TITLE: HURRY UP, GOD!
SCRIPTURE: PSALM 70
Over the course of my life I have always heard the saints say – “YOU CAN’T HURRY GOD.” The Chicago Mass Choir made that saying a hit song. I’ve sometimes wondered, when faced with this prayer on the page, if it isn’t a little presumptuous to be telling God to hurry up, to get a move on. After all, God’s God and I’m not and who am I to imply that the creator of the universe is moving too slowly?
Yet, here we find the writer of this Psalm attempting to Hurry God. It’s right there in the Bible. So let’s wrestle with it this morning. Let me state for the record, I like this Psalm --
• It’s short
• It’s to the point
• It’s honest
Can I tell you that I have recently experienced this dilemma in my own life just a few weeks ago. There’s a profound difference between a scheduled meeting and an emergency phone call.
• A meeting is on the calendar - We can prepare for it
• But an emergency call shatters the schedule
• It interrupts everything
• Your heart pounds
• Your mind races
• Everything narrows to that one critical moment
Life is full of these unscheduled emergencies. It’s not always a dramatic accident.
• Sometimes it’s a sudden wave of panic that washes over you in traffic
• It’s an email with bad news that lands in your inbox
• It’s a moment of sharp, unexpected temptation
• It’s a sudden, gut-wrenching fear for your children’s safety
In those moments, there is no time for Long - Eloquent - Beautifully Structured Prayers. You need help, and you need it now. Anybody ever been there. When you needed God –
• Not tomorrow
• Not next week
• Not by payday
• You needed God right now
The Bible, in its perfect wisdom, gives us a prayer for exactly these moments. PSALM 70 IS THE 911 CALL OF THE PRAYER BOOK. It is short – urgent - stripped of all formality. It is so essential that it was extracted from the end of Psalm 40 to stand on its own as a go-to prayer for acute distress. This psalm gives us a powerful, three-part model for what to do in a crisis -
• An honest upward cry for help
• A surprising outward look toward others
• A solid inward trust in God’s character
The writer is waiting on God, a common theme in the Psalms, and a common experience for the people of God. He needs “Deliverance” and “Help.” He is waiting on God for this, but he wants God to respond in a hurry. Notice the phrase “MAKE HASTE” in the second sentence. Also, notice in VS. 5, “HASTEN TO ME,” and “DO NOT DELAY.” No doubt the urgency of the request is connected to his particular circumstances.
He is being attacked by enemies.
• He feels his life is threatened
• His enemies are trying to hurt him
• They say, “AHA” which is a taunt, and perhaps connected to unjustly accusing him of wrong
Why do we sometimes hesitate to be this urgent with God?
• Perhaps we feel like we are bothering Him
• As if the God who holds the universe together is too busy for our panic
• Or perhaps we feel it’s not “Spiritual” to be so frantic
• If that were the case, I would have lost my spirituality a long time ago
I believe over the years and perhaps most of us were taught in Sunday School when we were just children how to address God. To make sure we address Him with reverence and respect. This is true. We have been taught to begin our prayers and calling out to God by addressing Him –
• God of All Creation
• Almighty God
• Most High God
• Everlasting God
• Lord of Hosts
• Savior
• Redeemer
• God of our Peace
• Alpha and Omega
• Master
• Lord
But this Psalm, and all of scripture, gives us divine permission to be urgent. When PETER was sinking beneath the waves, he didn't compose a long pretty sounding prayer - he cried, "LORD, SAVE ME!" Look Lord I know MARY and MARTHA waited for you when their brother LAZARUS died. He was in the grave 4-days. That worked out for him. But Lord, I am about to sink and drown. I need you right now. God is not a bureaucrat who requires you to fill out a form in triplicate. He is a Father who is tuned to the desperate cry of His child.
• Your urgency does not offend Him
• It honors His role as your ever-present Rescuer
In VS. 5, the psalmist diagnoses his own condition - "BUT I AM POOR AND NEEDY." This is the foundation of all effective prayer.
• It’s not just about money
• It's a statement of complete spiritual bankruptcy
• It means, "In this moment, I am at the absolute end of my own resources
• I have no more strength
• I have no more wisdom
• I have no Plan B
• I have no more clever plans
A crisis strips away our pride and our illusion of control. And in that honest place of acknowledging our need, we are perfectly positioned to receive God's all-sufficient help. This is why in the very center of his "911 call," he prays this - "LET ALL THOSE THAT SEEK THEE REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN THEE: AND LET SUCH AS LOVE THY SALVATION SAY CONTINUALLY, LET GOD BE MAGNIFIED."
This is absolutely remarkable to me. While his own world is spinning out of control, he prays for the joy of others. Wait a minute. While he is going through a rough storm in his life –
• He takes a moment to pray for others
• He pauses to take his eyes off of his own predicament
• He places his focus on those around him
While he is yet going through something! While he is still in his storm! While his own heart is crying "Help me!" his spirit is praying "LET THEM BE GLAD!"
