"A famous evangelist told the following incident: I have a friend who in a time of business recession lost his job, a sizable fortune, and his beautiful home. To add to his sorrow, his precious wife died; yet he tenaciously held to his faith -- the only thing he had left. One day when he was out walking in search of employment, he stopped to watch some men who were doing stonework on a large church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of rock. 'Where are you going to put that?' he asked. The workman said, 'Do you see that little opening up there near the spire? Well, I'm shaping this stone down here so that it will fit in up there.' Tears filled my friend's eyes as he walked away, for the Lord had spoken to him through that laborer whose words gave new meaning to his troubled situation." -Our Daily Bread.
Last week we talked about the problem of evil and suffering in the world, from a high view perspective, the big overarching philosophical issue. Today we’re going to hone in on that same struggle, but we’re going to see from the perspective of our own lives.
Particularly, one incident in your life, maybe something you’re going through right now. For each person in the room today, it’ll be different. It could be a struggle at work. Or a health problem. It could be someone you loved that you lost recently. It could be issues in your family, with your children, or your wife or husband. It could be an addiction you’re struggling with quietly. It could be a memory that haunts you. Or even something looming in the future.
As we go through the message today, I want you to hone in on that one thing, and consider how God’s word today can speak into that situation, and help you.
We’re going to be in Psalm 13. I’ll be teaching from the NIV. David wrote this Psalm, most likely during a time when he was being pursued by King Saul. His stress must’ve been high. And David writes this psalm to God to express what he’s going through, and how God helped him.
Let’s dive in today, verse 1: “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?”
As soon as a struggle, a tense situation starts in your life, some new health problem, something at work with the boss, loss of a loved one, the first thing I often think is, I can’t stand how I feel right now. How long will this last?
We are waiting in time, as a feeling comes over us that is so strong.
Second part of verse 1, “How long will you hide your face from me?”
It is the perception of David, accurately I believe, that God has hidden his face from him during this struggle.
What does the Bible mean by the face of God? The Hebrew word for the face of God is often translated as "presence." It is the sense of God’s presence in your life.
Very hard to describe this feeling, of sensing God with you at any given moment. I know for me either you sense it or you don’t. But I know when I’m fasting, it will intensify, and I’m more aware of it.
Essentially, you can feel when God is with you. It’s a unique sense, no way I can say how to describe that feeling.
Is it possible that the David is not sensing the presence of God simply because the pain he’s going through is so intense? That’s possible.
I also think it’s just as much true that sometimes God will hide his presence from us for certain periods to teach us something.
As the old saying goes, “The teacher is silent during the test.” So I think this is one of those situations where David is going through it, God masks his presence temporarily, as a form of a test. Will you trust me or not? Your choice. The test begins.
Like David, we experience from time to time a trauma in our lives. Some event that unsettles us. And so the test begins.
I’ll give an example from my own life. When I was in my early teens my dad would make me go to a lot of basketball camps to get better at basketball. I hated these camps. I dreaded it. My dad would let me know ahead of time he had signed me up, and for usually weeks ahead of it, I would worry, and worry, and worry each day, counting down the days until the dreaded day came.
I learned to live in fear, worry, and anxiety.
David describes this in verse 2, “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts…”
Oh, to wrestle with those thoughts. You’ve been there haven’t you? The thoughts just keep repeating in your mind, often charged up with emotion surrounding the thought, over and over and over.
In recovery groups, we’d call that squirrel caging. Or hamster wheel. It’s a funny way to describe it, but it’s actually very serious.
The thought just keeps going and going. We replay the resentment over and over, and each time we replay it we refeel it, the anger, the frustration, the confusion, and at it’s worst it can torment us.
So how do we deal with this the repeating thought? Because it can be bad.
There are several solutions. One of the best is to talk to a friend or your pastor, or your wife or husband, and just express the emotion and the thought, and process it.
Another helpful thing is to write it on paper in a journal.
Going for a walk, and just letting out the physical energy can be helpful. Taking a shower can be helpful.
Talking to God about it in prayer, can be so helpful.
However I’ve found that all of those things may not stop the thought process. Because there is a purpose in the thought process.
So, pray over the thought process. I wish I knew that when I was dreading basketball camp, but I didn’t. I didn’t know God that way.
But, when we pray, and let the Spirit lead, the thought process can begin to be drawn in a good direction.
Often God is bringing up the thought to encourage an action in us, connected with the thought. Not always. Sometimes it’s just our mind expressing emotion. But, as we wrestle with the thought, the praying can help guide the thought toward the right path.
Now, it may not always be that. There may be no action needed. In that case as you pray you’ll sense God saying “Be still and know that I’m god.” No action needed.
