September 7, 2025 • 42 mins
Asaph's raw journey through spiritual doubt and rediscovered faith in Psalm 77 reveals how we can navigate times when God feels distant yet remains faithful.
• Moving from crying out to God in deep distress to finding comfort in remembering His character
• Running to God even when our cries are ugly and our pain feels overwhelming
• Learning that our theology should shape how we suffer rather than letting suffering shape our theology
• Recognizing that our seemingly impossible situations become the stage for God's power to be displayed
• Understanding that remembering God's past faithfulness gives us courage to face present struggles
• Finding hope in Christ's work on the cross—the ultimate display of God's faithfulness
• Standing on unshakable hope even during long, sleepless nights and heavy burdens
"I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?" (Psalm 77:11-13)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Larry Young (00:00):
I am one of the elders here at Midtree and I
have the privilege to presentthe word to you guys today.
I don't know about you guys,but I would love to see Will in
a daishiki.
So, as your black brother, will, I'm giving you permission.
It is not culturalappropriation, so please feel
free to bust in here with adaishiki here pretty soon.
(00:22):
So today we're going to take alittle break from the book of
Joshua, but one thing I want todo is continue the theme of
remembering remembering what Godhas done.
And so if you were here lastweek, david Blanchard did an
incredible job talking about the12 stones and what that
(00:43):
symbolizes in terms ofremembering.
And so if you have your Bibleswith you today, I think it'd be
really helpful.
I like to use the Bibles in thepews because towards the end of
the sermon we're going to kindof move kind of quickly through
Psalm 77.
And I think it would just bereally, really helpful for you
if you have that available.
(01:06):
Tim Keller, in his book Walkingwith God Through Pain and
Suffering, he writes this nomatter what precautions we take,
no matter how well we have puttogether a good life, no matter
how hard we have worked to behealthy, wealthy, comfortable
with friends and family andsuccessful with our career,
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something will inevitably ruinit.
For some of us, this could be atime when we unexpectedly lost
a loved one.
It could have been a parent, itcould have been a spouse, it
could be a marriage fallingapart, it could be failing
health, an unexpected job loss.
Whatever the situation, thereare just times when our hearts
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will argue with our theology.
Our mouth may sing praises toGod, but our heart and souls
feel detached and we will askGod this question.
We'll say God, why does it feellike you don't see me?
And if you've ever felt this,you certainly aren't alone.
And all throughout scripture wesee examples of similar
(02:11):
expressions.
I mean, just go in Exodus 5.22,.
We see Moses.
He asked the Lord why have youbrought trouble on the
Israelites and why have youchosen me to lead these people?
And in Job 13, verse 24, weread this he makes a plea to God
.
And Job says why do you hideyour face and count me as your
(02:34):
enemy?
And then in Matthew 27, we seeour Lord Christ as he's dying on
the cross.
He echoes the word of thePsalmist in Psalm 22, when he
says my God, my God, why haveyou forsaken me?
Why does it sometimes feel likeno matter what's going on in
our life?
Why does it feel like God isfailing us even when we've been
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faithful?
You see, intellectually we knowthe answer.
God saves his people and heshows them mercy time and time
again, all throughout scripture.
We see that all the time.
But this doesn't mean that thereality of God's unfailing love
is easy for us to digest,especially in times when our
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troubles seem very present andthey seem very real and they
seem very heavy.
So, before we dive into Psalm 77this morning, there's a few
things I'd like to share withyou that I think will help us
navigate the text.
Okay, so, first of all, who'sthe author of Psalm 77?
And so the portion of the textin Psalm 77 prior to verse one
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that's called the superscriptionOkay, superscription, or simply
referred to as the heading.
And so this is actually part ofthe original Hebrew manuscript
and it's not an editorial noteadded later in time by a
translator, but it's actuallypart of the inspired scripture.
And so we see here in thesuperscription, it says this to
(04:04):
the choir master, according toJuduthun, a psalm of Asaph.
And so here you see two names.
Okay, it's Asaph and Juduthun,or Juduthun and Asaph.
And in 1 Chronicles we see thatDavid appointed some of the
Levites, including Juduthun andAsaph, as leaders and ministers
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of worship who, through theirmusic, were described as
prophets as well.
And so the superscription inPsalm 77 is conveying that
Juduthin was likely the worshipleader who would have directed
the singing of this psalm, andAsaph was the divinely inspired
writer who's conveying God'smessage in the text.
(04:49):
And before we dive in, I justalso want to give you the two
takeaways that we have for thisparticular message, and they're
these two things I want us toremember today In times of
trouble, don't allow sufferingto shape your theology.
Rather, your theology shouldshape how you suffer.
(05:10):
And then, secondly, I want usto remember this Our trials
become the stage for God's powerand faithfulness to be put on
display.
So that gives you an idea ofwhere we're going.
So, with that in mind, let'sdive into Psalm 77.
(05:38):
Let's start at verse.
One hand is stretched outwithout wearying.
My soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan.
When I meditate, my spiritfaints Selah.
So we see here the psalmist.
He's praying with a sense ofdeep, sincere need, from relief
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for relief, and we don't knowwhat his troubles are.
The Psalm does not express whathe was struggling with, but
what we see here it's nighttimeand he's verbally crying out to
God.
And then we see in verse twothat he mentions again that he's
crying out to God.
And this is here for emphasis,to instruct us that the psalmist
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is deeply troubled and that allhe can do in this time is to
cry out to God.
And what we can picture here is, like Asaph, his hands are
outstretched, they're stretchedup, symbolizing an appeal, a
deep dependence on God to hearhis plea Lord, help me.
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That's essentially what Asaphis saying Lord, help me.
He's restless, he's desperate,he's crying and reaching out for
God all night.
But even with petitioning theLord, we see that at the end of
verse two, asaph states that herefuses to be comforted.
He's raw, he's honest.
(07:10):
Here Asaph isn't sugarcoatinganything.
I mean he's not trying to praysome sweet prayer, right?
I mean, this is a lament.
This is one of those momentswhere I can see Asaph
approaching one of us, or someof us, and saying you know, hey,
brother, I'm really sorry forwhat you're going through.
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This is us talking to Asaph man, I hate what you're going
through, and I'm just makingthis up, but I can totally see
Asaph quipping back to us andsaying man, I'm trying that, man
, I'm trying to appeal to theLord, and you know what?
It's just not helping.
I'm in that deep moment ofdesperation where nothing is
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helping.
And, as a side note, I have togive Asaph props here, because
he's doing exactly what heshould in moments like this he's
praying, he isn't running todrugs, he isn't running to
alcohol or some other vice toease his pain.
No, asaph is rightly turned toGod in his deep hour of need
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because, even though in thismoment he's struggling to
acknowledge it, he knows nothingelse outside of God can truly
bring him hope or peace.
You know, I feel like every dayone of our kids is getting hurt
at our house.
This is kind of an illustrationpoint, but one of our kids is
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always getting hurt like everysingle day.
And so, if you guys know, weactually live on a small farm
but our house is actually thezoo, and so we have seven kids
right now, and my kids they loveto wrestle, they love to
wrestle I think they get thatfrom their daddy and they play
outside and they do all thethings, but inevitably someone's
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going to get hurt every singletime.
And now I've gotten to thepoint where I'll say five
minutes when he's going to becrying.
And now I've gotten to thepoint where I'll say five
minutes when he's going to becrying, and usually I'm about
right.
And so we have one kid and theyhave like, don't judge me,
y'all, they have a really uglycry.
