Today, I want to talk to you about this: Doggedly Pursuing God Despite Life’s Difficulties. Doggedly Pursuing God Despite Life’s Difficulties. We continue with our Life by the Book series. We are spending our Fall studying Psalm 119, the longest chapter in all of your Bibles. And every verse is a carefully arranged prayer to Almighty God. It’s beautiful, moving, and worthy of long hours of your study and meditation. One key feature of Psalm 119: You cannot ignore how Psalm 119 calls upon believers to be determined to obey God’s law even in “rough and tough” times.
Now, the longest chapter in your Bible is devoted to how important the Bible is to our lives. Now hear this: the aim of Bible study is not just to know the Bible better. No, the aim of Bible study is to know God better. Today, I want to challenge and inspire you by the power of the Holy Spirit to doggedly pursue the Lord despite life’s difficulties.
1. I Am Determined to Obey God’s Word When Times Are Tough
“Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
I do not forget your law.
69 The insolent smear me with lies,
but with my whole heart, I keep your precepts;
70 their heart is unfeeling like fat,
but I delight in your law” (Psalm 119:61, 69-79).
We don’t know who wrote Psalm 119, and we don’t know when he wrote Psalm 119. We do know that when Psalm 119, this guy was facing some real challenges. But we know this: he was facing some real personal challenges. No matter the obstacles that confronted him, he purposefully and intentionally chose to consistently obey God’s Word. Again, the psalmist says: “The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; 70 their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law” (Psalm 119: 69-79). His life was not evidently easy, yet, he doggedly pursued the Lord despite life’s difficulties.
1.1 Stress and Anxiety
Life can deal us some serious setbacks. Airplanes fall out of the sky. Bull markets go bear. Terrorists will terrorize. And good people do turn bad. Often, we are paralyzed by anxiety and stress when these occur.
1.2 Real-Life Stressors
So many of you are living through substantial challenges right now. In the life of our church currently, I know there is a young mother whose elderly mother is in hospice care, and her father is also suffering from multiple strokes. On top of this, her parents divorced years ago, making life so complicated for this young lady. Another couple’s adult son is addicted to a special drug and is reluctant to accept any help from the family. This is despite being raised in this church and the prayers of a godly mother and father. Would you pray for each of these precious families in our church?
As of 2013, one in nine people worldwide has had an anxiety disorder. I seriously doubt any of us think this has improved after a worldwide pandemic. The stress and anxiety many feel from life’s stresses are enormous. A quick check of a mental health article tells us there are a wide array of phobia and anxieties. There is panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and separation anxiety disorder. Plus, there is widespread abuse of alcohol and substance abuse throughout our community.
Again, the psalmist says: The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; 70 their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law” (Psalm 119: 69-79). I love the faith of the psalmist. What is faith? Faith is believing God in spite of appearances and obeying God in spite of consequences. Faith is believing God in spite of appearances and obeying God in spite of consequences.
1.3 More Real-Life Examples
Our church hosts Divorce Care nearly every Sunday. Recently some shared some of their anxieties. Let me share a few as you will know how to pray and minister to others. One says they are anxious she will never be happy again. Another says they are anxious that they are not a “good enough person to have good things happen in my life.” Still, another says, “[I am afraid] that my kids are going to be really messed up because of this divorce.” Maybe you have gone through a divorce or separation, and you can resonate with this. The truth is that you don’t have to go through a divorce to feel anxiety and fear.
Recently, a mother in our church family confessed how she is so anxious about what her daughter is hearing and dealing with at school. This mother is overwhelmed with the choices of how to best protect her daughter. Another young mom said she struggles with comparing herself to others around her. She feels she comes up short by comparison. Continually picking up our phones and looking at everyone's Facebook and Instagram highlight reel creates thoughts of inadequacy and anxiety. Everywhere we look these days, we are anxiety-filled people.
1.4 A Meteor Shower of What Ifs
I love how Max Lucado frames anxiety: “Anxiety is a meteor shower of what-ifs.” What if I don’t close the sale? What if we don’t get the bonus? He says life filled with anxiety is like living perpetually on the plank of a pirate ship.
