The Blessings of Troubles! (A Look at Psalm 57)

I’ve been looking at Psalm 57 this week with my friend Frank. Most of us want to live a trouble-free life, right? But there are some distinct benefits of troubles. The first benefit is: I. Troubles Help Us to Seek the Lord! (v. 1).  The second benefit or blessing is that: II. Troubles focus our attention in becoming steadfast in our faith (v. 7). The third blessing is that: III. Troubles provoke us to praise (v. 9). And the fourth blessing is that: IV. Troubles get us to think about His faithfulness (v. 10). Want to live a life free from troubles? Then you will learn nothing from the Psalmist!

 

A Great Quote from Pastor John Piper: The Purposes of God

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 88)

Psalm 88

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A maskil^[c] of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹ Lord, you are the God who saves me;
    day and night I cry out to you.
² May my prayer come before you;
    turn your ear to my cry.

³ I am overwhelmed with troubles
    and my life draws near to death.
⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am like one without strength.
⁵ I am set apart with the dead,
    like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
    who are cut off from your care.

⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit,
    in the darkest depths.
⁷ Your wrath lies heavily on me;
    you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
⁸ You have taken from me my closest friends
    and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
⁹     my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, Lord, every day;
    I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you show your wonders to the dead?
    Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
¹¹ Is your love declared in the grave,
    your faithfulness in Destruction?
¹² Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
    or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

¹³ But I cry to you for help, Lord;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why, Lord, do you reject me
    and hide your face from me?

¹⁵ From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
    I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me;
    your terrors have destroyed me.
¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood;
    they have completely engulfed me.
¹⁸ You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
    darkness is my closest friend.

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 55)

Psalm 55

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David.

¹ Listen to my prayer, O God,
    do not ignore my plea;
²     hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
³     because of what my enemy is saying,
    because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
    and assail me in their anger.

⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
    the terrors of death have fallen on me.
⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me;
    horror has overwhelmed me.
⁶ I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest.
⁷ I would flee far away
    and stay in the desert;
⁸ I would hurry to my place of shelter,
    far from the tempest and storm.”

⁹ Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
    for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
    malice and abuse are within it.
¹¹ Destructive forces are at work in the city;
    threats and lies never leave its streets.

¹² If an enemy were insulting me,
    I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
    I could hide.
¹³ But it is you, a man like myself,
    my companion, my close friend,
¹⁴ with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
    at the house of God,
as we walked about
    among the worshipers.

¹⁵ Let death take my enemies by surprise;
    let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
    for evil finds lodging among them.

¹⁶ As for me, I call to God,
    and the Lord saves me.
¹⁷ Evening, morning and noon
    I cry out in distress,
    and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He rescues me unharmed
    from the battle waged against me,
    even though many oppose me.
¹⁹ God, who is enthroned from of old,
    who does not change—
he will hear them and humble them,
    because they have no fear of God.

²⁰ My companion attacks his friends;
    he violates his covenant.
²¹ His talk is smooth as butter,
    yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
    yet they are drawn swords.

²² Cast your cares on the Lord
    and he will sustain you;
he will never let
    the righteous be shaken.
²³ But you, God, will bring down the wicked
    into the pit of decay;
the bloodthirsty and deceitful
    will not live out half their days.

But as for me, I trust in you.

 

Psalms of My Life (Psalm 71)

Psalm 71

¹ In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame.
² In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
    turn your ear to me and save me.
³ Be my rock of refuge,
    to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
    for you are my rock and my fortress.
⁴ Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.

⁵ For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
    my confidence since my youth.
⁶ From birth I have relied on you;
    you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
    I will ever praise you.
⁷ I have become a sign to many;
    you are my strong refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise,
    declaring your splendor all day long.

⁹ Do not cast me away when I am old;
    do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
¹⁰ For my enemies speak against me;
    those who wait to kill me conspire together.
¹¹ They say, “God has forsaken him;
    pursue him and seize him,
    for no one will rescue him.”
¹² Do not be far from me, my God;
    come quickly, God, to help me.
¹³ May my accusers perish in shame;
    may those who want to harm me
    be covered with scorn and disgrace.

¹⁴ As for me, I will always have hope;
    I will praise you more and more.

¹⁵ My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
    of your saving acts all day long—
    though I know not how to relate them all.
¹⁶ I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;
    I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
¹⁷ Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
    and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray,
    do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
    your mighty acts to all who are to come.

¹⁹ Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,
    you who have done great things.
    Who is like you, God?
²⁰ Though you have made me see troubles,
    many and bitter,
    you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will again bring me up.
²¹ You will increase my honor
    and comfort me once more.

²² I will praise you with the harp
    for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
    Holy One of Israel.
²³ My lips will shout for joy
    when I sing praise to you—
    I whom you have delivered.
²⁴ My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
    all day long,
for those who wanted to harm me
    have been put to shame and confusion.

 

Psalms of My Life (Psalm 43)

Psalm 43 1 Vindicate me, my God,     and plead my cause     against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are     deceitful and wicked. 2 You are God my stronghold.     Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning,     oppressed by the enemy? 3 Send me your light and your faithful care,     let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain,     to the place where you dwell. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God,     to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre,     O God, my God. 5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?     Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God,     for I will yet praise him,     my Savior and my God.

 

Time for a Great Quote! (Piper on God’s purposes in troubles)

“Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.”
― John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God

 

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You! (time for a great commercial)

This commercial cracks me up!  The daughter is THRILLED with her first car — and then it gets CRUSHED by a monster of some kind!  I’ve reproduced the picture of that event below.

Let’s face it — no matter how much insurance you have, it won’t cover all the tragedies and calamities that can befall you in life.

That’s one of the reasons I’m so glad to be a believer in Jesus. He has not promised to save us from robbers, thieves, or monsters.

Some Christians suppose that a relationship with Jesus gets them a “Get Out of Jail Free” card, guarantees them a happy and pain-free life, and removes all actual and potential threats from their zip code.  That supposition is a lie and comes from the pit.

Here’s how J.B. Phillips put it:

“Frankly, I do not know who started the idea that if men serve God and live their lives to please him then he will protect them by special intervention from pain, suffering, misfortune, and the persecution of evil men. We need look no further than the recorded life of Jesus Christ himself to see that even the most perfect human life does not secure such divine protection. It seems to me that a great deal of misunderstanding and mental suffering could be avoided if this erroneous idea were exposed and abandoned. . . . The idea that if a man pleases God then God will especially shield him, belongs to the dim twilight of religion and not to Christianity at all.” (J.B. Phillips, God Our Contemporary)

Questions:

1.  “What you don’t know can hurt you.”  Isn’t it true that what we do know can also hurt us?  Can you think of one example?

2.  Living in a work of hurt, would you agree with the statement by Pastor Stephen Brown that “Sometimes we can serve God better with our wounds than with our wellness?”  Why or why not?