And when they get hurt it'slike I'm not going to tell you
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guys which kid it is, come overmy house, watch them play,
you'll figure it out.
But every time they get hurttheir face smushes up and their
tears are like legitimatelysquirting out of their eyes.
Like if you know, you guyswould get wet up here in the
front and their nose startsrunning and it's like that thick
kind of snot.
And then they run to you andthey hug, crisp your eye and
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it's great especially if I haveto drive to Atlanta to go to
work they get snot all over mypants.
It's the best.
But what am I trying to say here?
Seriously, like small childrenrunning to a loving parent when
we are hurting isn't that how weshould feel about God?
Shouldn't we be able to run tothe Lord.
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When we feel like that, I meanit's okay to run to Him.
Even if your cries are ugly,it's okay.
He actually invites our cries.
It's in those moments that wedraw near to Him, like a small
child running to someone thatthey deeply trust and that they
love.
And for those of you with smallchildren, have you ever noticed
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that even when they run to youand they grip your leg or your
neck or your arm, it isn't liketheir relief is always instant
in that moment?
I know some of you have noticedthat You'll grab a child,
they'll cry and they'll still becrying for a few moments, but
after a time they becomeconsoled, not necessarily
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because the pain has gone away.
You know that scraped kneestill may be bleeding, their
feelings may still be hurt, butthe cries begin to ease because
they're now in the presence ofsomeone that they love.
They're in the presence ofsomeone that they love.
They're in the presence ofsomeone that they love and that
they trust.
And so, like a small childclinging to a loving father or
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mother in their time of distress, we too should run to our
heavenly father, because he'sproven time and time again that
he loves his people and that wecan trust him and our pain isn't
guaranteed to immediately cease, but God isn't intimidated by
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our cries.
In Psalm 34, verse 18, it saysthis the Lord is near to the
brokenhearted and saves thecrushed in spirit.
So when our hearts are brokenand we're in distress, we can
trust God to be near.
So, like Asaph, even when it'sugly and the situation is ugly,
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and even if your cries are ugly,run to the Lord.
But we see here in verse threeof Psalm 77, that even though
Asaph knows that he can run tothe Lord in prayer during this
difficult time, he says this, hesays my soul refuses to be
comforted and that when heremembers God, he moans, when he
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meditates, his spirit faints.
Then we get a break in the textand we see the word Selah, and
so sometimes again, we can wantto skip over that word, but
again that's really important.
What does Selah mean?
It's a word in the Psalms andits meaning is to convey to us
to take a moment pause, meditateon what you just read or what
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you just sang in that instance.
So, in other words, let theword sink in, think about it,
take your time.
And isn't it interesting, as wepause and reflect on this, that
Asaph doesn't say that the issuetroubling him is causing him to
moan or his spirit to faint,but rather he finds the thought
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of God himself to be troubling.
Isn't that interesting.
He finds the thought of Godtroubling to him.
We see this in the Psalms.
It almost seemscounterintuitive if you think
about it.
But what Asaph is wrestlingwith here is that he knows that
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God is all powerful.
He knows that he's faithful, heknows that he's loving, he
knows that he's merciful.
But in his moment of suffering,remembering those truths about
God's character only sharpensthe pain.
Asaph is essentially saying tohimself God, you are good, so
why does my life feel this way?
(13:50):
Asaph is experiencing the agonyof knowing that God could act,
yet he seems silent in this darkhour.
In his commentary on the Psalmscalled the Treasury of David,
charles Spurgeon paints thispicture when commenting on
Asaph's lack of comfort.
We read this With no spiritleft in us to sustain our
(14:14):
infirmity.
Our case becomes forlorn, likeman in a tangle of briars who is
stripped of his clothes.
Every hook of the thornsbecomes a lancelet and we bleed
with 10,000 wounds.
What does this mean?
I have to break this down in themodern English, because I can
tell some of you guys are likeforlorn.
What the heck?
(14:34):
What is this?
So, a few times, if you've everbeen on our property, you know
it's a farm and sometimes I'llbe walking out on the property
and I rarely wear long pants, sousually you'll see me in shorts
and I'll accidentally walk intoa briar patch.
And if you guys have everaccidentally walked into a briar
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patch, those sharp thorns arenot fun and at first it's kind
of like one scratch but then asyou try to get out, another
thorn grabs you and so thenyou're kind of in this situation
where you're moving and you'retrying to get out, and you know
you should get out, but it keepscutting you and it's like a
thousand little razors justannoying you.
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If you are a hunter, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
Those briars are not fun.
And that's what he's saying,what Charles Spurgeon is saying
here.
He's like, hey, asaph's spiritis fainting.
It's like he's caught in athorn, a thorn patch of despair,
and he can't get himself freeand every thought of God only
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makes that pain sharper.
Every time he thinks about Godin light of his present
suffering, it's like a littlecut and it's aggravating him
more and more with each thought,reminders of God, of what God
could do, but what God hasn'tdone yet in his situation.
But as we see here in a fewmoments, asaph, his focus,
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doesn't stay there.
Let's continue on.
Let's go to verses four throughsix.
It says this you hold myeyelids open.
I am so troubled that I cannotspeak.
I consider the days of old, theyears of long ago.
I said, let me remember thesong in the night, my song in
the night.
Let me meditate in my heart.
Then my spirit made a diligentsearch.
(16:22):
What Asaph is saying here?
Then my spirit made a diligentsearch.
What Asaph is saying here?
He's saying God, you know thisthing is heavy, but you can't
give me, you won't give me restor sleep.
There is so much pressure thatI can't even express it.
So he goes from crying out loudto God to a state of just
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troubling quiet.
Asaph doesn't have words forwhat he's experiencing.
No-transcript.
I can tell you guys thatsleepless nights especially some
of you who may be able torelate to this they wear you
down.
It's almost like you can'tfunction at all.
And then he says here in verse 5that he is considering the days
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of old, the years, long ago.
And here what I think Asaph issaying is he's thinking about
better days.
He's thinking about those timesin those earlier seasons in his
life where he actually feltlike God was present.
He felt like his prayers werebeing answered and that God's
presence was just undeniable tohim.
That's what he's thinking about.
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And then let's jump down toverse six.
It says let me remember my songin the night, let me meditate
in my heart.
Then my spirit made a diligentsearch.
So we see, here we're startingto see a little faint flicker of
light coming to Asaph's mindhere, and he's possibly thinking
about the other Psalms.
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He's thinking about worshipsongs to the Lord, maybe even
some that he's written.
But what you see, my point, isthat Asaph is trying to stir his
heart here, but then it leadshim to some questions about God.
In verses seven through ninelet's read that together Will
the Lord spurn forever and neveragain be favorable?
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Has his steadfast love foreverceased?
Or his promises at an end forall time?
Has God forgotten to begracious?
So here you see, asaph isn't somuch presenting an indictment
of God being unfair, unjust oreven unloving, but here the
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first question will the Lordspurn forever.
Asaph is recognizing thatIsrael was in covenant with God.
They broke that covenant andthat God spurned them, and spurn
means to reject, to cast away.
And so we see Asaph crying outGod, have you rejected us for
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good?
Are you that tired of us?
His voice is raw and he's justsaying God, are you just done
with me?
Are you finished with me?
But in verse eight, these seemto be the most shocking
questions to me, and you'll seewhy.
In verse eight he says has hissteadfast love forever ceased?
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Are his promises at an end forall time?
The Hebrew term God uses todescribe his enduring faith, his
faithfulness and his love.
