INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• If there is one common experience we all share in life it is being hurt. Being hurt seems to be a part of the human experience.
• One of the reasons we experience hurts in our lives is the fact that God created us to be relational. WE are created in part to be in relationships with other people, and such is the case, we open ourselves up to the probability of being hurt.
• Experiencing relationships with other people is essential to being human.
• In truth our identities are molded as we interact with other people.
• This begins at childhood. How one interacts with their parents and siblings will have an impact one’s development because we are least able to defend ourselves when we are young.
• Hurts are hard to forget and those from our childhood are the hardest to forget and the most damaging to our future.
• If I asked each one of you to share hurts from your childhood, I would imaging ALL of us could share at LEAST on instance where we still remember and are possibly still affected by the hut.
• Most have been made fun of, criticized beyond the norm, or were neglected or abused by someone.
• Those hurts early in life go into shaping who we are today even after all these years.
• Parents are not perfect, they can be inattentive, controlling, or even worse.
• Many people have been told early on in life from their parents they would not amount to anything.
• Siblings and children from our childhood can be mean. Cruel names people called you can inflict permanent damage along.
• The person who experiences continual rejection can suffer a loss of their sense of value.
• Even being extremely popular at a young age can distort one’s self-understanding.
• This hits many of the child-stars in Hollywood.
• So suffice to say, all of us can relate to being hurt, and many people have spent a lifetime being haunted by hurts.
• I have good news for you, those hurts that have haunted you for most of your life and be a thing of the past if you will let them be.
• Today we are going to spend time in Psalms 30.
• This Psalm is attributed to David and it seems as though it was used during a dedication of either David’s house, or possibly the ground on which the temple would later be built be Solomon.
• The feelings in the Psalm sprung forth from David’s personal experience. David both experienced hurt as well as dishing it out also.
• David made some serious mistakes in life, however, he knew where he could turn to in order to receive forgiveness and healing.
• Let us begin in Psalm 30:2-3
• SLIDE #2
• Psalm 30:2–3 (HCSB) 2 LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. 3 LORD, You brought me up from Sheol; You spared me from among those going down to the Pit.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. You need God to heal your hurts.
• David had gone through some difficult situation. Verse 3 speaks of being spared from going down to the pit.
• He is literally praising God that God spared him from death. Verse 3 is synonymous with being delivered from death.
• In the context the dilemma David faced was of his own doing.
• In pride, he had congratulated himself on his self-sufficiency. "I will never be shaken," he had boasted, with no thought of dependency upon God. (Verse 6)
• Whether the situation was physical in nature or emotional, David knew where he could turn for healing.
• David experienced three problems: the sinking mire beneath him that would take him down to the pit, the enemies around him who wanted him to die, and the distress within him that was like a painful sickness—and the Lord delivered him from all three! Bible Exposition Commentary (BE Series) - Old Testament - The Bible Exposition Commentary – Wisdom and Poetry.
• David was in a world of hurt.
• In verse 1 the Psalmist says he was LIFTED. This Hebrew term may be used to denote drawing from a well, or dropping a bucket in the well and pulling it out. This is what the Psalmist needs.
• When you are in the throes of despair because of some hurt in your life, this is what you need, you do not need to be left to drown in the well of despair, and you need to be drawn out of that well.
• Many have been drowning in the well of hurts and despair for years; it is time to allow God to draw you out of that well! You can be drawn out of that well by the divine hand of God.
• When hurts in our lives are not dealt with they can cause us to be angry, unforgiving, bitter, hard hearted and rebellious.
• IF we cope with our hurts in a more passive manner, we will withdraw, will be unforgiving, we will feel a sense of rejection, our heart will be wounded, and we will feel dead inside.
• We cannot simply ignore our hurts, or just think correctly and hope the hurt goes away.
• We must deal with our hurts and then involved God in the healing process.
• Some POSSIBLE signs of un-dealt with hurts include explosive anger, and you cannot pinpoint why, along with recurring depression.
• In the Bible, Hannah experienced reoccurring depression because of the pain she felt from not being able to produce a child. She dealt with the problem for years until she finally lifted the hurt fully to God.
• I used to have an explosive temper, I HATED losing at ANYTHING. As I have dug into the recesses of my mind, I pretty well pin-pointed the hurts that opened me up to allow anger to rule me.
