Summer in the Psalms
Psalm 40: How to Pray When You Are In a Pit (Part 2)
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
9-06-2021
Summer in the Psalms
[Slide] What an amazing summer we’ve had studying the Psalms together! We dove deep into ten Psalms over these past weeks - Psalm 1, 15, 19, 20, 40, 42, 95, 96, 131, and 139. If you weren’t able to be here for some of these sermons, you can watch them on our YouTube channel or our website. This morning, we are going to be finishing our look into Psalm 40.
Turn with me to Psalm 40.
Prayer
[Read Psalm 40:1-10]
Recap from Last Week
[Slide] In 2010, 33 miners in Chile were trapped three miles underground. The whole world watched and waited and prayed. It took 69 days to rescue them and when the last miner came out of the pit, the government official credited “Divine Providence” and said that faith had moved mountains. Being rescued leads to rejoicing!
A Prayer from the Pit
In music, when a composer wants to add a haunting element to the score, a change to a minor key will do the trick.
[Slide] That’s what happens in Psalm 40 at verse 11. David switches to a minor key. He is in trouble again and needs God’s help.
[Slide] “Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord; may your love and faithfulness always protect me. For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Be pleased to save me, Lord; come quickly, Lord, to help me.” (v. 11-13)
David has proclaimed that God has rescued him in the past but doesn’t presume upon God’s mercy in the future.
He begins with a plea to not withhold mercy from him. In the Hebrew, this is more of a confident statement - I know you will not withhold your mercy.
The same love and faithfulness that David promised to publicly proclaim, he now asked for God’s love and faithfulness and truth to continually protect him and preserve him.
Why? Because there are internal threats to his peace. He is overwhelmed with troubles, they surround him. Just like in Psalm 32, the guilt and shame of his past sins have overtaken him.
It a picture of standing in the pounding surf. You get hit by a wave and before you get up, another wave takes you under.
David’s eyes grow dim out of exhaustion and suffering. He can’t even “look up.”
He is losing hope. His heart has literally “left him.” He has felt like this many times. David writes in Psalm 69:
“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.” (Psalm 69:1-3)
David cries out, “Be pleased to save me, Lord.” What a beautiful prayer. Because of God’s love and mercy, we can pray that God would take pleasure in saving us, forgiving us, healing us, providing for us, and guiding us.
There is still a confident expectation but now there is an urgency. David’s troubles are overwhelming him. Before he waiting patiently but now he prays, “come quickly.”
He says the same thing in Psalm 22:
“But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.” (Psalm 22:19)
Have you been there? I have friends that have cried out this prayer to God from the “rock bottom” of their addiction. Or from the verge of their marriage falling apart. Or when their depression takes them to a dark place. Or when they got the diagnosis. Or lost a spouse or a child. Or their praying for a child to come back.
In those moments, we can chose to run toward God or run away from Him. But if you run away from God you are running away from hope. Ran toward His open arms. Cry out to him for help.
[Slide] A Plea for His Enemies
[Slide] “May all who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled at their own shame.” (v. 14-15)
Before we move on, turn with me and let’s look at Psalm 70, which David also wrote.
[Slide] I’ve been watching a Netflix documentary called “1,2,3 McCartney.” It’s the producer Rick Rubin and Sir Paul sitting at a soundboard talking about different Beatles songs. Sometimes, Paul would have a song and then John would have a song and they would end up combining their two songs into one, like on “A Day in the Life.”
That’s what David is doing here. Psalm 70 was already in his journal and he took that and used to finish the song that we know as Psalm 40.
David is not only beset by internal struggles like the shame and guilt of past sins but he is also dealing with the external struggle of people wanting to kill him!
These verses are what we call “imprecatory.” Most commentators agree that there are 14 psalms that can be described as imprecatory.
In these psalms, the writer asked that God would show vengeance toward their enemies. Many times, it is graphic and without mercy:
“Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.” (Psalm 3:7)
In Psalm 40, David is a little more subdued but he is still is counting on God to rescue him from his foes who want to take his life, who desire his ruin and who mock him.
David writes something similar in Psalm 35:
“May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay. May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away; may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.” (Psalm 35:4-6)
Throughout David’s life, he had many enemies, including King Saul and even two of his own sons. But he didn’t seek revenge on them. He asked God to take up his cause and protect him and put his enemies to shame.
We’ve been praying for the Christians in Afghanistan. Let’s pray this pray for them. May the Taliban be put to shame and confusion. May they get lost and fire on themselves. May God turn them back in disgrace and may they be appalled at their own shame.
Most of us don’t have people trying to kill us but you may have those who desire your ruin and would jump at the chance to mock you, especially on social media. How do you handle that?
I’m thankful that Paul gives us very specific instructions:
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;? if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.?In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21)
In a world gone mad with Twitter beefs and social media wars and church splits, we are called to be agents of reconciliation. And when that doesn’t happen, we leave it up to God to fight our battles for us.
