Godly Complaining

WEBVTT 1 00:00:10.070 --> 00:00:30.219 Please turn in your bibles to Psalm one hundred and two. Some one hundred 2 00:00:30.260 --> 00:00:36.490 and two has a title to it. There's some dispute in some circles as 3 00:00:36.609 --> 00:00:45.649 to whether these titles are a part of the original. I tend to have 4 00:00:45.929 --> 00:00:49.649 the view that they are very much a part of it. If you read 5 00:00:49.770 --> 00:00:54.200 some of the Psalms in Hebrew, you'll find out that the first verse in 6 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:59.960 our English version is actually the second verse in Hebrew as a result of these 7 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:04.670 titles. And I think that this title is very appropriate and had a lot 8 00:01:04.790 --> 00:01:11.430 to do with the reason that I chose this particular psalm to preach from this 9 00:01:11.629 --> 00:01:23.579 morning. A prayer of one afflicted when he is faint and pours out his 10 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:34.849 complaint before the Lord. Hear my prayer. O Lord, let my cry 11 00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:38.090 come to you. Do Not Hide your face for from me. In the 12 00:01:38.129 --> 00:01:45.090 day of my distress, incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily. 13 00:01:45.250 --> 00:01:52.719 In the day when I call for my days pass away like smoke and my 14 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:57.760 bones burn like a furnace, my heart is struck down like grass and has 15 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:05.549 withered, and I forget to eat my bread because of my loud groaning. 16 00:02:05.709 --> 00:02:09.750 My bones cling to my flesh. And I am like a desert owl in 17 00:02:09.830 --> 00:02:15.900 the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. I lie awake. 18 00:02:17.020 --> 00:02:22.819 I'm like a lonely sparrow in the HOUSETOP. All the day. My Enemies 19 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:28.259 taunt me, those who deride me use my name for a curse, for 20 00:02:28.379 --> 00:02:35.009 I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink. Because of your 21 00:02:35.169 --> 00:02:40.009 indignation and anger, for you have taken me up and thrown me down. 22 00:02:42.969 --> 00:02:52.479 My days are like an evening shadow. I wither away like grass. But 23 00:02:52.759 --> 00:02:59.590 you, oh Lord, are enthrone forever. You are remembered throughout all generations. 24 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:05.430 You will arise and have pity on Zion. It is the time to 25 00:03:05.629 --> 00:03:12.069 favor her. The appointed time has come, for your servants hold her stones 26 00:03:12.229 --> 00:03:16.419 dear and have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of the 27 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:23.139 Lord and all the kings of the Earth will fear Your glory, for the 28 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:30.210 Lord Builds Up Zion, he appears in his glory. He regards the prayer 29 00:03:30.289 --> 00:03:37.289 of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. Let this be recorded for 30 00:03:37.409 --> 00:03:42.800 a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise 31 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:49.719 the Lord that he looked down from his holy height from heaven, the Lord 32 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.759 looked at the earth to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free 33 00:03:53.919 --> 00:04:00.030 those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name 34 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:05.349 of the Lord and in Jerusalem his praise, when people's gathered together in kingdoms 35 00:04:06.389 --> 00:04:15.740 to worship the Lord. He has broken my strength in mid course. He 36 00:04:15.900 --> 00:04:21.980 has shortened my days. Oh my God, I say, take me, 37 00:04:23.139 --> 00:04:28.370 not away in the midst of my days. You whose years endure throughout all 38 00:04:28.529 --> 00:04:34.529 generations of old. You laid the foundation of the Earth and the heavens are 39 00:04:34.730 --> 00:04:41.399 the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain. 40 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:46.600 They will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a 41 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:51.600 robe and they will