Text: Psalm 6:1-10, Title: From the Depths, Date/Place: NRBC, 12/21/08, AM
A. Opening illustration: Some other story about pain, ask Francis if I can share the summary of her year in pain.
B. Background to passage: Again we are not given a background, but a new notation about this song being played on an eight-stringed harp. But when we read this psalm, we can see that this is what those of previous generations called “the dark night of the soul.” David gives us a real life testimony of one of his darkest times, and how God blessed him with showers of mercy and grace.
C. Main thought: In our darkest moments when we feel the most alone, we can call out to God, and He delivers.
A. Pain from the soul (v. 1-7)
1. Some classify this psalm as a lament, some as a penitential psalm. I think it is both. I think that we have an extremely painful situation (as evidenced by the text) that David is experiencing, and probably desperately attempting to discern a possible cause, so that he can determine a solution. So maybe his situation is directly related to sin, and maybe not, but it hurts, and a solution is needed! David begins with asking God not to rebuke and chasten him in His anger. So David doesn’t assume that he has done nothing to deserve this. He at least allows for the possibility that this is divine retribution for some sin or error he has committed unknowingly. And of course there is also the Job situation where even God has said that he is righteous, and there is not necessarily a sin being rebuked. (Of course, if we focus on ourselves for an extended time, sin will flourish.) The bottom line is that David is in immense pain, so much so that he feels like God has abandoned Him, cannot sleep, and cries all night instead. In fact, he has cried so much that his eyes don’t work right and have grown weary. He says that his bones and his soul are troubled. And he calls out to God to remember him before he dies. And he calls upon God to exercise mercy (hesed), which is a beautiful word translated mercy, or lovingkindness, or covenant love, tender mercies, or goodness. Grace would be the NT equivalent. He even bargains with God about the best place to bring Him praise before men being alive rather than in the grave.
2. like Job, when suffering goes on long enough, you’ll try anything for relief, Ps 42:3, 73:26, Job 7:3, 10:1, 23:2, Lam 1:16, 2:11, 2 Cor 1:8-9, Micah 7:8-9, 2 Sam 22:2-4, Ps 18:2, 40:17,
3. Illustration: “We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities, and everyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” –C. S. Lewis, Tell about Ronnie’s submission to go into evangelism and his healing, A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. "But I don’t ask for justice," the mother explained. "I plead for mercy." "But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied. "Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for." "Well, then," the emperor said, "I will have mercy." And he spared the woman’s son, A Prayer for Deliverance 1. Personally affirm your faith in Christ: “Lord Jesus Christ, I believe You are the Son of God and the only way to God – that You died on the cross for my sins and rose again so that I might be forgiven and receive eternal life.” 2. Humble yourself: “I renounce all pride and religious self-righteousness and dignity that does not come from You. I have no claim on Your mercy except that You died in my place.” 3. Confess any known sin: “I confess all my sins before You and hold nothing back. Especially I confess …” 4. Repent of all sins: “I repent of all my sins. I turn away from them and I turn to You, Lord, for mercy and forgiveness.” 5. Forgive all other people: “By a decision of my will, I freely forgive all who have ever harmed or wronged me. I lay down all bitterness, all resentment and all hatred. My Deliverer, -Tomlin,
4. Much of our time is spent in painful situations trying to justify our own righteousness. We live in a culture that in general is not big on personal responsibility. But we must remember that we do not get what we deserve, PTL. Sometimes if we can correct what God is speaking to us about it may shorten our suffering. And suffering that we endure may not be from something directly that we have done, but we are far from innocent sufferers. In your pain, be careful not to become overly self-focused. Ever tried to bargain with God for things that you know He desires from us anyway? Know also that the biblical witness speaks of many who have suffered like you. You are not alone! Knowing that we deserve death and suffering, and that the Lord may be causing this suffering for our greater good, we can call to Him on the basis of mercy. He is our Deliver!
B. Remedy from above (v. 8-10)
1. All of a sudden David seems to arise with great confidence. The older generation used to speak of “praying through.” And he did. You can picture his continence changing from sorrow and weeping to bold confidence. Now he can face tomorrow. Now he declares to the enemies, “be gone!” And David lists one reason a couple of times as the basis of his renewed joy: God heard his prayer. Don’t read too much into it. It doesn’t say that God did what David asked Him to do. It doesn’t say that deliverance had come. It doesn’t say that there would be no more weeping nights or empty bank accounts. It simply says that God heard! Some way, David knew that God heard, and that was enough to send his confidence soaring through the roof. God’s presences had returned. Faith had been revived. All of life looked different. And he knew that whatever God did with his supplication, it would be good! Everything that God does in our lives is always good, even if on the surface it seems bad. God at His very core is good, and everything that flows from Him is good.
2. Luke 18:1, Mark 11:24, Rom 8:18,
3. Illustration: kinda like when Christ gets done praying in the garden in The Passion of the Christ, kinda like Dr. Foreman on House after his near death experience, everything was just peachy, In 60 years, beginning with two pence, George Mueller took care of 10,000 orphans. He looked out & saw homeless kids. He could have said, "But, I don’t have any money. But, there is no way to care for them, to meet their needs, to buy the food." Instead, he looked at them & said, "Therefore, I will reach out & help them." And God blessed his efforts in a mighty way. He told amazing stories of answered prayers. He kept a record of his prayers, & his prayer records filled more than 3,000 pages. His notes show that more than 30,000 prayers were answered. It went down in the history of Minnesota as the day God answered the prayers of the people." –April, 1876, John Maxwell,
4. Sometimes you just got to pray through. Many of us do not persist in prayer like we ought to. There are probably many of you today who have been praying all your life, but have never felt the presence of God just come in your hour of need. And there are many of you here as well who haven’t felt it in a very long time. Let me encourage you to pray as though you mean it, as though you expect God to at least hear, and act. How about your confidence in your God? If He did let you know that He heard your prayer, would that be enough for your continence to change? Would it be enough for you to command your problems to dissipate before your eyes? I would to God that our vision of who He really is would increase! He is so big, so huge, so powerful, so holy, so loving, so faithful, and so sufficient to handle any feeble issue that we have without even breaking a sweat. And when he know that kind of God, we arise from prayer confident in our Deliverer to do whatever is pleasing to Him. And most importantly, we have a preconceived mindset to receive it as the good and wise will of our Sovereign God!
A. Closing illustration: Ridley Barron’s testimony
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
