Comfort From the Psalms

In the midst of all that is going on around us in these times, I believe we can simply trust God. Here are some words from the psalms, probably written by David when his life was in extreme peril as King Saul sought to take his life. They should comfort us and remind us that God is sovereign and if we place all our faith in Him alone, He will provide for us as He did David. Pray through these, ask God to embed them into your heart and you will find that the peace of God, will remove all your fears and anxieties. 

Psalm 56:1-4 

Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me; Fighting all day long he oppresses me.  My foes have trampled upon me all day long, For they are many who fight proudly against me.   When I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee.   In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me? 

Psalm 56:8-11 

Thou hast taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Thy bottle; Are they not in Thy book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, In the LORD, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? 

Psalm 34:4-10  

I sought the LORD, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears.  They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces shall never be ashamed.  This poor man cried and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.  O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!  O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him, there is no want.  The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing. 

Psalm 34:15-22  

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.  The face of the LORD is against evildoers, To cut off the memory of them from the earth.  The righteous cry and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.  The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, And saves those who are crushed in spirit.   Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But the LORD delivers him out of them all.  He keeps all his bones; Not one of them is broken.   Evil shall slay the wicked; And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.  The LORD redeems the soul of His servants; And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. 

Psalm 52:8-9  

But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.  I will give Thee thanks forever, because Thou hast done it, And I will wait on Thy name, for it is good, in the presence of Thy godly ones. 

This is just a small bite of the wonderful food of God that we find in His Word. My prayer this morning is that we stand faithful in believing the Word of God and we feed on it so that we will be strengthened by it and we stay faithful in trusting in Him for all we need. 

Great Is His Faithfulness

 

Have you ever just felt like everything is against you? Life gets so hard and it just seems like even God is not listening or if He is, He is just letting you drown in a sea of troubles. Those around you let you down. You even let yourself down. The temptation is to think even God has let you down. When this happens, it becomes unbearable and you just want to give up. I can tell you this, you are not alone. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

We simply must endure in these times and remember that people will let us down. They are human and humans fail. We are human and humans fail. But God? No, He is not human, and He does not fail. We cannot place our faith and hopes in others, nor in ourselves, but in God.

In the difficult days of despair, we must look to the scriptures to find our hope. The Book of Laminations has a wonderful picture of these times. Open it to chapter three, where we find Jeremiah, lamenting the sorrows of the results of sin of his people and nation. Sometimes it is the sins of others that bring us troubles and sometimes it is our own sin. Listen to the cries of Jeremiah.

Lamentations 3:1
 I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.

Lamentations 3:3-7
 Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.  He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.  He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.  In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead.  He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

Lamentations 3:8
 Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.

Things are so bad; it seems God is no longer listening.

Lamentations 3:14-18
 I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.  He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.  He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.  My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness.  So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD."

Have you lost your hope from the Lord?

If so then you must return to God’s Word and listen to the truth of who God is.

Lamentations 3:21-23
 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;  they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Our hope can only be in God. His love never ceases. His mercies never fail. They are new every morning. Great is the faithfulness of the Lord.

Lamentations 3:24
 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Put your hope in Him, not in any other, even in yourself. Our love, our mercies, and our faithfulness, will fail us. But not His.

But wait a minute and see this important truth.

Lamentations 3:25-26
 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.  It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

We have to wait on God.

Lamentations 3:28
 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;

We have to sit in silence.

Lamentations 3:31-33
 For the Lord will not cast off forever,  but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;  for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

Lamentations 3:40-42
 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!  Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:  “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.

Therefore, we must take time to sit in silence and listen for Him. We are sinners who daily rebel and transgress against Him. We must examine ourselves and then repent and confess for as we see in 1 John 1:6-10 that reminds us that if “we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

Repent, confess and be cleansed. Let His Word be in us. Pray for those who, in their sin, bring sorrow to our souls and let God be the one who handles them.

Lamentations 3:52-66
 “I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;  they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;  water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’  “I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;  you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’  You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’  “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.  You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause.  You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.  “You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me.  The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.  Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.  “You will repay them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.  You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them.  You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O LORD.”

 

To those who seek Him with a heart of repentance and confession, His mercies are new every day. To those who reject Him and plot against His people, His curse will be upon them.

Take time to sit in silence and wait on the Lord. Great is His faithfulness. His love and mercies never end.

Us? We will fail each other, and we will fail ourselves. More importantly, we will fail God.

Put your faith in Him. Trust Him to be God over all people and over all things.

Great is His faithfulness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Win in the Search For Joy

This morning as I was spending my time in study with God’s Word, the idea of joy was brought to light. I went to bed with feelings of heaviness and depression seeking to overwhelm me. Many of you can relate. For me, it wasn’t as if there was some terrible event lurking at my door, it was just a result of being tired and triggered by a small irritant, too minor to even mention. But life wears on a person. I know that the day to day life of work, kids, and keeping up the house, is for so many, harder than it would seem. So, the battle for the Christian to have and maintain joy, is real and difficult. And we have an enemy, the devil, always lurking around casting little grenades of tensions that will blow up our joy, if we are not careful.

