A Faithful Lament

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.639 Now, as we open your word together, that you might continue to sanctify 2 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:10.070 us, remind us of what is true about us, remind us what is 3 00:00:10.230 --> 00:00:15.910 true about your son. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of 4 00:00:16.030 --> 00:00:20.789 all of our hearts together be pleasing and acceptable in your sight, our rock 5 00:00:21.460 --> 00:00:25.660 and our redeemer. It is in your son's name that we pray. Hey 6 00:00:25.739 --> 00:00:30.579 men, if you have a copy of the scriptures with you, you may 7 00:00:30.699 --> 00:00:38.210 remain standing and open to psalm thirteen, which will be our sermon text for 8 00:00:38.409 --> 00:01:00.679 this morning. Psalm Thirteen, this is the word of the Lord. Let's 9 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:06.670 give our attention to it. How Long, Oh Lord, will you forget 10 00:01:06.790 --> 00:01:12.030 me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long 11 00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:17.829 must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the 12 00:01:17.870 --> 00:01:25.219 day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider an answer 13 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:29.620 me, Oh Lord, my God, light up my eyes, lest I 14 00:01:29.859 --> 00:01:34.650 sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemies say I have prevailed over him, 15 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:42.930 lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken, but I have trusted in 16 00:01:42.969 --> 00:01:49.640 your steadfast love. My Heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing 17 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:55.239 to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. You may be 18 00:01:55.359 --> 00:02:09.189 seated when, the summer of nineteen sixty five, the Beatles released what would 19 00:02:09.189 --> 00:02:15.219 become one of their most famous songs, a song that charted number one in 20 00:02:15.259 --> 00:02:21.860 the UK would go on a few months later to chart number one in the 21 00:02:21.939 --> 00:02:28.099 US. Since then, it has gone on to be one of the most 22 00:02:28.180 --> 00:02:36.210 recorded songs of all time, recorded over twenty two hundred times by various artists, 23 00:02:37.169 --> 00:02:43.449 artists like Marvin Gay Ray, Charles Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, boys 24 00:02:43.569 --> 00:02:53.120 to men and the Ohio state marching band. BBC called this song the greatest 25 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:58.479 song of the any century. Rolling Stones, that is the greatest pop song 26 00:02:58.750 --> 00:03:02.389 of all time. Now, I don't know if you are Beatles fans. 27 00:03:02.469 --> 00:03:06.789 Perhaps you are not, but I'm sure there's some songs that come to mind 28 00:03:06.870 --> 00:03:10.110 that might fit the bill. You know, I tend to think of some 29 00:03:10.189 --> 00:03:15.539 of their more poppy love songs. Something in my life. I want to 30 00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:23.860 hold your hand, here comes the Sun. Great uplifting pop songs, certainly 31 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:30.009 great songs that have that have remained in our memory, sometimes getting stuck in 32 00:03:30.169 --> 00:03:35.650 our head. Sorry if they are for the rest of the week, but 33 00:03:35.849 --> 00:03:39.409 this particular song that has seemed to resonate with so many, was written by 34 00:03:39.530 --> 00:03:46.240 Paul McCartney and a really dark time in his life, the time when he 35 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:55.669 was feeling particularly lonely, troubled, sorrowful. Yesterday, all my trouble seems 36 00:03:55.789 --> 00:04:01.629 so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, 37 00:04:01.789 --> 00:04:08.990 I believe, and yesterday. These are the lyrics of this song that 38 00:04:09.030 --> 00:04:13.259 has been recorded more than any other song, it seems, in pop history, 39 00:04:13.300 --> 00:04:19.259 a song that has seemed to resonate with so many. And it's not 40 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:24.689 here comes the Sun, is it? It's a song of sadness, it's 41 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:29.970 a song of lament, a lyrics, a lyricist and anguish, holding out 42 00:04:29.970 --> 00:04:38.009 a glimmer of hope that maybe tomorrow will look better than today, maybe the 43 00:04:38.170 --> 00:04:44.759 