You'll see this in the OldTestament.
It's called chesed.
I hope I'm pronouncing thatright.
I'm going to mention Jamie.
I got it, mitch.
Chesed.
Hope I'm pronouncing that right.
I'm going to mention Jamie.
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I got it Mitch.
That's it.
I got to get that deep in it.
But this term is found nearly245 times in the Old Testament,
and it's an expression of anessential part of God's
character.
It describes his mercy and hiscompassion.
There's really no English wordfor it, because it means
generous, loving, compassionate,long-suffering.
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It expresses the covenantalside of God's love.
And so the question is has hissteadfast love hesed, ceased,
forever ceased?
In other words, has God'scharacter toward us, the way
that he conducts himself towardsus, has it changed?
And at the end of verse nine wealso see the question has he,
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in anger, shut up his compassion?
I know, in the new King JamesVersion translation I actually
like that better, becauseinstead of the word compassion
it actually says tender mercies.
Has he, in anger, shut up histender mercies?
And I think that translation ofthis particular word gives us a
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better picture or an idea toconvey a real deep bond, a
tenderness like a very intimatecloseness and think of, like a
motherly closeness.
That's what it's expressing.
And in his commentary on thePsalms I'm going back to Uncle
Chuck y'all I love Uncle Chuckhe says this.
He says if you are a child ofGod and he's talking about
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Asaph's questions in versesseven through nine he says this
if you are a child of God andnever had to ask these questions
, you ought to be very grateful.
But if you have to ask them, bethankful that Asaph asked them
before you and believe that, ashe had a comfortable answer to
them, so shall you.
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It is always a comfort when youcan see the footprints of
another man in the mire and theslough.
I put that there, y'all, likethe S-L-E-W, so I know how to
pronounce it correctly.
So don't judge me, for if thatman passed through unharmed, so
may you, for his God shall alsobe your helper.
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Moving on, in the ESVtranslation of verse 10, in your
pew Bibles it should read thisI will appeal to this the years
of the right hand of the mosthigh.
And so this means that Asaph isnow choosing to remember God's
mighty works in the past, and sothis is what I see as a more
hopeful translation of the text,when you compare to what you
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see in the footnote of the ESVtranslation.
It says this it says this is mygrief that the right hand of
the most high has changed.
Do you guys see that in thefootnote?
You see that Good, good, andthis is more of a pessimistic
view to me.
To me, what is in the footnotecontinues really the theme of
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what we see in verses onethrough nine, and I think and
this is just my opinion, I couldbe wrong I think it's a little
bit more accurate, because ifyou see the other, the
translation that's in the maintext.
It's a little bit more hopeful.
But either way, my point isthat this is a hinge in the text
.
Okay, whether Asaph is remindinghimself of how strong God's
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hand has been, or whether he'slamenting that God's hand seems
absent, what we do know is thatthis line marks a pivot in the
psalm.
There's a turning now, and sonow let's look at verses 11
through 13.
Asaph says I will remember thedeeds of the Lord.
Yes, I will remember thewonders of old.
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I will ponder all your work andmeditate on your mighty deeds
your way.
O God is holy.
What God is great like our God.
And this gets us to our firsttakeaway Don't allow your
suffering to shape your theology.
Rather, your theology shouldshape how you suffer.
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It's wild to think thatsometimes in our lives,
suffering has a way of being theloudest voice in our heads,
especially at night and whenyou're in pain or struggling
through something.
Our emotions can sometimes tryto convince us that God has
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somehow changed.
Our emotions can make us thinkthat God's forgotten about us,
or that he's unfair, or that hejust doesn't care about us.
But that's letting sufferingwrite our theology for us.
Instead, our theology, thetruths, meaning the truths that
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we know about God from his word,from the Bible.
That must be what steadies usin times of suffering.
And so let's take another lookat verse 13, where Asaph, he
says this your way, oh, god isholy.
What God is great, like our God.
You see, asaph, he's nowcontemplating God's holiness,
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but what he's implicitly sayinghe's like God, you are holy, I
am not, and whatever ishappening to me, god is not
unjust, it's not unfair, becauseyour way is good and apart from
you, I'm not good.
And then this leads him intoworship.
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And as an illustration point,as I was thinking this through,
it's almost like when a stormcomes in, it could be a sunny
day, and then all of a sudden,you guys notice like clouds will
just rush in and you're likeman.
It is dark outside and it canseem like the sun has completely
disappeared from the sky.
But has it?
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Has the sun disappeared?
No, it hasn't.
It hasn't disappeared, ithasn't changed.
The problem isn't that the sunchanged or that the sun went
away.
The problem is our perspectivebeing clouded by the storm.
In the same way, when we are introuble, we can feel like God
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has vanished or that his lovesrun out, like Asaph did for the
first part of the psalm.
His focus was actually onhimself and on his problems.
You notice that, like in verseone, he says this I cry loud.
Verse two my hand stretched out.
Verse three my spirit faints.
Verse four I can't sleep.
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Lord, you won't let me go tosleep, I'm so troubled.
Verse six I will meditate in myheart.
But then we see in verses 11through 13, we see Asaph go from
focusing on himself to thenshifting his focus on what he
knows to be true about God andhis faithfulness, and then that
leads him into worship.
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It's almost like he realizeswait, the sun is still shining,
god is still there and theseclouds are just temporary.
And it leads him to worship God.
And so we see Asaph.
He's no longer wrapped up inhis troubles, he's not stuck in
the briar, but now he'sbeginning to be wrapped up in
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the character of God and hismighty works.
So instead of being pierced bythe thorns of his troubles and
his questions and his doubts,he's being pierced by the truth
of who God is and his focusshifts from his pain to God's
unending love and his holiness.
Folks, if you don't rememberanything else from this sermon,
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remember God for who he is, notthrough the lens of how you feel
.
Our feelings may be screamingone thing, but honestly, our
feelings, they lie to us.
Our faith can stand on thetruth that God is holy and
faithful and powerful, even whenour circumstances don't look
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that way.
Powerful even when ourcircumstances don't look that
way.
I don't find it odd that as Iwas writing the sermon this week
, I got some news.
As some of you know, christyand I are foster parents and we
have had a sweet baby girl for19 months.
We've had her most of her lifeand for most of the time it
looked like, you know, herbiological mom was struggling,
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wasn't going to get together,and then we're kind of told, hey
, you may get to adopt her.
But then this past Tuesday wewere in court and the court says
I think she'll be ready to gohome in the next 90 days.
That was a blow to me and I'llbe honest with you, I have had
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some sleepless nights.
But what I have to remember isthat, god, you are sovereign
over this baby.
Even if she's in our home or ifshe's somewhere else, you are
still good, and that you are theauthor of her life, not me, and
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so, you know, this hit very,very, very real to me.
It hit home for me.
And then I ran to Lamentations 3.
And I started in verse 21.
It said this.
I'll share this with you guys.
It said, but I call this tomind and therefore I have hope
the steadfast love of the Lordnever ceases.
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His mercies never come to anend.
They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, my soulsays, says my soul.
Therefore I will hope in him.
So as we continue our study inPsalms, in Psalm 77, let's go to
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verse 14.
You are the God, the God whoworks wonders.
You have made known your mightamong the peoples.
You have made known your mightamong the peoples.
You see, asaph knows God'swonders that he talks about here
.
They're not some abstract,detached idea.
No, he knows that they werereal.
They were visible acts of God'spower.
(29:44):
They were witnessed by theIsraelites, they were written
down for them, and even thatnews traveled to other nations,
as David Planchard shared withus last week.
