
anything to the
person who's
kidnapping, part
of a kidnapping
ring of
kidnapping people
in a poor
country and
bringing them
to a rich
country to be
sexual objects
for men or
women?
Are you
saying that
you can't
say anything
about what's
going on right
now in Iraq
and Syria?
Because I'm a
sinner, they're a
sinner, therefore
we're all
sinners, therefore
we can say
nothing.
Is that what
the psalm is
saying?
Not at all.
In fact, the
psalm is very,
very powerfully
working at two
levels at the
same time
without confusing
them.
Let's look how it
continues in
verse 12.
It's not saying
that we merely
say that because
all of us have
this issue in
our lives of
thinking like
we're God, that
we can't say
that there's not
real evil that's
going on that
has to be spoken
against.
Look at verse
12 and
following.
Arise.
Remember, so
verse 11 says,
he says in his
heart, God has
forgotten, he has
hid in his face,
he will never
see it.
Verse 12,
Arise, O
Lord, O God, lift
up your hand, forget
not the afflicted.
Why does the
wicked renounce
God and say in
his heart, you
will not call to
account?
But you do see, for
you note mischief
and vexation, that
you may take it
into your hands.
To you the
helpless commits
himself.
You have been the
helper of the
fatherless.
Break the arm of
the wicked and
evildoer.
Call his wickedness
to account.
Till you find
none.
The Lord is
king forever
and ever.
The nations
perish from
his land.
O Lord, you
hear the desire
of the afflicted.
You will
strengthen their
heart.
You will
incline your
ear to do
justice to the
fatherless and
the oppressed
so that man
who is of the
earth may strike
terror no more.
What's going on
here?
What's going on
here?
Here's what's
going on.
First, my next
point.
Who is the
living God?
He's revealed
here.
Who is the
living God?
Helper of the
helpless.
That's one way we
can pray to him.
When we pray to the
living God, we can
say, helper of the
helpless.
That is your name.
And what is a
fundamental part of
becoming a godly
man or a godly
woman?
I use the
strength that comes
from God to help
the helpless.
Who is the
living God?
Helper of the
helpless.
What is a
fundamental part of
becoming a godly
man or woman?
I use the strength
that comes from
God to help the
helpless.
So what do we
say?
If there is a
man in here who
is abusing his
wife, abusing his
children, you are
doing wrong, you
should stop it.
If you are a
wife in such a
situation, you
should come and
speak to me or
should call the
office.
You need to deal
with that situation
and we will
support you.
What is going on
in Iraq?
That is completely
and utterly
abhorrent to the
living God that
you would kill
children who are
Christians because
they do not
convert to Islam.
That is a
horrible thing.
If you are a
slum landlord,
what you are
doing is pursuing
the poor to
their hurt and
hurting them and
you need to
stop, you need
to repent, it
is wrong.
That is what the
psalm is telling
us that we can
save, that we
should save.
That God gives
us strength, it is
his earth, even
the most mighty
emperor, if you
look at verse
18, even the
most mighty
emperor is an
emperor in God's
earth.
He never
relinquishes
sovereignty.
We are always
but a vassal who
receives from God
and we receive
our strength not
to pursue the
poor or oppress
them, but to
help the helpless.
And here I am
going to be very
politically incorrect
and maybe offend
you.
Who on all the
earth is the most
helpless?
helpless, the
fetus, the
unborn in a
mother's womb.
No person is
more helpless
than a fetus.
And what are we
called to do who
are strength and
have power?
As in the
National Post
this week with an
article by I think
it was Dawkins about
how if the baby
within your womb
is going to have
Down syndrome, the
just and moral
thing to do is to
kill that baby?
No.
God gives me
strength to help
the helpless.
And we have to
say something about
the unborn in the
womb.
And a culture
increasingly organized
in Canada to keep
God absent and as
God becomes more
absent the weak
cower.
God.
God is
going to have
to be
God.
God is
going to have
to be
God.
God is
going to have to
be
God.
And virtually every
politician in this
country is terrified
to speak about it
and even make the most
minute limit.
Now I don't say this.
There's undoubtedly in
this room today some
people who have either
had abortions or have
helped people had
abortions or counsel
people to have
abortions and I
don't mean to pick
you out and to
demonize you.
I really don't.
In fact, one of the
things you can pray
for me every week is
that I don't take
this opportunity that
I have to be up
front to try to
demonize anybody or
to further my own
power.
You see, the
Bible convicts us
of sin not to
shame us and drive
us to despair,
but to turn our
hearts to God,
to abandon
ourselves to God.
And the text does
this in a very,
very powerful and
interesting way.
Look at verse 13
and 14.
Why does the
wicked, maybe I
might have the
wrong, we'll start
reading until I get
to the right part.
Why does the
wicked renounce God
and say in his
heart you will not
call to account?
But you do see,
for you note mischief
and vexation that you
may take it into your
hands.
To you the helpless
commits himself.