The Christian life is a life of warfare. We are in a battle every day. This is why we are instructed in Ephesians 6:11 to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” One of his schemes, is to be sure we do not live with joy.

But the devil isn’t just running loose and wreaking havoc upon us unfettered. I don’t have time to fully develop the doctrine of God’s sovereignty here, every Christian needs to search and study the scriptures to gain a better grasp on this doctrine and how it applies to suffering. For me personally, it was the Book of Job that illuminated this area in my life. Understanding the doctrines of sovereignty and suffering is the key to our being able to live in joy. Since we know that without faith it is impossible to please God, Hebrews 11:6, faith is an imperative to the Christian walk. And since joy is different than happiness, which depends on circumstance, joy requires faith. It means that in spite of suffering and pain, we trust in God so much, that we do not turn from Him with anger and bitterness when He allows things to happen that we do not like.

When we look at the life and the death of Jesus, we find something going on that doesn’t fit with our concepts of joy. Listen to author of Hebrews as he shows us an amazing aspect of the death of Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2
 …keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.

Jesus endured the cross for the joy that lay before Him. What could possibly lay before Him in the slow and painful death He would face on the cross that would bring joy? The answer is that the result of His death, would be His glorification, as He knew that He would die, be resurrected, and ascend back to the glory He left to sit down at the right hand of God’s throne.

My friends, we have the same hope for our Christian lives. As we live out this life, we will have troubles. Sorrow will come our way. Suffering of one form or another is inevitable. But as we face this life and its end, death will come. But Jesus has overcome death and just like Jesus, we will ascend to be with God. We shall dwell in the presence of the glory of Almighty God. This means we have reason to endure for the joy set before us. It means every day, whatever we face, we have reason to have joy.

Yet, here we are, struggling day to day to have joy. What must we do? The answer is in His Word.

Psalm 119:111
Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

Jeremiah 15:16
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.

Step one is to read His Word. Feast on it. Devour it. It is filled with the hope of our salvation.

John 16:24
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Step two is to pray. Ask God in the name of Jesus to make your joy full. We are told to pray without ceasing, so pray without ceasing. Ask God to give you joy, even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Psalm 100:1-2

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!  Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Step three is to serve God and do it with singing. Your church has plenty of opportunities to serve in and the world is filled with needs. Nothing makes you forget your own troubles more than helping someone with theirs.

Philippians 2:17-18
Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.  Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Ephesians 5:18-19
 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.

Step four is fellowship. Go to church. Hang out with fellow Christians. Encourage and be encouraged with other believers. We need each other.

James 1:2-4
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Step five may be the hardest step. But it can be accomplished if we walk in the Spirit and we follow the other steps. Count it joy, all joy, even in the trials of life. Even in our worst pain and our darkest night, we can call it joy because we can know it is a test of our faith. God would not test our faith if we had none. Remember that you are a child of God. That is enough to make it all worth bearing.

The Bible has much more to say on joy. Seek it out by seeking out Jesus.

I leave you with one more scripture. It is our prayer for each other.

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

God Bless!

How To Get Out of Bed When Sorrow Makes You Sleepy

Whether you suffer from a life-long struggle with depression or you simply live life on this earth, most of us have known seasons of sorrow. These are those times when life just seems unbearable and you must battle to just even take another breath. One of the ways our bodies often deal with the stress that deep despair of mind heaps upon us, is to sleep. This morning as I read my Bible. I noticed something I had previously failed to see.

After the event we know as the Last Supper, Jesus headed out to the Mount of Olives, where He goes into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. I always knew that this was a deeply distressing time for Jesus, as He was about to go to the cross where the Holy, sinless Son of God, would become sin for us, paying the ultimate penalty we deserve. Read here Luke’s account of this event.

Luke 22:39-45
And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.  And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”  And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,

I had always looked at the disciples in this story as simply lazy bums, who leave their Lord alone in the garden to pray while they sleep. But Dr. Luke tells us that they were not just tired and lazy, they were sleeping for sorrow. They were broken within themselves. They were depressed, despairing, and probably felt a loss of hope. Not only had they finally woke up to the fact that Jesus was about to die, they had just learned that one of their own would betray Him. But even worse, Jesus had also told them that they too, would abandon Him in this hour of need. I get it. How often my own sin has reminded me of my own experiences of failing Jesus.

Maybe this very morning, you have woken up from sleep wondering how you will get through this day. Sorrow, despair, and feelings of failure permeate your mind. The truth is, this is of the devil. It is a spiritual attack. We are at war with our enemy the devil and he will tell you that all that despair is deserved and that there is no hope.

But Jesus has an answer to these times of sorrow and depression. He knows they are temptations of Satan, who does not want us to turn to God in these times, but instead he tells us to pull up the covers and just go back to sleep. If Satan can keep us in bed sleeping, he knows we will be ineffective as Christ’s disciples. So, listen to what Jesus has to say to us.