glory of yesteryear might one day return. Well, I think the popularity of 44 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:50.040 this song yesterday gives away something about the human experience, doesn't it? That 45 00:04:50.279 --> 00:05:00.269 everyone, everywhere, at some time or another, experiences sorrow, experiences trouble, 46 00:05:00.310 --> 00:05:06.579 suffering, loneliness, betrayal. It would seem that we are left on 47 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:15.060 our own to figure out what to do with those feelings. Well, interestingly 48 00:05:15.220 --> 00:05:20.100 enough, proper lament, it would seem as something that our culture is uncomfortable 49 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:25.209 with, even though this song has been recorded so many times, it's not 50 00:05:25.370 --> 00:05:29.009 something we like to discuss a lot. In fact, I would say that 51 00:05:29.370 --> 00:05:34.290 oftentimes within the church this problem is even worse. We don't like to talk 52 00:05:34.329 --> 00:05:41.720 about lament. We're a lot better about singing songs of thanksgiving, you know, 53 00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:45.800 at least as far as the number of songs we sing, and we 54 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:48.879 should sing psalms of thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for. But 55 00:05:49.389 --> 00:05:55.910 it is of interest that a third of our PSALTER, the third of the 56 00:05:55.949 --> 00:06:01.189 Psalms, are made up of songs of lament, over fifty of them, 57 00:06:03.779 --> 00:06:11.980 which should again give us perhaps some permission, at least some confidence that everyone 58 00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:17.139 experiences sad times. Well, this morning we will be looking at one of 59 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:21.889 those psalms of lament, and psalm thirteen. Some commentators have said that this 60 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:27.970 is the model lament. Though it is short, it contains all of the 61 00:06:28.129 --> 00:06:35.319 necessary elements for what comprises most biblical laments, and is those elements that we 62 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:40.120 will be looking at this morning, and we'll look at them under three headings. 63 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:49.709 One, the complaint to the call and three, the consolation. The 64 00:06:49.829 --> 00:06:57.029 complaints, the call and the consolation. Well, right off the bat it 65 00:06:57.149 --> 00:07:00.870 was. As we jump into psalm thirteen, there is one element that is 66 00:07:00.990 --> 00:07:08.019 clearly missing. We don't get any information about why David is so upset, 67 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:14.620 at least not specifically. We're not given the situation as we are in so 68 00:07:14.819 --> 00:07:17.810 many other psalms is at least a lot of psalms have a heading where it 69 00:07:17.889 --> 00:07:23.850 tells us exactly what's going on. Or we can study the situation and kind 70 00:07:23.889 --> 00:07:29.129 of understand. As we look at parallels and the Old Testament, we can 71 00:07:29.250 --> 00:07:32.879 figure out what's going on with David, but this one is a lot more 72 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:39.199 general. Perhaps that's a gift for us this morning and we'll see. We'll 73 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:46.350 see why. But one thing seems very clear though. This psalm shows the 74 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:55.149 struggle to have components that are relational components that are psychological. It would seem 75 00:07:55.310 --> 00:08:03.620 that David's problem is primarily spiritual. It's primarily theological, that to say, 76 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:09.259 his problem involves his relationship with God. And we see this right from the 77 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:15.009 beginning, don't we? How Long, Oh Lord, will you forget me 78 00:08:15.170 --> 00:08:22.250 forever? Right off the bat, David Calls on the Lord, and it's 79 00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:28.600 of interest that David doesn't call just on God generally, but he uses the 80 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:33.799 Covenant Name Yahweh or as in our English translations, is pretty printed lord at 81 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:41.000 all caps. This is the same name that God has given to his chosen 82 