Finding God in the Dark Places. (Psalms 6, 42 & 91)

Transcription

1 Finding God in the Dark Places (Psalms 6, 42 & 91)

2 Psalm 6 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony. 3 My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long? 4 Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. 5 No-one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from his grave?

3 Psalm 6 (contd.) 6 I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. 7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. 8 Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping. 9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

4 Agony of soul Wilhelm Busch: Becoming a father is easy. What is difficult is being a father. 1 Corinthians 4:15: Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. 2 Sam.14:25-26: In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him. Whenever he cut the hair of his head - he used to cut his hair from time to time when it became too heavy for him - he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels. Herman Melville: Hope is the struggle of the soul breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity. Jean Kerr: Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn t permanent.

5 Psalm 42 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and

6 Psalm 42 (contd.) 6 my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.

7 Soul thirst Habakkuk 2:3 (KJV): The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Isa.43:2-5: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour...Do not be afraid, for I am with you...

8 Soul thirst (contd.) Martin Lloyd-Jones: We must talk to ourselves, instead of allowing ourselves to talk to us. Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself. St. Augustine: Thou hast made us for Thyself and our heart is restless till it finds its rest in Thee. Only the depths of God can meet the depths of human need. God sustains us at the heart of our being and in the depths of our despair.

9 Psalm 91 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

10 Psalm 91 (contd.) 9 If you make the Most High your dwelling even the LORD, who is my refuge 10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

11 Terror of soul He that chooses as his permanent abode, the secret place of the Most High, shall always be in touch with the almightiness of God. Matthew Henry: God will keep not just from evil but from the fear of evil (that which brings torment). Ps.16:6: The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. Phil.4:7: The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard [i.e. garrison] your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

12 Finding God in the Dark Places (Psalms 6, 42 & 91)