“What Could Be Better Than Hallelujah?”
Psalm 102:1-8
David P. Nolte
For some people the words, “Hallelujah,” or “Praise the Lord,” or, “Bless God!” are just that: words. Keri’s song suggested that there are some words we may say that are better than a Hallelujah.
While I in no way minimize the value of giving God our honest Hallelujahs, because we always ought to praise Him, yet sometimes certain prayers are better than a Hallelujah. Consider David’s prayer, for example: “LORD, hear my prayer! Listen to my plea! Don’t turn away from me in my time of distress. Bend down to listen, and answer me quickly when I call to You. For my days disappear like smoke, and my bones burn like red-hot coals. My heart is sick, withered like grass, and I have lost my appetite. Because of my groaning, I am reduced to skin and bones. I am like an owl in the desert, like a little owl in a far-off wilderness. I lie awake, lonely as a solitary bird on the roof. My enemies taunt me day after day. They mock and curse me.” Psalm 102:1-8 (NLT)
Keri’s song suggests a kind of prayer that, in keeping with David’s prayer, is a cry to God and that’s better than a Hallelujah sometimes!
So, what kind of prayers touch the heart of God as much as our Hallelujah? He loves to hear:
I. A CRY FOR HOPE:
A. David sounds like he needs a good shot of hope.
1. He feels that God has turned away.
2. Life seems to be rapidly flying past him and disappearing like smoke.
3. He is in pain, he is sick and emaciated.
4. He is weary and dreary and forlorn.
5. He feels all alone.
6. He feels attacked, threatened and intimidated.
B. Sometimes we feel like that, don’t we?
1. Life passes us by and is gone before we know it.
2. We become depressed and anxious under the stresses we are compelled to experience.
3. We may feel that people are against us or don’t like us or just don’t care.
4. And worse, we may feel that God has withdrawn from us.
C. Hope has eluded David, but his faith seeks God and his cry does not go unheeded. At the conclusion of this Psalm, he says, “The children of Your people will live in security. Their children’s children will thrive in Your presence.” Psalm 102:28 (NLT). In the midst of hopelessness:
1. He has hope for a better day to come.
2. He has hope for security.
3. He has hope to be in God’s presence.
D. The song expresses a cry for hope from a tearful mother, a hopeless drunk, and a frightened soldier, saying:
God loves a lullaby
In a mothers tears in the dead of night
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.
God loves a drunkards cry,
The soldiers plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.
E. This does not minimize the desire for, or the importance of, praising God, but it emphasizes the desire of a loving Father for us to cry out to Him when hope has fled. Let me illustrate trusting God for hope WHEN IT IS MOST HOPELESS.: I read about a painting of an old burned-out mountain cabin. All that remained was the chimney and a pile of charred debris. An old man and a small boy stood looking at the destroyed home. They escaped with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They lost it all otherwise. Beneath the picture were the simple words, "Hush child, God ain't dead!"
That picture of that burned-out cabin, that old man, the weeping child, and those words "God ain't dead" is a reminder of hope!
We all need reminders that there is hope in the midst of all of life's troubles and failures. We need reminders that all is not lost as long as God is alive and in control of His world and we trust Him.
It is often in our darkest times that God makes His presence known most clearly. He uses our sufferings and troubles to show us that He is our only source of hope. Are you facing a great trial? Put yourself in God's hands. Wait for His timing. He will give you hope that will not disappoint. Hope is not for the easy, it is also for the impossible!
God loves our cry for hope and next, He loves:
II. A CRY FOR HEALING:
A. Hear David’s cry: “my bones burn like red-hot coals. My heart is sick, withered like grass, and I have lost my appetite. Because of my groaning, I am reduced to skin and bones.”
B. The song said,
We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah.
C. Physical healing is one thing, but inner healing is even better because the heart is ill.
1. Isaiah wrote to rebellious Israel, “Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick.” Isaiah 1:5 (NLT).
2. Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9 (NASB).
