June 15, 2025 • 33 mins
Jason Sterling June 15, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to
Psalm 6 this morning, psalmchapter 6.
We're going to continue ourstudy this morning through the
Psalms, and we come this morningto another Psalm of lament.
I said this maybe every weeksince I've stood up here, but
(00:21):
laments make up a lot of thePsalms.
About 40% of the Psalms arePsalms of lament, and so it
should be no surprise that we'relooking at another one.
But this one is particularlydifficult.
This one I found even hard toread this week.
Have you ever had a night whereyou cried so hard that you wet
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and soaked your pillow?
Have you ever felt such griefinside of you and in your life
that it felt like that it waseating you alive from the inside
out?
Well, if you felt those things,you're in good company.
(01:11):
The Psalms, particularly thisPsalm, speak to that experience,
and our temptation as we cometo the Psalms, particularly
Psalms of lament, is to thinkthat they're just records of
whining.
And maybe our temptation is tosay come on, quit complaining.
(01:31):
We know we live in a fallenworld, we live in a broken world
.
Life is hard.
Deal with it.
But what I want you to realizeis that, instead of normalizing
pain and brokenness, the Psalmsactually protest and rage
against it.
That's what they're doing,because the Psalmists have this
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deep conviction that they carrywith them through the world, and
that is that suffering anddeath and pain are wrong, and
it's not the way that Godintended the world to be.
And so the Psalms are notrecords of whining, they're
actually records of faith, faithin God's righteousness.
(02:23):
And so, with that in mind,let's read God's Word, psalm 6,
starting in verse 1.
O Lord, rebuke me not in youranger, nor discipline me in your
wrath.
Be gracious to me, o Lord, forI am languishing.
Heal me, o Lord, for my bonesare troubled.
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My soul also is greatlytroubled.
But you, o Lord, how long?
Turn, o Lord, deliver my life,save me for the sake of your
steadfast love, for in deaththere is no remembrance of you
In Sheol.
Who will give you praise?
I am weary, with my moaning.
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Every night I flood my bed withtears.
I drench my couch with myweeping.
My eyes waste away because ofgrief.
It grows weak because of all myfoes.
Depart from me all you workersof evil, for the Lord has heard
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the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea.
The Lord accepts my prayer, allmy enemies shall be ashamed and
greatly troubled.
They shall turn back and be putto shame in a moment.
This is God's word.
Let's pray and let's ask for thespirit to help us this morning.
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Let's pray together.
Father, I pray for all thoselistening that you'd give us
ears to hear and that we wouldbe ministered to, that you would
speak to us through thepreaching of your word, through
your spirit.
All of us in some way need tohear this psalm and need you to
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speak to us, and I pray that youwould be with me as I preach it
.
May the words of my mouth andthe meditation of my heart be
good and pleasing to you.
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
In Christ's name, I pray.
I want to begin this morning byasking you to reflect or think
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about traditional wedding vowsthat a bride and groom say on
their wedding day.
Have you ever noticed howunromantic those vows actually
are?
And it's actually why I'm ahuge fan of the traditional
wedding vows versus writing yourown.
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Think about it.
From day one, a couple isacknowledging that their life
together is going to be filledwith suffering and hardship and
pain.
Think about the vows in thosesobering words that are included
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in them Sickness, poverty,sorrow, worse and death.
Let's go eat some cake anddance and celebrate.
But I love that, because whatis actually being declared from
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day one is that faithfulness andgrowth and love and intimacy
and life is actually forged, yes, in joy, but mainly through
suffering and hardship, and thatreality is not just limited to
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marriage.
It's true of all relationshipsand friendships and parenthood
and, most importantly, yourspiritual life and your
relationship with God.
The Christian life isn't alwaysan energizing pep rally.
The Christian life is learningto walk faithfully with God,
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even in the valley of the shadowof death.
That's why there's so manylaments in the Psalms.
Notice the superscription.
If you have your Bible open,you'll see that at the top of
the Psalm of Psalm 6, to thechoir master with stringed
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instruments.
To the choir master withstringed instruments.
In other words, this song ofsadness and grief was meant to
be sung in worship services overand over and over again
throughout the generations.
There was lots of sadness inthat sanctuary back then and
there's lots of sadness in thissanctuary this morning.
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That's why we need this psalmand we're going to look at this
psalm, psalm 6, where King Davidgives us a vocabulary to pray
and to live out our sufferingwhen it completely overwhelms us
and our life completely fallsapart.
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So, whether you're facing anillness or the loss of someone
you love, or maybe familytroubles or emotional turmoil or
depression, or yourrelationships are breaking down
or a financial crisis orspiritual drought or
unemployment relationships arebreaking down, or a financial
crisis or spiritual drought orunemployment, whatever it is,
this psalm meets you in yourdarkest hour.
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And in your darkest hour, david, through this psalm, gives us
three things we need to remember.
We need to remember number oneGod is always at work, remember.
We need to remember number oneGod is always at work.
Secondly, that suffering iscomprehensive.
And lastly, we need to rememberour future glory.
So that's where we're headed.
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God's always at work.
