WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.280 So Sam 30 is a Sam that's close to my own heart for a number of reasons. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.599 It's a Sam that's been a great strength to me this summer. 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:13.439 And one of the nice things about preaching standalone sermons is you can basically choose whatever you want. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:17.679 So I thought we'd look together at Sam 30 this evening. 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:21.400 It's a song that David wrote at the dedication to the temple, 00:00:21.400 --> 00:00:27.800 but more importantly, it's a song where he's looking back over this period of time in his life where he was suffering 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:30.679 and how God was at work in his life. 00:00:30.679 --> 00:00:32.439 He writes in verse 5, 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:36.120 God's anger is but for a moment his favor is for a lifetime. 00:00:36.120 --> 00:00:42.439 Weeping may tarry for a night, but joy comes with the morning. 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:45.840 Over the last couple of weeks, Derek's been looking at the life of Job 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:51.600 and Job's response to a period of incredible suffering in his life. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:56.600 And this evening I want to look at Sam 30 and see how it gives us maybe a slightly different perspective 00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:02.640 on suffering and how really the Sam's more broadly can help us when life is hard. 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:10.400 I just want to think about four very brief points on the theme of suffering and joy, primarily drawn from Sam 30. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:15.560 But suffering is something that each and every one of us is affected by to one degree or another. 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:19.200 Even if right now in our lives we're not going through a period of suffering, 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:22.879 we can pretty much guarantee there's people around us here tonight who are. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:28.079 And we were thinking over the last few weeks in Job of the importance of ministering to each other, 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:32.000 to one another in our times of suffering. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.920 Now I think the Sam's are really brilliant when it comes to this, 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:42.079 because they contain all of this amazing theology, all of this profound truth about God and about ourselves. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:44.679 But none of it is abstract. 00:01:44.679 --> 00:01:49.919 It's theology that is like, it's hammered out in the furnace of human experience, 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:58.799 of life and pain and grief and heartache and guilt and shame and all these human emotions. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:03.400 A huge number of these Sam's are written in the context of suffering. 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:08.319 And as we look at Sam 30 together, as I say, there's four brief points I want us to think about this evening. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:13.400 First of all, I want to see what the Sam's teach us about the reality of suffering. 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:17.719 Secondly, we're going to see that we're called to be prayerful sufferers. 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:20.639 Thirdly, we're called to be patient sufferers. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:26.439 And then finally, very briefly, we'll look at what Sam 30 teaches us about suffering and praise. 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:29.919 So first of all, the reality of suffering. 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:34.840 I think as Christians, we have to remind ourselves that suffering is a reality. 00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:36.960 It's not just a possibility. 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:44.960 James chapter one says, consider it pure joy, brothers and sisters, when you experience various trials. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:51.200 You know that James does not say if you experience various trials, he says when you experience trials. 00:02:51.200 --> 00:03:00.800 Likewise, in the passage in John that we read earlier, John chapter 16, Jesus says, in this world, you will have trouble, tribulation. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:06.480 So suffering is something that we are guaranteed to face at some point in our lives. 00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:09.439 And we know that more broadly in our experience as human beings. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:13.200 We know that no matter how much we progress as a civilization, 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:19.319 we can never get away from the fact that human beings will suffer in a range of different ways. 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:25.879 We have maybe advanced as humanity in so many ways from the time that the Psalms were written 00:03:25.879 --> 00:03:33.280 in things like technology and medicine and education and various different general living conditions. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:39.679 One thing human beings can never seem to evolve from or escape from is suffering. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:46.760 Nowadays, particularly in the US, the prosperity gospel is becoming more and more popular. 00:03:46.760 --> 00:03:51.920 And really the key message of the prosperity gospel is that when you believe God enough, when you trust God, 00:03:51.920 --> 00:03:56.960 God will bless you and he wants you to be happy and prosperous and healthy and wealthy. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:59.879 You know, hashtag blessed. 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:04.000 We're told we want to live our best life now. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.600 One preacher of the prosperity gospel said this, 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:11.239 when we obey God, we're not really doing it for God. We're doing it for ourselves. 00:04:11.239 --> 00:04:14.680 Because God's greatest pleasure is when we are happy. 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:18.680 That is what gives God the greatest joy. 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:24.959 So the message that God's primary desire for our lives is to be happy and content and wealthy and healthy 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:30.879 is a message that's not only wrong but extremely harmful. 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:35.120 How does it fit in with our lived experience as Christians? 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:39.759 I wonder how it sounds to people out there who are going through a period of illness 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:47.439 or a breakdown in a marriage or experiencing mental health difficulties. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:53.079 Even if you stick on the news today, it's dominated by stories of chaos and terror and grief. 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:58.079 And it reminds us that our world is absolutely full of brokenness and pain. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:01.920 All of these things were around in King David's day. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:04.160 They all flow from the same problem, the problem in our hearts 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:08.520 that we were thinking about this morning in Mark 7. 00:05:08.520 --> 00:05:13.720 Hearts that are full of darkness have consequences in our world. 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:18.040 So the message that God wants us to be happy and healthy and wealthy and prosperous 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:21.400 doesn't really translate into reality. 00:05:21.400 --> 00:05:25.200 But Sam 30 meets us where we're at. 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:28.040 Sam 30 is realistic. 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:33.080 David, the man who wrote the Psalm, is a man who is no stranger to suffering. 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:37.800 He knew that it's easy maybe to trust God when life is going well, 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:42.680 in our times of prosperity, when things are good. 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:47.360 It's a whole other thing to trust God when the dark times come. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:51.399 When we experience a crisis, how should we react as Christians 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:55.479 when we face a diagnosis that we're dreading? 00:05:55.479 --> 00:06:01.560 How should we react to the breakdown of a relationship or a fracture in our family? 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:05.839 Or when we feel torn apart by guilt or by shame? 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:12.720 Or when we experience loss and the pain of bereavement? 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:16.199 I think the Psalms themselves are a prime example. 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:23.519 They are full of anguish and pain and grief and raw emotion. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:28.160 The point is, the first point is that it's not unusual to experience these things. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:31.079 Suffering is a reality of life. 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:35.159 It's not a sign that we are getting things wrong as Christians. 00:06:35.159 --> 00:06:39.120 God knows there will be times in our lives when we feel the darkness 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:42.159 and the pressure and the pain. 00:06:42.159 --> 00:06:46.039 God knows the Christian faith is not a ticket to an easy life. 00:06:46.039 --> 00:06:49.639 So that's first of all, the first point, the reality of suffering. 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:53.519 Now as we get into Sam 30, I want to see just three things very briefly. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:57.680 First of all, we are called to be prayerful sufferers. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:01.120 Now the actual context to Sam 30 is not hugely clear. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:03.959 It's clearly been something that illness that David has been through, 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:05.360 but it's an illness that's almost killed him. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.280 Read verse 1 to verse 3. 00:07:07.280 --> 00:07:11.960 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and not let my foes rejoice over me. 00:07:11.960 --> 00:07:15.800 O Lord, my God, I cry to you for help and you healed me. 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:19.160 O Lord, you brought my soul up from sheol, from the grave. 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:26.120 You restore me to life from among those who go down to the pit. 00:07:26.120 --> 00:07:29.720 You see, our culture today has developed a kind of stoic mentality 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:31.439 when it comes to suffering. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:33.680 In other words, we kind of just have to deal with it. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:37.560 We have to roll our sleeves up and get on with it. 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:40.360 And I think even as Christians, we can let that attitude kind of influence 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:42.800 our own response to suffering. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:47.800 We say we're fine, we have it all together. 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:51.040 But we see in many of these Psalms, and Sam 30 is just one example, 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:55.600 David essentially pours his heart out to God. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:58.720 Somewhere around a third of the Psalms are prayers. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:02.040 They're a conversation between the Sammest and God. 00:08:02.040 --> 00:08:06.000 And in each one of them, we see that they are heartfelt, they are raw, 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:09.439 they are packed full of emotion. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:15.200 The language in Psalm 30 contains language of crying to God, 00:08:15.200 --> 00:08:18.520 pleading with God. 00:08:18.520 --> 00:08:22.920 And we can see from Psalms like Psalm 30 that this kind of prayer doesn't have to be long, 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:24.840 it doesn't have to be eloquent, 00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:27.719 it doesn't have to be really thought through. 00:08:27.719 --> 00:08:31.919 We come to God as broken people. 00:08:31.919 --> 00:08:34.120 Look how David prayed in verse 10. 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:38.639 Hear me, O Lord, be merciful to me, be a helper. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:44.039 David is effectively just saying, Lord God, I need you. 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:47.720 So as we think about being prayerful sufferers, we recognize that we come to a God 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:50.480 that we can talk to. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:52.919 Psalm 30 we've seen uses the language of crying out. 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:55.719 Many of the Psalms use this kind of language. 00:08:55.719 --> 00:09:00.959 But one of the key points here is that this is language being addressed to God. 00:09:00.959 --> 00:09:02.000 This is not abstract. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:06.679 David has not sat down and penned a short triad on suffering. 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:09.599 It's not abstract. 00:09:09.599 --> 00:09:14.679 Look at all the I and the you language in the whole Psalm. 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:19.399 It's like we are listening in on conversation between David and God. 