How Christians Can Help Our Families

How Christians Can Help Our Families

Psalm 25:1-21 (Initial reading vs. 1-7)

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - June 1, 2014

*All families have problems. Many ungodly families bounce non-stop from trouble to trouble, and many godly families mostly live in triumph. But all families have problems, and King David's family was no exception. In fact, David's family had more trouble than most. David was an older man in these verses. And something had gone terribly wrong in his life.

*Charles Spurgeon and other Bible scholars thought that it was the great rebellion of David's son, Absalom, and that makes sense. In his younger years, Absalom was a great favorite of his father and the people of Israel. He was handsome, charming popular and persuasive.

*Terrible family trouble started when his half-brother, Amnon, raped Absalom's sister Tamar. Sadly, King David shut his eyes to this great crime. But two years later Absalom carried out a successful plan to avenge his sister, and Amnon was murdered.

*To avoid punishment Absalom fled into exile for 3 years, before being allowed to come back to Jerusalem. Two more years passed before he was allowed into the royal presence. By that time Absalom had determined to rebel against his father. And he was able to convince so many people to follow him that David had to flee Jerusalem.

*The Lord gave David time to raise an army that fought a great battle in the forests of Ephraim. There the rebel army was utterly defeated. Twenty thousand were killed in the initial fighting, and even more died in the forest that day.

*One of the men who died in that battle was the king's son, Absalom. He was riding on his mule when his long hair got caught in the branches of a tree. Then, in spite of the fact that his father had ordered Absalom to be taken alive, he was killed with three darts to the heart, and finished off by a beating from ten soldiers. (1)

*David's heart was broken. What a horrible chain of events. David may have still been on the run when he wrote this Psalm. We can see his anguish in vs. 15-19:

15. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.

16. Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted.

17. The troubles of my heart have enlarged; Oh, bring me out of my distresses!

18. Look on my affliction and my pain, And forgive all my sins.

19. Consider my enemies, for they are many; And they hate me with cruel hatred.

*That's how bad things can get. And rebellious children can break our hearts too. All families have to go through heartache and tragedy. All families face problems: all the way from skinned knees to Alzheimer's, from broken toys to head-on collisions, from kids fighting in the back seat to parents fighting in court.

*All families have problems. What can we do? How can Christians help our families? David shows us four things that can make a world of difference.

1. First of all: We have to keep trusting in the Lord.

*One of the greatest things about King David was that he kept on trusting in the Lord. King David was viciously betrayed by his own son. Terrible things had happened. But even in the most treacherous situations, David had learned to trust the Lord.

*Here in Psalm 25, we can see David express his trust at least ten ways. For example: In vs. 1&2, David trusted God enough to cry out for His help:

1. To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

2. O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me.

*David took his troubles to the Lord, and that's what we should do. Then in vs. 3, David trusted God enough to wait on the Lord. There David prayed: "Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause."

*David knew that the answer might not come right away. But he was willing to wait on the Lord. And David talks about waiting on the Lord two other times here in Psalm 25. In vs. 5 he told God: "Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day." And in vs. 21 David said: "Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You."

*Scott Harrison is a dog lover who learned a lesson about waiting on the Lord. It came through one of Scott's favorite dogs. Listen to part of his testimony: "Sam was my best dog, ever, a field trial dog who found birds and pointed them with contagious enthusiasm. Sam taught me the joy of becoming part of nature. He was so much more than a bird dog, though.