But, it may be God is helping us wrestle with the thought toward the truth of the situation.
Often if Chelsey and I have a disagreement in our marriage, we will engage in a conversation. Often once we can get past our upset emotions, and we both hear each other, and say "OK I can see you perspective" we begin to approach the truth. She or I see the past trauma link with the current discussion. And we say "Oh, that’s why! You were hurt in a similar way when you were younger." And we find peace.
The goal in the thought-wrestling many times, is to get past the emotion to the truth.
For that we must accept an important principle: I will be Spirit-led not emotion-led.
Often there is a light path and a dark path in the thought-process. The light path leads to the truth. The dark path can lead to ending up stuck in resentment, or fear or anger or some other emotional state. We take an unproductive course. This is where long term trauma can develop, when something sits unresolved, until it’s a painful memory that we can’t even bear to think about.
As the old saying goes, “The teacher is silent during the test.” So I think this is one of those situations where David is going through it, God masks his presence temporarily, as a form of a test. Will you trust me or not? Your choice. The test begins.
Like David, we experience from time to time a trauma in our lives. Some event that unsettles us. And so the test begins.
I’ll give an example from my own life. When I was in my early teens my dad would make me go to a lot of basketball camps to get better at basketball. I hated these camps. I dreaded it. My dad would let me know ahead of time he had signed me up, and for usually weeks ahead of it, I would worry, and worry, and worry each day, counting down the days until the dreaded day came.
I learned to live in fear, worry, and anxiety.
David describes this in verse 2, “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts…”
Oh, to wrestle with those thoughts. You’ve been there haven’t you? The thoughts just keep repeating in your mind, often charged up with emotion surrounding the thought, over and over and over.
In recovery groups, we’d call that squirrel caging. Or hamster wheel. It’s a funny way to describe it, but it’s actually very serious.
The thought just keeps going and going. We replay the resentment over and over, and each time we replay it we refeel it, the anger, the frustration, the confusion, and at it’s worst it can torment us.
So how do we deal with this the repeating thought? Because it can be bad.
There are several solutions. One of the best is to talk to a friend or your pastor, or your wife or husband, and just express the emotion and the thought, and process it.
Another helpful thing is to write it on paper in a journal.
Going for a walk, and just letting out the physical energy can be helpful. Taking a shower can be helpful.
Talking to God about it in prayer, can be so helpful.
However I’ve found that all of those things may not stop the thought process. Because there is a purpose in the thought process.
So, pray over the thought process. I wish I knew that when I was dreading basketball camp, but I didn’t. I didn’t know God that way.
But, when we pray, and let the Spirit lead, the thought process can begin to be drawn in a good direction.
Often God is bringing up the thought to encourage an action in us, connected with the thought. Not always. Sometimes it’s just our mind expressing emotion. But, as we wrestle with the thought, the praying can help guide the thought toward the right path.
Now, it may not always be that. There may be no action needed. In that case as you pray you’ll sense God saying “Be still and know that I’m god.” No action needed.
But, it may be God is helping us wrestle with the thought toward the truth of the situation.
Often if Chelsey and I have a disagreement in our marriage, we will engage in a conversation. Often once we can get past our upset emotions, and we both hear each other, and say "OK I can see you perspective" we begin to approach the truth. She or I see the past trauma link with the current discussion. And we say "Oh, that’s why! You were hurt in a similar way when you were younger." And we find peace.
The goal in the thought-wrestling many times, is to get past the emotion to the truth.
For that we must accept an important principle: I will be Spirit-led not emotion-led.
Often there is a light path and a dark path in the thought-process. The light path leads to the truth. The dark path can lead to ending up stuck in resentment, or fear or anger or some other emotional state. We take an unproductive course. This is where long term trauma can develop, when something sits unresolved, until it’s a painful memory that we can’t even bear to think about.
These are the thoughts. What about the heart?
Second part of verse 2, “...and day after day have sorrow in my heart?”
Connected with the racing thoughts is often a sorrow in the heart.
It’s a two-fold punch, when we face suffering. The thoughts race and the heart hurts. It’s no wonder we long for God’s help and want the situation to end as soon as possible.
I would push through basketball camp with such fear, and anxiety. The bad things I feared wouldn’t always happen. But sometimes they did. I would get bullied. Verbally harassed. Every sense in my body felt heightened. Fear was my constant companion.
Second part of verse 2, “...and day after day have sorrow in my heart?”
Connected with the racing thoughts is often a sorrow in the heart.
It’s a two-fold punch, when we face suffering. The thoughts race and the heart hurts. It’s no wonder we long for God’s help and want the situation to end as soon as possible.
