WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.599 Now, let's read together from Psalm 44. We're going to read Psalm 44. So, we've been thinking 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:17.480 about how to grow in our relationship with God, how the Psalms help us because they give us 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:24.600 words to speak to God. They talk to us about the attitudes of our heart. And here we come to 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:32.880 one of the Lament Psalms, where a group of songwriters here, the sons of Korah, in their pain 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:40.260 cry out to God. There's a lot of theology and truth in here, as well as honest complaint. So, 00:00:40.260 --> 00:00:46.780 let's hear it, and then we'll think about it together. This is God's Word. We have heard it 00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:53.460 with our ears, O God. Our ancestors have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago. 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:59.780 With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our ancestors. You crushed the peoples 00:00:59.780 --> 00:01:07.079 and made our ancestors flourish. It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:12.939 bring them victory. It was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:21.020 You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. Through you we push back our enemies, 00:01:21.019 --> 00:01:28.239 through your name we trample our foes. I put no trust in my bow. My sword does not bring me victory, 00:01:28.759 --> 00:01:35.479 but you give us victory over our enemies. You put our adversaries to shame. In God we make our boast 00:01:35.479 --> 00:01:44.640 all day long, and we will praise your name forever. But now you have rejected and humbled us. You no longer 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:50.579 go out with our armies. You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us. 00:01:51.299 --> 00:01:56.659 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations. You sold your 00:01:56.659 --> 00:02:03.120 people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale. You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, 00:02:03.620 --> 00:02:08.300 the scorn and derision of those around us. You have made us a byword among the nations. 00:02:08.300 --> 00:02:15.040 The people shake their heads at us. I live in disgrace all day long, and my face is covered 00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:21.600 with shame at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me because of the enemy who is bent on 00:02:21.600 --> 00:02:28.240 revenge. All this came upon us, though we had not forgotten you. We had not been false to your covenant. 00:02:28.880 --> 00:02:35.360 Our hearts had not turned back. Our feet had not strayed from your path. But you crushed us 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:42.540 and made us a haunt for jackals. You covered us over with deep darkness. If we had forgotten the 00:02:42.540 --> 00:02:47.960 name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign God, would not God have discovered it since 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:56.460 he knows the secrets of the heart? Yet for your sake we face death all day long. We are considered as 00:02:56.460 --> 00:03:04.880 sheep to be slaughtered. Awake, Lord. Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself. Do not reject us forever. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:11.680 Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? We are brought down to the dust. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:21.859 Our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up and help us. Rescue us because of your unfailing love. 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:32.300 So there is a national lament to help us think about lament. And it's important that we do that 00:03:32.300 --> 00:03:40.920 because as we well know, suffering is all around us. Whether that takes the form of illness or 00:03:40.920 --> 00:03:48.640 redundancy, whether it's a prodigal children and the breakdown of family, whether that's rejection that 00:03:48.640 --> 00:03:57.360 we face, loneliness we suffer, grief we experience. No one is immune. And we need to face it with 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:06.260 realism. And that's where the lament songs come to us as gifts of grace from a merciful God. 00:04:07.040 --> 00:04:15.300 They are songs in a minor key. And even as we read it, I'm sure we heard it. These are personal, 00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:27.319 honest, raw songs of faith. One third of our psalms are laments, reminding us that suffering is not 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:37.300 unusual and an outlier, but rather it's normal and indeed central in many ways to the life of faith. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:43.240 And the lament psalms are so helpful for us as Christians because they give voice to 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:52.139 the dilemma that we face as we begin to think about our circumstances under the hands of a sovereign 00:04:52.139 --> 00:04:58.819 God. So we have on the one hand, here is what I know to be true of God from His Word. Here are the 00:04:58.819 --> 00:05:07.779 realities I expect to find in relationship to a faithful and loving God. But life sometimes brings 00:05:07.779 --> 00:05:14.680 us the exact opposite. And that's where the laments come in. The laments, in a sense, are the songs that 00:05:14.680 --> 00:05:21.459 nobody wants to sing, that nobody wants to sing, but they provide for us such valuable help and comfort 00:05:21.459 --> 00:05:30.639 when it's time for sorrow and suffering. To grow in our relationship with God, the laments, they teach us 