He reminded us of God stoppingthe flow of the Jordan River and
God's call to remember.
And then, if you guys were herefor us studying the second
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chapter of the book of Joshua,there was Rahab.
She was a prostitute living inthe walls of Jericho.
And what did she say?
She said we have heard whatyour God has done.
We know of your God.
Rahab says that when they heardabout God's acts that their
hearts melted, the people ofJericho knew that they were
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defeated.
And then let's go on to verse 15of Psalm 77.
It says you with your armredeemed your people, the
children of Jacob and JosephSelah.
What is Asaph doing?
He's pointing back to theExodus here.
You see, israel couldn't savethemselves here.
They were stuck betweenPharaoh's army and this.
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What seemed to be anincrossable body of water.
But gosh, that's exactly whereGod wanted them to be, because
they're in seemingly impossiblesituation actually became the
stage for God to display hispower and his might.
And then you see Asaph.
In verses 16 through 18, hedives into more vivid detail.
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He says this and think aboutthis.
He's personifying the waterhere.
He says when the water saw you,oh God, when the water saw you,
they were afraid.
The deep trembled, the cloudspoured out water, the skies gave
forth thunder.
Your arrows flashed on everyside.
The crash of your thunder wasin the whirlwind.
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Your lightnings lighted up theworld.
The earth trembled and shook.
You know, from Israel'sperspective, y'all, they saw an
incrossable sea.
And then they had this armyjust coming from the rear.
What are we going to do?
But God showed his redeemingand magnificent power.
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The trembling waters, thelightning, the thunder, they
were all part of the display ofhis glory.
And then we get to verse 19,.
And it says your way wasthrough the sea, your path
through the great waters, yetyour footprints were unseen.
Israel's impossible trialbecame the backdrop for God's
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might.
And this leads us to our secondtakeaway.
Our trials become the stage forGod's power and faithfulness to
be put on display.
The very things that may feellike could be our undoing, that
could feel like it could be ourend, become the very things
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where God showcases hisfaithfulness.
And then we get to verse 20.
You led your people like aflock by the hand of Moses and
Aaron.
You know, it's interesting to methat the same God who showed
like you just read in verses 16through 18, the same God who
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showed all this mighty power,who's putting on this flag?
I mean God is showing out.
He's the same God that comes tous intimately, with a whisper.
He's deeply powerful, immenselypowerful, but he's deeply
personal, and I find that sofascinating.
You know, it's incredible thatGod puts all this on display so
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that we can rest not only in themiddle of our present struggles
, but that we can trust God forwhatever the future holds as
well.
This reminds me of a quote byAlexander McLaren.
He said this In other words,the way we remember God's
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faithfulness becomes the verypaintbrush that gives color to
our future hope.
Gifts colored to our futurehope.
When we recall how God hascarried us before, we find the
courage to believe that he'llcarry us again and again, and
(34:11):
again.
This makes me think about astory that I have about
Christie's mom.
Her name is Lori, or, as hergrandchildren, they called her
Lala, or as her grandchildrenthey called her Lala.
So in 2009, it was right afterChrissy and I had graduated from
law school and she wasdiagnosed with stage four
metastatic breast cancer.
And the doctors they told herhey, you probably have only six
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to nine months to live, but Godwas so kind to give us another
nine years with her until shewent on to glory and defeated
cancer in 2018.
And it was during thisnine-year cancer battle my
father-in-law he's also anattorney.
He actually gave up his careerand he became her full-time
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caretaker.
And over that nine-year periodshe endured countless chemo
treatments, she had severalsurgeries and even one time she
had a blood infection and shewas in the hospital for a while.
But even through all that, godkept her, and she and my
father-in-law.
The most amazing thing is thatduring this time their faith
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only continued to get deeper.
Their roots and faithfulness inthe Lord just got deeper.
And if you knew Lala, you wouldknow that she's an artist.
She was a bit of anintellectual, but she was also a
little bit zany too.
And towards the end of her lifeshe began to fold these little
origami cranes and this one hereis an earring that she actually
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made for Christy.
I couldn't find the other one,but this kind of gives you an
idea of the size.
That's what they look like.
And she folded all these littlecranes and even when the chemo
blistered her fingers and themovement caused pain for her
because she would get thesethese big like little boils on
her fingers, she kept foldingand she would leave these little
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origami cranes everywhere.
And one thing that she did shehad a jar and she filled them
with a thousand little cranes,these little cranes, and she
gave them to my father-in-law.
Here's a bigger one thatMadison made just kind of give
you an idea what they look likeon a bigger scale.
(36:20):
And so one day we were visitingher and I said hey, lala, what's
the meaning behind the 1,000paper cranes that you gave to
your husband?
And she said you know, inJapanese culture, a gift of
1,000 cranes, it symbolizesgratitude and the hope that the
person who's a receiver of thecranes it basically is like a
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thank you, it gives hope.
And she said that there's alsoa myth that the thousand cranes
will grant one big wish to thepeople, to the person who
receives them.
And she's like I don't believein that mumbo jumbo.
What I do want is I gave themto Mike because I want them to
remind them of how grateful I'vebeen for him in this journey.
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He gave up everything to loveon me when I couldn't do much
for myself.
And most of all, I want thosethousand cranes to point him to
the Lord.
You see, these little cranes arenot just paper, but they're
tiny reminders of a largertestimony.
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They're a testimony that evenin suffering, there are
thousands and millions of waysthat we cannot comprehend how
God shows his love andfaithfulness to us each and
every day, even if we're walkingin the shadow of death.
Asaph looked back to the Exodusin the midst of suffering, but
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we have the privilege to seethat the Exodus points us to the
cross, proof of God's power andfaithfulness isn't just parting
of the Red Sea, but it's anempty tomb.
The crucifixion andresurrection of the Son of God
became the stage for thegreatest display of God's
faithfulness and his victoryover sin and death.
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And that's what communion, aswe prepare to do here in a few
moments, that's what communionhelps us to remember.
As a family of believers, wepartake in the elements here.
The bread reminds us thatChrist's body was broken for us,
the cup remind us that hisblood was shed for the
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forgiveness of our sins.
And communion calls us toremember God's past faithfulness
.
It strengthens us in ourpresent struggles and points us
towards the day when Jesus willcome again.
Paul says in Romans 8, 32, hewho did not spare his own son
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but gave him up for us all, howwill he not also do also with
him?
Graciously, give us all things.
If you are here today and youdo not yet know Christ.
I kindly ask you that yourefrain from partaking in the
elements.
But I'll also ask you thisWould you take a few moments and
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consider Psalm 77?
Think about it as an invitation.
Think about Asaph's questions.
Has God forgotten to begracious?
Has he closed off hiscompassion?
Those things were answered onceand for all at the cross, the
God who split the sea, who shookthe heavens.
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He stepped down as a humbleservant in the flesh to bear
your sin, to redeem you, to giveyou a new life.
If you all but turn away fromyour sin, repent and follow him,
then when the storms of yourlife come and believe me, they
will come when your long,sleepless nights come and the
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nights weigh heavy on you andyou feel like you cannot get any
rest, you too can stand onunshakable hope.
That's the hope of the gospel,and I'll leave us with this.
Tim Keller once said, and I'llleave us with this.
Tim Keller once said whileother worldviews lead us to sit
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in the midst of life's joys forseeing the coming sorrows,
christianity empowers its peopleto sit in the midst of this
world's sorrows, tasting thecoming joy.