I would push through basketball camp with such fear, and anxiety. The bad things I feared wouldn’t always happen. But sometimes they did. I would get bullied. Verbally harassed. Every sense in my body felt heightened. Fear was my constant companion.
I remember one time we were waiting by the buses that took us from the dorms to the gymnasiums. There was another player there, a bully who was also in wrestling. And he and his buddies took great pleasure in cornering me and putting me into wrestling moves. One they loved to do to me was put me in the "Texas cloverleaf." I tried to push through, but I became overwhelmed, and I ran away. I was hiding and crying when a kindly janitor found me. He took me to his dorm where he stayed on campus, and he let me lay down in his daughter's bed, she was away of course, and I laid there and wept. Being in a painful situation long enough leads to heart sorrow. The word of God says, "Fathers do not exasperate your sons, or they will give up" (Colossians 3:21).
Next, David writes, “How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
It can be so hard when we see evil winning in the world, and the good guys in retreat.
Who is this enemy? For David it’s a person, King Saul most likely. Who is it for you? A person maybe? A place, a job, an institution? For me it’s often the devil, demonic forces.
But we do face another enemy, one we must deal with: Ourselves. I’m often my worst enemy. My fallen nature doesn’t want to respond the right way to trauma. It wants to hide it, ignore it, leave it in the past. We as Christians often must combat our own sinful attitudes, and say no, I’m going to do the opposite of what I want to do, I’m going to instead do what God wants me to do.
As Jesus said, "Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).
Heavy first few verses, I know. But it’s about to get brighter.
Verse 3, “Look on me and answer, Lord my God.”
David sensed God’s face was turned away from him, he is asking God to come and be present in the situation once again. He has turned to prayer, and to seeking God.
Think about all David was going through. He had been anointed king, but then rejected by Saul, who feared him and was jealous of him.
David and his band of followers were having to run and hide from an entire nation that was following Saul. I can’t imagine the kind of stress he was feeling, I was stressed at basketball camp, David was fearing for his very life day and night. I can’t imagine how that must’ve felt.
But David’s turn here is very important. He turns from looking at his own heart and thoughts, which was good, but better now, he's looking directly at God saying please come and be in this.
Next, he says, “Give light to my eyes…”
This could be David asking for wisdom. I think that’s true. But also I think it means, “God show me your way through this.” Or "God carve a path through the wilderness for me." It’s not just asking for advice, it’s asking God to create a path through the struggle.
God create the path, show me through and I’ll walk it.
When your in a traumatic event, many of you are in them now, wrestle in your thoughts, wrestle in your heart, but then begin to look up toward God. Begin to pray and say: "God, create a path through, and give me the wisdom to walk it."
Verse 3 is the turning point... “Give light Lord.”
Next: “Or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall."
Sometimes we go to the worst case scenario, David goes there and says God if you don’t show up, my enemies will overcome me and rejoice over my fall.
Our minds often go to the worst possible thing. My mom would often come to me when I was younger, and I was so prone to worry. My mom would say, "What’s the worst thing that could happen?" And it usually wasn’t so bad. Don’t sink into the negative.
Walking by the Spirit I’ve found is a bit like surfing on water. If we ride the waves of the Spirit in faith, we ride high, but when we start to doubt, and become negative, we start to sink in the waters, just like Peter when he walked on the water toward Jesus.
We can acknowledge the worst case scenario, while also not getting stuck on it. Instead stay focused on the scriptures. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I shall not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. I will be still and know that you are God!
David is wrestling through to a place of beauty, a place of peace, a beautiful meadow, green and lush, bright, and gentle, a place called trust.
Verse 5: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.”
I think the pains we go through in life can be so strong that they hit us the way a sudden storm on the waters hits a boat, one moment the waters are clear and the next a storm hits.
I think for that reason, when the trauma first hits, we focus so much on it, that our trust in God is shaken. We are so focused on the struggle, it shakes our trust.
But, as we process the thoughts, feel the sorrow in our hearts, we wrestle toward the truth. We don’t stuff the situation, or hide from it, we boldly face it, and allow the emotions to flow, then we find a pathway that appears, a way out provided by God. We call on God. God delivers us. And we go up to a higher level of trust, because of what we’ve been through.
We dare to say, “God I trust you in this too.”
This is very pleasing to God. I think it’s the ultimate desired outcome for every pain we go through: To wrestle through, to a place of saying, “God I trust you here too.”
But we have a choice. Unfortunately many choose to say to God: "You let me down, I don’t trust you, how could you let this happen?" And the test is not passed.
This doesn’t mean it’s over or anything, we still belong to God, but the test may repeat again in the future, to give us another opportunity to pass into that higher level of trust.
These scenarios are often test cases: Can you come up to a higher level of trust? Once we do, it’s like the living waters open up to us.