pass away, but you are the same and your years 42 00:04:51.720 --> 00:05:01.589 have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure, their offspring 43 00:05:02.990 --> 00:05:30.290 shall be established before you. I titled My sermon Godly Complaining. I told 44 00:05:30.329 --> 00:05:33.930 Pastor that I had strange habits, and one of them is that I like 45 00:05:34.050 --> 00:05:38.600 to get down on the level where people are when I'm preaching the word. 46 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.040 One of the reasons I did this in the very small congregation that I served 47 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:49.949 back in Kansas was that everyone sat in the back. The Church would probably 48 00:05:49.949 --> 00:05:55.709 hold a hundred people and we had thirty five people and and the point that 49 00:05:55.750 --> 00:06:00.670 I would step to would be about halfway, because that way I didn't have 50 00:06:00.829 --> 00:06:11.459 anyone that was behind me or even to my side at that point. A 51 00:06:11.540 --> 00:06:17.500 visitor one time made a comment that your preacher actually talk to us, and 52 00:06:17.649 --> 00:06:24.689 I hope you realize that that that's what your preacher does and that's what I'm 53 00:06:24.769 --> 00:06:30.610 doing this morning is talking to you where you are, and it is wonderful 54 00:06:30.689 --> 00:06:38.519 to have a congregation this large and to have such a variety in terms of 55 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:45.199 age, where we are in life. There's a variety of occupations here. 56 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:51.910 I don't know everyone in the congregation, but I believe that this psalm has 57 00:06:51.990 --> 00:06:58.149 something to speak to each and every one of us here this morning, and 58 00:07:00.110 --> 00:07:12.379 it's about complaining. How do you regard complaining? I'm sure that all of 59 00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:18.129 us have someone that we know that is a constant complainer. Do you know 60 00:07:18.209 --> 00:07:25.329 that person? There's there's a man back in Kansas that every time I see 61 00:07:25.329 --> 00:07:32.040 him coming I'm wondering what his complaints going to be. And I had an 62 00:07:32.120 --> 00:07:39.839 interesting eye insight into Ivan a couple of years ago. I realize something. 63 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:46.509 When he came complaining to me, he wasn't interested in the solution to his 64 00:07:46.670 --> 00:07:53.430 problem, because it didn't matter what I proposed, how reasonable it was, 65 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:57.790 how easier, how difficult it was. I didn't always say I can't do 66 00:07:57.910 --> 00:08:03.819 that, that can't be done. I've already tried that. But what I 67 00:08:03.860 --> 00:08:09.660 discovered about Ivan was it his real desire was not for me to give him 68 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:13.209 a solution. He wasn't coming to me because he wanted a solution. He 69 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:20.529 wanted someone to feel sorry for him. And that was it. And so 70 00:08:22.449 --> 00:08:26.490 when I see Ivan coming now and he shares his problems with me, I 71 00:08:26.730 --> 00:08:33.559 tell him I'm sorry to hear that and he goes away with a smile on 72 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:43.110 his face sometimes as a result of that. Did you notice those two elements 73 00:08:45.429 --> 00:08:58.580 in the complaint? Solutions and wanting someone to feel, maybe not sorry for 74 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:16.690 necessary, sorry with I believe the Psalmist here has that approach. Also, 75 00:09:16.730 --> 00:09:22.289 when you think about complaining, does God really want to hear our complaints? 76 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:37.759 There are the people that don't. If you take the time sometimes to read 77 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:45.190 through the book of Job, the Book of job is largely job complaining. 78 00:09:46.830 --> 00:09:52.110 And yet were assured in the book of job that job wasn't the one that 79 00:09:52.269 --> 00:10:00.500 God held guilty at the end of the book. But who was held guilty? 