That's what Psalm 77 shows usand that's what the finished
work of Christ secures for us.
I am one of the elders here at Midtree and I
have the privilege to presentthe word to you guys today.
I don't know about you guys,but I would love to see Will in
a daishiki.
So, as your black brother, will, I'm giving you permission.
It is not culturalappropriation, so please feel
free to bust in here with adaishiki here pretty soon.
(00:22):
So today we're going to take alittle break from the book of
Joshua, but one thing I want todo is continue the theme of
remembering remembering what Godhas done.
And so if you were here lastweek, david Blanchard did an
incredible job talking about the12 stones and what that
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symbolizes in terms ofremembering.
And so if you have your Bibleswith you today, I think it'd be
really helpful.
I like to use the Bibles in thepews because towards the end of
the sermon we're going to kindof move kind of quickly through
Psalm 77.
And I think it would just bereally, really helpful for you
if you have that available.
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Tim Keller, in his book Walkingwith God Through Pain and
Suffering, he writes this nomatter what precautions we take,
no matter how well we have puttogether a good life, no matter
how hard we have worked to behealthy, wealthy, comfortable
with friends and family andsuccessful with our career,
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something will inevitably ruinit.
For some of us, this could be atime when we unexpectedly lost
a loved one.
It could have been a parent, itcould have been a spouse, it
could be a marriage fallingapart, it could be failing
health, an unexpected job loss.
Whatever the situation, thereare just times when our hearts
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will argue with our theology.
Our mouth may sing praises toGod, but our heart and souls
feel detached and we will askGod this question.
We'll say God, why does it feellike you don't see me?
And if you've ever felt this,you certainly aren't alone.
And all throughout scripture wesee examples of similar
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expressions.
I mean, just go in Exodus 5.22,.
We see Moses.
He asked the Lord why have youbrought trouble on the
Israelites and why have youchosen me to lead these people?
And in Job 13, verse 24, weread this he makes a plea to God
.
And Job says why do you hideyour face and count me as your
(02:34):
enemy?
And then in Matthew 27, we seeour Lord Christ as he's dying on
the cross.
He echoes the word of thePsalmist in Psalm 22, when he
says my God, my God, why haveyou forsaken me?
Why does it sometimes feel likeno matter what's going on in
our life?
Why does it feel like God isfailing us even when we've been
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faithful?
You see, intellectually we knowthe answer.
God saves his people and heshows them mercy time and time
again, all throughout scripture.
We see that all the time.
But this doesn't mean that thereality of God's unfailing love
is easy for us to digest,especially in times when our
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troubles seem very present andthey seem very real and they
seem very heavy.
So, before we dive into Psalm 77this morning, there's a few
things I'd like to share withyou that I think will help us
navigate the text.
Okay, so, first of all, who'sthe author of Psalm 77?
And so the portion of the textin Psalm 77 prior to verse one
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that's called the superscriptionOkay, superscription, or simply
referred to as the heading.
And so this is actually part ofthe original Hebrew manuscript
and it's not an editorial noteadded later in time by a
translator, but it's actuallypart of the inspired scripture.
And so we see here in thesuperscription, it says this to
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the choir master, according toJuduthun, a psalm of Asaph.
And so here you see two names.
Okay, it's Asaph and Juduthun,or Juduthun and Asaph.
And in 1 Chronicles we see thatDavid appointed some of the
Levites, including Juduthun andAsaph, as leaders and ministers
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of worship who, through theirmusic, were described as
prophets as well.
And so the superscription inPsalm 77 is conveying that
Juduthin was likely the worshipleader who would have directed
the singing of this psalm, andAsaph was the divinely inspired
writer who's conveying God'smessage in the text.
(04:49):
And before we dive in, I justalso want to give you the two
takeaways that we have for thisparticular message, and they're
these two things I want us toremember today In times of
trouble, don't allow sufferingto shape your theology.
Rather, your theology shouldshape how you suffer.
(05:10):
And then, secondly, I want usto remember this Our trials
become the stage for God's powerand faithfulness to be put on
display.
So that gives you an idea ofwhere we're going.
So, with that in mind, let'sdive into Psalm 77.
(05:38):
Let's start at verse.
One hand is stretched outwithout wearying.
My soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan.
When I meditate, my spiritfaints Selah.
So we see here the psalmist.
He's praying with a sense ofdeep, sincere need, from relief
(06:02):
for relief, and we don't knowwhat his troubles are.
The Psalm does not express whathe was struggling with, but
what we see here it's nighttimeand he's verbally crying out to
God.
And then we see in verse twothat he mentions again that he's
crying out to God.
And this is here for emphasis,to instruct us that the psalmist
(06:24):
is deeply troubled and that allhe can do in this time is to
cry out to God.
And what we can picture here is, like Asaph, his hands are
outstretched, they're stretchedup, symbolizing an appeal, a
deep dependence on God to hearhis plea Lord, help me.
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That's essentially what Asaphis saying Lord, help me.
He's restless, he's desperate,he's crying and reaching out for
God all night.
But even with petitioning theLord, we see that at the end of
verse two, asaph states that herefuses to be comforted.
He's raw, he's honest.
(07:10):
Here Asaph isn't sugarcoatinganything.
I mean he's not trying to praysome sweet prayer, right?
I mean, this is a lament.
This is one of those momentswhere I can see Asaph
approaching one of us, or someof us, and saying you know, hey,
brother, I'm really sorry forwhat you're going through.
(07:32):
This is us talking to Asaph man, I hate what you're going
through, and I'm just makingthis up, but I can totally see
Asaph quipping back to us andsaying man, I'm trying that, man
, I'm trying to appeal to theLord, and you know what?
It's just not helping.
I'm in that deep moment ofdesperation where nothing is
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helping.
And, as a side note, I have togive Asaph props here, because
he's doing exactly what heshould in moments like this he's
praying, he isn't running todrugs, he isn't running to
alcohol or some other vice toease his pain.
No, asaph is rightly turned toGod in his deep hour of need
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because, even though in thismoment he's struggling to
acknowledge it, he knows nothingelse outside of God can truly
bring him hope or peace.
You know, I feel like every dayone of our kids is getting hurt
at our house.
This is kind of an illustrationpoint, but one of our kids is
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always getting hurt like everysingle day.
And so, if you guys know, weactually live on a small farm
but our house is actually thezoo, and so we have seven kids
right now, and my kids they loveto wrestle, they love to
wrestle I think they get thatfrom their daddy and they play
outside and they do all thethings, but inevitably someone's
(09:00):
going to get hurt every singletime.
And now I've gotten to thepoint where I'll say five
minutes when he's going to becrying.
And now I've gotten to thepoint where I'll say five
minutes when he's going to becrying, and usually I'm about
right.
And so we have one kid and theyhave like, don't judge me,
y'all, they have a really uglycry.
And when they get hurt it'slike I'm not going to tell you
(09:21):
guys which kid it is, come overmy house, watch them play,
you'll figure it out.
But every time they get hurttheir face smushes up and their
tears are like legitimatelysquirting out of their eyes.
Like if you know, you guyswould get wet up here in the
front and their nose startsrunning and it's like that thick
kind of snot.
And then they run to you andthey hug, crisp your eye and
(09:48):
it's great especially if I haveto drive to Atlanta to go to
work they get snot all over mypants.
It's the best.
But what am I trying to say here?
Seriously, like small childrenrunning to a loving parent when
we are hurting isn't that how weshould feel about God?
Shouldn't we be able to run tothe Lord.