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:46.190 people that they might call upon him, that they might worship him. In 83 00:08:46.350 --> 00:08:52.789 in addition to using the Covenant Name Yahwah, David Calls God out on his 84 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:58.659 Covenant Promises. What do I mean by this? Well, firstly, he 85 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:05.820 calls on God not to forget his people, specifically not to forget David, 86 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:13.330 and we find this promise of Y'all way throughout the scriptures, specifically in books 87 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:18.730 like Isaiah and Jeremiah, talk a lot about God not forgetting his people. 88 00:09:18.769 --> 00:09:24.639 But but I would say that this idea of not forgetting really encapsulates the entire, 89 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:30.200 entire redemptive history, doesn't it? This promise that God will be with 90 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:35.679 us, a promise of presence. We find this promise very early on, 91 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:41.470 certainly explicitly to Abraham, that the God will be a God to him and 92 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:46.230 to his children, and we find this same promise repeated on the last pages 93 00:09:46.269 --> 00:09:52.149 of the Bible and revelation that finally this fulfillment comes to pass, that God 94 00:09:52.309 --> 00:09:58.220 will be an eternal God to us and to our offspring. So David here 95 00:09:58.340 --> 00:10:05.460 is calling on God to remember his covenant promises. In a way, here 96 00:10:05.460 --> 00:10:13.289 David is acting like a prophet. What do I mean by that? What 97 00:10:13.409 --> 00:10:16.730 do we often think of when we think about prophets? I think we often 98 00:10:16.850 --> 00:10:22.200 think about people who tell the future. Right. Well, the Old Testament, 99 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:28.120 one of the primary roles we see of prophets is to bring covenant lawsuits 100 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:37.190 against God's people. What is a covenant lawsuit? Well, how God related 101 00:10:37.269 --> 00:10:39.350 to his people in the Old Testament, how he relates to us, is 102 00:10:39.750 --> 00:10:46.710 through covenant. And God would send prophets to the nation of Israel to remind 103 00:10:46.909 --> 00:10:52.580 them of the Covenant that they had made with the Lord. And after they 104 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:56.179 would remind them, they would show them where they had not kept up their 105 00:10:56.220 --> 00:11:01.299 side of the bargain. They would show the people where they had been unfaithful 106 00:11:01.940 --> 00:11:07.210 to the covenant. And often times the prophets would do this by saying you 107 00:11:07.330 --> 00:11:13.929 have forgotten the Lord. Isaiah says it like this. You have forgotten Y'Ahwagh, 108 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:20.960 your God, the God of your salvation. Josiah says that like this, 109 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:28.519 Israel has forgotten his maker. Ezekiel says. You make gain of your 110 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:33.350 neighbors by extortion, but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God. 111 00:11:37.509 --> 00:11:41.590 But here David is not acting as a prophet, and so much as he's 112 00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:48.940 bringing a covenant lawsuit against God's People, he's bringing a covenant lawsuit against God 113 00:11:48.059 --> 00:11:58.179 himself. How Long, Oh Lord, will you forget me? And the 114 00:11:58.340 --> 00:12:05.129 intensity of his accusation seems to increase each time he cries. How long we 115 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:09.889 see this in this first stands. It's as if he's walking up the steps 116 00:12:09.009 --> 00:12:13.450 of the Throne Room of God yelling at the king, pointing a finger in 117 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:20.279 his face, first saying that he is passively forgotten, but then he moves 118 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:24.720 on to an accusation of active hiding. How Long, Oh Lord, will 119 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:35.710 you hide your face from me? He blames God for this perpetual sorrow on 120 00:12:35.830 --> 00:12:43.230 account of the Lord's neglect, and finally accuses God of going back on his 121 00:12:43.429 --> 00:12:50.419 