80 00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:11.809 Job's friends who thought they could speak for God, who, when they 81 00:10:13.009 --> 00:10:20.129 first came to see job, did the best thing. They sat there and 82 00:10:20.649 --> 00:10:26.679 they kept their mouth shut. It was when they began to speak that they 83 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:43.590 got themselves into trouble. God wants us to complain, but to complain to 84 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:52.899 him. If you have a position of responsibility at your work say for instance, 85 00:10:52.940 --> 00:10:58.259 or in your home, wherever you may be, if you have people 86 00:10:58.299 --> 00:11:05.769 that work for you, do you like it when they complain to one another 87 00:11:05.850 --> 00:11:20.720 about working conditions or would you prefer they complain to you? When we share 88 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:24.480 our complaints, it's important to complain to someone who can do something about it. 89 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:37.590 I I was chided by my congregation back in that I served the Community 90 00:11:37.629 --> 00:11:43.590 Church that I served for twenty two years, or I must have been about 91 00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:48.100 ten years in and and there were a lot of babies being born in the 92 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:52.100 congregation. It was amazing. Sometimes at thirty five people, half of them 93 00:11:52.139 --> 00:11:56.700 are under the age of twelve. There are a lot of babies coming on 94 00:11:56.259 --> 00:12:01.490 and I took great joy in the idea that we had babies in the church. 95 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:05.769 I love hearing babies in church like it's a wonderful sign of the future. 96 00:12:09.610 --> 00:12:16.000 But I started complaining about the fact that I have no grandchildren. I 97 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:22.039 have three children and I've often told people if you don't have children, you're 98 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:28.080 not very likely to ever have any grandchildren. But even when you do have 99 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:33.190 children there's no guarantee that you're going to have grandchildren, and this has been 100 00:12:33.230 --> 00:12:39.149 a disappointment in my life. And one of the ladies in the Church who 101 00:12:39.190 --> 00:12:43.830 had already given birth to two children, came up to me after I had 102 00:12:43.950 --> 00:12:48.700 expressed that one time from the pulpit in some context, and she said, 103 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:56.460 pastor, you're preaching to the wrong people about that. You need to speak 104 00:12:56.460 --> 00:13:09.370 to your own children and not to us. The psalmist knows that God can 105 00:13:09.610 --> 00:13:15.519 do something about it, and that's why he brings his complaint to God. 106 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:22.960 Notice how he opens here. My prayer. Oh Lord, let my cry 107 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:24.919 come to you. Do Not Hide your face from me in the day of 108 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:31.990 my distress. Incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day 109 00:13:31.029 --> 00:13:43.899 when I call. And then he begins his complaint. There in verse three 110 00:13:48.820 --> 00:13:54.860 for my days pass away like smoke and my bones burn like a furnace. 111 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:05.409 My heart is struck down like grass and tays withered. I forget to eat 112 00:14:05.490 --> 00:14:09.279 my bread because of my loud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. 113 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:20.720 He's complaining about physical illness. I believe here I don't have a problem taking 114 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:28.070 the Bible literally. Lived in the Bible says something, not in a wooden 115 00:14:28.149 --> 00:14:37.230 literal fashion necessarily, but when it talks about symptoms like those. And and 116 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:46.779 coming to the age of seventy three, I've begun to really lies that when 117 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:54.049 I was a young man and heard all of these old guys constantly complaining about 118 00:14:54.129 --> 00:15:01.330 their eggs and pains. What's with these guys? But now I've told my 119 00:15:01.409 --> 00:15:09.159 own