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When we feel like that, I meanit's okay to run to Him.
Even if your cries are ugly,it's okay.
He actually invites our cries.
It's in those moments that wedraw near to Him, like a small
child running to someone thatthey deeply trust and that they
love.
And for those of you with smallchildren, have you ever noticed
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that even when they run to youand they grip your leg or your
neck or your arm, it isn't liketheir relief is always instant
in that moment?
I know some of you have noticedthat You'll grab a child,
they'll cry and they'll still becrying for a few moments, but
after a time they becomeconsoled, not necessarily
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because the pain has gone away.
You know that scraped kneestill may be bleeding, their
feelings may still be hurt, butthe cries begin to ease because
they're now in the presence ofsomeone that they love.
They're in the presence ofsomeone that they love.
They're in the presence ofsomeone that they love and that
they trust.
And so, like a small childclinging to a loving father or
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mother in their time of distress, we too should run to our
heavenly father, because he'sproven time and time again that
he loves his people and that wecan trust him and our pain isn't
guaranteed to immediately cease, but God isn't intimidated by
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our cries.
In Psalm 34, verse 18, it saysthis the Lord is near to the
brokenhearted and saves thecrushed in spirit.
So when our hearts are brokenand we're in distress, we can
trust God to be near.
So, like Asaph, even when it'sugly and the situation is ugly,
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and even if your cries are ugly,run to the Lord.
But we see here in verse threeof Psalm 77, that even though
Asaph knows that he can run tothe Lord in prayer during this
difficult time, he says this, hesays my soul refuses to be
comforted and that when heremembers God, he moans, when he
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meditates, his spirit faints.
Then we get a break in the textand we see the word Selah, and
so sometimes again, we can wantto skip over that word, but
again that's really important.
What does Selah mean?
It's a word in the Psalms andits meaning is to convey to us
to take a moment pause, meditateon what you just read or what
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you just sang in that instance.
So, in other words, let theword sink in, think about it,
take your time.
And isn't it interesting, as wepause and reflect on this, that
Asaph doesn't say that the issuetroubling him is causing him to
moan or his spirit to faint,but rather he finds the thought
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of God himself to be troubling.
Isn't that interesting.
He finds the thought of Godtroubling to him.
We see this in the Psalms.
It almost seemscounterintuitive if you think
about it.
But what Asaph is wrestlingwith here is that he knows that
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God is all powerful.
He knows that he's faithful, heknows that he's loving, he
knows that he's merciful.
But in his moment of suffering,remembering those truths about
God's character only sharpensthe pain.
Asaph is essentially saying tohimself God, you are good, so
why does my life feel this way?
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Asaph is experiencing the agonyof knowing that God could act,
yet he seems silent in this darkhour.
In his commentary on the Psalmscalled the Treasury of David,
charles Spurgeon paints thispicture when commenting on
Asaph's lack of comfort.
We read this With no spiritleft in us to sustain our
(14:14):
infirmity.
Our case becomes forlorn, likeman in a tangle of briars who is
stripped of his clothes.
Every hook of the thornsbecomes a lancelet and we bleed
with 10,000 wounds.
What does this mean?
I have to break this down in themodern English, because I can
tell some of you guys are likeforlorn.
What the heck?
(14:34):
What is this?
So, a few times, if you've everbeen on our property, you know
it's a farm and sometimes I'llbe walking out on the property
and I rarely wear long pants, sousually you'll see me in shorts
and I'll accidentally walk intoa briar patch.
And if you guys have everaccidentally walked into a briar
(14:56):
patch, those sharp thorns arenot fun and at first it's kind
of like one scratch but then asyou try to get out, another
thorn grabs you and so thenyou're kind of in this situation
where you're moving and you'retrying to get out, and you know
you should get out, but it keepscutting you and it's like a
thousand little razors justannoying you.
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If you are a hunter, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
Those briars are not fun.
And that's what he's saying,what Charles Spurgeon is saying
here.
He's like, hey, asaph's spiritis fainting.
It's like he's caught in athorn, a thorn patch of despair,
and he can't get himself freeand every thought of God only
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makes that pain sharper.
Every time he thinks about Godin light of his present
suffering, it's like a littlecut and it's aggravating him
more and more with each thought,reminders of God, of what God
could do, but what God hasn'tdone yet in his situation.
But as we see here in a fewmoments, asaph, his focus,
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doesn't stay there.
Let's continue on.
Let's go to verses four throughsix.
It says this you hold myeyelids open.
I am so troubled that I cannotspeak.
I consider the days of old, theyears of long ago.
I said, let me remember thesong in the night, my song in
the night.
Let me meditate in my heart.
Then my spirit made a diligentsearch.
(16:22):
What Asaph is saying here?
Then my spirit made a diligentsearch.
What Asaph is saying here?
He's saying God, you know thisthing is heavy, but you can't
give me, you won't give me restor sleep.
There is so much pressure thatI can't even express it.
So he goes from crying out loudto God to a state of just
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troubling quiet.
Asaph doesn't have words forwhat he's experiencing.
No-transcript.
I can tell you guys thatsleepless nights especially some
of you who may be able torelate to this they wear you
down.
It's almost like you can'tfunction at all.
And then he says here in verse 5that he is considering the days
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of old, the years, long ago.
And here what I think Asaph issaying is he's thinking about
better days.
He's thinking about those timesin those earlier seasons in his
life where he actually feltlike God was present.
He felt like his prayers werebeing answered and that God's
presence was just undeniable tohim.
That's what he's thinking about.
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And then let's jump down toverse six.
It says let me remember my songin the night, let me meditate
in my heart.
Then my spirit made a diligentsearch.
So we see, here we're startingto see a little faint flicker of
light coming to Asaph's mindhere, and he's possibly thinking
about the other Psalms.
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He's thinking about worshipsongs to the Lord, maybe even
some that he's written.
But what you see, my point, isthat Asaph is trying to stir his
heart here, but then it leadshim to some questions about God.
In verses seven through ninelet's read that together Will
the Lord spurn forever and neveragain be favorable?
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Has his steadfast love foreverceased?
Or his promises at an end forall time?
Has God forgotten to begracious?
So here you see, asaph isn't somuch presenting an indictment
of God being unfair, unjust oreven unloving, but here the
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first question will the Lordspurn forever.
Asaph is recognizing thatIsrael was in covenant with God.
They broke that covenant andthat God spurned them, and spurn
means to reject, to cast away.
And so we see Asaph crying outGod, have you rejected us for
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good?
Are you that tired of us?
His voice is raw and he's justsaying God, are you just done
with me?
Are you finished with me?
But in verse eight, these seemto be the most shocking
questions to me, and you'll seewhy.
In verse eight he says has hissteadfast love forever ceased?
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Are his promises at an end forall time?
The Hebrew term God uses todescribe his enduring faith, his
faithfulness and his love.
You'll see this in the OldTestament.
It's called chesed.
I hope I'm pronouncing thatright.
I'm going to mention Jamie.
I got it, mitch.
Chesed.
Hope I'm pronouncing that right.
I'm going to mention Jamie.
(19:33):
I got it Mitch.
That's it.
I got to get that deep in it.
But this term is found nearly245 times in the Old Testament,
and it's an expression of anessential part of God's
character.
It describes his mercy and hiscompassion.
There's really no English wordfor it, because it means
generous, loving, compassionate,long-suffering.
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It expresses the covenantalside of God's love.
And so the question is has hissteadfast love hesed, ceased,
forever ceased?