Suffering is comprehensive.
Lastly, we need to remember ourfuture glory.
Let's take those in order.
Number one God's at work.
When suffering hits your life,the temptation is to think that
God has left the building, thathe has forgotten you or that he
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has checked out on you.
But one thing is very clearfrom this psalm is David knows
that he has God's attention,knows that he has God's
attention.
He knows that God is interestedand invested in every detail in
his life.
He is not wasting time tryingto convince God to care for him.
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He knows God cares for him andis already deeply invested.
We have to remember that whenthe wheels come off in our life,
we have to remember that whenthe wheels come off in our life,
how do we see that?
Well, notice the word Lord inall caps, verse 6 and in Psalm 6
.
You see it in nearly everyverse.
It shows up.
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I say this a lot from thispulpit, but it helps us to be
good Bible readers, becausethat's a big deal when when you
see the Lord all caps, that isimportant and it's very helpful
because that's God's personaland covenant name.
And so throughout the psalm,david is operating from that
conviction that God is his Lord,that he's in personal
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relationship with the Lord, thatthe Lord knows him and he knows
the Lord.
And so this is very personal.
He knows God, is not distant,but is intimately involved and
active in every detail of hislife.
And you see that again in everyrequest.
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Look at verse 4.
He pleads for deliverance.
Verse 2, he asks for healing.
Verse 5, he attempts to bargainwith God.
Why would David make suchappeals Only one reason he's
convinced that God is personallyengaged in his circumstances
and that his prayers actuallymatter and that his pleading
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makes a huge difference.
He knows God is listening.
Look at verses 8 and 9.
The Lord has heard.
We don't know exactly what'sgoing on in David's life, but
there seems to be, at firstglance, a lot going on in his
life.
He seems to be sufferingterribly.
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That seems obvious.
But why?
Well, we have a couple clues.
Look at verse 2, 5, 6 and 7.
It appears that David issuffering from some sort of
physical illness.
And then you go to 8 and 10,and he starts talking about his
enemies again and how they'retrying to harm him.
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So we don't know exactly what'shappening, whether it's illness
, enemies or both.
But then notice what he says inverse 1, and that's where I
want to stay for a second.
David wonders if his sufferingmight be a result of God's
discipline.
Look at verse 1.
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O Lord, rebuke me not in youranger, nor discipline me in your
wrath.
Most of our suffering, yes,comes as a result of living in a
fallen world, of living in afallen world.
But the Bible also teaches andScripture is very clear that God
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disciplines those that he loves.
He disciplines His children.
If you look at Hebrews 12,verse 6, it talks about that.
We also know that because of thework of Jesus.
We also know that because ofthe work of Jesus that
discipline is always done inlove, never in anger.
It's always for redemptivepurposes and never for
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condemnation.
We also know this about God'sdiscipline is that sometimes it
has physical consequences.
And if you read 1 Corinthians11, if you look at verse 30 in
particular, the Apostle Paulwarns the church at Corinth
about that, saying that God'sdiscipline is why many of you
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are weak, ill and have even died.
And so the possibility of aloving father using illnesses
and hardship and suffering tocorrect and redeem us is not
just an Old Testament idea, itis a New Testament reality.
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And David is very conscious Hisconscience has been pricked that
that is a possibility that Godis actually disciplining him.
Why?
Because he believes God isalways at work, that God is
present in his life, even whenthat presence is painful.
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David doesn't compartmentalizeand say God's only here in the
good times and he's absent inthe bad times.
No, he realizes that God'sintimately involved in every
detail.
And I realize that maybe thatsounds troubling for some of you
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this morning, but can I tellyou that I think it's actually
really good news and I thinkit's actually deeply comforting.
And you know why?
Because if God's intimatelyinvolved in your life, in the
good things and the bad things,that means your suffering is not
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meaningless, that yoursuffering actually has purpose,
that it's not random.
Because think about thealternative, think about the
alternative of meaningless paina distant and uninvolved God who
just throws you out to navigatethis life and your suffering
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and the storms you encounter,all alone, completely random.
All alone, completely random.
No, you see, this psalm givesus confidence to pray because it
teaches us whether yoursuffering's coming from
discipline, god's discipline,loving discipline or from living
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in a broken world, you arenever facing those things
without the loving, intimateknowledge of God, who cares and
loves you.
The Lord holds you in his handsand knows you completely.
He is not watching over youfrom a distance.
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He's intimately involved,working through things in your
life and responding to yourcries.
You see, that is why we canpray with confidence in our
darkest moments, not becausewe're guaranteed that the
outcomes that we want are goingto happen, but because we're
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guaranteed that we have God'sattention and that he is
actively involved because heloves us.
Secondly, suffering iscomprehensive.
This is hard to read, as Imentioned earlier, but aren't
the Psalms refreshing?
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I think they're so refreshingbecause the Psalms keep it real
and they actually speak to reallife and speak to your life, and
this Psalm is speaking toexactly where some of you are
this morning.
Some of you have been here,some of you will be in this
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place.
David is talking about somethingthat doesn't have a quick fix.
He is talking about somethingwhere this suffering has invaded
every dimension of his life.