children that if I ever wake up in the morning and I feel no 120 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:13.519 pain, I'll know that I've died and gone to be with the Lord. 121 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:20.159 But that's sort of an indication to me that I'm still alive, that I 122 00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:31.590 do wake up and that those pains remind me. But the PSALMIST here isn't 123 00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:43.379 complaining simply about the the Daytoday, complaints that one might have, but rather 124 00:15:43.580 --> 00:15:50.649 something that is passed beyond merely the physical that it is affected his own spirit. 125 00:15:58.970 --> 00:16:06.759 He talks about being like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an 126 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:12.360 owl of the waste places. I've only seen one owl here in the desert 127 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:18.789 waste places so far. I'm sure there are plenty of them. I've seen 128 00:16:18.909 --> 00:16:33.700 evidence of where they last. I see pictures of them. The psalmist says 129 00:16:34.299 --> 00:16:42.139 I awake and I'm like a lonely sparrow on the HOUSETOP, and it's interesting 130 00:16:42.299 --> 00:16:48.570 these pictures that he's creating here. You expect the owl out in the wilderness 131 00:16:48.610 --> 00:16:53.889 to be lonely, don't you? That's kind of the picture of an owl 132 00:16:55.970 --> 00:17:02.440 off by himself. If I ever saw three or four owls together I would 133 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:12.240 be shop. But Sparrows, you see them all the time together. They're 134 00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:21.549 birds that live in community. But he says that he's like a sparrow that's 135 00:17:21.589 --> 00:17:29.230 by itself upon the housetop and that he lies awake, that the things that 136 00:17:29.309 --> 00:17:40.180 are bothering him cause him to lose sleep. He goes on to complain that 137 00:17:40.339 --> 00:17:45.609 all the day My enemies taunt me, those who derived me use my name 138 00:17:45.769 --> 00:18:00.400 for a curse, and I eat ashes like bread and mingled tears in my 139 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:12.670 drink. Notice what he attributes this too, all these feelings that he's having, 140 00:18:12.710 --> 00:18:21.990 all these difficulties that he's having, he says because of your indignation and 141 00:18:22.150 --> 00:18:44.170 anger, for you have taken me up and thrown me down. Now what 142 00:18:44.369 --> 00:18:48.609 is meant by that? I there are two possibilities. I have not come 143 00:18:48.690 --> 00:18:53.490 to a conclusion in my own mind about these things, but one suggestion is 144 00:18:53.769 --> 00:18:59.240 that it's the idea that you've taken me up only to throw me down, 145 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:06.720 like you would pick something up and then smash it on ground. or He's 146 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.630 confessing that in the past, Lord, you've raised me to a position, 147 00:19:12.190 --> 00:19:26.980 you've given me some honor, and now I no longer have it. My 148 00:19:26.059 --> 00:19:37.460 days are like an evening shadow. I wither away like grass. They're in 149 00:19:37.500 --> 00:19:45.049 verse ten. When he says it is because of the Lord, he's not 150 00:19:45.250 --> 00:19:57.359 laying unrighteous blame, but he is acknowledging God's sovereignty. I've knowne some people 151 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:06.240 who readily acknowledge God's sovereignty when something goes right and they say, you know, 152 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:11.430 that's that's the Lord's working. Look what he's done. This is good, 153 00:20:12.630 --> 00:20:27.380 but when some difficulty comes along, job says the Lord gives, the 154 00:20:27.500 --> 00:20:44.490 Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Because, you 155 00:20:44.650 --> 00:21:00.119 see, complaining to God just to be complaining is not really godly complaining. 