Studies show that stress and anxiety can be detrimental to our health, there are some heights we cannot reach until we face some serious setbacks and adversity in life. Anxiety will take our breath, and it will take our sleep if we’re not careful. Yet, life’s stressors can push you to a higher level of strength and personal achievement that you would have never experienced had you not had such a severe setback. When facing a serious setback, are you likely to panic or crumble? How do you respond when you face a serious illness, a job loss, or a serious financial reversal in life? Over and over again, I hear about people who want nothing to do with God, faith, and the church because God failed them.
1.5 A List of Challenges in Psalm 119
Look back at verse 61 with me: “Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law” (Psalm 119:61). Whatever he is facing, it’s formidable. He says, “the cords of the wicked ensnare me,” and then a few verses later, “The insolent smear me with lies.” Imagine a wild animal in the woods whose feet have stepped into a trap. Soon its feet are caught up, and there’s no hope. He’s ensnared in a trap, dangling and waiting on whatever predator is to come and kill him. That’s how he feels. And you see it throughout the entire psalm. In verse 39, he asks God to take away the insults from those who oppose him. He faces arrogant people who scoff at him in verse 51. And the arrogant smear his reputation with lies in verse 69. He says the arrogant have dug a pit to trap him in verse 85. You can feel his desperation when he says in verse 81: “I desperately long for your deliverance. I find hope in your word” (Psalm 119:81). But watch his reaction if you will.
1.6 I Am Determined
I love this fact about this guy: despite every one of the challenges he faces, he we determined to keep God’s law. He was devoted to following God’s will for His life.
Look back at verse 44 with me if you will: “I will keep your law continually,
forever and ever,
45 and I shall walk in a wide place,
for I have sought your precepts.
46 I will also speak of your testimonies before kings
and shall not be put to shame,
47 for I find my delight in your commandments,
which I love” (Psalm 119:44-47).
I love the way this guy made a determined choice. I love his attitude! Listen to him again: “I will keep your law continually,” “I have sought your precepts,” “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings,” and one more, “I find my delight in your commandments.” This man made a determined choice to obey the Lord God.
1.6.1 Have You Made a Determined Choice?
Are you determined to obey God? I understand that God is the ultimate determiner in our lives, but let me repeat the question: are you determined to obey God? Are you double-dogged, determined to obey the commands of God and to live by the will of God? Have you made a deep-seated decision to obey God’s will no matter what comes your way? Another way of saying this is, “Do you live by conviction?” You’re not a machine; you’re not a victim of fate. Throw away your horoscope. You have a responsibility to choose, my Christian friends! Friend, you make a conscious decision every single day to follow after God.
This world is trying to do everything possible to keep you away from God. The world is trying to lead you down a path that will take you away from God’s perfect plan, God’s will for your life. Yes, when God saves us, He changes us. Yes, He transforms us. We’re a new creation. But every single day, Satan tries to steal and kill and to destroy, we have to make a conscious effort to follow after Almighty God and be diligent about it.
Only God determines destinies, but your choices matter in this life, my friend. Yes, you can be overconfident like Peter, who said to Jesus, “I will never desert you,” and the rooster sounded off, reminding Peter he had denied the Lord at a crucial time. Still, this doesn’t mitigate or minimize the importance of your faith-filled, Holy Spirit-inspired choice to choose what is right and what is godly. Listen again to the determination in Psalm 119: “I will keep your law continually,” “I have sought your precepts,” “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings,” and one more, “I find my delight in your commandments.”
1.6.2 Consequences and Choices
Every day you have a choice of whether you will obey God, my Christian friends. Every day you have the responsibility to choose. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). But here’s something you cannot choose: you are not free to choose the consequences of your choice. No, we’re not free to choose the consequences of our choice. So many make a terrible choice of disobeying God’s law and then wonder why they suffer.
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
Once you make a choice, your choice will often determine your consequences. You cannot make any old choice you want and then pick any old consequences you want as well. It’s not “mix and match,” my friend. Your choice will connect to a consequence like a semi-truck connects to a trailer.
