From Pouting To Shouting

FROM POUTING TO SHOUTING

Psalm 13:1-6

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. “CHIPPIE THE PARAKEET NEVER saw it coming. The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She’d barely said ‘hello’ when ‘sssopp!’ Chippie got sucked in.

2. “The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie– still alive, but stunned. Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do ... she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.

3. “Poor Chippie never knew what hit him. “A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. ‘Well,’ she replied, ‘Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore he just sits and stares.’

4. “It’s hard not to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . that’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.” [Max Lucado]

B. TEXT

1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; 4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.” Ps. 13:1-6.

C. THE CIRCUMSTANCES

1. David’s was being hunted as a fugitive by Saul. His powers of endurance were almost gone. He felt that unless God acted quickly, his enemies would get the upper hand and he would go down in defeat.

2. In this psalm we see David as defeated, yet victorious; despairing, yet overcoming; weeping, but then singing. Sometimes these kind of extremes happen to us. Life around us can change, but we can be sure that God never changes.

3. God uses the difficulties in our lives to purify and perfect us; chaff is blown away by a storm. A fruit tree needs the changes in the weather to bear fruit. God knows what he’s doing. David here begins with a pity party but ends shouting the victory. I’m hoping that some of you who came in here tonight complaining -- before the service is over -- will go on their way rejoicing.

4. We’re going to look at David’s four complaints and what got him rejoicing, and the 2 factors that brought it about. The title of this message is, “From Pouting to Shouting.”

I. THE FOUR COMPLAINTS (POUTING)

In these verses, four times David said, “How long?” These four capture the bitterness of our own complaints against God.

A. GOD HAS FORGOTTEN ME

1. First, David thinks: “How long will you forget me, O Lord? forever?” Think for a minute. Can God forget? Can Omnipotence forget? Can unchanging love forget? Can infinite faithfulness forget? Yet it seems so to David. You have prayed for mercy, but you haven’t found it; and you think that God’s forgotten.

2. God can’t forget anything; it’s impossible! “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she shouldn’t have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you” says the Lord. We need to lay hold of that great truth, and reject the devil’s accusations against God. God can’t forget and He hasn’t forgotten you.

B. GOD’S FACE SEEMS HIDDEN

1. The next “How long?” represents his feeling of separation from God. “How long will you hide you face from me?” That’s what it seems like to some of you. “Maybe God hasn’t forgotten me, but He’s taken away from you the comfort of his smile.” Are you feeling like, “Lord, how long will you hide thy face from me?”

2. I’m glad you’re crying about it; the ungodly don’t miss the presence of God. They wish that God would always hide his face from them. But to us that face is like the sun on the flowers – radiating love and life.

3. What confuses us are bad circumstances. But there must be times of rain and darkness. What plants can grow without water? If we always have sunshine, would that really be good? The Arabs have a proverb, “All sun makes the desert.” To be whole we need all kinds of spiritual weather. Then we’ll grow up into Christ.