156 00:21:03.630 --> 00:21:10.190 Godly complaining is always rooted in faith in God, trusting in God, and 157 00:21:10.750 --> 00:21:15.829 that's the amazing thing. All these terrible things that the PSALMIS has said about 158 00:21:15.829 --> 00:21:29.619 his experience and how tough he has it. Here we have the psalm saying 159 00:21:30.019 --> 00:21:37.170 of God, but you, oh Lord, are enthrone forever. You are 160 00:21:37.250 --> 00:21:44.690 remembered throughout all generations. You will arise and have pity on Zion. It 161 00:21:44.890 --> 00:21:52.039 is the time of favor, to favor her. The appointed time has come. 162 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:03.470 I believe that this Psalm was written at the end of the captivity in 163 00:22:03.670 --> 00:22:27.980 Babylon. If you'll turn with me to Jeremiah, Jeremiah Chapter Twenty Nine, 164 00:22:45.480 --> 00:23:02.750 in verses ten through through fourteen, there's a verse here that I think is 165 00:23:02.829 --> 00:23:08.589 often misused. I've seen it on plaques and I've heard it quoted by people. 166 00:23:11.589 --> 00:23:17.980 Verse Eleven for the plans for I know the plans I have for. 167 00:23:18.140 --> 00:23:25.380 You familiar with that, and it's the sad thing. It's always taken out 168 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:33.849 of context. Look at it here in the context for thus, says the 169 00:23:33.970 --> 00:23:40.529 Lord. When seventy years are complete for Babylon and I will visit you and 170 00:23:40.650 --> 00:23:45.079 I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place, 171 00:23:47.200 --> 00:24:00.390 for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, Plans 172 00:24:00.470 --> 00:24:04.190 for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 173 00:24:04.750 --> 00:24:08.750 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I 174 00:24:08.829 --> 00:24:14.299 will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek 175 00:24:14.339 --> 00:24:18.740 me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the 176 00:24:18.940 --> 00:24:22.859 Lord. And I will restore your fortunes and gather you from the nation's and 177 00:24:23.140 --> 00:24:27.369 all the places where you have been driven, where I have driven you, 178 00:24:27.769 --> 00:24:33.289 declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which 179 00:24:33.329 --> 00:24:44.440 I sent you into exile. You see that little versus says I have plans 180 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:52.910 for you seventy years. At the age of seventy three, I can almost 181 00:24:55.069 --> 00:25:06.230 touch the concept of seventy years. For me, it's a lifetime. The 182 00:25:06.990 --> 00:25:11.259 promise to prosper wasn't immediate, it was going to be in the future. 183 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:33.690 It took faith to receive comfort from that promise, and the psalmist here is 184 00:25:33.970 --> 00:25:40.400 claiming that promise. The appointed time has come. It's been seventy years, 185 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:52.950 Lord, Verse Fourteen, for Your Servants, hold her stones dear and have 186 00:25:53.390 --> 00:26:02.670 pity on her dust said. Believe this was written before Jerusalem was rebuilt. 187 00:26:02.710 --> 00:26:07.660 Then it was still stones and dust. And if you have seen in Jerusalem 188 00:26:07.740 --> 00:26:14.299 the Wailing Wall and the way that the Jewish people come there and pray, 189 00:26:22.730 --> 00:26:30.410 the church, just as in the Old Testament, in the new, goes 190 00:26:30.569 --> 00:26:44.759 through various times, times of prosperity and times of decline. We've seen the 191 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:52.990 church in America suffer great declines in some circles and still growth in others. 192 00:27:02.859 --> 00:27:08.619 But the PSALMIST here says nations will fear the name of the Lord and all 193 00:27:08.740 --> 00:27:14.460 the kings of the Earth will fear Your glory, for the Lord Builds Up 194 00:27:14.460 --> 00:27:19.369 Zion, he appears in his glory, he regards the prayer of the destitute 195 00:27:19.650 --> 00:27:27.809 and does not despise their prayer. It's the Lord that builds the church. 