it's been humbling and refreshing
to put ourselves under one psalm each week.
Amen.
And so the psalm for today is Psalm 13.
For the choir director, another psalm of David.
I want to give you something to listen for
as I read our sermon text for today.
I want you to figure out who it is
in David's life, from what you know,
that is most likely causing him this severe pain.
As I prepared and tried to understand the context
and our best guesses at David's context,
there are two men in David's life
who inflicted the most intense personal pain on David.
One was early in his life,
and you know who that was, who was it?
King Saul.
In the psalms where David is bold about his righteousness
and the vileness of men within Israel,
that's a very likely guess that Saul is the one causing this deep personal pain.
But much later in David's life,
when he's an old man,
after he sinned,
he committed the sin with Bathsheba.
He neglected to use his office as king to execute justice on his own son.
Another son of his led a rebellion from within Jerusalem against David.
Do you remember his name?
Absalom.
So as we're reading Psalm 13,
try to decide from the tone
and the way David talks about his own standing before God,
do you think it's earlier in his life or later in his life?
As I read our sermon text,
we read it receiving it as God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, and sufficient word.
It's God's very own word for you, his people.
When I'm done reading, I'll say this is the word of God.
If you receive it that way, please respond with confidence.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 13.
For the choir director, a Psalm of David.
How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long will I store up anxious concerns within me?
Agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate or be exalted over me?
Verse 3.
Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes,
otherwise I will sleep in death.
My enemy will say, I have triumphed over him,
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
Verse 5.
But I have trusted in your faithful or steadfast love.
My heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
I will sing to the Lord because he has treated me generously.
This is the word of God.
Amen.
Thanks be to God.
You may be seated.
The grass withers and the flower fades,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Amen.
to new life that bears fruit.
We pray that you will do all of this, Lord,
in your timing,
according to the means that you have ordained
for your people.
For your glory alone we ask.
Amen.
Imagine that it's your first day on a new job.
You're working in the emergency room.
You've donned your PPE.
You put on your personal protective equipment.
And you see the fire lights coming
and the EMTs rush this person
on a cot with wheels through the doors.
And you just hear more experienced staff say,
this one is probably not going to make it.
The charge nurse does some triage quickly,
sends this patient right on through to the doctor.
And you're amazed at watching the doctor
take these steps.
Diagnosing,
providing a swift, intense treatment,
stitching up layer of layer of tissue,
taking all the steps and precautions
so that infection won't develop inside,
and then programming out
what are all the steps
to the deepest level of healing
and rehabilitation.
There was an old pastor
that lived in the 4th century,
so the 300s,
named John Chrysostom.
And he used a wonderful metaphor
about the church
that shows the influence
of Christ on the apostles
and the tone that set
for hundreds of years,
and it should be the tone
of every generation.
And it's this.
Chrysostom said,
the church is not a courtroom for souls.
It's a hospital for souls.
Amen?
The church,
you and me,
we're here as patients
that God has healed
and he's healing and rehabilitating,
and he brings in more sick
and wounded souls
into his hospital.
And we get to be a very small part of that
and watch him,
the great physician,
work on one soul after the other.
And bear witness,
great is his faithfulness
for you,
for you.
Great is his faithfulness.
In Psalm 13,
David is the patient.
He comes in
and the description,
it's a wounded,
a severely wounded man.
He's not wounded on the body this time.
I think he's old.
He's contrite.
He's aware of God's
abounding grace to him.
And he's conflicted internally,
probably because he still is wrestling
with his own guilt.
And he's a wounded soul
that needs the doctor to heal him.
And so that's my invitation to you
this morning
as we walk through Psalm 13.
Let's watch God work.
Let's see how God heals
a wounded soul.
Number one,
symptoms of a severely wounded soul.
Symptoms of a severely wounded soul.
Verses two and three.
It's a big word.
So kids,
what is a symptom?
It's a sign,
something we can see
that's pointing to something.
And it's a sign of illness,
a manifestation of a problem,
an ailment,
a malady,
or a disorder.
Something that needs fixing.
It needs treatment.
Look at verse two.
David cries out,
how long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
David is deeply cut.
Have you been deeply cut before in your life?
You can only be deeply cut
by those about whom you care deeply,
those whom you have loved deeply.
They're the ones who can cut so deeply.
