WEBVTT 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:07.020 Now, for those of you that are under 30, you might not recognise what one of these things are. 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:09.040 It's a road atlas, okay? 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:15.099 So my dad's mantra when we went on holiday was, don't leave home without a map. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:21.059 And indeed, he used to spend hours and hours pouring over the map before we left. 00:00:21.260 --> 00:00:27.679 Often, we left about an hour late because he was pouring over the map so much to find out the quickest route to get there. 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:31.160 And my mum used to be just shouting at him, let's just get in the car! 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:34.380 Anyway, so don't leave home without a map. 00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:39.240 Also, I had to have map reading skills as well. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.739 I remember an infamous geography field trip to Scarborough when I was about 14. 00:00:45.100 --> 00:00:49.879 It wouldn't be allowed now, I don't think, but obviously one day the teachers fancied an afternoon off. 00:00:50.460 --> 00:00:57.200 So they thought it would be a really good idea to take a load of 14-year-olds and drop us off 15 miles away from Scarborough. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:00.539 With a map and a compass. 00:01:01.320 --> 00:01:04.340 And then just say, right, see you later guys, see you back at the hotel. 00:01:05.140 --> 00:01:08.599 So I remember spending hours and hours arguing, going round in circles. 00:01:08.739 --> 00:01:12.140 And I think it took us five hours to get back and it wasn't great. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:13.480 So anyway. 00:01:14.659 --> 00:01:16.840 However, so that's map reading. 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:23.920 If you guys are younger than that though, you've had to learn how to use and interpret a sat-nav. 00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:28.460 Sometimes it goes really well and sometimes it doesn't. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:36.320 However, annoying and bewildering as sat-navs are to use and maps can be to use as well. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:42.639 If we're travelling through unfamiliar areas, we need something that's going to show us our route. 00:01:44.379 --> 00:01:47.000 And it's the same for rock climbers too. 00:01:47.099 --> 00:01:48.780 I've got a picture of a rock climber here. 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:55.099 Somerset, Cheddar Gorge are very popular for rock climbers. 00:01:55.099 --> 00:01:59.099 And often we've been there and I'm never going to be one because it terrifies me. 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:02.979 But I'm very interested to see them hanging off the rocks. 00:02:03.459 --> 00:02:08.400 And I'm reading a book at the moment and it basically says, if you're standing at the bottom of the gorge. 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:10.819 I'm reading a murder mystery set in Cheddar Gorge. 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:16.900 If you're standing at the bottom of the gorge and you're looking up and you're trying to work out how you're going to trace your route through. 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:23.540 The best way is if you've got somebody going in front of you to guide you and to show you the way. 00:02:24.599 --> 00:02:26.920 And so it is with the book of Psalms. 00:02:27.939 --> 00:02:34.920 The book of Psalms takes us through unfamiliar and very confusing territory and it shows us the way through. 00:02:36.020 --> 00:02:45.180 They're full of authentic prayers that are written by people who are in often very confusing, disorientating and traumatic circumstances. 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:50.000 And they're finding a way, one handhold and one step after another. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:03:00.300 And they're God inspired prayers that show us a path of faith to follow when we're also in confusing and disorientated circumstances too. 00:03:01.140 --> 00:03:07.500 So over the next few weeks, we're going to be looking at different Psalms that speak into a whole range of circumstances and emotions. 00:03:08.100 --> 00:03:12.560 But we begin today with Psalms 42 and 43, which we've just heard. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:42.539 And we're going to be looking at different times. 00:03:42.539 --> 00:03:49.680 So the two Psalms are listed in the Bible separately, but 43 isn't titled and so we think that they kind of go together really well. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:55.799 So, two things to look at this morning. 00:03:56.620 --> 00:04:02.299 The first thing is, in these Psalms, they teach us how to pray with two hands. 00:04:02.300 --> 00:04:05.900 We think about the rock climber there. 