Transforming Devastation into Confident Dependence
(Psalm 6)
1. July 24 (UPI) -- A British police department said officers responding to a report of a "large apex predator" -- a black panther -- in a public park arrived to find the supposed dangerous animal was only a stuffed toy.
Horsham Police said officers were summoned to a park in the Steyning area of West Sussex, England, on a report of a big cat on the loose.
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The department said the officers who arrived at the scene didn't immediately realize that what initially appeared to be a black panther was actually a stuffed toy.
"Reports of a large apex predator in the Steyning area turned out to be true," Horsham Police tweeted. "It may be a stuffed toy, but the attending officers didn't necessarily know that at first."
2. As in the case above, many of the things we fear do not come to pass.
3. But sometimes our fears are realized. And sometimes things are worse than we could have imagined.
Main Idea: During bleak, devastating times, God is Rock we can lean on. He is more than a listening ear, though He is that; He can bring new life to demoralized souls.
I. Remember That God Is INVOLVED in Your Life (1-5).
A. He recognized that his current stress might be an EFFORT by God to develop him (1-3a).
• Trials either make us better or bitter.
1. His problems are both medical (bones) and non-physical (soul).
2. Two possibilities
• God is disciplining him for his sins.
• This concept is lost in an age of the nice God that has replaced the true God.
• It seems like God is disciplining him for his sins (imagined in fear)
3. Most commentators believe that rebuke for sin was real, not imagined in fear.
Hebrews 12:5-7, And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
B. If the focus of our lives is GLORIFYING God, we have a powerful argument for God answering our Christ-centered prayers (3b-5)
• He can bless God in greater ways if alive than if dead.
1. The usage of the term “sheol” in the OT can mean one of two things.
• The grave, where all our bodies end up
• Hell, where the lost reside
2. Three possibilities
• David did not believe in the after life (very contradictory)
• David feared he would be sent to hell because of his sin.
• David knew he could praise God in greater ways surrounded by other people, thus influencing them to serve the Lord. We will not be able to influence or impress others with God when we are in heaven.
• Psalm 22:2, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you…”
Application: At times, it is hard to believe that God has not dropped you and left you to fend for yourself. It may feel like he has lost track of you. He hasn’t.
II. REMIND God of Your Misery (6-7).
A. God has no memory issues; to remind God is to ask Him to focus and ACT.
B. David uses poetic HYPERBOLE (exaggeration) to illustrate his grief.
1. His groaning have fatigued him like he has been working on a rock pile.
2. He has flooded his bed with tears to the point of dissolving it.
3. His eyes have cried so much that they are worn out and failing.
C. In this life, we experience a lot of both physical and, perhaps worse, EMOTIONAL pain.
Here is an excerpt from an article from Forbes magazine:
Rejection hurts.
Whether you’ve been told ‘no thank you’ for a job opportunity, become estranged from a partner or friend, or even been unfollowed on a social media or dating site, your brain has to process being rejected. And neuroscience suggests that it literally - hurts.
Although the brain does not process emotional pain and physical pain identically, research on neural pathways suggests there is substantial overlap between the experience of physical and social pain. The cascading events that occur and regions activated in our brains - and therefore our reactions to the acute pain - appear to be similar.
Further, it seems the impact may not be limited to just how the brain processes the emotions and pain associated with rejection, but that real heartbreak can actually take a toll on your IQ. According to research from Case Western Reserve University, exposure to rejection led participants in a study to have an immediate drop in reasoning by 30% and in IQ by 25%.
Thus, a broken heart really does hurt. And it really can take a while to heal.
Because humans are social creatures by nature, heartbreak, loss, and the feelings associated with being left out are particularly difficult to process. And because emotional wounds are invisible, anguish, distress, and stress can be difficult to understand and explain to our peers.
D. Bringing our grief to God is one step in PROCESSING it.
III. COMMUNE with God to Reinvigorate Yourself (8-10).
A. David does a sharp TURN and no longer feels the victim (8)
Where did this change of heart come from?
1. Some say God sent a prophet to him.
2. Others say God gave this assurance to his heart via the Holy Spirit.
3. Or perhaps he remembered God’s promise to establish his throne.
4. I think perhaps it was both 3 and 4, as it is with us.
5. We find strength in God’s promises and through His Spirit.
Zechariah 4:6b, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”
God does not expect us to have the strength we need to endure life’s trials. There is no verse that says, “God will not give you more than you can handle.” It doesn’t’ exist.
There is a verse about temptation, and how our temptations are common to others and how God can make a way of escape, but that is different (I Cor. 10:13).
We may be approaching the end times. At bare minimum, we live at a time when American cannot ditch Christianity fast enough – and the void is being filled with moral evil.
This verse is used by Jesus regarding judgment day. Luke 13:27, “But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’”
B. He has been REASSURED that God will deliver him from his enemies (9-10).
C. But this is not the only lament Psalm David wrote; the struggle is ON-GOING.
• Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