So those you know best
and those who know you best
are the ones positioned
to make you hurt the worst.
In David's heart,
as every father here knows,
he had to have been full of joy
watching Absalom grow.
As Absalom learned to talk
and take a few steps,
eventually grow up
and learn to ride a horse,
what a joy that brings a father.
Parents feel that the days go too fast
with their little ones.
But now David says,
how long must I have sorrow in my heart?
All the day.
David has been deeply cut
by someone within his own family.
In verse 2 he says,
how long must I take counsel in my soul?
So David as king,
he's got councilmen,
he's got generals and financial advisors
and all kinds of counsel
about running an empire.
That's not what he's talking about in this case.
It has nothing to do with
the outward blessings he's looking for.
He is cut on the inside.
And he's taking counsel with his own soul.
You're taking counsel with your own soul
when you feel stuck.
In your mind, in your heart, your spirit,
you're spinning.
You picture a tire in the mud
or snow where it's not even getting traction,
it's just spinning.
There's nothing for it to grip onto,
to move you out of that.
He's consumed by the complications
of this conflict.
If, in fact,
Psalms 13 comes at the end of David's life
because he says,
Lord, you have dealt bountifully with me.
Then David, at this point,
had lost his moral high ground.
He couldn't be taken seriously
by anyone in the kingdom.
He had disqualified himself
as a spiritual leader.
His sin was horrible,
hurtful,
and public.
To be more specific,
David's firstborn son,
who was the crown prince,
the one who was supposed to become
the next king of Israel,
had violated
Absalom's sister, Tamar.
From Absalom's perspective,
David did nothing about it.
So Absalom goes to the gates
and stirs up others to say,
if I were king,
I would deal justly.
I would do everything
that my dad's done wrong correctly.
And David is taking counsel
in his own soul.
He's consumed
because this is complicated.
There's no easy way out of this one.
In verse 3,
we have Hebrew poetry
that's concise,
so I don't want to read more into it
that's there.
But in verse 3,
he says,
Light up my eyes,
Lord,
lest I sleep,
the sleep of death.
Lord,
my soul
is going to go to sleep.
I'm going to die.
Maybe he's contemplating,
how can I even escape this situation?
And if I can't escape this in body,
maybe my soul can escape my body.
I can't take it any longer.
How long,
oh Lord?
These are symptoms
of a severely wounded soul.
How can a severely wounded soul
get out of that?
What makes it even more complicated
is being wounded so deeply,
it changes how you feel
about two different parties.
How you feel about God changes,
and how you feel toward your abusers
also changes.
Notice how a severely wounded soul
in Psalm 13
feels toward God.
You feel like God
is making you endure
more than you can bear.
He says,
How long,
oh Lord?
You feel like God
does not care
that you continue to suffer.
In verse 1 again,
Will you forget me forever?
God,
it feels like you have forgotten me
right now.
Are you going to never bring me
back into your mind
and do something?
You feel like God
has made himself
distant from you.
Verse 1 again,
How long will you hide
your face from me?
And you feel like God,
if he is good,
then he must be powerless.
In verse 3 he says,
Consider,
look at my situation, God,
and answer me.
Because if you really look
at what I'm in right now
and consider this,
how could you not act?
So if you are good
and you're considering this,
then act.
If you don't act,
I'm going to feel like
you're powerless.
A severely wounded soul,
it's changed
in the way you feel about God.
And also,
a severely wounded soul
has strong,
intense feelings
that you can't shake
about the one
who is hurting you
or who has hurt you.
a severely wounded soul
feels differently
toward those enemies.
He says,
It's like they've taken
a God-like place
over my mind.
They're above me.
In verse 2,
How long shall my enemy
be exalted over me?
To be exalted,
that's the place of God.
And they have pushed me
so low with their power.
They've taken
a God-like place
in my mind,
in my heart.
It's consuming
all my thoughts.
He's concerned
with what
that abuser
or that enemy
will say
or think about him.
In verse 4,
he says,
Answer me,
O Lord,
my God,
lest my enemy say
I have prevailed
over him.
That's the worst thing
that could happen.
They'll brag
about this position
they've got over me.
They've got more power
and they're going
to brag about it.
Obsessing,
thinking about
how that person
is going to talk
about them.