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:11.120 He's using his right hand and his left hand to get where he needs to get. 00:04:12.200 --> 00:04:14.080 And we see a similar thing in this Psalm. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:21.420 We see the Psalmist taking hold of God with one hand and hanging on to him and moving from one thing to the next. 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:26.420 We see him with his hand, honest, open prayer directed to God with one hand. 00:04:26.840 --> 00:04:31.759 And the left hand, he's telling himself truths to encourage himself about God. 00:04:32.180 --> 00:04:35.920 So prayer to God with the right hand and speaking to himself with the left. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:43.199 In 42 verses 1 to 4, he speaks an honest and open prayer to God. 00:04:43.340 --> 00:04:45.660 And then in verse 5, he then speaks to himself. 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:46.220 He says, 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:58.480 So he turns from speaking to God to speaking to himself. 00:04:58.780 --> 00:05:00.060 But he doesn't stop there. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:04.700 He then again speaks honestly to God in prayer in verses 6 to 10. 00:05:04.840 --> 00:05:09.000 And verse 11, he then is speaking those names and words to himself. 00:05:10.780 --> 00:05:15.600 And then we go a bit further on to Psalm 43 and look at the very beginning of it. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:17.840 He speaks back to God again. 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:23.080 Before then closing by speaking to himself those same words about God. 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:27.600 So he's moving through right and left, back and forth, one hand to the other. 00:05:28.820 --> 00:05:34.400 When you and I pray, we probably tend to pray with either one hand or the other. 00:05:34.780 --> 00:05:43.660 We either pray to God, pouring everything out in our times of stress and just giving it all to him. 00:05:43.660 --> 00:05:48.240 Or we just don't really speak to him. 00:05:48.460 --> 00:05:51.400 And we speak to ourselves, kind of telling ourselves, you know, we're Christians. 00:05:51.800 --> 00:05:53.320 We shouldn't feel like this. 00:05:53.420 --> 00:05:54.260 We should feel joyful. 00:05:54.380 --> 00:05:55.840 We should remember the promises of God. 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:58.100 And this is not, it's not great. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:05:59.680 We're not going to move very far with it. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:08.040 We can become fixed on telling ourselves that we should just trust God. 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:10.439 Because he is trustworthy. 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.560 But this can actually turn into self-accusation. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:18.199 And we feel like we shouldn't feel like this. 00:06:19.220 --> 00:06:21.600 So the psalm tells us to pray with two hands. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:26.800 A climber that uses his two hands gets much quicker up the rock. 00:06:28.520 --> 00:06:30.980 And it helps him to make an upward progress. 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:36.760 So the second point is that as well as praying with two hands, 00:06:37.260 --> 00:06:42.740 we also need to pray honestly and authentically to God to help us progress further. 00:06:43.340 --> 00:06:46.060 So he makes upward progress through honest prayer. 00:06:46.060 --> 00:06:49.379 So as we look at the very end of Psalm 43, 00:06:49.699 --> 00:06:53.540 we see that the writer is much more bold and confident in his prayer. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:56.139 But he's only been able to get to this position 00:06:56.139 --> 00:07:01.360 because he's been really real, honest and authentic when he's been speaking to God. 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:04.459 He's been real about his situation, how he feels. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:06.399 And actually he's been quite blunt. 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:11.500 So he starts in verses 42, 1 to 4, by speaking his longing. 00:07:11.860 --> 00:07:13.480 His longing to go and meet with God. 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:16.400 With God's people in the temple in Jerusalem. 00:07:18.140 --> 00:07:22.939 And at the very beginning of 42 is a really famous passage. 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:28.480 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 00:07:28.620 --> 00:07:30.700 My soul thirsts for God, the living God. 00:07:31.180 --> 00:07:32.800 When can one go and meet with God? 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:36.879 So he longs to meet with God with an almost physical thirst. 00:07:37.319 --> 00:07:40.259 He's longing to go and worship him in the temple of Jerusalem. 