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:40.340 about honesty, to voice our fears and our struggles and our complaints, and to keep trusting in God's 00:05:40.339 --> 00:05:49.359 character and to keep trusting in God's promises. An image that might be helpful as we go through the 00:05:49.359 --> 00:05:57.779 psalm is to think of an airline pilot flying through dense fog so that he can't see out of his cockpit and 00:05:57.779 --> 00:06:07.399 he has to rely on his control panels in order to guide him safely. What are the control panels for us 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:17.359 as Christians when we find ourselves in the thick fog of suffering? They are the steadfast love of God 00:06:17.359 --> 00:06:27.339 and the unchanging character of our God. And recognizing His grace and mercy comes to us day by day. 00:06:28.159 --> 00:06:36.639 So we're going to use Psalm 44 for a short time. I'll lament after a national disaster, after the 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:41.039 armies of God's death, the armies of God have been defeated in battle and the people have been scattered. 00:06:41.740 --> 00:06:48.500 To help us to see some of the steps that we find in biblical laments, four steps that we can recognize 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:56.219 in biblical laments that we might make them our own so that as we suffer or as we pray for those who suffer, 00:06:57.060 --> 00:07:02.199 we have biblical language, biblical steps that we can take. 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:09.800 The first step, and we see it in the first eight verses of our psalm, is that we are to turn to God 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:17.399 in prayer. So this psalm, now we're told, is written by the sons of Korah. So they are the worship leaders 00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:25.779 of Israel. And so here they are in the face of national defeat, picking up their harps to sing a song. 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:31.639 And what is it that they sing? Where does their song begin? It begins with prayer. 00:07:32.899 --> 00:07:41.259 We have heard it with our ears, O God. The whole psalm is prayer. But what is it that they begin 00:07:41.259 --> 00:07:50.559 talking to God about as they see their armies defeated, killed, and scattered? They go back to 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:59.660 the past. They begin reflecting on God's past acts of redemption, of those moments in their history 00:07:59.660 --> 00:08:09.079 when God fought to deliver his people who trusted in him. Verse 3 says, it was your right hand, your arm, 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:14.019 and the light of your face, for you loved them. That's where victory comes from. God's light and 00:08:14.019 --> 00:08:22.199 God's love shining on his people. And then the songwriters, they move from the past to the present. 00:08:22.539 --> 00:08:29.740 In verses 4 to 8, they say, just as the people of the past trusted in you delivered, so we are trusting 00:08:29.740 --> 00:08:38.799 too. You are our hope. You are our boast, they say. There is that recognition. God is our only savior. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:47.759 God is our only rock of refuge. So the first place lament turns is to the unchanging God 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:56.799 of redeeming love. Here is the foundation for our faith, and it's a foundation that we need to build 00:08:56.799 --> 00:09:04.979 before the storms come, to recognize that God is trustworthy, that God is good, that God is loving. 00:09:04.980 --> 00:09:14.539 Just as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, that we need to build our lives on his word, on his truth. 00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:23.279 We need to have that knowledge that God is a loving redeemer. That's the control panel that needs to 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:34.240 guide our flight of faith, that God is sovereign, and that God is savior. In my prayer time on Friday, 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:43.500 I was reflecting on a verse in Psalm 115, which says, our God is in the heavens. He does all that he 00:09:43.500 --> 00:09:52.220 pleases. I'm a reminder of God's sovereignty over all things, that God permits all things. 00:09:52.220 --> 00:10:01.180 But here's what we need to recognize, that knowing God is sovereign over our lives, that God permits 00:10:01.180 --> 00:10:10.080 all things, that can add a sense of pain, can't it? To know that God could stop this thing, that God could 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:18.660 change my circumstances but doesn't, can add pain and challenge to our thoughts at the same time as it 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:25.959 provides comfort to know that we're in the hands of our Father. And we're going to see in Psalm 44 that 00:10:25.959 --> 00:10:35.219 sense of wrestling, that the Christian response in the end is to trust God in the fog and to pray with 00:10:35.219 --> 00:10:43.720 trust. Now there's a very helpful book written by a pastor called Mark Vrogop called Deep Clouds, 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:49.259 Dark Mercy. I'd really recommend it if you are suffering, if you're looking to help people 00:10:49.259 --> 00:10:56.779 who are suffering, looking at the laments as God's mercy. And he talks about lament and these lament 00:10:56.779 --> 00:11:03.340 prayers and songs standing in the gap between our pain and God's promise. 00:11:03.340 --> 00:11:16.620 And we see that faith brings both tears and trust. Lament calls out in pain to God, 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:24.879 clinging to what we know is true of God, while all the time wrestling with our circumstances. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:35.240 So Psalm 44 begins with blessing in the past, and that in a sense only adds to their sense of misery 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:42.340 and confusion in the present, but it also brings comfort, as they know that God is unchanging, 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:49.139 the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so they look back with hope to the God they know who is their 00:11:49.139 --> 00:12:02.259 redeemer, savior. As followers of Jesus Christ today, we must learn to pray the gospel, to find hope and 00:12:02.259 --> 00:12:10.679 strength as we remember the greatest of all stories of redemption, as we look back to the cross to see 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:17.399 God's love for us in Christ, to recognize that we have been redeemed, not with perishable things, 00:12:17.399 --> 00:12:23.879 but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, that he has saved us from judgment, he has taken our guilt 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:31.120 and shame, and he has set us free. And it's on that basis that we trust, and it's on that basis that we 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:43.079 turn in prayer. So we take our heartbreak, and we take our questions to the cross. What do we see 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:52.120 when we go to the cross? When we go to the cross, we see that God is not against us, that God is for us. 00:12:52.920 --> 00:13:04.060 We see there a God and Savior who knows suffering. He's not disconnected from us in our pain that we feel. 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:12.040 And we also have in Jesus and his resurrection a promise of victory and certain hope beyond suffering. 00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:22.179 And so as we lament, we turn to God in prayer. But there is another step that we see in the laments, 00:13:22.199 --> 00:13:32.659 and we see here in Psalm 44, there is complaint, honest complaint to God. Now it's fair to say that 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:43.199 complaining and complainers are not usually regarded as positive. But this is different because this is 00:13:43.199 --> 00:13:52.240 a complaint of faith. And again, remember that a third of the Psalms are laments, have this complaint 00:13:52.240 --> 00:14:00.259 element. So it is biblical to complain to God, not to complain about God, but to complain to God. And 00:14:00.259 --> 00:14:06.299 it's important to notice that the Psalms are always going to be doing this based on the covenant 00:14:06.299 --> 00:14:14.879 relationship that they have. So in light of who God is and what God can do and who God has been to us in 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:25.679 the past, there are these expressions of disappointment, confusion, complaint. Here in Psalm 44, 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:33.399 we can see them very briefly in verses 9 to 12, they have been rejected, humbled, and defeated. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:41.799 God is pictured as a commander who has abandoned his army to defeat, to slaughter on the battlefield. 00:14:43.139 --> 00:14:53.620 There is exile, there is national disaster. In verses 13 to 16, there is humiliation and disgrace. 00:14:53.620 --> 00:15:02.039 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us, the ungodly 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:10.580 nations adding insult to injury for the people of God as they face shame and mockery because of their 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:18.539 defeat. And this leads the sons of Korah towards protest in verses 17 to 22. They say, 00:15:18.539 --> 00:15:23.519 all this came upon us, though we had not forgotten you, we had not been false to your covenant. 00:15:24.259 --> 00:15:29.759 So sometimes the people of God suffer setback and defeat because they've walked away from God, 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:35.039 but they're saying, not this time. We were faithful, but yet we're suffering. 00:15:36.019 --> 00:15:44.039 They were obedient. There was no trace of idolatry that the sons of Korah could recognize in their 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:51.079 national life. But what's happened is the path of obedience has led them into the jackal's den, 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:57.439 has led them to the place of darkness, has led them to the place of slaughter. 00:16:01.019 --> 00:16:08.379 And so complaint emerges, because here they are in the gap between God's promises and their pain. 00:16:08.379 --> 00:16:15.100 You said obedience would bring covenant blessing, but our life today feels like curse. 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:27.539 Perhaps we recognize that experience. But notice how raw and how honest the sons of Korah are. 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:36.299 I think it's so important for us as Christians to know God can handle our honesty. God already knows 00:16:36.299 --> 00:16:45.199 our hearts and our hearts and our minds. So we should always talk to him honestly about how we feel. 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:48.919 Look at a verse like verse 22. 00:16:49.779 --> 00:16:59.740 Yet for your sake, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 00:16:59.740 --> 00:17:09.279 They talk of the suffering that is part of loyalty towards God. And they're struggling. 00:17:11.059 --> 00:17:18.660 Derek Kidner, who commentates on the psalm, says they are wearing battle scars owing to their loyalty 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:22.920 to God. And they're feeling that pain. 00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:32.320 In their suffering, we recognize an echo of Jesus, the man of sorrows. 00:17:33.420 --> 00:17:36.460 Jesus on the cross who would take up a lament. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.580 Psalm 22, as he cried out, 00:17:39.700 --> 00:17:43.320 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:55.179 The cross stands for us as proof that there is mystery in the fact that here is Jesus, 00:17:55.379 --> 00:18:02.960 the one truly obedient one. And yet at the same time, here is Jesus, the suffering man of sorrows. 00:18:04.460 --> 00:18:09.879 The children of God do suffer and we are loved. 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:15.440 And there is mystery there, but there is truth there. And we see it again at the cross. 00:18:16.580 --> 00:18:21.920 But what do we learn when it comes to complaint from a psalm like verse 44? 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:31.820 For us in our suffering, it's important for us to, in the first place, pray humbly to stand under God 00:18:31.820 --> 00:18:35.840 rather than standing over God in judgment and anger. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:43.939 We have a help. If we are struggling and suffering and we don't know how to pray in our tears, 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:50.740 pray the psalms. 44, 13, 6. There's so many of them. 00:18:52.679 --> 00:18:55.059 We can pray honestly. 00:18:55.059 --> 00:19:02.839 And it's important that we also, and we'll see this is where the psalm goes next, 00:19:02.899 --> 00:19:05.139 we need to pray more than just complain. 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:08.200 We don't simply want to complain. 00:19:08.700 --> 00:19:13.379 We also want to ask for relief and we want to keep trusting. 00:19:14.500 --> 00:19:18.960 So our next step, and we see it here from the sons of Korah, 00:19:19.019 --> 00:19:24.200 is that we are to ask boldly for God to intervene. 00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:33.840 I'm sure in different ways we know that suffering is an exhausting experience. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:44.180 It can be hard to cope when you're constantly living with fear and worry and doubts. 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:53.000 But there's this wonderful confidence in the laments that calls on God, 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:57.500 asking boldly for deliverance. 00:19:57.539 --> 00:20:05.940 And of course, this is drawing confidence from what the songwriters know of God's character and God's promises. 00:20:05.940 --> 00:20:12.620 So again, they're calling to mind their life in the covenant and calling God to act on that basis. 00:20:13.460 --> 00:20:19.940 So that the complaint is overshadowed again by thoughts on who their God is. 00:20:21.940 --> 00:20:26.640 Mark Vrobuk, in his book, Dark Clouds Deep Mercy, he uses the picture of an eclipse. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:34.320 You know, where one object passes in front of the other, sort of concealing the thing behind. 00:20:34.520 --> 00:20:41.640 So that the psalmists here are still wrestling with the fact that God appears to have abandoned, 00:20:41.860 --> 00:20:46.800 allowed his people to suffer, but they don't just keep their focus there. 00:20:46.980 --> 00:20:48.740 So that the complaints are still there. 00:20:48.820 --> 00:20:50.259 The why questions are still there. 00:20:50.259 --> 00:20:55.099 But what now comes to prominence, again, is the character of God. 00:20:56.700 --> 00:21:02.299 And the fact that they have a God to call on who is powerful and who is faithful. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:04.859 And so they're very bold in their prayers. 00:21:05.019 --> 00:21:06.859 Verse 23, awake, Lord. 00:21:07.379 --> 00:21:08.460 Why do you sleep? 00:21:08.599 --> 00:21:09.259 Rouse yourself. 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:10.900 Do not reject us forever. 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:12.879 Take decisive action, Lord. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:14.059 Fix what's broken. 00:21:14.379 --> 00:21:16.740 Be actively involved in our circumstances. 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:20.240 Verse 26, rise up. 00:21:20.259 --> 00:21:21.879 And help us. 00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:23.879 Rescue us. 00:21:24.259 --> 00:21:30.379 They want a fresh experience of God's deliverance in their lives. 00:21:31.660 --> 00:21:39.539 And if you've got your Bible in front of you, you'll notice that their bold asking is in connection to their complaint. 00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:45.879 So in verse 9, they complain that God has rejected us. 00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:54.300 But then in verse 23, they ask God, do not reject us forever. 00:21:55.440 --> 00:22:01.820 In verse 17, the complaint is, all this came upon us, though we had not forgotten you. 00:22:01.819 --> 00:22:16.819 And then in verse 24, why do you hide your face and forget that our misery and oppression, that experience leads them to bold asking. 00:22:16.819 --> 00:22:18.819 Lament lays out pain clearly. 00:22:18.819 --> 00:22:22.819 Lament lays out pain clearly and asks God to intervene. 00:22:22.819 --> 00:22:29.359 Such a helpful pattern for our lives, for our prayer lives. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:39.819 And recognize, too, that lament isn't just for national tragedies or the huge moments of personal suffering that seem to almost overwhelm us. 00:22:39.879 --> 00:22:45.759 But perhaps, too, in the many small ways that we experience trials and suffering. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:48.839 To recognize, here's the character of God. 00:22:48.940 --> 00:22:51.559 To lay out before God, here's what's happening to me. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.920 And to ask God to help on the basis of His character and His promises. 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:08.700 And let me say, too, how important this is for us as we look to be Christian friends, brothers and sisters to one another. 