promises to protect David from his enemies. This would seem like covenant language, 122 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:58.539 doesn't it? It would seem like a prophetic accusation. David brings a host 123 00:12:58.649 --> 00:13:03.250 of charges against the Creator, saying you have neglected who you have promised to 124 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:07.529 be you have not only abandoned me, but you have turned me over to 125 00:13:07.690 --> 00:13:18.919 my enemies. David is bringing charges of neglect abandonment against the god of all 126 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:26.399 creation. So how does that sit with you? Does it make you a 127 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:31.909 little bit uncomfortable? Makes me a little bit uncomfortable, makes me not really 128 00:13:31.909 --> 00:13:35.669 want to pray this prayer, and yet it's in the scripture and it's what 129 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:41.700 David seems to be doing. Well, if it's made you uncomfortable up and 130 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:46.059 this, up until this point, the second stands. It gets a little 131 00:13:46.100 --> 00:13:52.659 bit worse. He is gone from from this complaint to now calling on God, 132 00:13:54.500 --> 00:14:01.129 barking orders, imperatives, demanding, it would seem so. We first 133 00:14:01.169 --> 00:14:05.409 had the complaint, now we have the call. And these calls, these 134 00:14:07.610 --> 00:14:13.440 orders, you could say, directly parallel the accusations from the complaint, don't 135 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:20.320 they? Instead of questioning God's covenant promises and his Loyalty, God, David 136 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:31.350 calls out with three very distinct orders consider, answer and enlighten, and these 137 00:14:31.509 --> 00:14:35.389 actions mirror the consent of the complaints. Let's take a look. First, 138 00:14:35.909 --> 00:14:39.899 David accuses God of forgetting him, and now he calls on the Lord to 139 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:48.059 consider him, to remember him, to look upon him. Second, in 140 00:14:48.259 --> 00:14:56.250 opposition to God hiding his face, David Calls God to answer. If you 141 00:14:56.370 --> 00:15:03.889 will allow the language, David is calling on God to repent. He's calling 142 00:15:03.970 --> 00:15:13.320 on God to turn towards him, to turn from his neglect, his forgetfulness, 143 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:20.399 and to again look upon his servant. Well, there's something else striking 144 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:26.389 here that David again uses this covenant name Yahwey. This time he uses it 145 00:15:26.470 --> 00:15:31.509 in its full form. Let's let's take a look. Well, throughout scripture 146 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:39.100 you'll notice that God often identifies himself as the Lord God, as Yahwey God, 147 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:46.259 Yahwey Elohim, or, even more directly, the Lord your God. 148 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:50.850 A famous example of this is an exodus right before the giving of the law. 149 00:15:52.970 --> 00:15:58.450 God has delivered the people from the bondage of Egypt and he comes to 150 00:15:58.490 --> 00:16:02.370 them right before giving a Tin Commandments, and he says what, I am, 151 00:16:02.409 --> 00:16:04.840 the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 152 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:12.879 out of the hand of slavery. And this is constantly how God identifies himself 153 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:19.549 as the Lord God. Well, it's what David uses to identify God. 154 00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:26.950 Right here he says, consider an answer me, oh Lord my God. 155 00:16:30.350 --> 00:16:37.220 David is not barking orders to some unknown, arbitrary God, but the God 156 00:16:37.259 --> 00:16:44.980 of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God 157 00:16:45.139 --> 00:16:48.250 who took Israel by the hand and led them out of bondage, out of 158 00:16:48.330 --> 00:16:53.049 the yoke of slavery, the God who put his covenant name upon his people, 159 00:16:55.570 --> 00:17:00.929 the God of David and the God of his father's and this is so 160 00:17:00.250 --> 00:17:08.799 important to notice here, because in David's anger and frustration and sorrow, we 161 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:15.069 