Look at verse 2.
I'm languishing, my bones aretroubled.
Verse 3.
My soul also is greatlytroubled.
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The word troubled get thismeans terrified, dismayed or
thrown into confusion.
So David's bones and hisphysical being and his soul,
they're in complete upheaval.
Look at verse 6 and 7.
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I'm weary.
He cries himself to sleep.
He drenches his couch withweeping, his eyes waste away.
It feels like because of hisgrief.
Notice the progression frombones to soul, to night, to his
eyes.
Friends, the point is this isnot just a bad headache, this is
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not just a bad day.
This is complete, totalmeltdown.
His body has gone offline.
The breaker switch has beenthrown.
His physical strength is gone,his emotional stability is
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shattered, he cannot sleep, hehas no more tears left to cry,
and that teaches us thatsuffering knows no bounds.
It has no boundaries, that itmakes its way into every area,
oftentimes, of a person's life,and some of you know exactly
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what this is like Because youhave experienced suffering that
has taken not the breath out ofyou, where you walk into the
room and all you can do iscollapse or fall to your knees.
You've lost a child, your spousehas betrayed and left you.
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You've been diagnosed with aterminal illness that's not
getting any better, it's onlygetting worse.
You've lost your job Fill inthe blank and what follows isn't
just grief, it's a completeinvasion into every corner of
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your life.
You know what this is like.
I've been here.
You can't sleep, you can't eat,your relationships suffer, you
start to question God's goodness, you're so stressed that your
immune system crashes and itseems as if you're sick all the
time.
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It feels like you're in a freefall.
David and the Bible speak tothat experience, and I think
that is really good news for us,because if you are there or
been there, you're not alone.
Let me give two very specificapplications and then we'll move
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on One to the sufferer ifyou're suffering currently.
Move on One to the sufferer ifyou're suffering currently.
Second, to us as a community aswe walk alongside suffering
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people.
If you're Likewise, stop shamingyourself for your suffering.
You ever do that, I do this.
I can't believe that this hasaffected me that much.
Or you say things like I mean,I know this is hard, but I
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should be over this by now.
Stop shaming yourself for yoursuffering.
Resist, over-spiritualizingyour pain and your suffering,
saying things like I just got topray more, I got to read my
Bible more.
Like I just got to pray more, Igot to read my Bible more.
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Yes, it's always spiritual, butit's a lot broader than that.
It is physical, it is emotionaland it impacts every area of a
person's life, the whole person.
And what that also means on theflip side is that your
restoration and healing is alsoholistic.
Yes, it involves spiritual care, but it also involves physical
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rest.
It might involve doctor'svisits, it might involve
counseling and relationalsupport, and emotional support
and spiritual care.
All those work together.
That's how God made a humanbeing and that's how you heal as
a whole person, not in isolatedpieces.
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And then, lastly, if you'resuffering healing, you've got to
hear this healing comes incommunity.
You'll never heal in isolation,and so maybe a very specific
application for you this morningis find, if you haven't find,
someone you can share your howlong, oh lord with and bring
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your suffering into communityand relationship.
John John Cox says sufferingshared is halved, suffering
alone is doubled.
And then what about ourcommunity?
Or what about those who walkalongside those who are
suffering?
We want to be a church thatloves well, and particularly
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loves well those who aresuffering and hurting and in
pain.
How does that happen?
We could say a billion things,but here's a couple of thoughts.
Don't minimize someone's painby saying things like well, at
least it's not blank.
And fill in the blank withwhatever awful thing that we
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normally fill in the blank with,or at least your situation is
not as bad as so-and-so'ssituation.
You see, when we compare oursituations and other people's
pain, it doesn't help, but itactually adds more shame to an
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already overwhelming burden.
Instead, acknowledge andrecognize the comprehensive
nature of suffering.
And then, lastly, verypractically, don't just simply
say let me know if you needanything, show up in the
driveway.
Need anything?
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Show up in the driveway, pickup the phone and say I'm
bringing dinner over on Tuesday,just go mow the grass.
Say I'm coming on this day tosit with you and have a cup of
coffee.
Or hey, on Thursday you sleepin, I got your kids for carpool.
Suffering is comprehensive andit's part of the human
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experience and God has given thechurch to be part of his
comprehensive care.
And may God, by his grace, makethis a place where hurting,
suffering people heal and bringit into community where they are
loved and cared for and havesomeone to walk alongside them.
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Lastly and finally, futureglory.
Look at verse 3.
We need to remember our futureglory.
Notice the how long O LordDavid has just described think
about this.
Just described, think aboutthis.
Just described thecomprehensive nature of
suffering, and now he revealswhat I think is the most
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terrifying aspect of all of ithe doesn't know when it's going
to end.
Some of you know what that'slike, and here's the question I
want to end with what do you do?
What do you do when you don'tknow if this is going to end and
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when it's going to end and yousee no light at the end of the
tunnel?
Two things for us to think aboutas we leave this morning.
First, we've got to cling toGod's love.
Look at verse 4.
Save me for the sake of yoursteadfast love.
There's another word.