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:23.439 I think sometimes we neglect this in our own lives as Christians. 00:09:23.439 --> 00:09:29.159 Maybe we find it easier to talk about God than we find to talk to God. 00:09:29.159 --> 00:09:31.399 Well, we look at the experience of Jesus. 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:34.199 Jesus on the cross cries out the words of Psalm 22, 00:09:34.199 --> 00:09:38.240 my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:41.120 As Jesus takes the full weight of human sin 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:45.000 and experiences the darkness in the place of his people, 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:50.000 his instinctive response is to cry out to his father. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:51.799 We don't know what illness David is going through, 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:57.720 but it's something that led him to cry out to God. 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:00.159 So when we find ourselves in a dark place, 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:03.879 when we find ourselves going through a period of suffering, 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:06.039 we have to be sufferers who are prayerful, 00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:11.639 who come to our father in our time of need. 00:10:11.639 --> 00:10:14.440 Secondly, we come to a God who knows. 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:16.440 Psalm 139, we mentioned it this morning. 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:19.040 God is a God who knows. 00:10:19.040 --> 00:10:22.840 Maybe we don't have the right words sometimes. 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:25.680 But Psalm 139 tells us that God is a God who examines us, 00:10:25.680 --> 00:10:27.560 who knows us through and through, 00:10:27.560 --> 00:10:30.120 who knows our sitting from our rising. 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:34.160 Before we speak a word, it is well known to him. 00:10:34.160 --> 00:10:37.680 So we don't surprise God when we bring to him our burdens, 00:10:37.680 --> 00:10:41.360 when we come to him with our cries and our pleas. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:45.560 God is never shocked by our brokenness. 00:10:45.560 --> 00:10:49.440 Thirdly, as prayerful sufferers, we come to a God who answers. 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:50.680 We see this in Psalm 30. 00:10:50.680 --> 00:10:55.039 Psalm 30 is a Psalm of answered prayer, 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:58.039 a God who hears the prayers of his people. 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:00.399 David's experience here clearly 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:04.120 experience healing from God, restoration. 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:05.600 He says in verse five, God's angers, 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:08.759 but for a moment his favourites for a lifetime. 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:13.600 Weeping may tarry for a night, but joy comes in the morning. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.960 You have turned my morning, verse 11, into dancing. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:23.240 You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:27.039 We have a God who listens and answers our prayers. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:28.879 And that's not always in the way that we expect. 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:31.399 Sometimes we think we know what God should do. 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:33.960 We tell God what he should do. 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:35.240 And we're frustrated. 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:39.240 We find it difficult when he answers in a way we don't expect. 00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:43.000 But God will either directly heal us, transform our situation, 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:46.240 or he will give us the grace and the strength we need 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.360 to walk that road. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:52.080 So we're called to be prayerful sufferers, 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:55.560 but we're also called to be patient sufferers. 00:11:55.560 --> 00:11:58.519 Sometimes we do still have to walk that road. 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:00.680 Sometimes we have to face that dark experience. 00:12:00.679 --> 00:12:03.919 Christians are sometimes called to show extreme patience 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:05.919 in the face of suffering. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:10.559 You see, sometimes it can feel as if nothing is ever going 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:12.039 to get better. 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:14.519 We can be so weighed down by what we're going through 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:16.919 that we struggle to see the bigger picture. 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:21.319 I think verse 5 is a wonderful reminder of perspective, 00:12:21.319 --> 00:12:23.039 the importance of perspective. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:24.479 His anger is but for a moment. 00:12:24.479 --> 00:12:26.399 His favour is for a lifetime. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:29.079 Weeping tears may tarry for a night, 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:32.120 but joy comes with the morning. 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:35.120 You see, the picture of night is a strong image 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:36.120 when it comes to suffering. 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:39.560 Things always seem worse at night. 00:12:39.560 --> 00:12:43.320 A night can drag on. 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:46.480 Everything can seem hopeless. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.720 But the thing about night is that it always turns into morning. 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:53.160 Dawn always comes. 00:12:53.160 --> 00:12:56.320 And God's word reminds us that no experience in our life 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.320 no amount of suffering will ever last. 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:05.320 Romans 8 verse 18 says, 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:08.320 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.320 with the glory that will be revealed in us. 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:14.320 In the same way James in chapter 5 and verse 7 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:18.320 tells us to be patient in the face of suffering. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:22.320 Be patient, he says, until the Lord's coming. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:24.320 As you know, in the Bible, 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:27.320 we count as blessed those who persevere. 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:29.320 You have heard of Job's perseverance 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:31.320 and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:35.320 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:39.320 But we find it so hard to wait on God. 