00:07:40.259 --> 00:07:45.420 Now this psalm, I don't know if you know, is written by one of the sons of Korah. 00:07:46.039 --> 00:07:51.959 And basically their jobs were a bit of a mixture of being a bouncer and a worship leader at the temple. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:58.339 So they guarded the temple, but they were also some of the musicians that sort of brought people to worship God. 00:07:58.980 --> 00:08:00.800 And he's remembering back to that time. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:08.400 So in verse 4, when he was joining in with God's people and praising God together, but now he's somewhere far away. 00:08:09.340 --> 00:08:15.160 And more than that, he's surrounded by those who are mocking him, who are taking the mickey out and saying, where is your God? 00:08:15.160 --> 00:08:24.460 Not only where he's been meeting God seems physically far away, but it also seems to him that God's not listening to his prayers. 00:08:26.180 --> 00:08:36.139 And our time, I'm sure, over the past year or so, when we've been really, really struggling because we've been not gathering together to worship God in our church buildings, 00:08:36.800 --> 00:08:40.060 I think that gives us a sense of what this psalm's talking about. 00:08:40.059 --> 00:08:44.339 Now, just to be clear, our church buildings are not really like the temple. 00:08:44.459 --> 00:08:48.299 The temple was the place that God promised the people that he would live there. 00:08:49.019 --> 00:08:52.299 And that's where they went to hear him and to pray to him. 00:08:52.839 --> 00:08:57.539 But for us, God's equally close to us, whether we're inside or outside of the building. 00:08:59.079 --> 00:09:07.819 And yet, I'm sure that I'm not the only one over this past year that's really felt a longing to gather together with each other to praise God and meet God together. 00:09:07.820 --> 00:09:16.040 And it's been so wonderful this morning, gathering together and singing and praising God, just to hear your voices and my voice together. 00:09:16.560 --> 00:09:19.520 Even with masks on, it's been wonderful to celebrate how God is. 00:09:21.040 --> 00:09:27.900 So this psalm teaches us to voice that longing to God and then to speak to ourselves and to put our hope in God. 00:09:28.540 --> 00:09:32.680 That the end of our story will not be one of isolation, but it's going to be one of praise. 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:41.579 But before we can really fully get there, this psalm teaches us not just to pray to God about our longing, but also about our confusion. 00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:45.059 The verse 7, when it says, 00:09:45.899 --> 00:09:50.759 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls, all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 00:09:50.839 --> 00:09:52.500 Again, that's another famous verse. 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:54.500 I've seen it on many fridge magnets. 00:09:54.500 --> 00:10:00.759 And in my head, I imagine that it's a lovely, beautiful waterfall with a cool, you know, still pool at the bottom. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:02.759 But I don't think it actually is. 00:10:02.980 --> 00:10:06.940 I think the psalmist is talking about his experience there. 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:08.539 And he's saying, you know what, God? 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:12.940 This is your waterfall and these are your waves and they're crashing over me. 00:10:13.460 --> 00:10:15.100 He feels like he's being overwhelmed. 00:10:16.259 --> 00:10:18.159 And the waves are battering him. 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:20.259 This is your waterfall. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:21.440 He's being really honest. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:24.460 He doesn't try and separate his experience from God. 00:10:25.380 --> 00:10:29.740 In some sense, these waves are God's waterfall. 00:10:30.760 --> 00:10:33.340 And in the very next verse, he speaks of God's love. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:38.980 A love that seems to be expressed and the fact that he's able to cry out to God even in the midst of all this. 00:10:39.940 --> 00:10:43.280 And yet that love makes his experience all the more confusing. 00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:48.080 Why have you forgotten me, he says in verses 42, verse 9. 00:10:48.260 --> 00:10:50.940 And he doesn't hear a voice back to give him an explanation. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:11:00.500 And yet it is through him speaking of his confusion before the face of God that he's enabled to then begin to pray and cry out with boldness. 00:11:01.020 --> 00:11:03.700 And you get a sense of that in Psalm 43. 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:09.480 In verse 3, he says with boldness, send me your light and your faithful care. 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:10.820 Let them lead me. 00:11:10.940 --> 00:11:14.100 Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:16.600 And then I will go to the altar of God. 00:11:17.020 --> 00:11:19.460 Oh God, my joy of my delight. 