In other words, has God'scharacter toward us, the way
that he conducts himself towardsus, has it changed?
And at the end of verse nine wealso see the question has he,
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in anger, shut up his compassion?
I know, in the new King JamesVersion translation I actually
like that better, becauseinstead of the word compassion
it actually says tender mercies.
Has he, in anger, shut up histender mercies?
And I think that translation ofthis particular word gives us a
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better picture or an idea toconvey a real deep bond, a
tenderness like a very intimatecloseness and think of, like a
motherly closeness.
That's what it's expressing.
And in his commentary on thePsalms I'm going back to Uncle
Chuck y'all I love Uncle Chuckhe says this.
He says if you are a child ofGod and he's talking about
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Asaph's questions in versesseven through nine he says this
if you are a child of God andnever had to ask these questions
, you ought to be very grateful.
But if you have to ask them, bethankful that Asaph asked them
before you and believe that, ashe had a comfortable answer to
them, so shall you.
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It is always a comfort when youcan see the footprints of
another man in the mire and theslough.
I put that there, y'all, likethe S-L-E-W, so I know how to
pronounce it correctly.
So don't judge me, for if thatman passed through unharmed, so
may you, for his God shall alsobe your helper.
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Moving on, in the ESVtranslation of verse 10, in your
pew Bibles it should read thisI will appeal to this the years
of the right hand of the mosthigh.
And so this means that Asaph isnow choosing to remember God's
mighty works in the past, and sothis is what I see as a more
hopeful translation of the text,when you compare to what you
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see in the footnote of the ESVtranslation.
It says this it says this is mygrief that the right hand of
the most high has changed.
Do you guys see that in thefootnote?
You see that Good, good, andthis is more of a pessimistic
view to me.
To me, what is in the footnotecontinues really the theme of
(22:32):
what we see in verses onethrough nine, and I think and
this is just my opinion, I couldbe wrong I think it's a little
bit more accurate, because ifyou see the other, the
translation that's in the maintext.
It's a little bit more hopeful.
But either way, my point isthat this is a hinge in the text
.
Okay, whether Asaph is remindinghimself of how strong God's
(22:55):
hand has been, or whether he'slamenting that God's hand seems
absent, what we do know is thatthis line marks a pivot in the
psalm.
There's a turning now, and sonow let's look at verses 11
through 13.
Asaph says I will remember thedeeds of the Lord.
Yes, I will remember thewonders of old.
(23:16):
I will ponder all your work andmeditate on your mighty deeds
your way.
O God is holy.
What God is great like our God.
And this gets us to our firsttakeaway Don't allow your
suffering to shape your theology.
Rather, your theology shouldshape how you suffer.
(23:37):
It's wild to think thatsometimes in our lives,
suffering has a way of being theloudest voice in our heads,
especially at night and whenyou're in pain or struggling
through something.
Our emotions can sometimes tryto convince us that God has
(23:58):
somehow changed.
Our emotions can make us thinkthat God's forgotten about us,
or that he's unfair, or that hejust doesn't care about us.
But that's letting sufferingwrite our theology for us.
Instead, our theology, thetruths, meaning the truths that
(24:19):
we know about God from his word,from the Bible.
That must be what steadies usin times of suffering.
And so let's take another lookat verse 13, where Asaph, he
says this your way, oh, god isholy.
What God is great, like our God.
You see, asaph, he's nowcontemplating God's holiness,
(24:42):
but what he's implicitly sayinghe's like God, you are holy, I
am not, and whatever ishappening to me, god is not
unjust, it's not unfair, becauseyour way is good and apart from
you, I'm not good.
And then this leads him intoworship.
(25:03):
And as an illustration point,as I was thinking this through,
it's almost like when a stormcomes in, it could be a sunny
day, and then all of a sudden,you guys notice like clouds will
just rush in and you're likeman.
It is dark outside and it canseem like the sun has completely
disappeared from the sky.
But has it?
(25:25):
Has the sun disappeared?
No, it hasn't.
It hasn't disappeared, ithasn't changed.
The problem isn't that the sunchanged or that the sun went
away.
The problem is our perspectivebeing clouded by the storm.
In the same way, when we are introuble, we can feel like God
(25:45):
has vanished or that his lovesrun out, like Asaph did for the
first part of the psalm.
His focus was actually onhimself and on his problems.
You notice that, like in verseone, he says this I cry loud.
Verse two my hand stretched out.
Verse three my spirit faints.
Verse four I can't sleep.
(26:06):
Lord, you won't let me go tosleep, I'm so troubled.
Verse six I will meditate in myheart.
But then we see in verses 11through 13, we see Asaph go from
focusing on himself to thenshifting his focus on what he
knows to be true about God andhis faithfulness, and then that
leads him into worship.
(26:27):
It's almost like he realizeswait, the sun is still shining,
god is still there and theseclouds are just temporary.
And it leads him to worship God.
And so we see Asaph.
He's no longer wrapped up inhis troubles, he's not stuck in
the briar, but now he'sbeginning to be wrapped up in
(26:48):
the character of God and hismighty works.
So instead of being pierced bythe thorns of his troubles and
his questions and his doubts,he's being pierced by the truth
of who God is and his focusshifts from his pain to God's
unending love and his holiness.
Folks, if you don't rememberanything else from this sermon,
(27:12):
remember God for who he is, notthrough the lens of how you feel
.
Our feelings may be screamingone thing, but honestly, our
feelings, they lie to us.
Our faith can stand on thetruth that God is holy and
faithful and powerful, even whenour circumstances don't look
(27:32):
that way.
Powerful even when ourcircumstances don't look that
way.
I don't find it odd that as Iwas writing the sermon this week
, I got some news.
As some of you know, christyand I are foster parents and we
have had a sweet baby girl for19 months.
We've had her most of her lifeand for most of the time it
looked like, you know, herbiological mom was struggling,
(27:55):
wasn't going to get together,and then we're kind of told, hey
, you may get to adopt her.
But then this past Tuesday wewere in court and the court says
I think she'll be ready to gohome in the next 90 days.
That was a blow to me and I'llbe honest with you, I have had
(28:15):
some sleepless nights.
But what I have to remember isthat, god, you are sovereign
over this baby.
Even if she's in our home or ifshe's somewhere else, you are
still good, and that you are theauthor of her life, not me, and
(28:40):
so, you know, this hit very,very, very real to me.
It hit home for me.
And then I ran to Lamentations 3.
And I started in verse 21.
It said this.
I'll share this with you guys.
It said, but I call this tomind and therefore I have hope
the steadfast love of the Lordnever ceases.
(29:02):
His mercies never come to anend.
They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, my soulsays, says my soul.
Therefore I will hope in him.
So as we continue our study inPsalms, in Psalm 77, let's go to
(29:22):
verse 14.
You are the God, the God whoworks wonders.
You have made known your mightamong the peoples.
You have made known your mightamong the peoples.
You see, asaph knows God'swonders that he talks about here
.
They're not some abstract,detached idea.
No, he knows that they werereal.
They were visible acts of God'spower.
(29:44):
They were witnessed by theIsraelites, they were written
down for them, and even thatnews traveled to other nations,
as David Planchard shared withus last week.
He reminded us of God stoppingthe flow of the Jordan River and
God's call to remember.
And then, if you guys were herefor us studying the second
(30:06):
chapter of the book of Joshua,there was Rahab.
She was a prostitute living inthe walls of Jericho.
And what did she say?
She said we have heard whatyour God has done.
We know of your God.