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:41.320 We find it so hard to be patient. 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:46.320 We live, I think, in a society and a culture where waiting is hard. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:51.320 I only realised recently how conditioned I have been by Amazon Prime. 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:54.320 Amazon Prime is great. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:56.320 You can order almost anything with one click 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.320 and within 24 hours it arrives at your door. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:01.320 I can be looking for a book I need for an essay 00:14:01.320 --> 00:14:03.320 or something I need for the flat, 00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:05.320 and I can have it almost instantly. 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:07.320 But recently I had to order something from another website 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:09.320 and it took about two weeks to come 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:11.320 and I was constantly every day clicking on the tracking 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:14.320 and seeing where this item was and I was frustrated. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.320 See, the features of modern technology are great, 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.320 but they can make us incredibly impatient people. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:24.320 We have things like Netflix and on-demand streaming services 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:26.320 that mean that we can watch a movie at the click of a button. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:29.320 We don't have to go out to a blockbuster and rent a DVD 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:31.320 and hope that the DVD is not scratched 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:35.320 and we can watch something instantly. 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:38.320 And so when it comes to patience in times of trial, 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:41.320 so often we expect an instant solution. 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:44.320 We expect God to give us what we want now. 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:48.320 I think Sam 30 gives us a really helpful perspective. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:52.320 Weeping may stay for a night, but joy comes in the morning. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:54.320 Sometimes all we can do is say, 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:57.320 how long, oh Lord? 00:14:57.320 --> 00:15:00.320 We recognize as Christians we might never be able to explain 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:03.320 why we go through some of the things we face. 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:05.320 You might remember a show on TV, 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:08.320 I think I've used this example here before, 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.320 but you've probably forgotten as a few years ago now, 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.320 Art Attack, Neil Buchanan. 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.320 It's a show where there'd be various art projects 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:19.320 and one of them, he would go out into an open area 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:21.320 like a field or a car park or something 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:25.320 and he would start laying down all of these random objects, 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:27.320 these household objects like clothes and bags 00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:29.320 and all sorts of things. 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:32.320 And while he's doing that, the camera is down at ground level 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:35.320 so you can't really make sense of what he's doing. 00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:37.320 But when he's finished laying all these things out 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:41.320 after about five minutes, the camera zooms up to a view from the sky 00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:44.320 and you're looking down on the whole project 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:47.320 and all of a sudden you can actually see that all of these things, 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:49.320 all of these apparently useless objects, 00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:53.320 when they're put together form an incredible piece of art. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.320 It's impossible to make sense of what he's doing at the time 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:02.320 but with the right perspective you can see. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:05.320 And I think as Christians, sometimes we need to remind ourselves 00:16:05.320 --> 00:16:08.320 the importance of perspective. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:10.320 I think we need to remind ourselves that while we can maybe 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:14.320 never make sense of what God is doing now, 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:18.320 he is absolutely at work. 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:21.320 There was a man in the Old Testament called Hezekiah. 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:24.320 He went through another life-threatening illness 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.320 and afterwards he came through it and he said, 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:32.320 surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:34.320 It seems like such a difficult thing to say, 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:39.320 to look at our suffering and to see how God could work in it for good. 00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:42.320 But this is what we see David do in Psalm 30. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:44.320 We see that he's reflecting over this period of suffering 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:46.320 and it leads him to praise. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:49.320 The Psalm is a Psalm that is wrapped in praise. 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:50.320 This is the fourth thing. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:54.320 As David looks back over his suffering, he is able to praise God. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.320 Verse 1, I will extol you, Lord, for you have drawn me up 00:16:57.320 --> 00:16:59.320 and the Psalm closes. 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:01.320 You have turned my mourning into dancing. 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:03.320 You have loosed my sackcloth. 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:05.320 You have clothed me with gladness. 