3. But the cry for inner healing and wholeness touches God’s heart. The psalmist affirms, “He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.” Psalm 147:3 (NLT).
D. Consider your need for healing:
1. Think about it:
a. Where do you hurt?
b. What has made your spirit ache?
c. What has broken your heart?
d. What has wounded you?
e. In what way is your heart sick?
(1) is it gangrene of a grudge?
(2) is it leprosy of lust?
(3) is it septicemia of selfishness?
(4) is it cancer of carnality?
2. There’s healing with God.
a. The Lord says to His people, “I will give you back your health and heal your wounds,” Jeremiah 30:17 (NLT).
b. Peter wrote concerning Jesus, “He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you are healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT).
E. A young lady had a feud with her sister and nursed the anger in her heart. In a few weeks she began having headaches, insomnia and weariness. She went to her doctor, an elder in her church, who gave her a clean bill of health physically.
“Your trouble is psychosomatic, resulting from some stress or unresolved difficulty. Can you think what it might be? She could not identify the problem, but promised faithfully to seek God’s answer.
She realized just then that she had been remiss in her prayer life. So she prayed, “Lord, if there is something in my life that drags me down and makes me sick, reveal it to me.” That evening she opened a dresser drawer and saw the picture of her estranged sister that she had hidden there and knew at once the cause of her illness. She phoned her sister to apologize and found a warm acceptance – no more headaches and she slept like a baby. Her heart which was hard, softened. Her spirit that was bitter sweetened. And after she had cried for healing, she could truly express her Hallelujah!
God loves our dependent cry for healing and longs to hear:
III. A CRY FOR HELP:
A. David’s words echo helplessness: “I am like an owl in the desert, like a little owl in a far-off wilderness. I lie awake, lonely as a solitary bird on the roof. My enemies taunt me day after day. They mock and curse me.”
1. He feels like is a victim of his unhappy circumstances.
2. He feels overwhelmed and outmatched by those who hate him.
B. What help is there for him, and for us, in those dire straits?
1. God listens to fervent, honest, humble prayers. Someone said, “Listen, my friend Your helplessness is your best prayer. It calls from your heart to the heart of God with greater effect than all your uttered pleas. He hears it from the very moment that you are seized with helplessness, and He becomes actively engaged at once in hearing and answering the prayer of your helplessness."
2. God does not turn away from those who seek Him.
3. God is for us, so who can be against us?
C. The song suggests a state of helplessness of facing death, of erasing shame, and of finding the right words to pray.
The woman holding on for life,
The dying man giving up the fight
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes
The tears of shame for what's been done,
The silence when the words won't come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes.
D. Admit it or not, we are all helpless in some ways:
1. Sometimes circumstances, stresses, responsibilities seem overpowering and we are helpless. Jesus cares. Matthew recorded, “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:36 (NASB).
2. We sense our guilt and inadequacy to remit it,. We are helpless on our own, but “while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6 (NASB).
3. On our own ee are helpless to break certain addictions, but “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 (NASB).
4. In all our helplessness, we can say, “I will rejoice in the LORD. I will be glad because He ‘me. With every bone in my body I will praise Him: “LORD, who can compare with You? Who else rescues the helpless from the strong? Who else protects the helpless and poor from those who rob them?” Psalm 35:9-10 (NLT).
5. There is no helplessness when God is our helper! A little girl illustrates that. She wandered into a cornfield and was confused. She couldn’t find her way out. In her helplessness, she sat down and began talking to Jesus. “Jesus, I’m lost and can’t find my way. Please send somebody to find me.” Her dad meandered through the field picking a few ears and he heard her prayer and became its answer. She felt helpless, but help was right there.
We all need help and “When you have nothing left but God, then you become aware that God is enough.” Maude Royden..
Listen to David’s testimony, “I love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple he heard my voice; my cry came before Him, into His ears.” Psalm 18:1-6 (NIV).
Cry to Him for hope, healing and help – and if you are sincere and humble, He will hear your cry.
PRAY / INVITE