196 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:37.000 We always need to focus on that. We Dare not count numbers and think 197 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:45.670 that that's the most important issue. But no matter what the numbers may be, 198 00:27:47.150 --> 00:27:56.349 in Christ's body there is a witness to all the nations, the witness 199 00:27:56.430 --> 00:28:07.539 of his church and notice the faith express there in verse seventeen, that God 200 00:28:07.660 --> 00:28:15.890 regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. So again 201 00:28:15.930 --> 00:28:22.170 there's complaining, but there's always faith. There a trust that the one that 202 00:28:22.289 --> 00:28:27.880 I'm complaining to cares and that in the end he will do something about it. 203 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:36.559 Let this be recorded for a generation to come so that a people yet 204 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:41.670 to be created may praise the Lord that he looked down from his holy height 205 00:28:41.990 --> 00:28:45.509 from heaven. The Lord looked at the earth to hear the groans of the 206 00:28:45.670 --> 00:28:48.789 prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may 207 00:28:48.910 --> 00:28:56.500 declare in Zion the name of the Lord and in Jerusalem his praise, when 208 00:28:56.579 --> 00:29:07.980 people's gathered together and kingdoms to worship the Lord. You'd almost think, when 209 00:29:07.980 --> 00:29:11.970 he got to that point, that that would be the end of it, 210 00:29:11.569 --> 00:29:17.650 right, this great praise, coming up to this point, seeing that God 211 00:29:17.809 --> 00:29:22.930 will answer my prayer. But one thing the PSALMIST does not give up on 212 00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:33.200 is godly complaining and continuing his prayer, because he goes on to say he 213 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:41.430 has broken my strength in mid course, he has shortened my days. Oh 214 00:29:41.710 --> 00:29:48.269 my God, I say, take me not in a way, in the 215 00:29:48.390 --> 00:29:57.779 midst of my days, you, whose years endure throughout all generations. You, 216 00:29:59.059 --> 00:30:07.890 Lord, live forever. We're here on this earth, but for a 217 00:30:08.009 --> 00:30:21.960 brief time. He goes on to say here of old, you laid the 218 00:30:22.039 --> 00:30:26.039 foundation of the Earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They 219 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:30.519 will perish, but you will remain. They will wear out like a garment, 220 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:34.119 you will change them like a robe and they will pass away, but 221 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:41.990 you are the same and your years have no end. This portion of this 222 00:30:42.309 --> 00:30:52.220 Psalm is quoted in Hebrews Chapter One, and the writer to the Hebrews very 223 00:30:52.380 --> 00:31:04.730 clearly identifies this one who is spoken of as Jesus Christ. He's the one 224 00:31:04.809 --> 00:31:11.329 who laid the foundation of the Earth, our Lord and Savior, is the 225 00:31:11.450 --> 00:31:19.240 one who created us and the very heavens that we see above us and the 226 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:25.160 wonders of it. Your your sky is out here, in Tucson at least, 227 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:29.839 are far more clear than mine are back in Kansas. I don't know 228 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:38.750 much about Phoenix, with the pollution there, the glory of all of that, 229 00:31:44.990 --> 00:31:51.859 all these things that we see around us are going to perish. They'll 230 00:31:51.859 --> 00:32:02.089 be gone one day, but he remains one day Jesus will come in judgment 231 00:32:05.730 --> 00:32:12.730 and this world will pass away and a new heavens and a new earth will 232 00:32:12.769 --> 00:32:23.039 be created. But that same Jesus, who is the eternal son of God, 233 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:38.269 created ca aim too, earth suffered, obeyed, knew what it was 234 00:32:40.230 --> 00:32:49.339 to complain to God. Even on the cross itself you hear the words of 235 00:32:49.460 --> 00:32:57.180 Jesus, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And 236 00:32:57.339 --> 00:33:02.170 yet even in that cry there is no sin, for he is praying to 237 00:33:02.410 --> 00:33:17.359 his heavenly father who ultimately will deliver him. He knows what it is to 238 00:33:17.640 --> 00:33:37.390 experience life as we experience here, and the difficulties and the sorrows. But 239 00:33:37.549 --> 00:33:43.500 the psalmist ends on in a very assuring note here in Verse Twenty Eight. 