You have been the
helper of the
fatherless.
Here's the thing,
verse 15,
break the arm of the
wicked and evildoer.
Call his wickedness
to account till you
find none.
You know, that's
actually, for those
of us who've suffered
under great injustice,
it's a very merciful
prayer.
You see, in this
culture where there's
three primary types of
weapons apart from
your fists, there's
the sword, there's
the bow and arrow,
and there's the
spear.
And if I am a
powerful person
oppressing another
person, and I pray
that that person's
arm be broken, I'm
not praying that they
go to hell, I'm
praying that they
become weak.
And this entire
psalm is couched in
mercy, that we
might heed God and
realize our
weakness.
And in fact, it
goes even deeper.
You know, who is it
in the Bible who
most prominently
experienced the
forsake, the
anguish of God
being hidden and
far away?
It's Jesus upon
the cross.
My God, my God,
why hast thou
forsaken me?
Who is it in all
of the Bible who
most completely and
utterly typified
committing themselves
to God, abandoning
themselves to God?
It's Jesus.
Into thy hands I
commit my spirit.
I commend my spirit.
It's Jesus.
Who is it?
And, and, well,
look at, look at
verse 15 again.
Call his wickedness
to account till you
find none.
The image there is
like if you watch
mystery movies or
read mystery novels
and you know there's
been a murder
committed and they
bring in the crime
scene investigators and
they look for the
DNA, they look for
dandruff, they look
for hair samples,
they look for
everything they
possibly can find to
get every trace of
that which was left
behind by the
evildoer.
And that's that
same idea that we
want God to pursue
every single trace
of evil.
And what we
understand on the
cross, well, here's
how I put it in the
point, if you could
put it up, Andrew.
God calls my
wickedness to account
till he can find no
more.
And this is what in
love Jesus really
bears for me on the
cross.
God calls my
wickedness to account
till he can find no
more.
And this is what in
love Jesus freely
bears for me on the
cross.
And even in these
few verses, verses
14 and 15, but you
do see for you know
mischief and vexation
that you may take it
into your hands.
To you the helpless
commits himself.
And actually the
original language, the
word there is
abandoned himself.
This psalm, on one
hand, it never reduces
our call to speak out
against evil.
It never diminishes
that.
And it never, not only
diminishes us not only
speaking out, but doing
what we can to help the
helpless.
As Jeremiah said
earlier, to love, mercy,
and compassion.
But at the same time, it
speaks directly to me
at my heart level, at
the very center of whom
I am, to recognize my
helplessness.
That I can't, by a mere
act of my will, stop
myself from ever trying.
Like, I still will
continue to organize my
life at different times
as if God does not
exist.
And there will be times
I don't want God to
show up.
And I'm helpless to
stop that.
And the psalm is trying
to help me to understand
that I am helpless.
And it's saying that I
am called, I am invited
by the living God.
God himself, the living
God, invites me to
respond to this, not by
more religion, not by
more Bible memorizing, not
by going to church more,
not by doing all of these
things, but for me to
abandon myself to God.
And the cross is an act
not only of unsurpassed
mercy, but of unsurpassed
justice.
Here's the shocking thing
about the cross.
When you put your faith
and trust, when you
abandon yourself to what
God does for you in the
person of Jesus upon the
cross, that God has in
fact looked into the
wicked of my life from
the moment of my
conception to the moment
of my death, and he's
looked at it until he's
found every single trace
of it.
And that's what Jesus
bears upon himself in the
cross.
It means that when I
accept him, when you
accept him as your
savior and as your
Lord, you are no more
forgiven as you enter
heaven than you are
right now.
Which is why as we're
gripped by the gospel,
as we're gripped by the
gospel, as disciples of
Christ, it creates within
us the desire to live for
his glory.
And use our strength to
help the helpless, as we're
gripped by the gospel, by
how God deals with our
helplessness and our
rebellion as it grips us.
A normal Holy Spirit-induced
desire will be to help the
helpless.
God bless you.
Please stand.
Let's bow our heads in
prayer.
Father, you are so kind to us
and so gentle with us.
We ask, Father, that your
word would enter deeply into
our lives and that your word
would form us and that we not
be those types of different
types of soil, Father, that
just ignore your word or allow
it just to come in for a
moment or get choked by weeds.
But, Father, that your word
would come into our lives and
that your word would bear much
fruit.
Father, turn our eyes to Jesus.
Grip us with the gospel that we
might know that we are to
abandon ourselves to you alone,
who are the helper of the
helpless, to you alone, who can
deal with all traces of wickedness
in our lives, that you alone can
deal with that which keeps us
separate from you, that you
alone deal with this in the
weakness of your son's death
upon the cross to redeem us.
Father, grip us by the gospel.
Make us disciples who live for
your glory.
And, Father, as we are gripped by
the gospel, may it do its proper
work in our lives, strengthening us
in our hearts to help the
helpless.
And this we ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.