Are We There Yet?

July 20, 2003 Sunday Evening

Title: “Are We There Yet?”

Text: Psalms 13:1-6

Introduction

When we were on vacation, one of the questions that we frequently received from our children was "are we there yet?"

Or "how much longer?"

or "are we ever going to get there?"

Did you ever notice that those kinds of questions never come when the kids are having a great time?

One day, earlier this year, we took the children to Disney World, they never once ask "How much longer?"

"Are we done yet?"

"Can we go home now"?

It’s the same for us as adults.

When times are going great...we seldom ask, "How much longer is this going to last"?

But, when times are rough...they seem to go on and on and on.

We begin to wonder if it will ever end.

The story is told of a Sunday class that had been asked the question, “in your time of discouragement, what is your favorite Scripture.”

A young man said, “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" Psalm 23:1.”

A middle age woman said, “God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

Another woman said, “In this world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome this world.John 16:33-35

Then John, an 80 years old man said, “and it came to pass” 396 times in the bible".

The class started to laugh a little, thinking that old John’s lack of memory was getting the best of him.

When the snickering stopped, he said. "At 30 I lost my job with six hungry mouths and a wife to feed. I didn’t know how I would make it. At 40 my eldest son was killed overseas in the war. It knocked me down. At 50 my house burned to the ground. Nothing was saved out of the house. At 60 my wife of 40 years got cancer. It slowly ate away at her. We cried together many a night on our knees in prayer. At 65 she died. I still miss her today. The agony I went through in each of these situations was unbelievable. I wondered where was God. But each time I looked in the bible I saw one of those 396 verses that said, “and it came to pass.” I felt that God was telling me, my pain and my circumstances were also going to pass and that God would get me through it."

When life gets rough, we need to remember ol’ John’s verse, “and it came to pass.”

David had times in his life when he felt like the tough times would never end.

Maybe it was as simple as wondering,

while he was sitting out in the hot sun watching the sheep,

is this day ever going to end?

Maybe it was more serious,

like all those years that he was being chased by Saul and his army...

and he was living like a refugee

A refugee is simply someone who is fleeing, hoping to find a place of refuge.

But that wasn’t the worst for David...

perhaps the most difficult things David had to face was the turmoil in his own family...

when one of his sons raped his daughter....

when one of his sons, using many of his own army, revolted and tried to kill him.

When one of his sons was murdered by another.

When tragedy struck, David felt as if it would last forever.

In fact, in just the book of Psalms, those words, "how long" are found 22 times!

And the chapter with the greatest number of occurrences of those words in Psalm chapter 13, where it occurs 4 times.

Read Text: Psalm 13:1-6

This Psalm is equally divided into 3 stanzas; each one with 2 verses each.

And as you read and study this Psalm, you will notice a natural progression in thought.

You could almost picture this Psalm as a mountain.

When it begins, in the 1st Stanza, David is at the lowest valley of his life.

But in the 2nd Stanza, we see that David has begun to climb the mountain of faith before him.

And in the 3rd Stanza, David has reached the top of the mountain; and he can look back and see how God was with him.

Let’s look at each of these stanzas.

Body

1. First Stanza--In the deepest valley

David just jumps right in by sharing with God what was on his heart.

One thing we learn from David in the Psalms is that we can always "bare our soul" to God.

Even when we are angry or frustrated with God; it is okay to tell God just that.

David doesn’t pull any punches.

and neither should we.

David says, "How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?