don't find him calling out and crying in disbelief, do we? We find 162 00:17:15.150 --> 00:17:22.349 a cry of faith the God might be faithful to his promises, he says, 163 00:17:22.589 --> 00:17:30.380 consider an answer me. Who, oh Lord, my God, I 164 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:37.859 want to consider this for a moment as we perhaps consider how this applies to 165 00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:45.369 us one I think I find it somewhat comforting at least, that our covenant 166 00:17:45.410 --> 00:17:52.690 God is not scared of US calling out to him in frustration, he's not 167 00:17:52.890 --> 00:17:57.720 intimidated by our demands for him to be faithful to what he has promised us, 168 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.799 and I would go so far to say that he is not angered by 169 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:11.000 calls of faith when we identify him not according to our own imaginations but what 170 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.109 he has revealed of himself. And what he has promised to be to us. 171 00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:22.789 And that's exactly what David is doing here, with boldness, crying out 172 00:18:22.990 --> 00:18:30.779 answer me, my God. David Calls on God to turn him from sorrow 173 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:38.140 and introspection and enlighten his eyes or or revive him that he might not taste 174 00:18:38.380 --> 00:18:44.690 death. And again we see a parallel here. From first stands it, 175 00:18:44.769 --> 00:18:49.049 don't we? In the first stands David speaks of his enemies exalting over him, 176 00:18:49.049 --> 00:18:53.529 and now David repeats this in his petition. He says, God, 177 00:18:53.609 --> 00:18:57.000 if you don't consider me, if you don't answer me, if you don't 178 00:18:57.079 --> 00:19:04.559 enlighten me, My enemies will overcome me. They will rejoice when I am 179 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:12.230 shaken. As we've said, David's sorrow, his trouble, certainly has a 180 00:19:12.390 --> 00:19:21.269 social component, a situational component, his enemies rejoicing over his failures, his 181 00:19:21.670 --> 00:19:27.700 adversaries exalting over him. His trouble certainly has a psychological component, doesn't it? 182 00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:33.019 He has sorrow in his heart, he has turned inward upon himself. 183 00:19:36.299 --> 00:19:44.609 But David sees his issue is not primarily social, not primarily situational, not 184 00:19:44.930 --> 00:19:55.880 primarily psychological. He sees his problem as theological David has a problem with God. 185 00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:03.160 And because David's primary problem is with God, God is the only source 186 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:11.789 of consolation. I think, perhaps for us and our times of sorrow and 187 00:20:11.910 --> 00:20:17.309 our times of lament, we assume that everything is based on our situation. 188 00:20:18.509 --> 00:20:23.740 And, don't get me wrong, we find ourselves in very difficult situations. 189 00:20:25.819 --> 00:20:32.220 Sickness of ourselves, are loved ones, death, times of mourning, financial 190 00:20:32.299 --> 00:20:41.730 difficulties, relational difficulties, difficulties parenting, difficulties being parented, trouble at school, 191 00:20:42.009 --> 00:20:51.079 trouble at work, real issues that plague us. But even in those 192 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:55.519 difficult situations, I think it is so important to remember that God remains our 193 00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:03.599 only source of consolation. Seasons of want and seasons of plenty will come and 194 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:08.470 go, but God is the strength of our heart, he is our portion, 195 00:21:08.670 --> 00:21:14.390 and David sees this, and and so we must see this if we 196 00:21:14.509 --> 00:21:22.500 are to properly lament. He directs his complaint, he directs his call directly 197 00:21:22.779 --> 00:21:27.700 to God, and he does so very directly, doesn't he? He points 198 00:21:27.819 --> 00:21:32.259 the finger at God, he describes the ways in which God seems to be 199 00:21:32.420 --> 00:21:37.210 unfaithful. We see this in the complaint. Then we see this call, 200 00:21:37.410 --> 00:21:42.289 that the David Calls God to reglent from his neglect, to repent, to 201 00:21:42.569 --> 00:21:52.039 turn towards David. But finally we see David's consolation. We our final section 202 00:21:52.160 --> 00:22:00.240 for this morning. Let's look at verse five together. But I have trusted 203 00:22:00.509 --> 00:22:08.069 in your loving kindness and your steadfast love. My Heart shall rejoice in your 204 00:22:08.109 --> 00:22:15.980 salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. 