And in verse 4,
he says,
Lest my foes rejoice
because I am shaken.
His main reason
for wanting God
to act,
to bring revenge,
it seems to be
to protect
his own pride.
He's been wounded.
He's felt
the injustice.
And he wants
to protect
his own pride
and so he's calling
on God
because to be wounded
in this way,
it changes how you feel
about the enemy.
Well,
we see a turn
in verse 5.
What's the first word
in verse 5
in your translation
of God's word?
But,
but I have trusted
in your steadfast love.
We don't get
more context,
we don't get more hints
of how this came about,
but we do see
another safe center
bearing witness.
When I was
so severely wounded,
God caused me
once again
to trust
in his
steadfast love.
Lord,
I feel like
you are making me
endure
more than I can bear,
but I am trusting
in your steadfast love.
are you needing
some healing?
Are you needing
God
to heal you
in a deeper way
to undo
some of the wounds
you've had to suffer
in your life
with the sin
all around us?
All of that suffering
was his providence
for you
so that he can
heal you
and you can bear witness
of his steadfast love.
1 Corinthians 10,
13,
God is faithful.
He is true
to who he is
and he will not
let you be tried
or tested
beyond what you can bear,
but when you are tested,
he will also provide
a way out
so that you can
stand up
under the testing.
In Psalm 13,
it's like David
was praying,
Lord,
I feel
that you don't care
whether I continue
to suffer,
but I am trusting
in your steadfast love.
We see this
steadfast love
in Hebrews 2,
18,
how our Lord Jesus Christ,
he suffered,
was tried,
and so he is able
to help those
who are tried now.
In Hebrews 13,
12,
our Lord Jesus Christ
was taken to suffer
outside of the gate
so that he might
sanctify you,
his people,
through his own blood.
Lord,
I feel like
you made yourself
distant from me,
you've hidden
your face from me,
that's how it feels,
but I am trusting
in your steadfast love.
You,
Lord,
in the person
of the Son,
you took on
the role of mediator,
you accomplished
what your own
justice requires,
and now as representative
of your people,
you turn around
and you mediate
grace,
the grace of God
to me.
Our Lord Jesus
stands like the
high priest in heaven
and he blesses you.
In the words of
Numbers 6,
he blesses you
for God to bless you
and keep you
and make his face
to shine upon you
and be gracious to you
and that God will lift
up his countenance
upon you
and give you
his own peace.
So trust in his
steadfast love.
David cries out,
Lord,
it feels like
if you are good,
then you are powerless,
but I am trusting
in your steadfast love.
2 Thessalonians 1,
8 and 9,
God one day
will punish
all those
who don't know him,
not for your pride
and mine,
but he will do it
for his own glory.
All those who reject
the good news
of Jesus Christ,
they will pay
the penalty,
which is
eternal destruction.
destruction.
And 2 Thessalonians
says that this
eternal destruction,
it comes from
the very face
of the Lord
and from the glory
of his might.
That's how God
healed this
severely wounded soul.
And when a soul
is healed
by the grace of God,
it changes how
you feel
toward God.
How does a healed
soul feel
toward God?
In the words
of Psalm 13.
Look at verse 6.
I will sing
to the Lord.
He was crying out,
desperate,
lamenting,
and now he's
singing to the Lord.
And why?
Verse 6,
because God
has dealt
bountifully,
abundantly,
graciously
with me.
David had
prayed,
how long
will you
hide your
face?
And God
has shown him,
David,
if I were
to approach
you
in all
the splendor
of my holiness
and my glory,
by the gracious
blood of the
covenant,
without that
blood to protect
you,
you'd be like
a snowflake
thrown onto
a massive
bonfire.
You would
melt
before the
face of God.
I've not
hidden my
face from
you,
David.
I've covered
you with
my grace.
You don't
want what
you deserve.
I don't
want what
I deserve.
But God,
he deals
abundantly,
graciously,
bountifully with
his people.
And it
changes how
we feel.
We sing
to one
another,
come,
oh sinner,
come and
mourn,
for he calls
your sin
his own.
Do you
feel the
weight of
justice
served?
He suffered
the wrath
that you
deserve.
So David
says,
I trust
in your
steadfast
love.
I do
long for
your presence,
for your
deliverance,
your free,
gracious face
shining on
me.