You see it all throughout thePsalms.
If you see steadfast love, youbetter like the Lord all caps,
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you better lock on to that,because that's very important.
It is a deep, rich word thatrefers to God's covenant love
for his people.
It's a word that says God'snever going to leave his people,
that God is with you, that hebinds himself to you no matter
what.
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And so in his suffering, in hishow longs, david is latching
onto the love of God.
What is true, even though hedoesn't feel like it's true in
the moment?
That's faith, and we must dothe same.
We must remind ourselves in ourdarkest nights that God's
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covenant love, that he bindshimself to us and he will not
leave us and he loves us like heloves his son Jesus.
And think about that.
As we have the reminder, don'twe An even greater reminder than
David?
Because we have Jesus.
Jesus who came and remember.
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He was called a man of sorrows,acquainted with grief.
Jesus, god in the flesh, knowsthe pain of losing friends.
He knows the pain of beingbetrayed.
He knows the pain of feelinglike he's been forgotten by God.
Remember he says my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
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So whenever you find yourselfin that place of darkness, look
at the cross.
God has not left you and Godunderstands your suffering.
And the other thing we need tolatch on to in the middle of our
how longs is we need to keepour eyes forward.
We need to keep our eyes on ourfuture glory.
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I love this about the Psalms.
So think about in Psalm 6 here,david is not in a good place.
He is full of sorrow andsadness.
But notice, in verses 8 through10, the Psalm ends on a note of
confidence, and I think it'svery helpful.
And here's why it's helpful,because you can be sorrowful and
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have joy at the same time.
You can be hurting and you canalso, at the very same time, be
hopeful.
You can be sad and confident.
You can be weak and you can bestrong.
We see that in this psalm.
Look at verse 10.
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Notice, he anticipates adeliverance.
This is really important Adeliverance in the future.
Look at verse 10.
All my enemies will be greatlytroubled.
Then he goes on and says theywill turn back.
There's no evidence that hispresent situation has improved,
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but his head is lifted up byfaith in what is coming, by
faith in what is coming.
Friends, the only way I knowthat you survive a broken world
where suffering knows no bounds,and for you to walk through
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life and remain faithful andhopeful is to keep your eyes
forward on your future glory,the coming of the new heavens
and new earth.
And you've got to pull thatglory and that hope that we all
have.
If you're a Christian, you'vegot to pull that into the
present.
You've got to hold on to that.
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You've got to ground yourselfthere.
To ground yourself thereBecause from where I stand, I
can't tell you if your illnessis going to go away.
I can't tell you if you're goingto get any better.
I can't tell you that thedepression is going to for sure
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lift and the sadness that youfeel over the loss of someone
you love.
I'm not sure you get over thatin this life.
Does it get better, of course,but I'm not sure it fully goes
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away.
David is able to look out andhe's able to say I'm not living
for those days.
I'm living for that day, thatday in the future, a much more
glorious day, when therighteousness of God and glory
will be revealed.
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Here's what I want you toremember as you walk out of here
your story doesn't end withsuffering.
Your pain does not have thelast word.
The God who sees every tear isthe God who is one day going to
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wipe away every tear.
The God who is with you in thevalley of the shadow of death is
the God who is going to leadyou into eternal joy, into a
world where there's no suffering, no sorrow and pain and
mourning, and all things will bemade new.
That is the day that this lamentand all the laments are aimed,
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and that is the day that thelaments point to, and we must
protest and rage againstanything less.
Rage against anything less.
And so, whether you're floodingyour pillow with tears tonight,
like David, or whether you'rewalking alongside someone who is
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, remember God is always at work.
Yes, suffering is oftencomprehensive, but so is God's
care.
And remember to keep your eyesfocused on the future, of the
day when God's glory willencompass your pain that you
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feel at this moment.
Until that day comes, we haveeach other, we have the Holy
Spirit, we have God's Word andwe have this table.
Did you know?
That's why we come to the table, or one of the reasons we come
every single week?
Because most of the timesomebody walks in here they're
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hanging by a thread and in themiddle of the worst week of
their life, and we come to thistable.
Yes, we remember the death ofJesus, but this table points us
forward to that day of glory,the great wedding feast of the
Lamb, when God will make allthings new.
Every time we eat this breadand drink this cup, we are
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declaring that our story doesn'tend in tears, but it actually
ends in eternal joy.
Amen, let's come to this tablethis morning.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you that you seeevery tear, that you see every
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sleepless night and every brokenplace.
Help us to remember you're atwork, help us to focus on the
future and I pray that hope, thehope of glory, would break into
our present circumstances,whatever they are.
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In Jesus' name, amen.
If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to
Psalm 6 this morning, psalmchapter 6.
We're going to continue ourstudy this morning through the
Psalms, and we come this morningto another Psalm of lament.
I said this maybe every weeksince I've stood up here, but
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laments make up a lot of thePsalms.
About 40% of the Psalms arePsalms of lament, and so it
should be no surprise that we'relooking at another one.
But this one is particularlydifficult.
This one I found even hard toread this week.
Have you ever had a night whereyou cried so hard that you wet
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and soaked your pillow?