 Luke 22:46
“Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Rise and pray that you might not enter into temptation. Jesus speaks not only with authority here, but also with the credibility of knowing true sorrow. As Jesus faced the most sorrowful event ever in human history, He, like us, was in agony. Dr. Luke describes it; “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down.”

Prayer is the answer to rising out of the ash pit of true despair. It was the means by which God empowered Jesus to say, “Not my will, but your will be done.” For God hears the prayers of those who are His when they in humility come to Him in their despair. God even sends help.

Luke 22:43
And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.

Hebrews 1:13-14
And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?  Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

When we face the trials and temptations of this life, we can go to our Father in Heaven and He will give us the strength to face the day. He will even send angels to help strengthen us.

The story of Jesus in the Garden is a story of both sorrow and of victory over that sorrow. But we must pray and as Jesus did, pray fervently and earnestly. We must, as Jesus did, submit ourselves to the sovereignty of God having faith in the fact that He will bring us through.

I hope this morning; whatever trial you face you will wake up and go to your knees. Pray. And don’t be afraid or too prideful to ask others to pray for you. I will. Just let me know what prayers you need.

Be blessed.

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 145

This morning’s psalm is a psalm of praise. Psalm 145 reminds us that God is good, and He is good to all of us.

Psalm 145:1-2

I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever.  Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

Every day that we are given in this life is a blessing and we should bless God for it.

Psalm 145:3
Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable.

God is so good, we cannot even understand His greatness.

Psalm 145:4-7
One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.  On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.  Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness.  They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

Do you meditate on God’s wonderful works? Or are you busy feeling sorry for yourself? Do you spend your day wishing you had what someone else has? As Christians, we are to shine the light of Christ. We can do that by telling the world of God’s wonderful works.

Psalm 145:8-9
The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.  The LORD is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.

In the past twenty-four hours, I have heard from several people who are going through very difficult days right now. We have all experienced those seasons and sometimes it is easy to think our entire life has been one, big mess. But the truth is, it is sin that causes this pain. Some of it is ours, some of it is from those around us, but we must remember one Biblical truth; Jesus came to deliver us from this body of sin and He is coming back one day soon to restore the paradise God gave us, when man chose sin over God. Yet, every day God’s mercies are new.

Psalm 145:14-16
The LORD sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down.  The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time.  You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Even those who mock God and deny He exists, live under His loving and providing hand. Yes, there is suffering, but that suffering is because we rebel against God. We clamor for free will, then when we exercise it, we want to blame God. We ask Him why He allows things to happen.

Psalm 145:17-20
The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.  The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.  He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.  The LORD keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.

The Lord is near to all who call on Him, but you must call on Him in truth. You must fear Him and seek to obey all His commandments, not just the ones you like.

Psalm 145:21
My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

David had a hard life. Read his story in the Bible. Yet, David knew that God was for Him and that God was good, so when David got down and depressed, he went to God. He prayed. He believed God would protect Him. He praised God.

Jesus is coming back. Until then, what should we do? Do as David did.

David said, “My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD.”

David said, “I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.”

God is worthy of all praise and all worship.

Amen

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 102

Psalm 102 is both a penitential psalm and a Messianic psalm. Its author cries out to God in his distress and he bemoans his current situation. The application to us is clear; like the psalmist we must cry out to God in our sinful and destitute state.

Psalm 102:1-7

Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you!  Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!  For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.  My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread.  Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh.  I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places;  I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

This is a description of depression. A loss of hope. No appetite. A broken heart that keeps one awake at night.

Psalm 102:8-11
All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.  For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,  because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down.  My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

Sometimes it seems we cannot catch a break. It can seem as if the whole world is against us. Not that all sickness is a direct result of our own sinfulness, but it would behoove us when we are in the position described in this psalm to look hard at our lives. It may be that unconfessed sin and an unrepentant heart has brought God’s discipline upon us.

Psalm 102:12-13
But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations. You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come.

No matter what has brought us to the cellar of depression, the answer lies in remembering Jesus and what He has done for us. We must look forward to the hope we have in His grace and mercy as we look back at the cross.

Psalm 102:16-17
For the LORD builds up Zion; he appears in his glory;  he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.

When we come to the Father cloaked in the Blood of Christ, he hears our prayers.

Psalm 102:18-22
Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:  that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,  to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise,  when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.

Jesus came to set us free from the chains of our sin. This is the Gospel.

Psalm 102:23-24
He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days.  “O my God,” I say, “take me not away in the midst of my days— you whose years endure throughout all generations!”

Our lives are in God’s hands.

Psalm 102:25-27
Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,  but you are the same, and your years have no end.

This life is short and it may be hard, but God is eternal and He offers us an eternity with Him through faith in His Son.

Psalm 102:28
The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

If we are His, we are adopted into the very family of God. The answer to our current state of affairs, is to trust in Him. Like the psalmist, we must fall before Him in humility and brokenness and appeal to His great name in prayer. He will set us free.