I long
for that.
Your
countenance
lifted up
and welcoming
me.
And the
Lord heals
him with
that cry.
would you
turn a few
pages forward
to Psalm
30,
verse 2.
Psalm
30,
verse 2.
Another
Psalm of
David.
A similar
cry coming
from his
lips.
And listen
to his
testimony in
Psalm 30,
verse 2.
Oh Lord,
my God,
I cried
to you
for help
and you
have
healed me.
Oh Lord,
my God,
you have
healed me.
If this
resonates with
you, I
encourage you
to memorize
that short,
powerful little
verse.
When we
memorize God's
word, we
hide it in
our heart.
The spirit
draws it up
in those
moments where
our emotions
are too
weak.
He ministers
it to us
over and
over again.
David said,
my heart
shall rejoice
in your
salvation.
What was
David reflecting
on?
God promised
to save
his people.
God promised
also to
heal his
people.
In Exodus
15, 26,
God said,
I am
Yahweh
who heals
you.
Do you
want to know
who is this
God who's
redeeming you
from slavery
to be his
people?
It's the
God who
heals you.
When our
Lord Jesus
Christ came
to the
earth, God
the Son took
on flesh.
We read in
the four
Gospels of
37 miracles.
And John
says there's
so many more
that can't
even be
recorded.
24, no,
26 of the
37 miracles
recorded in
the four
Gospels are
God healing
people.
Our Lord
Jesus Christ
healed an
official's
fatally sick
son in
Luke 4.
And he
cleansed the
soul of a
demon-possessed
man in
Mark 1.
To show
us, I
am Yahweh
who heals
you.
Trust in
my steadfast
love.
Our Lord
Jesus Christ
cleansed a
man with
leprosy,
Mark 1.
A man with
a withered
hand, Luke
6.
And he
healed Peter's
mother-in-law
in Matthew
8.
To show
us, I
am Yahweh
who heals
you.
Trust in
my steadfast
love.
Our Lord
Jesus Christ,
he healed
the centurion's
paralyzed servant
in Luke
7.
When the
sun was
setting in
Luke 4,
our Lord
Jesus Christ
healed all
the sick
with various
diseases and
those oppressed
by demons so
that you would
trust in his
steadfast love.
Our Lord
Jesus Christ
healed the
paralytic who
was let down
through the roof
in Mark 2.
to show you,
I am
Yahweh who
heals you.
A widow's
son in Luke
7,
Jairus'
daughter Luke
8,
Lazarus in
the tomb,
they were
all already
sleeping the
sleep of
death.
And our
Lord Jesus
Christ lit
up their
eyes.
He brought
them back
to life to
show how
great the
power of
his might.
Our
Lord Jesus
heals.
through the
person of
Jesus Christ
God will
heal you.
He will
heal your
soul.
He will
prepare your
soul for
eternity with
him.
We read in
1 Peter 2
23-25
this is
quoting Isaiah
53-5
how Jesus
Christ himself
bore our
sins in his
body on the
tree that we
might die to
sin and live
to righteousness
by his
wounds you
are healed.
Amen.
Beloved
congregation of
our Lord Jesus
Christ, my
exhortation for
you today is
trust in his
steadfast love.
He is God
who heals
you.
The church is a
hospital for
souls.
If you're
wounded today,
go to God
through Jesus
Christ.
If your soul
feels sick
today, go
again to God
through Jesus
Christ.
If you need
deeper and
deeper healing,
go to God
through Christ.
Trust in his
steadfast love.
That's the
simple message,
the simple
melody, that's
the sound your
soul needs over
and over again.
to illustrate
this on a super
simple level, I've
learned recently
about a type of
treatment for deep
scar tissue called
shockwave.
It's a sound, a
blast, and that
never changes.
But it has an
effect on that scar
tissue below the
skin, below the
surface, and that
same shockwave, the
same message, the
same sound, it
works over time,
months, years, but it
brings about healing
by God's grace.
Why would God have
designed our bodies
to heal in these
powerful ways if it
wasn't to teach us a
deeper truth that he
is God who heals
his people?
Only God can heal
your wounded soul.
Go to God through
Christ and trust in
his steadfast love.
Amen?
Let's spend some time
in prayer, receiving
this truth, and
praising God for his
faithfulness.
Thank you.