Have you ever felt such griefinside of you and in your life
that it felt like that it waseating you alive from the inside
out?
Well, if you felt those things,you're in good company.
(01:11):
The Psalms, particularly thisPsalm, speak to that experience,
and our temptation as we cometo the Psalms, particularly
Psalms of lament, is to thinkthat they're just records of
whining.
And maybe our temptation is tosay come on, quit complaining.
(01:31):
We know we live in a fallenworld, we live in a broken world
.
Life is hard.
Deal with it.
But what I want you to realizeis that, instead of normalizing
pain and brokenness, the Psalmsactually protest and rage
against it.
That's what they're doing,because the Psalmists have this
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deep conviction that they carrywith them through the world, and
that is that suffering anddeath and pain are wrong, and
it's not the way that Godintended the world to be.
And so the Psalms are notrecords of whining, they're
actually records of faith, faithin God's righteousness.
(02:23):
And so, with that in mind,let's read God's Word, psalm 6,
starting in verse 1.
O Lord, rebuke me not in youranger, nor discipline me in your
wrath.
Be gracious to me, o Lord, forI am languishing.
Heal me, o Lord, for my bonesare troubled.
(02:45):
My soul also is greatlytroubled.
But you, o Lord, how long?
Turn, o Lord, deliver my life,save me for the sake of your
steadfast love, for in deaththere is no remembrance of you
In Sheol.
Who will give you praise?
I am weary, with my moaning.
(03:07):
Every night I flood my bed withtears.
I drench my couch with myweeping.
My eyes waste away because ofgrief.
It grows weak because of all myfoes.
Depart from me all you workersof evil, for the Lord has heard
(03:28):
the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea.
The Lord accepts my prayer, allmy enemies shall be ashamed and
greatly troubled.
They shall turn back and be putto shame in a moment.
This is God's word.
Let's pray and let's ask for thespirit to help us this morning.
(03:48):
Let's pray together.
Father, I pray for all thoselistening that you'd give us
ears to hear and that we wouldbe ministered to, that you would
speak to us through thepreaching of your word, through
your spirit.
All of us in some way need tohear this psalm and need you to
(04:13):
speak to us, and I pray that youwould be with me as I preach it
.
May the words of my mouth andthe meditation of my heart be
good and pleasing to you.
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
In Christ's name, I pray.
I want to begin this morning byasking you to reflect or think
(04:37):
about traditional wedding vowsthat a bride and groom say on
their wedding day.
Have you ever noticed howunromantic those vows actually
are?
And it's actually why I'm ahuge fan of the traditional
wedding vows versus writing yourown.
(04:57):
Think about it.
From day one, a couple isacknowledging that their life
together is going to be filledwith suffering and hardship and
pain.
Think about the vows in thosesobering words that are included
(05:18):
in them Sickness, poverty,sorrow, worse and death.
Let's go eat some cake anddance and celebrate.
But I love that, because whatis actually being declared from
(05:43):
day one is that faithfulness andgrowth and love and intimacy
and life is actually forged, yes, in joy, but mainly through
suffering and hardship, and thatreality is not just limited to
(06:03):
marriage.
It's true of all relationshipsand friendships and parenthood
and, most importantly, yourspiritual life and your
relationship with God.
The Christian life isn't alwaysan energizing pep rally.
The Christian life is learningto walk faithfully with God,
(06:23):
even in the valley of the shadowof death.
That's why there's so manylaments in the Psalms.
Notice the superscription.
If you have your Bible open,you'll see that at the top of
the Psalm of Psalm 6, to thechoir master with stringed
(06:44):
instruments.
To the choir master withstringed instruments.
In other words, this song ofsadness and grief was meant to
be sung in worship services overand over and over again
throughout the generations.
There was lots of sadness inthat sanctuary back then and
there's lots of sadness in thissanctuary this morning.
(07:07):
That's why we need this psalmand we're going to look at this
psalm, psalm 6, where King Davidgives us a vocabulary to pray
and to live out our sufferingwhen it completely overwhelms us
and our life completely fallsapart.
(07:30):
So, whether you're facing anillness or the loss of someone
you love, or maybe familytroubles or emotional turmoil or
depression, or yourrelationships are breaking down
or a financial crisis orspiritual drought or
unemployment relationships arebreaking down, or a financial
crisis or spiritual drought orunemployment, whatever it is,
this psalm meets you in yourdarkest hour.
(07:52):
And in your darkest hour, david, through this psalm, gives us
three things we need to remember.
We need to remember number oneGod is always at work, remember.
We need to remember number oneGod is always at work.
Secondly, that suffering iscomprehensive.
And lastly, we need to rememberour future glory.
So that's where we're headed.
(08:13):
God's always at work.
Suffering is comprehensive.
Lastly, we need to remember ourfuture glory.
Let's take those in order.
Number one God's at work.
When suffering hits your life,the temptation is to think that
God has left the building, thathe has forgotten you or that he
(08:33):
has checked out on you.
But one thing is very clearfrom this psalm is David knows
that he has God's attention,knows that he has God's
attention.