00:23:09.620 --> 00:23:14.420 When someone is suffering and they feel weak, it can be hard to pray. 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:15.660 And we know this, I'm sure. 00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:23.200 This is where the faith of another can serve to strengthen and give confidence. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:27.880 As we can stand in the gap and we can pray for those who suffer. 00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:33.080 We can stand with them and ask boldly of God for them. 00:23:34.779 --> 00:23:40.240 And it's a real strength and encouragement when a brother or sister in Christ does that for us. 00:23:41.059 --> 00:23:49.120 And in all of this, remember Jesus, our man of sorrows, the one who understands us and is for us. 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:55.519 And their asking, final step in lament, leads them to trusting. 00:23:56.279 --> 00:24:03.739 See, there is a decisive choice that we all have to make as we find ourselves in the middle of suffering. 00:24:04.859 --> 00:24:06.959 Will I trust God? 00:24:08.579 --> 00:24:15.519 Laments are those songs that we sing, those prayers that we offer in the thick fog of suffering. 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:21.119 And they're the ones that will lead us to a safe landing place. 00:24:21.180 --> 00:24:27.420 And that safe landing place for us as Christians is resolving to trust our God. 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:31.359 And we see it as the psalm ends. 00:24:32.420 --> 00:24:40.259 That their song has been guided all the way along by this control panel, which is your unfailing love. 00:24:40.259 --> 00:24:47.339 This is a prayer of faith based on God's covenant love. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:49.700 Here are the sons of Korah. 00:24:49.980 --> 00:24:56.299 They are complaining and they are trusting, even when the fog doesn't lift. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:01.599 Even before there is resolution, they have resolved to trust. 00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:04.059 This active choice is made. 00:25:04.180 --> 00:25:07.359 I will trust in my trustworthy God. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:13.219 What they reflect on in Psalm 44, God's love is steadfast. 00:25:14.019 --> 00:25:15.399 God is our Savior. 00:25:16.279 --> 00:25:18.000 God protects his people. 00:25:18.879 --> 00:25:19.799 So there is that choice. 00:25:19.879 --> 00:25:25.939 They're not going to simply lean into their suffering where perhaps bitterness, frustration, disappointment might live. 00:25:26.019 --> 00:25:33.679 But they are going to lean into God and his unfailing love. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:42.640 Paul picks up on Psalm 44 in Romans chapter 8. 00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:46.060 Notice how he uses this. 00:25:47.500 --> 00:25:52.560 In verse 35 of that great chapter, Romans 8, Paul says, 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:56.299 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:25:56.839 --> 00:26:02.319 Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:06.519 As it is written, and here's Psalm 44, 22. 00:26:07.099 --> 00:26:09.659 For your sake we face death all day long. 00:26:10.139 --> 00:26:13.559 We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:17.440 Will those things separate us from the love of Christ? 00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:24.620 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:35.019 There's this beautiful sense in which Paul takes Christian suffering and he wraps it up in that promise of God's unfailing love. 00:26:35.019 --> 00:26:45.259 He points the suffering believer to Jesus to see that our suffering is wrapped up in his wonderful love. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:55.299 That whatever causes us to lament as the people of God, it will not and cannot separate us from God's love as we know it in Jesus. 00:26:55.299 --> 00:27:04.259 So we have the truth that in Christ we will suffer and we can worship. 00:27:05.220 --> 00:27:09.299 There are groans, but there will be glory. 00:27:10.119 --> 00:27:13.220 And so we are called in the end to trust. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:20.139 Trust in the one who gives us strength to keep on trusting him day by day. 00:27:20.140 --> 00:27:25.720 So that we would turn to him in prayer. 00:27:26.780 --> 00:27:29.780 That we would bring our complaints to him honestly. 00:27:30.100 --> 00:27:36.960 We would ask boldly for mercy and deliverance and we would resolve to trust him always. 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:51.720 Just as we close, there is an inscription in Copenhagen Cathedral put there by Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish Christian philosopher. 00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:56.279 And in that stone in Copenhagen Cathedral, Kierkegaard has written, 00:27:56.279 --> 00:28:12.660 We believe that God is great enough to harbor our little lives with all their grievances and that he can lead us from darkness through to the other side. 00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:17.480 And then underneath, he wrote the words of 1 Peter 5, 7, 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:22.940 Cast all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. 00:28:22.940 --> 00:28:38.279 We trust that God can take us safely to safe harbor and we pray and we cast our cares on him, trusting that he will do it. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.140 So we can use the language of lament. 00:28:45.420 --> 00:28:51.519 And we use it as we stand in the gap between God's promises and our pain. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:54.539 Now let's pray together briefly.