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:09.319 That my glory might sing your praise and not be silent. 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:13.319 Oh, Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. 00:17:17.319 --> 00:17:19.319 John Calvin, a man we looked at this morning. 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:23.319 A man, somebody's portrayed unfairly as being cold and distant and uncaring. 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:28.319 I think that's unfair, but what he actually went on to say about suffering was this. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:31.319 It's certain that all of our senses of our nature are so formed 00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:34.319 that every trial produces in us grief and sorrow. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:41.319 But this never prevents the children of God to rise by the guidance of the Spirit above our sorrows. 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:46.319 Hence, it is in the midst of trouble we do not cease to rejoice. 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:51.319 In other words, if you're a Christian here this evening, 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:55.319 your joy ultimately does not depend on your circumstances. 00:17:55.319 --> 00:18:00.319 Your ability to praise God does not depend on your circumstances. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:05.319 The hope we have in Jesus Christ gives us that perspective. 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:08.319 It tells us ultimately that joy that comes in the morning. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:11.319 See, as Christians, we can face suffering with hope 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:15.319 because we know that Jesus has already won the victory over death. 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:18.319 We know that one day he will return. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:21.319 Revelation 21 tells us that he will right every wrong. 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:24.319 He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:29.319 On that day, there will be no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain. 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:34.319 Everything will be made new, and new heavens and a new earth. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:43.319 So when we are faced with that diagnosis, when we feel broken by grief and pain and sadness, 00:18:43.319 --> 00:18:49.319 when we feel hopeless, when we feel weighed down by the pressures and burdens of life, 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:57.319 we are reminded that we can praise God in our suffering, through our suffering, because of our hope. 00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:01.319 You see, lots of people in our world today face suffering with no hope. 00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:03.319 Suffering is senseless. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:11.319 I think sometimes they see Christian faith as a wishful thinking, a blind optimism. 00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:18.319 I was told this summer that my faith is a crutch, and that's a hard thing to hear. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:22.319 But we know in our experience as Christians that it's so much more than that. 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:28.319 J.I. Packer said, optimism is something that hopes for the best with no guarantee. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:30.319 Often it's no more than whistling in the dark. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:37.319 Christian hope, by contrast, is faith looking ahead to the fulfilment of God's promises. 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:39.319 Optimism is a wish without warrant. 00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:44.319 Christian hope is a certainty, guaranteed by God himself. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:49.319 Optimism reflects ignorance as to whether good things will ever actually come. 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:55.319 Christian hope expresses knowledge that every day of our lives and every moment beyond it, 00:19:55.319 --> 00:20:01.319 the believer can say with truth on the basis of God's own promises, the best is yet to come. 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:06.319 This is something that Corrie Ten Boom firmly believed in her own experience. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:07.319 She was a Holocaust survivor. 00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:10.319 She lived through the Auschwitz concentration camp. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:12.319 She lost her sister there. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:18.319 And afterwards she said that no pit is so deep that God is not deeper still. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:25.319 With Jesus, even in our darkest moments, the best remains and the very best is yet to be. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:31.319 Sam 30, I think, provides us with a wonderful reminder that however long the night might feel, 00:20:31.319 --> 00:20:33.319 morning will always come. 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:38.319 Weeping might tarry for a time, but joy comes in the morning. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:44.319 We pray that God would enable our hearts to embrace that joy even in the darkest of times. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:48.319 Let's pray. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:21:00.319 Lord God, we come before you this evening and we thank you and we praise you for our Saviour Jesus Christ. 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:03.319 We thank you for the hope that we have in him. 00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:08.319 We thank you, Lord God, that you have taken on the ultimate darkness on the cross. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:14.319 We thank you that you have secured for us our hope of life everlasting. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:19.319 We thank you, Lord, too, that you walk with us through our suffering. 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:26.319 We thank you, Father, that we can have joy in the midst of the darkest experiences of our lives. 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:37.319 And we pray, Father, that you would help us this evening to be a people who live out that hope wherever you've placed us in our workplaces, 00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:41.319 in our times of leisure, in our family lives at home. 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:49.319 Father, help us to be Christians who are so brimming with hope that it shines through and that it speaks to those around us. 00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:53.319 Father, help us to trust in you more and more. Help us to love you more and more. 00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:59.319 And we pray, Father, in all that we have planned for this week, you would enable us to do it to your glory. 00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:09.319 In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.