He knows that God is interestedand invested in every detail in
his life.
He is not wasting time tryingto convince God to care for him.
(08:55):
He knows God cares for him andis already deeply invested.
We have to remember that whenthe wheels come off in our life,
we have to remember that whenthe wheels come off in our life,
how do we see that?
Well, notice the word Lord inall caps, verse 6 and in Psalm 6
.
You see it in nearly everyverse.
It shows up.
(09:15):
I say this a lot from thispulpit, but it helps us to be
good Bible readers, becausethat's a big deal when when you
see the Lord all caps, that isimportant and it's very helpful
because that's God's personaland covenant name.
And so throughout the psalm,david is operating from that
conviction that God is his Lord,that he's in personal
(09:40):
relationship with the Lord, thatthe Lord knows him and he knows
the Lord.
And so this is very personal.
He knows God, is not distant,but is intimately involved and
active in every detail of hislife.
And you see that again in everyrequest.
(10:01):
Look at verse 4.
He pleads for deliverance.
Verse 2, he asks for healing.
Verse 5, he attempts to bargainwith God.
Why would David make suchappeals Only one reason he's
convinced that God is personallyengaged in his circumstances
and that his prayers actuallymatter and that his pleading
(10:24):
makes a huge difference.
He knows God is listening.
Look at verses 8 and 9.
The Lord has heard.
We don't know exactly what'sgoing on in David's life, but
there seems to be, at firstglance, a lot going on in his
life.
He seems to be sufferingterribly.
(10:45):
That seems obvious.
But why?
Well, we have a couple clues.
Look at verse 2, 5, 6 and 7.
It appears that David issuffering from some sort of
physical illness.
And then you go to 8 and 10,and he starts talking about his
enemies again and how they'retrying to harm him.
(11:05):
So we don't know exactly what'shappening, whether it's illness
, enemies or both.
But then notice what he says inverse 1, and that's where I
want to stay for a second.
David wonders if his sufferingmight be a result of God's
discipline.
Look at verse 1.
(11:26):
O Lord, rebuke me not in youranger, nor discipline me in your
wrath.
Most of our suffering, yes,comes as a result of living in a
fallen world, of living in afallen world.
But the Bible also teaches andScripture is very clear that God
(11:52):
disciplines those that he loves.
He disciplines His children.
If you look at Hebrews 12,verse 6, it talks about that.
We also know that because of thework of Jesus.
We also know that because ofthe work of Jesus that
discipline is always done inlove, never in anger.
It's always for redemptivepurposes and never for
(12:15):
condemnation.
We also know this about God'sdiscipline is that sometimes it
has physical consequences.
And if you read 1 Corinthians11, if you look at verse 30 in
particular, the Apostle Paulwarns the church at Corinth
about that, saying that God'sdiscipline is why many of you
(12:39):
are weak, ill and have even died.
And so the possibility of aloving father using illnesses
and hardship and suffering tocorrect and redeem us is not
just an Old Testament idea, itis a New Testament reality.
(13:05):
And David is very conscious Hisconscience has been pricked that
that is a possibility that Godis actually disciplining him.
Why?
Because he believes God isalways at work, that God is
present in his life, even whenthat presence is painful.
(13:26):
David doesn't compartmentalizeand say God's only here in the
good times and he's absent inthe bad times.
No, he realizes that God'sintimately involved in every
detail.
And I realize that maybe thatsounds troubling for some of you
(13:47):
this morning, but can I tellyou that I think it's actually
really good news and I thinkit's actually deeply comforting.
And you know why?
Because if God's intimatelyinvolved in your life, in the
good things and the bad things,that means your suffering is not
(14:12):
meaningless, that yoursuffering actually has purpose,
that it's not random.
Because think about thealternative, think about the
alternative of meaningless paina distant and uninvolved God who
just throws you out to navigatethis life and your suffering
(14:34):
and the storms you encounter,all alone, completely random.
All alone, completely random.
No, you see, this psalm givesus confidence to pray because it
teaches us whether yoursuffering's coming from
discipline, god's discipline,loving discipline or from living
(14:54):
in a broken world, you arenever facing those things
without the loving, intimateknowledge of God, who cares and
loves you.
The Lord holds you in his handsand knows you completely.
He is not watching over youfrom a distance.
(15:15):
He's intimately involved,working through things in your
life and responding to yourcries.
You see, that is why we canpray with confidence in our
darkest moments, not becausewe're guaranteed that the
outcomes that we want are goingto happen, but because we're
(15:36):
guaranteed that we have God'sattention and that he is
actively involved because heloves us.
Secondly, suffering iscomprehensive.
This is hard to read, as Imentioned earlier, but aren't
the Psalms refreshing?
(15:57):
I think they're so refreshingbecause the Psalms keep it real
and they actually speak to reallife and speak to your life, and
this Psalm is speaking toexactly where some of you are
this morning.
Some of you have been here,some of you will be in this
(16:20):
place.
David is talking about somethingthat doesn't have a quick fix.
He is talking about somethingwhere this suffering has invaded
every dimension of his life.
Look at verse 2.
I'm languishing, my bones aretroubled.