240 00:33:45.980 --> 00:33:53.299 The children of your servants shall dwell secure, their offspring shall be established before 241 00:33:53.339 --> 00:34:07.089 you. God will bring you through whatever it is that you need to come 242 00:34:07.250 --> 00:34:15.519 through. And if you don't come through it, there's a dear lady back 243 00:34:15.559 --> 00:34:20.760 in Kansas who's my I call her my foster mom. Three years ago I 244 00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:23.750 asked her to adopt man. She said it was too expensive and too involved, 245 00:34:25.190 --> 00:34:28.869 and I said, well then, can I be your foster son and 246 00:34:29.030 --> 00:34:31.510 she said yes. By the way, she has a son older than I 247 00:34:31.590 --> 00:34:37.860 am and one my age and then children younger she had, and so she's 248 00:34:37.900 --> 00:34:46.940 my foster mom now. And she told me about this covid. She's trust 249 00:34:47.059 --> 00:34:58.050 in God to protect her, but she said if I get the COVID and 250 00:34:58.170 --> 00:35:06.570 I die of it, that's God's will, so be it. But she 251 00:35:07.130 --> 00:35:12.880 bravely stepped forward and was the first in her she lives in a cottage at 252 00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:16.840 a rest home complex. She was the first in line to receive the vaccine 253 00:35:16.920 --> 00:35:23.150 and she told me, as she told her other children, I am taking 254 00:35:23.190 --> 00:35:29.989 the vaccine before any of you, and she said if I get the shot 255 00:35:30.469 --> 00:35:45.780 and drop over dead, don't take that vaccine. God is going to accomplish 256 00:35:45.820 --> 00:35:55.730 his purposes. But I want to encourage all of you to complain, not 257 00:35:55.969 --> 00:36:00.289 to me. That's not much I can do about stuff. Complain to God. 258 00:36:01.570 --> 00:36:08.840 He wants you to and think about this prayer. Here thought cross my 259 00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:15.199 mind. I am very much into extemporaneous prayers, which are prayers that are 260 00:36:15.239 --> 00:36:22.510 not written. Now there was a time in the reformed Presbyterian church where ministers 261 00:36:22.550 --> 00:36:30.070 were forbidden to write out their sermons word for word or to write out prayers. 262 00:36:30.989 --> 00:36:36.860 They thought that just wasn't right. That's gone now and I'm glad that 263 00:36:36.940 --> 00:36:40.980 it's gone. I'm not sure that that's a good thing, but there is 264 00:36:42.019 --> 00:36:45.460 a value in extemporaneous prayers, being able to pray at any time in the 265 00:36:45.579 --> 00:36:51.489 immediate situation. But you realize what this psal must did. He didn't just 266 00:36:51.730 --> 00:37:00.679 write down his prayer, he composed it because it's poetry. Now, some 267 00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:07.079 of you may be writers and some of you may love poetry. I have 268 00:37:07.239 --> 00:37:13.679 one daughter who hates poetry, always has. I love poetry. My mother 269 00:37:13.880 --> 00:37:19.150 wrote poetry. I wouldn't consider myself a poet in any sense at all. 270 00:37:22.070 --> 00:37:28.389 But think of the time that the Psalm is put into this prayer in writing 271 00:37:28.550 --> 00:37:36.460 it down and expressing it the way that he did. And that was all 272 00:37:36.579 --> 00:37:44.809 at the prompting of the Holy Spirit to give us a prayer, a prayer 273 00:37:44.849 --> 00:37:51.409 that we can use, that we can use in our own prayers, that 274 00:37:51.530 --> 00:37:55.690 we can use as a jumping off point for our own complaints. And this 275 00:37:55.730 --> 00:37:59.760 isn't the only psalm that's got complaints in it. There are a lot of 276 00:37:59.880 --> 00:38:06.800 them. But I would encourage you to do that sometime when you find yourself 277 00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:13.190 really struggling and questioning and wondering the why of this, that and the other. 278 00:38:15.469 --> 00:38:22.510 Write it out, write it out, but also remember to say things 279 00:38:22.710 --> 00:38:40.139 like hear my cry and you, oh Lord, are enthrone forever. If 280 00:38:40.179 --> 00:38:45.449 you turn over to Psalm one hundred and three, and I'm finally at the 281 00:38:45.489 --> 00:38:58.280 end, there's a portion of that psalm that I think expresses so clearly the 282 00:38:58.519 --> 00:39:05.639 one to whom we come with our complaints. Psalm a hundred and three, 283 00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:15.070 verses thirteen and fourteen. As a father shows compassion to his children, so 284 00:39:15.389 --> 00:39:22.030 the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him, for he knows our frame. 285 00:39:24.500 --> 00:39:29.260 He remembers that we are dust.