1.6.3 Make Your Choice
Here’s a choice: Let’s go to the house of the Lord today when I want to sleep in. Here’s a choice: I will be honest in every one of my dealings with everyone I meet when cheating would make me a fast buck. You choose dishonesty, and the consequence will be that your friends will not trust you. Here’s another choice: I will save myself until marriage, and I will follow prescriptions for sexual health and happiness. You choose to wait until marriage, and with only one person, you will have the consequence of tremendous trust inside a healthy marriage. Here’s still another choice: set down your phone and read the Bible as a family. You choose to ignore God’s Word, and your family will grow apart. The Apostle Paul wrote: “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Timothy 2:12). Have you made a deep-seated decision to obey God’s will no matter what comes your way? Again, the determination to make a God-honoring, Holy Spirit-filled choice is before you: “I will keep your law continually,” “I have sought your precepts,” “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings,” and one more, “I find my delight in your commandments.”
1.6.4 Make the Right Choices
Years before Psalm 119, the patriarch of the faith, Moses made a choice: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:24-25).
Moses was the great law-giver. He’s the one who came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. He would have loved Psalm 119; he would say amen to every one of its 176 verses! This scripture says very clearly and very plainly that Moses made a choice. In a world riddled with anxiety, you have to choose to obey God or follow the world's ways. I am not saying this is easy. No, it’s not easy at all!
Moses stood before a nation of people and said, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Are you determined to obey God? May I say to everybody listening to me and those precious friends who are watching online that God sets the same choice today: life and death, blessing and cursing, and we are given the opportunity to choose. As believers, we are equipped with a moral jet fuel pack of courage and conviction called the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is inside us, fueling us to reach for the life God has for us. We can ask God for wisdom, and He will supply it to anyone who calls upon Him. Like Moses of old, the Holy Spirit turns our feet, hands, and heart to obey every one of God’s good commands. Again, the psalmist says: “I will keep your law continually,” “I have sought your precepts,” “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings,” and one more, “I find my delight in your commandments.”
1.7 Greg and Adversity
Greg was a young assistant college professor whose wife left him for another man, taking their two young children with them. Greg faced years of legal expenses and fights over the custody of the children. Eventually, he won custody but found himself a single parent with a full-time, poor-paying job. He had almost no hope of finishing the book on which his academic career depended, and he worried about the mental health of his children. But several months went by, and Greg’s church began to help him with meals and child care. The people of his church offered his strong emotional and spiritual support. His parents were in the west and moved nearby to help him raise the children. With the help of family, friends, and deep religious faith Greg rebuilt his life, finished his book, and two years later found a better job. After the tragedy of a failed marriage, he experienced more joy from each day with his children than he did before the crisis. Greg made some difficult Holy Spirit-inspired choices. He didn’t rebound into another relationship after his wife’s horrible choice and chose to sleep with the first one that would say yes.
Greg lived by faith. Again, faith is believing God in spite of appearances and obeying God in spite of consequences. Instead, he made Holy Spirit challenging choices that honored the Lord. There’s a resilience that comes from pushing through adversity and doggedly pursuing the Lord. God’s Word tells us about resilience: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).
How do you develop such resilience?
1.8 The Lord is My Portion
Listen to the word of Psalm 119 again: “The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words” (Psalm 119:57).
The word “portion” in verse 57 has a rich meaning in the Hebrew Bible. What does it mean that “The Lord is my portion?” It is the word used to describe the share of the land each Hebrew family was given when they entered the Promised Land (see Joshua 15:13). Again, when the Israelite people came out of the desert and conquered the people of the Promised Land, they were given a “portion.” But if you remember, the Levites were not given a “portion.” The Levites were a tribe of people within Israel who had religious responsibilities related to worship in the Temple. Again, the Levites were not given land (Deuteronomy 10:9). Instead, God said to the Levites, “I am your portion.”
Your portion is God Himself. So when the Bible says, “The Lord is my portion,” the Bible is telling the Lord is your anchor. The Lord is your source of security. He is saying, in effect, “You’re the only thing I can count on, Lord.” The only way I can promise to keep your words is because you are my strength, my security, my rock, and my portion. You are my everything! “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). You need no one else but the Lord God Himself. When you have the Lord, you have everything you need. Sink or swim, Lord, I am with you. Lord, you are my source of security.
Conclusion: Make Your Choice
You have a choice, my friend. Are you doggedly determined to obey the Lord? Here’s a choice: be baptized just as God commands so that others know you are a disciple. Here’s a choice: Be courageous and tell your friends about the Lord Jesus Christ. Here’s another choice: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Are you doggedly determined to pursue God no matter the difficulties life throws your way? Will you follow the law of God with full intentionality?