Verse 3.
My soul also is greatlytroubled.
(16:40):
The word troubled get thismeans terrified, dismayed or
thrown into confusion.
So David's bones and hisphysical being and his soul,
they're in complete upheaval.
Look at verse 6 and 7.
(17:01):
I'm weary.
He cries himself to sleep.
He drenches his couch withweeping, his eyes waste away.
It feels like because of hisgrief.
Notice the progression frombones to soul, to night, to his
eyes.
Friends, the point is this isnot just a bad headache, this is
(17:25):
not just a bad day.
This is complete, totalmeltdown.
His body has gone offline.
The breaker switch has beenthrown.
His physical strength is gone,his emotional stability is
(17:45):
shattered, he cannot sleep, hehas no more tears left to cry,
and that teaches us thatsuffering knows no bounds.
It has no boundaries, that itmakes its way into every area,
oftentimes, of a person's life,and some of you know exactly
(18:07):
what this is like Because youhave experienced suffering that
has taken not the breath out ofyou, where you walk into the
room and all you can do iscollapse or fall to your knees.
You've lost a child, your spousehas betrayed and left you.
(18:31):
You've been diagnosed with aterminal illness that's not
getting any better, it's onlygetting worse.
You've lost your job Fill inthe blank and what follows isn't
just grief, it's a completeinvasion into every corner of
(18:54):
your life.
You know what this is like.
I've been here.
You can't sleep, you can't eat,your relationships suffer, you
start to question God's goodness, you're so stressed that your
immune system crashes and itseems as if you're sick all the
time.
(19:14):
It feels like you're in a freefall.
David and the Bible speak tothat experience, and I think
that is really good news for us,because if you are there or
been there, you're not alone.
Let me give two very specificapplications and then we'll move
(19:37):
on One to the sufferer ifyou're suffering currently.
Move on One to the sufferer ifyou're suffering currently.
Second, to us as a community aswe walk alongside suffering
(20:00):
people.
If you're Likewise, stop shamingyourself for your suffering.
You ever do that, I do this.
I can't believe that this hasaffected me that much.
Or you say things like I mean,I know this is hard, but I
(20:22):
should be over this by now.
Stop shaming yourself for yoursuffering.
Resist, over-spiritualizingyour pain and your suffering,
saying things like I just got topray more, I got to read my
Bible more.
Like I just got to pray more, Igot to read my Bible more.
(20:44):
Yes, it's always spiritual, butit's a lot broader than that.
It is physical, it is emotionaland it impacts every area of a
person's life, the whole person.
And what that also means on theflip side is that your
restoration and healing is alsoholistic.
Yes, it involves spiritual care, but it also involves physical
(21:09):
rest.
It might involve doctor'svisits, it might involve
counseling and relationalsupport, and emotional support
and spiritual care.
All those work together.
That's how God made a humanbeing and that's how you heal as
a whole person, not in isolatedpieces.
(21:30):
And then, lastly, if you'resuffering healing, you've got to
hear this healing comes incommunity.
You'll never heal in isolation,and so maybe a very specific
application for you this morningis find, if you haven't find,
someone you can share your howlong, oh lord with and bring
(21:55):
your suffering into communityand relationship.
John John Cox says sufferingshared is halved, suffering
alone is doubled.
And then what about ourcommunity?
Or what about those who walkalongside those who are
suffering?
We want to be a church thatloves well, and particularly
(22:19):
loves well those who aresuffering and hurting and in
pain.
How does that happen?
We could say a billion things,but here's a couple of thoughts.
Don't minimize someone's painby saying things like well, at
least it's not blank.
And fill in the blank withwhatever awful thing that we
(22:40):
normally fill in the blank with,or at least your situation is
not as bad as so-and-so'ssituation.
You see, when we compare oursituations and other people's
pain, it doesn't help, but itactually adds more shame to an
(23:01):
already overwhelming burden.
Instead, acknowledge andrecognize the comprehensive
nature of suffering.
And then, lastly, verypractically, don't just simply
say let me know if you needanything, show up in the
driveway.
Need anything?
(23:26):
Show up in the driveway, pickup the phone and say I'm
bringing dinner over on Tuesday,just go mow the grass.
Say I'm coming on this day tosit with you and have a cup of
coffee.
Or hey, on Thursday you sleepin, I got your kids for carpool.
Suffering is comprehensive andit's part of the human
(23:47):
experience and God has given thechurch to be part of his
comprehensive care.
And may God, by his grace, makethis a place where hurting,
suffering people heal and bringit into community where they are
loved and cared for and havesomeone to walk alongside them.
(24:10):
Lastly and finally, futureglory.
Look at verse 3.
We need to remember our futureglory.
Notice the how long O LordDavid has just described think
about this.
Just described, think aboutthis.
Just described thecomprehensive nature of
suffering, and now he revealswhat I think is the most
(24:33):
terrifying aspect of all of ithe doesn't know when it's going
to end.
Some of you know what that'slike, and here's the question I
want to end with what do you do?
What do you do when you don'tknow if this is going to end and
(24:53):
when it's going to end and yousee no light at the end of the
tunnel?