205 00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:22.619 It's interesting here. Just in one voice or in one verse, with 206 00:22:22.859 --> 00:22:30.769 one word, but everything changes. Life seems to go back to normal. 207 00:22:33.769 --> 00:22:41.210 I guess all that yelling and demanded, demanding worked for David. I think 208 00:22:41.369 --> 00:22:45.640 perhaps one of the things that is most troubling about this psalm is not David's 209 00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:51.720 anger as not the fact that he's demanding, is not the fact that he's 210 00:22:51.799 --> 00:23:00.829 complaining, but the fact that everything just seems to be okay, everything seems 211 00:23:00.869 --> 00:23:06.269 to improve in an instant. I mean there's a sense in which we like 212 00:23:06.509 --> 00:23:11.190 that right. It's like a good Sitcom. No matter how difficult things are 213 00:23:11.349 --> 00:23:15.140 for the main character, we know that it'll all be okay within thirty minutes. 214 00:23:17.940 --> 00:23:22.859 But one of the reasons why sitcoms are so far from reality is that 215 00:23:23.099 --> 00:23:30.450 things just don't improve that quickly, do they? One Minute David is dying 216 00:23:30.529 --> 00:23:34.690 in sorrow, yelling at God, in the next he's ready to join a 217 00:23:34.690 --> 00:23:41.720 chorus line, ready to sing. But is that what life is like? 218 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:53.559 Hurt lingers, pain goes on and on, Shakespeare once wrote, one pain 219 00:23:53.839 --> 00:24:00.990 is lessened only by another's anguish, that to say, it would seem in 220 00:24:00.190 --> 00:24:10.299 life that the only remedy for pain is for greater pain to come. And 221 00:24:10.500 --> 00:24:19.700 doesn't life sometimes feel that way? Yesterday all my trouble seems so far away, 222 00:24:21.900 --> 00:24:26.890 but now it looks as though they're here to stay, as one poet 223 00:24:26.930 --> 00:24:34.369 once wrote. But not for David Right not here. All of a sudden 224 00:24:34.690 --> 00:24:40.200 everything goes back to normal, life is sweet and the words of Monty Python, 225 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:47.720 there was much rejoicing. But is there any evidence here that David's situation 226 00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:56.150 actually changes? Is there any indication that the troubles have ended? And if 227 00:24:56.190 --> 00:25:02.349 they have, the psalm doesn't mention it, does it? What we know 228 00:25:02.869 --> 00:25:11.019 in this short lament is that it is David who does the changing. Let's 229 00:25:11.019 --> 00:25:18.819 take a look again at verse five and six. But I have trusted in 230 00:25:19.099 --> 00:25:26.930 your steadfast love. This word steadfast love. Perhaps your translation says loving kindness 231 00:25:27.009 --> 00:25:33.089 or faithfulness. It's a word that, throughout the Old Testament, is one 232 00:25:33.210 --> 00:25:40.960 that speaks of the Lord's Covenant Loyalty, of his faithfulness to his promise. 233 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:45.559 As one commentator suggests, that the best way to render this is covenant loyalty. 234 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:51.789 I have trusted, and the loyalty to your covenant. You could say 235 00:25:51.789 --> 00:25:57.789 I have trusted or I feel confident in what you promise, that it will 236 00:25:57.829 --> 00:26:07.460 be true. My Heart, David says, shall rejoice in what your salvation. 237 00:26:10.460 --> 00:26:14.619 I would argue against some, and we can argue, if you want 238 00:26:14.660 --> 00:26:23.089 to, that David's situation hasn't changed. I would argue, perhaps, that 239 00:26:23.250 --> 00:26:27.049 that is even more troubling for us. I mean, is that that what 240 00:26:27.170 --> 00:26:33.279 we want for all of a sudden everything on the outside of us that is 241 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:40.079 causing US grief to be remedied? I mean, whether these situations are of 242 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:45.480 our own doing or not, we want the situation to be rectified. But 243 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:51.950 God comes to David, the Lord comes to David with a true solution, 244 00:26:52.109 --> 00:27:02.500 doesn't he? Again we have seen that his issue is not situational but theological. 