00:11:19.620 --> 00:11:20.900 I will praise you with a lyre. 00:11:21.020 --> 00:11:22.000 Oh God, my God. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:31.279 So I think he's imagining there that the Lord's going to be sending out him a rescue party, leading him by his light up the mountain. 00:11:32.539 --> 00:11:37.259 Together with his people in worship, where he'll be able to sing his praises to God once again. 00:11:37.259 --> 00:11:48.220 So for him, like us, only through speaking to God about our longing and our confusion, do we discover the boldness that begins to help us to imagine that future joy. 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:55.340 That future joy that he looked forward to, praising God, was just a faint shadow of what we look forward to. 00:11:55.340 --> 00:11:58.740 For us, we're gathering today properly in this building. 00:11:59.019 --> 00:12:05.100 It's just a faint shadow of the hope that we've got in heaven when we gather together with people from every tribe and tongue. 00:12:06.560 --> 00:12:16.960 But that upward journey to a place of confidence and anticipation of the future and crying out to God for that future comes only through this two-handed, honest prayer. 00:12:19.040 --> 00:12:23.340 So as I finish, some people here this morning think, well, that's okay for you to say. 00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:31.200 But you don't know my darkness or my desperation and what I've been going through and the path that I've come to from this place this morning. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:37.420 Well, that's right. I don't know your specific situation and all that's going on for you at the moment. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.180 And I've not experienced some of the darkness that people may be in. 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:49.360 But I have to say over the past two years, I've gone through my own stuff, my own anxiety and, you know, the situation that's been going on. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:53.860 But this psalm helps point us to the one who has experienced it. 00:12:54.139 --> 00:12:59.539 It points us to the one that night before he died said, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.460 He was mocked and taunted with questions by his opponents. 00:13:03.940 --> 00:13:07.039 He was crucified out on a rubbish tip outside the city. 00:13:07.680 --> 00:13:12.659 And he cried out in agony to a God and heard no audible voice to answer back. 00:13:12.659 --> 00:13:19.480 And yet it points us to the one who held on to God, even though all of that, even through all of that. 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:23.259 And he is the one who wants to draw near to you and to me this morning. 00:13:23.860 --> 00:13:26.659 The one that actually his prayers did not go finally unanswered. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:30.839 In his resurrection, he receives the answers to those prayers. 00:13:31.659 --> 00:13:33.759 His resurrection, God vindicated him. 00:13:34.419 --> 00:13:38.279 The Lord overturned his enemies and silenced their accusations and mockery. 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:44.339 And more than that, Jesus was exalted to his Father's presence to a place of unending joy. 00:13:44.699 --> 00:13:48.379 And he completed the path of faith that this psalm traces out. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:56.679 Now this morning, after the service, if you're feeling a bit rubbish at the moment or you want prayer for anything, 00:13:57.159 --> 00:14:00.480 we're going to have a little prayer team to do some prayer ministry. 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:03.339 So Clive will explain a little bit later how that's going to work. 00:14:03.340 --> 00:14:11.340 But as we finish, we just need to remember that in him our hope is secure because he completed this path for us. 00:14:11.820 --> 00:14:16.360 And because he comes to me and you this morning, wherever we are on that cliff face, 00:14:17.060 --> 00:14:19.519 whether we're struggling to hold on by our fingernails, 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:23.960 he wants to come to us to guide us and to lead us on this path of faith, 00:14:24.560 --> 00:14:29.500 one handhold at a time, right and left, slowly upwards. 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:32.060 So let's pray together. 00:14:32.059 --> 00:14:37.519 Lord Jesus, we thank you that you know the depths of darkness 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:41.719 and yet you persevered in faith along this path. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:46.939 And so we ask that you draw near to us and move our hands in faith 00:14:46.939 --> 00:14:50.639 to cry out to you, Father, and to hold on to your goodness. 00:14:51.819 --> 00:14:55.479 Help us to follow in that path that you have gone before us. 00:14:56.339 --> 00:14:56.699 Amen. 00:14:56.699 --> 00:14:56.819 Amen.