Two things for us to think aboutas we leave this morning.
First, we've got to cling toGod's love.
Look at verse 4.
Save me for the sake of yoursteadfast love.
There's another word.
You see it all throughout thePsalms.
If you see steadfast love, youbetter like the Lord all caps,
(25:16):
you better lock on to that,because that's very important.
It is a deep, rich word thatrefers to God's covenant love
for his people.
It's a word that says God'snever going to leave his people,
that God is with you, that hebinds himself to you no matter
what.
(25:37):
And so in his suffering, in hishow longs, david is latching
onto the love of God.
What is true, even though hedoesn't feel like it's true in
the moment?
That's faith, and we must dothe same.
We must remind ourselves in ourdarkest nights that God's
(26:01):
covenant love, that he bindshimself to us and he will not
leave us and he loves us like heloves his son Jesus.
And think about that.
As we have the reminder, don'twe An even greater reminder than
David?
Because we have Jesus.
Jesus who came and remember.
(26:21):
He was called a man of sorrows,acquainted with grief.
Jesus, god in the flesh, knowsthe pain of losing friends.
He knows the pain of beingbetrayed.
He knows the pain of feelinglike he's been forgotten by God.
Remember he says my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
(26:43):
So whenever you find yourselfin that place of darkness, look
at the cross.
God has not left you and Godunderstands your suffering.
And the other thing we need tolatch on to in the middle of our
how longs is we need to keepour eyes forward.
We need to keep our eyes on ourfuture glory.
(27:07):
I love this about the Psalms.
So think about in Psalm 6 here,david is not in a good place.
He is full of sorrow andsadness.
But notice, in verses 8 through10, the Psalm ends on a note of
confidence, and I think it'svery helpful.
And here's why it's helpful,because you can be sorrowful and
(27:30):
have joy at the same time.
You can be hurting and you canalso, at the very same time, be
hopeful.
You can be sad and confident.
You can be weak and you can bestrong.
We see that in this psalm.
Look at verse 10.
(27:52):
Notice, he anticipates adeliverance.
This is really important Adeliverance in the future.
Look at verse 10.
All my enemies will be greatlytroubled.
Then he goes on and says theywill turn back.
There's no evidence that hispresent situation has improved,
(28:18):
but his head is lifted up byfaith in what is coming, by
faith in what is coming.
Friends, the only way I knowthat you survive a broken world
where suffering knows no bounds,and for you to walk through
(28:39):
life and remain faithful andhopeful is to keep your eyes
forward on your future glory,the coming of the new heavens
and new earth.
And you've got to pull thatglory and that hope that we all
have.
If you're a Christian, you'vegot to pull that into the
present.
You've got to hold on to that.
(29:00):
You've got to ground yourselfthere.
To ground yourself thereBecause from where I stand, I
can't tell you if your illnessis going to go away.
I can't tell you if you're goingto get any better.
I can't tell you that thedepression is going to for sure
(29:24):
lift and the sadness that youfeel over the loss of someone
you love.
I'm not sure you get over thatin this life.
Does it get better, of course,but I'm not sure it fully goes
(29:47):
away.
David is able to look out andhe's able to say I'm not living
for those days.
I'm living for that day, thatday in the future, a much more
glorious day, when therighteousness of God and glory
will be revealed.
(30:08):
Here's what I want you toremember as you walk out of here
your story doesn't end withsuffering.
Your pain does not have thelast word.
The God who sees every tear isthe God who is one day going to
(30:34):
wipe away every tear.
The God who is with you in thevalley of the shadow of death is
the God who is going to leadyou into eternal joy, into a
world where there's no suffering, no sorrow and pain and
mourning, and all things will bemade new.
That is the day that this lamentand all the laments are aimed,
(30:57):
and that is the day that thelaments point to, and we must
protest and rage againstanything less.
Rage against anything less.
And so, whether you're floodingyour pillow with tears tonight,
like David, or whether you'rewalking alongside someone who is
(31:18):
, remember God is always at work.
Yes, suffering is oftencomprehensive, but so is God's
care.
And remember to keep your eyesfocused on the future, of the
day when God's glory willencompass your pain that you
(31:42):
feel at this moment.
Until that day comes, we haveeach other, we have the Holy
Spirit, we have God's Word andwe have this table.
Did you know?
That's why we come to the table, or one of the reasons we come
every single week?
Because most of the timesomebody walks in here they're
(32:05):
hanging by a thread and in themiddle of the worst week of
their life, and we come to thistable.
Yes, we remember the death ofJesus, but this table points us
forward to that day of glory,the great wedding feast of the
Lamb, when God will make allthings new.
Every time we eat this breadand drink this cup, we are
(32:29):
declaring that our story doesn'tend in tears, but it actually
ends in eternal joy.
Amen, let's come to this tablethis morning.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you that you seeevery tear, that you see every
(32:56):
sleepless night and every brokenplace.
Help us to remember you're atwork, help us to focus on the
future and I pray that hope, thehope of glory, would break into
our present circumstances,whatever they are.
(33:16):
In Jesus' name, amen.
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