WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:05.660 Good morning, Christchurch. It's really good to be here with you in the flesh, finally. 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:11.359 We've kind of made it, which is great. And it's a really happy chapter that we're looking 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:17.480 at, isn't it? You know, if you were expecting to come to church with a really joyful message, 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:27.140 this is the Sunday not to come. No, it's a really good message, actually. And so I think 00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:32.120 it would be good to break down some of the things that I've learned over the last year, 00:00:32.160 --> 00:00:36.439 which I want to share with you, and then we can dig deep into what this actually means 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:46.280 and then apply it into today's message. So, yeah. So when reading the Old Testament, you've 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:53.760 got to understand the relationship between God and the Israelites. It's a bit of a, the 00:00:53.759 --> 00:01:01.559 terminology used is very legalistic in our wording. And so it doesn't really have so much 00:01:01.559 --> 00:01:08.120 love or caring in it. So when hearing these words, such as covenant, don't think of your 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:15.200 house or the land that you own, but actually think of it as an agreement that you've made 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:24.060 with someone. So the Israelites and God, they made an agreement. And the Israelites, they 00:01:24.060 --> 00:01:29.859 had to worship God and only God, and that they had to follow the law. And the law is quite 00:01:29.859 --> 00:01:37.120 complicated as well. And that's, you could do a whole sermon series on that. But, and if 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:42.000 they, if they had fallen out of the law, if they had fallen out of God's kind of blessing, 00:01:42.740 --> 00:01:48.320 then they wouldn't have any protection, they wouldn't have any provision or, or anything 00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:54.680 like that. And so as seen in the Old Testament, time over and time over, you kind of think, 00:01:55.300 --> 00:02:02.700 geez, these Israelites, they really cannot get on and to worship God because they're constantly 00:02:02.700 --> 00:02:09.140 falling out of God's blessing. But in Psalm 44, this is not the case. They've actually 00:02:09.140 --> 00:02:17.500 obeyed God's message. They've obeyed God's law. And, and previously, if you think about 00:02:17.500 --> 00:02:24.379 it also, there's been a lot of wars that have gone on and they've always won. And then all 00:02:24.379 --> 00:02:30.960 of a sudden, they've got armies surrounding them who are attacking and they're winning. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:39.319 And so it's quite difficult when they're in that situation that they're crying out to God 00:02:39.319 --> 00:02:45.939 and nothing's happening. They keep losing and it's causing big problems for them. 00:02:45.939 --> 00:02:59.919 So in many different ways, Psalm 44 isn't your normal Psalm. So for argument's sake, the, 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:06.919 the Psalm is a one way communication. Normally in other Psalms, you hear God responding back 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:13.300 in some sort of way where this, they're in a complete mess and God is silent. 00:03:13.300 --> 00:03:19.980 And I suppose for many of us during COVID, we've been really crying out to God thinking, 00:03:20.380 --> 00:03:25.340 when are you going to end this? When are you going to intervene? Especially when there was 00:03:25.340 --> 00:03:30.060 no vaccine and the numbers were increasing and it was just looking very bleak. 00:03:30.060 --> 00:03:34.599 And then there was the hope of the vaccine, which is great. 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:46.259 So for the Israelites, they were under attack and they were having many things going wrong 00:03:46.259 --> 00:03:54.060 and they were just crying out. So although it's titled a prayer for help, it might be better 00:03:54.060 --> 00:04:06.000 better call day, cry for help. But they were just really seeking God to intervene and really needed 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:12.599 that. It's funny how a Psalm that was written thousands of years ago can still have so much 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:20.620 relevance in our walk with God right now. A couple of weeks ago, we, me and my wife, 00:04:20.620 --> 00:04:27.139 we, we had to take our car to the garage and it was really expensive work and being an ordinary, 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:32.800 you don't get a lot of money. And so I was really panicking and trying to think of ways and how we 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:39.319 can raise money to pay for this work. And it took me a couple of weeks to actually work out, 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:47.399 maybe I should ask God and see what he can do. And it's funny, isn't it? That when we're in 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:53.679 situations like that, we always spend all of our time and energy working out how we can try and fix 00:04:53.679 --> 00:05:03.359 our own problems. And yet the last thing we always do is go to God. And so after, after praying a day, 00:05:03.419 --> 00:05:08.959 a couple of days passed and I received an email from HMRC. And as you can probably imagine, 00:05:09.219 --> 00:05:14.879 stress levels were increasing because I thought, oh no, how much tax do I owe? In fact, it was, 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:20.959 dear Mr. Wingrove, you paid too much tax in the last year. Please log onto your account and claim 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:28.819 it back. And it was the exact amount of money that we needed to pay our car. And upon reflection, 00:05:28.819 --> 00:05:37.860 I just thought, I wasted so many weeks and so much time and energy worrying and stressing about my, 00:05:37.860 --> 00:05:45.300 to be honest, quite small problem. And yet God graciously intervened. 00:05:48.740 --> 00:05:52.980 So I wonder what kind of problems or things that you might be facing. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:59.360 And actually, if we just go to God first, we need reminders around the house, don't we, 00:05:59.400 --> 00:06:03.160 in terms of when we face problems, just go to God first and see what he can do. 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:11.220 But it's also really, really difficult that when you do go to God and you keep asking and asking and 00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:20.480 asking, and there is silence. There's absolutely no response and there's no action from him. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:31.040 That's tough. That's really tough. I was starting to get a bit concerned, especially when praying 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:36.819 for COVID to end and nothing seemed to be happening and it was just getting worse and worse. 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:45.360 It's times when we face storms in our life and we're crying out and nothing is happening. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:54.120 And it is exactly in that moment, and I believe Psalm 44 is speaking about this in a different way, 00:06:54.740 --> 00:07:00.879 that when we are facing a storm, it's really important that we just stand completely still 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:08.639 and wait and trust in God that he will deliver us from whatever this may be. 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:18.899 And it's the complete faith and trust to continue pursuing God and wait for him to step in. 00:07:22.779 --> 00:07:32.479 And obviously, our human nature is to try and take over and to try and solve the problems for ourself. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:37.140 And by doing so, we can occasionally get a lot more messy. 00:07:40.080 --> 00:07:45.840 But God is in the business of restoring our mess into a message for other people for hope. 00:07:48.259 --> 00:07:54.000 And so when we face troubles and problems, we have no other solution. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:59.360 And when we are tired, when we are hurt, when we are low, when we see no solution, 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:04.779 and when God is silent and no intervention, he calls us to be still. 00:08:05.220 --> 00:08:08.600 And in his stillness, it's full of peace. 00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:14.899 He calls us to submit to him in everything we do and wait patiently on him. 00:08:14.899 --> 00:08:23.719 And in the waiting, he will turn that mess into a message. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:30.579 And all we need to do when there is silence from God is to wait and trust in him. 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:36.980 Shall we pray? 00:08:36.980 --> 00:08:46.379 Heavenly Father, just give thanks for everyone here today. 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:53.700 And we just pray that no matter what we are facing, 00:08:55.899 --> 00:09:00.440 that we would keep the courage to keep reaching out to you in all of our problems, 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:02.639 that you would deliver us from them. 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:07.340 When we have no hope, that we keep trusting in you. 00:09:09.980 --> 00:09:15.120 When we are at a complete despair and nothing else that we can do. 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:22.360 And pray that we would have the faith to completely rest in you and wait on you. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:27.019 In Jesus' name. Amen.