What's Wrong With God? Series

6) Has He in anger withdrawn His compassion?

Some real pain here if we entertain the possibility that God has written us off;

imagine you have a terminal illness; How do you answer these questions?

(the lament of this psalm could be the cry of a rejected nation rather than just of one poor

soul)

This is primarily why we still believe that God has a future for physical Israel -- that God

will someday literally fulfill the promises made to His people the Jews back in OT times;

their unfaithfulness can never negate the faithfulness of God; He will come through on His

promises; He will not cast them off forever.

Illustration:

A young man was trying to establish himself as a peach grower. He had worked hard and invested his all in a peach orchard which blossomed wonderfully; then came a

hard frost. He did not go to church the next Sunday, nor the next, nor the next. One of the elders went to visit him to find out what was wrong. The young man explained: "I’m not coming to church. Do you think I can worship a God who cares for me so little that

He will let a frost kill all my peaches?"

The elder answered wisely: "God loves you better than He does your peaches. He knows that while peaches do better without frosts, it is impossible to grow the best men without frosts. His object is to grow men, not peaches." - Christian Worker’s Magazine

Rom. 8 – “nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus”

Issue = God’s Unchanging Character and Faithfulness to His Word

II. (:10-12) TRANSITION: COMMITMENT TO MEDITATE ON THE GREATNESS OF GOD

A. Reality of My Troubles BUT

B. Commitment to Meditate on the Greatness of God

III. (:13-20) THE GREATNESS OF GOD CANNOT BE DENIED

A. Redemption -- Deliverance for the saints of old (:13-15)

Holiness of God

Redemption by the Power of God (Red Sea experience in mind).the Great God who works wonders

cf. The 7 wonders of the ancient world and then compare the wonders which God works

(History Lesson)

1) the pyramids of Egypt at Giza -- built as tombs for Egyptian kings = the oldest

and best preserved of the 7 wonders; built around 2600 - 2500 BC

2) the hanging gardens of Babylon; king had married a mountain princess and wanted her to feel at home with an extensive brick terrace about 400 feet above the ground;

slaves had to work in shifts in order to irrigate the flowers and trees with water from the

Euphrates River

3) the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

built about 550 B.C. -- the temple was entirely marble, except for its tile-covered

wooden roof; a whole bunch of fancy columns

4) the statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece -- made about 435 B.C. -- 40 feet high --

showed Zeus on his throne; gold and ivory used

5) the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus -- huge white marble tomb -- built about 350 B.C.

6) the Colosus of Rhodes -- huge bronze statue honoring the sun god Helios --

about 120 feet tall

7) the Lighthouse of Alexandria

(primarily associated with honoring the dead or exalting false gods) -- not very impressive from God’s perspective

What type of wonders does God work??