Rahab says that when they heardabout God's acts that their
hearts melted, the people ofJericho knew that they were
(30:33):
defeated.
And then let's go on to verse 15of Psalm 77.
It says you with your armredeemed your people, the
children of Jacob and JosephSelah.
What is Asaph doing?
He's pointing back to theExodus here.
You see, israel couldn't savethemselves here.
They were stuck betweenPharaoh's army and this.
(30:55):
What seemed to be anincrossable body of water.
But gosh, that's exactly whereGod wanted them to be, because
they're in seemingly impossiblesituation actually became the
stage for God to display hispower and his might.
And then you see Asaph.
In verses 16 through 18, hedives into more vivid detail.
(31:17):
He says this and think aboutthis.
He's personifying the waterhere.
He says when the water saw you,oh God, when the water saw you,
they were afraid.
The deep trembled, the cloudspoured out water, the skies gave
forth thunder.
Your arrows flashed on everyside.
The crash of your thunder wasin the whirlwind.
(31:38):
Your lightnings lighted up theworld.
The earth trembled and shook.
You know, from Israel'sperspective, y'all, they saw an
incrossable sea.
And then they had this armyjust coming from the rear.
What are we going to do?
But God showed his redeemingand magnificent power.
(32:00):
The trembling waters, thelightning, the thunder, they
were all part of the display ofhis glory.
And then we get to verse 19,.
And it says your way wasthrough the sea, your path
through the great waters, yetyour footprints were unseen.
Israel's impossible trialbecame the backdrop for God's
(32:23):
might.
And this leads us to our secondtakeaway.
Our trials become the stage forGod's power and faithfulness to
be put on display.
The very things that may feellike could be our undoing, that
could feel like it could be ourend, become the very things
(32:44):
where God showcases hisfaithfulness.
And then we get to verse 20.
You led your people like aflock by the hand of Moses and
Aaron.
You know, it's interesting to methat the same God who showed
like you just read in verses 16through 18, the same God who
(33:07):
showed all this mighty power,who's putting on this flag?
I mean God is showing out.
He's the same God that comes tous intimately, with a whisper.
He's deeply powerful, immenselypowerful, but he's deeply
personal, and I find that sofascinating.
You know, it's incredible thatGod puts all this on display so
(33:30):
that we can rest not only in themiddle of our present struggles
, but that we can trust God forwhatever the future holds as
well.
This reminds me of a quote byAlexander McLaren.
He said this In other words,the way we remember God's
(33:51):
faithfulness becomes the verypaintbrush that gives color to
our future hope.
Gifts colored to our futurehope.
When we recall how God hascarried us before, we find the
courage to believe that he'llcarry us again and again, and
(34:11):
again.
This makes me think about astory that I have about
Christie's mom.
Her name is Lori, or, as hergrandchildren, they called her
Lala, or as her grandchildrenthey called her Lala.
So in 2009, it was right afterChrissy and I had graduated from
law school and she wasdiagnosed with stage four
metastatic breast cancer.
And the doctors they told herhey, you probably have only six
(34:32):
to nine months to live, but Godwas so kind to give us another
nine years with her until shewent on to glory and defeated
cancer in 2018.
And it was during thisnine-year cancer battle my
father-in-law he's also anattorney.
He actually gave up his careerand he became her full-time
(34:53):
caretaker.
And over that nine-year periodshe endured countless chemo
treatments, she had severalsurgeries and even one time she
had a blood infection and shewas in the hospital for a while.
But even through all that, godkept her, and she and my
father-in-law.
The most amazing thing is thatduring this time their faith
(35:15):
only continued to get deeper.
Their roots and faithfulness inthe Lord just got deeper.
And if you knew Lala, you wouldknow that she's an artist.
She was a bit of anintellectual, but she was also a
little bit zany too.
And towards the end of her lifeshe began to fold these little
origami cranes and this one hereis an earring that she actually
(35:37):
made for Christy.
I couldn't find the other one,but this kind of gives you an
idea of the size.
That's what they look like.
And she folded all these littlecranes and even when the chemo
blistered her fingers and themovement caused pain for her
because she would get thesethese big like little boils on
her fingers, she kept foldingand she would leave these little
(35:58):
origami cranes everywhere.
And one thing that she did shehad a jar and she filled them
with a thousand little cranes,these little cranes, and she
gave them to my father-in-law.
Here's a bigger one thatMadison made just kind of give
you an idea what they look likeon a bigger scale.
(36:20):
And so one day we were visitingher and I said hey, lala, what's
the meaning behind the 1,000paper cranes that you gave to
your husband?
And she said you know, inJapanese culture, a gift of
1,000 cranes, it symbolizesgratitude and the hope that the
person who's a receiver of thecranes it basically is like a
(36:42):
thank you, it gives hope.
And she said that there's alsoa myth that the thousand cranes
will grant one big wish to thepeople, to the person who
receives them.
And she's like I don't believein that mumbo jumbo.
What I do want is I gave themto Mike because I want them to
remind them of how grateful I'vebeen for him in this journey.
(37:04):
He gave up everything to loveon me when I couldn't do much
for myself.
And most of all, I want thosethousand cranes to point him to
the Lord.
You see, these little cranes arenot just paper, but they're
tiny reminders of a largertestimony.
(37:25):
They're a testimony that evenin suffering, there are
thousands and millions of waysthat we cannot comprehend how
God shows his love andfaithfulness to us each and
every day, even if we're walkingin the shadow of death.
Asaph looked back to the Exodusin the midst of suffering, but
(37:46):
we have the privilege to seethat the Exodus points us to the
cross, proof of God's power andfaithfulness isn't just parting
of the Red Sea, but it's anempty tomb.
The crucifixion andresurrection of the Son of God
became the stage for thegreatest display of God's
faithfulness and his victoryover sin and death.
(38:08):
And that's what communion, aswe prepare to do here in a few
moments, that's what communionhelps us to remember.
As a family of believers, wepartake in the elements here.
The bread reminds us thatChrist's body was broken for us,
the cup remind us that hisblood was shed for the
(38:31):
forgiveness of our sins.
And communion calls us toremember God's past faithfulness
.
It strengthens us in ourpresent struggles and points us
towards the day when Jesus willcome again.
Paul says in Romans 8, 32, hewho did not spare his own son
(38:52):
but gave him up for us all, howwill he not also do also with
him?
Graciously, give us all things.
If you are here today and youdo not yet know Christ.
I kindly ask you that yourefrain from partaking in the
elements.
But I'll also ask you thisWould you take a few moments and
(39:13):
consider Psalm 77?
Think about it as an invitation.
Think about Asaph's questions.
Has God forgotten to begracious?
Has he closed off hiscompassion?
Those things were answered onceand for all at the cross, the
God who split the sea, who shookthe heavens.
(39:35):
He stepped down as a humbleservant in the flesh to bear
your sin, to redeem you, to giveyou a new life.
If you all but turn away fromyour sin, repent and follow him,
then when the storms of yourlife come and believe me, they
will come when your long,sleepless nights come and the
(40:01):
nights weigh heavy on you andyou feel like you cannot get any
rest, you too can stand onunshakable hope.
That's the hope of the gospel,and I'll leave us with this.
Tim Keller once said, and I'llleave us with this.
Tim Keller once said whileother worldviews lead us to sit
(40:28):
in the midst of life's joys forseeing the coming sorrows,
christianity empowers its peopleto sit in the midst of this
world's sorrows, tasting thecoming joy.
That's what Psalm 77 shows usand that's what the finished
work of Christ secures for us.
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