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.
C. HOW LONG HAVE INNER DISCOURAGEMENT?
1. Next, David points to the problem inside himself. “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?” David’s talking to himself.
2. David has gotten into a spirit of despair, but David learned to talk to himself -- to cheer himself up. He’d say, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God!” (Ps. 42:5,11; 43:5). That’s the way to talk to yourself.
3. Another scripture says that “David encouraged himself in the Lord.” That’s the power of knowing God and His Word. The Word assures us that God is good and that He’s loving toward us, and that, finally, God never changes. Think back on all the times God has helped you; He's the same loving God today that He was back then.
D. HOW LONG HEAR MY ENEMY’S PUT-DOWNS?
1. David points out another source of his concern, “How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?” It’s amazing how many of Job’s comforters are still running around today. You’re in the middle of a trial, and somebody comes up to you and says, “Oh, you look miserable! When are you going to quit having a pity-party and get over it?”
2. You may have some such person in your family. Besides them, we have a great adversary, who also delights to tell us who we’re NOT and to remind us the blessings we DON”T have.
3. But David reminded the devil, “Don’t rejoice over me, O my enemy, when I fall, for I shall arise.” Tell that to your adversary! You’re NOT on the way DOWN, You’re are the way UP!
II. DAVID GETS TO SHOUTING
In verse 6 David said, “I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.” Is this the same man who had just been pouting? Now he’s shouting!
1. The verse 5 he said, “My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.” He makes a declaration that he won’t continue to focus on bitterness, but on God’s salvation in his life. And suddenly, he begins to experience joy: it is real joy; his heart is rejoicing.
2. Proverbs 25:25,13 says, “Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a distant land” -- it refreshes your spirit. God wants you to let the “Good News” of his Gospel put His joy back into your life!
3. Next thing, David’s tongue began praising. What’s down in the well will come up in the bucket; what’s in your heart will come out your mouth!
4. Next, David made a resolution to sing and praise the Lord. In Ps. 40:3 David said, “He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.
5. The birds wake up and the first thing they do is to sing. They sing as they fly; they sing as they build their nests. Each tries to sing the loudest and the sweetest. That same thankful nature should be in our hearts!
III. THE LINKS BETWEEN THE COMPLAINING & SINGING MAN?
How did No. 1 get to be No. 2? How did this pouter become a shouter? What process did he pass through?
A. HE PLEADED WITH GOD
1. First, he pleaded with God; he stated his case to the Lord. The first step is to take the matter to God; lay it before the Lord, and pray over it. Cast your cares on the Lord for He cares for you!
2. ILLUS. A man was driving a wagon across the country and came across a man carrying a great load of sticks strapped on his back. In compassion he asked the man if he’d like a ride, so the man could get relief. The man climbed on the back of the wagon. 20 minutes later, the driver looked back to see the man had never put down the bundle, but still had it strapped to his back. GOD SAYS TO LET HIM BE YOUR BURDEN BEARER. Let God be God!
B. HE TRUSTED IN GOD
1. The next thing is that David, having prayed, and brought his cause before God, He trusted in the Lord. “I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.”
2. Trust reconnected David to the presence of God. God inhabits the praises of His people (Ps. 22:3, KJV). Suddenly David felt the joy of his salvation again praises erupted from his mouth. Let's follow in his example and receive the same joy!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A group of scientists and botanists were exploring remote regions of the Alps in search of new species of flowers. One day they noticed through binoculars a flower of such rarity and beauty that its value to science was incalculable. But it lay deep in a ravine with cliffs on both sides. To get the flower someone had to be lowered over the cliff on a rope.
2. A curious young boy was watching nearby, and the scientists told him they would pay him well if he would agree to be lowered over the cliff to retrieve the flower below.
3. The boy took one long look down the steep, dizzy depths and said, "I'll be back in a minute." A short time later he returned, followed by a gray-haired man. Approaching the botanist, the boy said, "I'll go over that cliff and get that flower for you if this man holds the rope. He's my dad." [Our Daily Bread, April 8, 1996]
B. THE CALL
1. In the same way, you can trust your Heavenly Father in the most precarious situations – He will never let you fall! Let’s trust in Him today!
2. How many of you have been “pouting” and you want God to turn it into “shouting?” How many of you have a situation you don’t understand but you want God to help you trust Him with it? Let’s PRAY.
[This is a rewrite of Charles Spurgeon’s message on this passage with some quotes from Jeremy Simpson]