245 00:27:02.579 --> 00:27:08.220 David here has an issue with God. Well, God hears David. 246 00:27:11.019 --> 00:27:18.650 God inclines himself to his son. God Has Mercy on him and in David's 247 00:27:18.809 --> 00:27:26.250 call for God to repent and turn it is God who repents David. God 248 00:27:26.450 --> 00:27:37.680 turns David from his situation to his salvation. And we see here that this 249 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:42.039 Psalmist, by God's mercy, is, by God's grace, able to look 250 00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:48.390 to a grace somewhere, at some time that he has encountered, and the 251 00:27:48.509 --> 00:27:55.710 magnitude of that grace, that salvation, is a reality that no other experience 252 00:27:55.869 --> 00:28:03.339 can diminish. In a word by another poet, the things of this earth 253 00:28:03.819 --> 00:28:11.019 grow strangely dim in the light of God, God's glory and grace. Though 254 00:28:11.259 --> 00:28:18.170 in that moment the silence of God may seem deafening, David looks to reality 255 00:28:18.970 --> 00:28:26.920 that breaks through the silence with a song of salvation. One of the big 256 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:33.160 days that we celebrate, that we have throughout church history, is Easter Sunday, 257 00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:37.319 rightly so, the The Sunday where we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. 258 00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:42.750 In fact, throughout Church history the church has celebrated the entire week of 259 00:28:42.950 --> 00:28:47.910 Holy week in different ways. I know back home we had a Good Friday 260 00:28:48.029 --> 00:28:52.750 service. I remember growing up we had Maunday, Thursday. Well, one 261 00:28:52.829 --> 00:28:56.420 of the days of Holy Week that does not get a lot of attention, 262 00:28:56.619 --> 00:29:04.099 at least in our reform tradition, is holy Saturday, a day that the 263 00:29:04.220 --> 00:29:11.329 church has gotten together to hold an Easter vigil to commemorate something a bit strange, 264 00:29:12.410 --> 00:29:21.250 the silence of God. Holy Saturday is the day that Jesus spent in 265 00:29:21.450 --> 00:29:29.279 the Tomb. Now, for think about holy Saturday for Jesus contemporaries, right 266 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:33.039 the disciples, perhaps this truly was a day of silence, a day of 267 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:37.910 morning, a day where they had to reckon with the fact that the revolution 268 00:29:38.190 --> 00:29:45.589 was over, that Jesus, at least, would appear to not be who 269 00:29:45.789 --> 00:29:51.990 he claimed to be. The day that death had defeated God, that the 270 00:29:52.029 --> 00:29:57.500 light of the world had been snuffed out by the grave, truly a day 271 00:29:57.740 --> 00:30:04.259 of silence. Why would we celebrate such a day? Well, for us 272 00:30:06.299 --> 00:30:11.849 on this side of the resurrection, we can celebrate holy Saturday, with its 273 00:30:11.970 --> 00:30:15.849 pain and its sorrow, because we know that Easter Sunday is about to dawn. 274 00:30:15.970 --> 00:30:22.200 We know that the celebration of the resurrection is approaching. We can rejoice 275 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:30.119 in the necessary death and temporary silence of Christ because we know that death does 276 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:37.069 not have the last word about him. On the same way, for us, 277 00:30:37.349 --> 00:30:45.829 on this side of God's salvation, we can lament, we can call 278 00:30:45.029 --> 00:30:49.380 out to God and faith, bringing our complaints, our sorrow, our pain, 279 00:30:49.900 --> 00:30:56.099 our struggles, because we know that our pain does not have the last 280 00:30:56.099 --> 00:31:03.099 word about us. We know that the last word about who we are is 281 00:31:03.220 --> 00:31:11.650 found in Christ, Jesus himself, and our lives hidden in him. We, 282 00:31:11.890 --> 00:31:15.009 like David, can look beyond our situation, our struggle, our pain, 283 00:31:15.450 --> 00:31:21.240 to a grace, to a salvation, to God's Covenant Loyalty that he 284 00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:25.960 is shown to us in the giving of his only son that we might have 285 00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:32.680 forgiveness and life. And as we reflect on this reality, we can be 286 00:31:32.869 --> 00:31:38.029 reminded that it is Jesus who truly sang this