[Slide] The Praise of the Redeemed
[Slide] “But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!” (Psalm 40:16)
In contrast to the people that oppose God, His people, and His ways, David prays for the ones who seek after God.
In Psalm 9, David writes:
“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10)
The redeemed, those that seek God and long for His saving ways, are called to rejoice and and be glad in God’s goodness, mercy, and love.
David writes in Psalm 31:
“I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.” (Psalm 31:7)
And what is their cry of praise? The Lord is great! In your translation it may say, “The Lord is magnified!”
[Slide] When you use a magnifying glass, like this one, it doesn’t actually make the object bigger, it makes our perception of the object clearer.
That’s what happens when we magnify the Lord. We focus on God and our perception of His goodness becomes clearer, especially when we are going through tough times.
Brain Bell said that when we magnify human beings we see their flaws but when we magnify God we more clearer see His wonders.
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. (Psalm 145:3)
[Slide] A couple of weeks ago, twelve of us went to the Night of Worship at Eastview Christian Church. For over an hour, we laid our burdens down at the feet of Jesus and just simply proclaimed through song that the Lord is GREAT!
That’s what we do here when we sing. Sometimes we sing with joyful hearts and other times through tears but each week we have an opportunity to take the focus off of our circumstances and magnify the Lord together.
David wrote in Psalm 35:
“May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.” (Psalm 35:27)
[Slide] One last cry for Rescue
[Slide] But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay.
David realizes that his help has to come from outside of himself. He might be the king but spiritually he sees himself as poor, afflicted, and destitute.
He asked God to think of him. Have you ever considered that God thinks of you?
Charles Spurgeon wrote:
He thinks of you, and He think of you still. When the Father thinks of his children, He think of you. When the great Judge of all thinks of the justified ones, He thinks of you. O Christian, can you grasp the thought? The Eternal Father thinks of you!”
With confidence and expectation, David declares that God is his help and deliverer and his God. All throughout the Psalms, through all kinds of emotions, David affirms this again and again:
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18:2)
David begins the psalm waiting patiently but he ends the psalm with an urgent call for rescue. As a friend of mine often says, “God is never late but He’s rarely early.”
Interview with Dale Roach
Did you grow up thinking that God was Someone you could count on?
How did Vietnam affect your view of God?
How did you respond when you found yourself in the pit of addiction to medication?
How did the church play a part in this process?
What would you say to a person that currently in the pit of despair?
Worship
Communion
We’re going to end today by asking the same question we’ve been asking each week - where is Jesus in Psalm 40?
Last week we saw that the writer of Hebrews actually tells us that verses 6-8 are Jesus’ words. He is the ultimate sacrifice to end all sacrifices.
Really, the whole psalm is about Jesus but let’s just look at one phrase. David says “my sins have overtaken me.” Yes this is about David but prophetically this is about Jesus.
Jesus never sinned. His sins never “overtook” him, but my sins did. And your sins. He took our sins with him to the cross where God the Father poured out all his wrath on sin once and for all. Jesus died in our place for our sins.
Or as Paul puts it:
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)
When we put the cracker and juice under the magnifying glass, we see the greatest act of love ever:
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8)
Ending Video: Alright (Danny Gokey)
Jennifer Frazier shared this on Facebook and it captures what Psalm 40 is trying to say.
Me: Okay, God, here's the thing. I'm scared. I'm trying not to be, but I am.
God: I know. Want to talk about it?
Me: Do we need to? I mean, you already know.
God: Let's talk about it anyway... We've done this before.
Me: I know, I just feel like I should be bigger or stronger or something by now.
God: *waiting patiently, unhurried, undistracted, never annoyed.
Me: Okay. So, I'm afraid I'll do everything I can to protect my family and it won't be enough. I'm afraid of someone I love dying. I'm afraid the world won't go back to what it was before. I'm afraid my life is always going to feel a little bit unsettled.
God: Anything else?
Me: EVERYTHING ELSE.
God: Remember how your son woke up the other night and came running down the hall to your bedroom?
Me: Yes.
God: You were still awake, so when you heard him running, you started calling out to him before he even got to you... remember? Do you remember what you called out to him?
Me: I said, "You're okay! You're okay! You're okay! I'm here."
God: Why did you call to him? Why didn't you just wait for him to get to your room?
Me: Because I wanted him to know that I was awake, and I heard him, and he didn't have to be afraid until he reached the end of the dark hallway.
God: Exactly. I hear you, my child. I hear your thoughts racing like feet down the dark hallway. There's another side to all of this. I'm there already. I've seen the end of it, I want you to know right here as you walk through it all, you're okay. I haven't gone to sleep, and I won't.
Me: *crying. Can we sit together awhile? Can we just sit here a minute before I go back to facing it all?
God: There's nothing I'd love more.