• Anxiety is a spiral inward
• It makes our world shrink down to the size of our problem
But this prayer is a powerful pattern interrupt. It breaks the spiral. By choosing to pray for the joy and worship of God's people, the psalmist is lifting his eyes above his own circumstances.
• He is reminding himself that his crisis is not the only story being written in the world
• God is still working
• People are still being saved
• Worship is still His due
What is it we ought to “Seek?”
• We seek to behold His beauty
• We seek to be with Him
• We seek to meditate on Him
This is our central business as believers and in the church — to see the beauty of God.
• To get our heads into the heavens
• To know Him for who He is
• He is the main reality
o Not Buildings
o Not Christians
o Not Missions
o Not Heaven
God himself is what we seek. And David says, when you do seek him, "REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN HIM." In the midst of this prayer DAVID expresses his desperate need for God to come and deliver him. The context reflects a moment where the writer is yearning for God’s help amidst adversity. David’s cries for help are not just for personal salvation but extend to all those who seek God. This message resonates with the concept of community, where individuals come together to seek the Lord, especially in times of uncertainty.
• We should not stay away from the Church in our times of trouble
• We should not abandon the Body of Christ when we are going through
• We should come together as a Community of Faith and strengthen each other
His ultimate desire is that the chorus of praise to God would not stop because of his personal trouble. He wants God’s name to be magnified, continually. it's like being in a choir; even if your own voice is cracking with sorrow, your deepest desire is for the overall song to be beautiful for the one it honors.
• This reveals a heart that is ultimately more passionate about God’s glory than its own comfort
In the beginning of this Chapter, VS. 2-3, he deals with those who are mocking and attacking him.
• He asks God to handle them
• This is the crucial act of entrusting the source of our panic into God’s capable hands
• It's saying, "God, the injustice of this situation, the fear these people are causing me — this is Your department, not mine
• I refuse to carry the burden of worry or the poison of vengeance
We must be careful when we are going through not to attack those that attack us.
• We must be careful how we Respond
• We must be careful how we Act
• We must be careful how we Pray
• ROMANS 12:19 “DEARLY BELOVED, AVENGE NOT YOURSELVES, BUT RATHER GIVE PLACE UNTO WRATH: FOR IT IS WRITTEN, VENGEANCE IS MINE; I WILL REPAY, SAITH THE LORD”
We find next in this exciting chapter the anchor that holds the entire prayer steady. After pleading, "MAKE HASTE UNTO ME," he declares why he can make that plea -- "THOU ART MY HELP AND MY DELIVERER."
• Notice the shift
• He moves from Petition to Proclamation
He is not just asking for help; he is declaring that God is his help. He is reminding his own soul, his own frantic heart, of the unchanging character and the perfect track record of his God.
• This declaration is an act of spiritual warfare against doubt
• It's the moment you stop telling God how big your problem is and start telling your problem how big your God is
I will be the first to tell you that trusting God is not always easy. It’s not a once-and-done thing, as though we’ve trusted the Lord and now we don’t need to do it again. We come again and again, bringing our sorrows and sufferings, wrestling to reconcile them with who God is and what he’s done. We even need to preach to ourselves the truth when we’re struggling to believe it.
• We take a step forward and we stumble
• We find hope growing in us, only to sink lower into despair
• And in all this we find the kindness and steadfast love of our God
• We can trust in the ‘Perfect Track Record of God
• He has never failed us
So, what do we do my brothers and sisters when the emergency call of life comes?
• When the ground shakes
• When the bad news arrives
• When our anxiety attacks in the middle of the night?
The Psalmist here in our text says, ‘HURRY UP, GOD.’ Can I tell you that God can handle it. It is right here in the text. I know it might make you nervous, but we serve a Big God who loves us and is concerned about us and can handle us. And, lest we still think we might be overstepping our creaturely bounds by asking God to hurry, the psalmist repeats his request in the closing VS. 5 of the Psalm - “BUT I AM POOR AND NEEDY: MAKE HASTE UNTO ME, O GOD: THOU ART MY HELP AND MY DELIVERER; O LORD, MAKE NO TARRYING” The psalm ends with him still waiting. And because of this, it is an excellent prayer for us when we are going through trials and difficulties, waiting on God to come through for us.
When God is not moving as rapidly as we think he should, when our timetables do not coincide, what should we do? --
• Rejoice in Him, love Him and magnify Him
• Let Him worry about the timetable
• God is always working, and we know THAT ALL THINGS ARE WORKING TOGETHER FOR GOOD
• But He waits for the right time to reveal His victories
• Let Him watch the clock
--God hears your prayer; and He answers your prayer
--Not always as quickly as we would like
--Not always in the way we would like
--But always in His perfect timing, and His perfect will
--We may be in distress and cry out “HURRY UP, GOD!”
--But ultimately – “YOU CAN’T HURRY GOD”
--Just when you think time has run out
--God will remind us that He works from a different Clock