• SLIDE #4
• 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (HCSB) Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
• God will lift you out of the well of hurt you are experiencing. You will not be able to do it on your own.
• Let God remove the hurt, allow Him to help you to forgive those who hurt you, what you may think is impossible is POSSIBLE with God!
• Let us look at verse 5 now.
• SLIDE #5
• Psalm 30:5 (HCSB) For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime. Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.
• SLIDE #6
II. The pain from your hurts does not have to last forever.
• When we are suffering from hurts, it seems as though the pain generated from those hurts will never go away.
• When we are in physical pain, it works a bit the same way.
• When we are haunted by hurts, the well is so deep there appears to be no way out.
• This leads to being depressed, not wanting to live life. It seems hopeless.
• The pain from your hurts does not have to last forever.
• When I served in Auburn, the class valedictorian, Chelsey Shores committed suicide a few days after High School graduation. She going to go to the University of Illinois to study biochemistry
• This girl suffered so many hurts at the hands of some snobby girls who did not like the eclectic way of dressing. She did not come from a well-to-do family.
• Here is something she wrote in her valedictorian speech on May 27, 2005 that gave some insight to the depth of her hurt and pain.
• In the brief speech, Shores said, "People will judge you unfairly and they can make your life unbearable." http://the11thhour.blogspot.com/2005/06/sad.html
• Had she been able to hang in for a few more months she would have made it to U of I and been around others who were like her as she studied biochemistry.
• She could not do it, she lost hope thinking her pain would last forever.
• In the context of verse 5, David is speaking of the contrast of God’s anger with His grace. David had some experience with God’s anger through so things he did.
• We will spend a short time weeping (spend the night) but there will be a time of joy when we experience God’s healing grace!
• SLIDE #7
• Psalm 34:19 (HCSB) Many adversities come to the one who is righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.
• Whatever you hurt may be. God can deliver you from them all!
• Jesus does not want you troubled.
• When He was telling His disciples He was going to be leaving, they were troubled. That is not what Jesus wanted for them.
• SLIDE #8
• John 14:27 (HCSB) “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.
• Jesus wants you to have peace and trough Him you can enjoy it, the joy comes in the morning.
• The joy of recovery and restoration.
• Let’s jump down to verses 11-12.
• SLIDE #9
• Psalm 30:11–12 (HCSB) You turned my lament into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, so that I can sing to You and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise You forever.
• SLIDE #10
III. Your sadness can be transformed into gladness.
• The Lord can change sadness into gladness!
• The attire of mourning was sackcloth. This was replaced, metaphorically, with gladness, the garment of festive joy.
• David was experiencing weeping, he was wrought with guilt and pain. Guilt for what he had done and pain from the hurts he experienced in life.
• God did something miraculous.
• The verb "turned" means not just a simple exchange of one circumstance for another, but an overwhelming action bringing the defeat of the one and the domination of the other.
• David was relieved to be delivered from the pain he was experiencing, and for David, some of it from his own hand, that he could not stop praising God!
• When you allow God to deliver you from your hurts, your life will be different, you will want to praise God from the rooftops!
CONCLUSION
• When one is haunted by hurts, it seems like the hurts will haunt us forever.
• In order to stop being haunted by your hurts, you need to quit glossing over the hurts, pull the scabs off the hurts and allow for real healing through Jesus.
• Recognize that God does not want you to be haunted or defined by your hurts.
• Let God help you deal with the underlying hurt. Let Him face it with you!
• Ask God to help give you the strength to forgive those who hurt you.
• Always remember forgiveness is not saying the hurt never occurred, it is releasing the right to anger and retribution.
• Forgiving is not acting like nothing ever happened.
• The word forgiveness is actually rooted in finances. For you to forgive someone you need to know what was taken from you or what you lost.
• I cannot forgive a debt you owe me if I do not know how much it is for.
• I want to encourage you today, stop being haunted by the hurts.
• Give your hurts to God. Think of it this way, has holding on to them helped you? Why not try something new that will work.
• Has holding a grudge against those who afflicted you helped you? How about letting God help you to do something new, to truly forgive!
• I pray you can celebrate Jesus as He heals you!