psalm. Isn't it? That 287 00:31:38.230 --> 00:31:44.670 he was the one truly forsaken by the father, handed over to the ultimate 288 00:31:44.750 --> 00:31:55.180 enemy, death itself, that we might not taste death, that we might 289 00:31:55.339 --> 00:32:02.930 never experience the turned away face of God. Now, I know that there 290 00:32:02.970 --> 00:32:08.410 are those of you here, those of us here, who feel like they're 291 00:32:08.490 --> 00:32:13.690 weak, or their month or their year or their entire life has been a 292 00:32:14.049 --> 00:32:25.559 perpetual holy Saturday, of just sorrow after sorrow and difficulty after difficulty. Would 293 00:32:25.559 --> 00:32:30.190 seem that psalm thirteen is your theme song. In a lot of ways, 294 00:32:32.349 --> 00:32:38.710 life is difficult, pain is real, but if you resonate with that this 295 00:32:38.910 --> 00:32:46.779 morning, here this that your pain does not have the last word, that 296 00:32:47.059 --> 00:32:57.779 Sunday is coming and with it resurrection. Though weeping may last for the night, 297 00:32:57.859 --> 00:33:01.690 a shout of joy comes in the morning and after we have suffered a 298 00:33:02.049 --> 00:33:07.329 little while, the God of all grace, who has called us to his 299 00:33:07.569 --> 00:33:15.720 eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish us. 300 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:21.720 And, as he promises, he will wipe away every tear that we 301 00:33:22.200 --> 00:33:27.549 with the PSALMIST, may sing. I will sing to the Lord, because 302 00:33:27.589 --> 00:33:34.430 he is dealt bountifully with me. May the word of the Lord Strengthen and 303 00:33:34.509 --> 00:33:44.019 preserve us all to life everlasting. Let's pray the Lord, our God. 304 00:33:44.180 --> 00:33:49.539 We do thank you that you are not distant from us. We thank you 305 00:33:49.660 --> 00:33:54.140 that you hear us on account of your son and that, because he has 306 00:33:54.259 --> 00:34:02.890 experienced the forsakenness that we deserve, we might experience your fatherly affections. Grant 307 00:34:04.009 --> 00:34:08.530 that we might grow and faith in grateful obedience as we consider the magnitude of 308 00:34:08.650 --> 00:34:15.800 your gift of salvation. Lord, I do pray for those among us that 309 00:34:16.119 --> 00:34:25.469 are experiencing mourning and lament and sadness anger. Oh Lord, I do pray 310 00:34:25.590 --> 00:34:35.550 that you might repent them. When we lack the power to turn ourselves, 311 00:34:35.670 --> 00:34:43.139 Lord, we pray that you would turn us, that we would be able 312 00:34:43.179 --> 00:34:46.739 to focus not on the difficulty of these situations, no matter how difficult they 313 00:34:46.780 --> 00:34:53.929 may be, but that we might be focused on a salvation so great that 314 00:34:54.090 --> 00:35:01.969 everything else seems to grow dim oh Lord, we do pray for those who 315 00:35:02.010 --> 00:35:07.920 are sick, that you would bring healing, for those who are financial difficulty, 316 00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:09.519 Lord, that you would bring resolution, that you would bring wisdom. 317 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:15.599 Lord. We do pray for the difficult SYS difficult situations among us. Lord. 318 00:35:15.639 --> 00:35:20.440 We do pray that you would come and that you would care for your 319 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:25.750 children, that you would hear us according to your son, but most of 320 00:35:25.829 --> 00:35:30.150 all, we do pray that you would turn our attention away from our situations 321 00:35:30.269 --> 00:35:35.630 to where our true lives are hidden, on high, with your son, 322 00:35:35.670 --> 00:35:39.340 who is seated at the right hand of Majesty even now, interceding for us 323 00:35:39.659 --> 00:35:45.380 when we do not have the ability to intercede for ourselves. Lord, we 324 00:35:45.500 --> 00:35:54.570 thank you for your faithfulness, for Your Covenant Loyalty Toward Us. Lord, 325 00:35:54.610 --> 00:35:59.610 we do pray that you would be our ever present help in our time of 326 00:35:59.730 --> 00:36:05.159 need, according to your promises, according to who you are and who you 327 00:36:05.280 --> 00:36:08.360 have revealed to us that you are through your son. Oh Lord, we 328 00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:13.360 do thank you grant us these things, for we ask them in your son's 329 00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:15.440 name, who lives in reigns with you, in the Holy Spirit, one 330 00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:17.909 God, forever and ever. Amen.