We access the gifts in Jesus Christ our savior. We have so many benefits in the cross of Jesus Christ. More than I think we realize! They are all accessed by the key to the door, which is trust, or faith.
Then the living waters flow through the situation. The living waters flow from the Father, through Jesus Christ, and by way of the Holy Spirit. And we find healing.
At the beginning of the message I asked you to identify the situation you connect with current pain in your life. Would you like to dunk that situation in the living waters of Jesus Christ?
We’re going to pray. I challenge you as we pray, to choose trust of your God in that situation, no matter how painful. As you do, you’ll sense those living waters flow in, because by trusting Him, you’re giving it to him.
Next, David writes, “How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
It can be so hard when we see evil winning in the world, and the good guys in retreat.
Who is this enemy? For David it’s a person, King Saul most likely. Who is it for you? A person maybe? A place, a job, an institution? For me it’s often the devil, demonic forces.
But we do face another enemy, one we must deal with: Ourselves. I’m often my worst enemy. My fallen nature doesn’t want to respond the right way to trauma. It wants to hide it, ignore it, leave it in the past. We as Christians often must combat our own sinful attitudes, and say no, I’m going to do the opposite of what I want to do, I’m going to instead do what God wants me to do.
As Jesus said, "Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).
Heavy first few verses, I know. But it’s about to get brighter.
Verse 3, “Look on me and answer, Lord my God.”
David sensed God’s face was turned away from him, he is asking God to come and be present in the situation once again. He has turned to prayer, and to seeking God.
Think about all David was going through. He had been anointed king, but then rejected by Saul, who feared him and was jealous of him.
David and his band of followers were having to run and hide from an entire nation that was following Saul. I can’t imagine the kind of stress he was feeling, I was stressed at basketball camp, David was fearing for his very life day and night. I can’t imagine how that must’ve felt.
But David’s turn here is very important. He turns from looking at his own heart and thoughts, which was good, but better now, he's looking directly at God saying please come and be in this.
Next, he says, “Give light to my eyes…”
This could be David asking for wisdom. I think that’s true. But also I think it means, “God show me your way through this.” Or "God carve a path through the wilderness for me." It’s not just asking for advice, it’s asking God to create a path through the struggle.
God create the path, show me through and I’ll walk it.
When your in a traumatic event, many of you are in them now, wrestle in your thoughts, wrestle in your heart, but then begin to look up toward God. Begin to pray and say: "God, create a path through, and give me the wisdom to walk it."
Verse 3 is the turning point... “Give light Lord.”
Next: “Or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall."
Sometimes we go to the worst case scenario, David goes there and says God if you don’t show up, my enemies will overcome me and rejoice over my fall.
Our minds often go to the worst possible thing. My mom would often come to me when I was younger, and I was so prone to worry. My mom would say, "What’s the worst thing that could happen?" And it usually wasn’t so bad. Don’t sink into the negative.
Walking by the Spirit I’ve found is a bit like surfing on water. If we ride the waves of the Spirit in faith, we ride high, but when we start to doubt, and become negative, we start to sink in the waters, just like Peter when he walked on the water toward Jesus.
We can acknowledge the worst case scenario, while also not getting stuck on it. Instead stay focused on the scriptures. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I shall not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. I will be still and know that you are God!
David is wrestling through to a place of beauty, a place of peace, a beautiful meadow, green and lush, bright, and gentle, a place called trust.
Verse 5: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.”
I think the pains we go through in life can be so strong that they hit us the way a sudden storm on the waters hits a boat, one moment the waters are clear and the next a storm hits.
I think for that reason, when the trauma first hits, we focus so much on it, that our trust in God is shaken. We are so focused on the struggle, it shakes our trust.
But, as we process the thoughts, feel the sorrow in our hearts, we wrestle toward the truth. We don’t stuff the situation, or hide from it, we boldly face it, and allow the emotions to flow, then we find a pathway that appears, a way out provided by God. We call on God. God delivers us. And we go up to a higher level of trust, because of what we’ve been through.
We dare to say, “God I trust you in this too.”
This is very pleasing to God. I think it’s the ultimate desired outcome for every pain we go through: To wrestle through, to a place of saying, “God I trust you here too.”
But we have a choice. Unfortunately many choose to say to God: "You let me down, I don’t trust you, how could you let this happen?" And the test is not passed.
This doesn’t mean it’s over or anything, we still belong to God, but the test may repeat again in the future, to give us another opportunity to pass into that higher level of trust.
These scenarios are often test cases: Can you come up to a higher level of trust? Once we do, it’s like the living waters open up to us.
We access the gifts in Jesus Christ our savior. We have so many benefits in the cross of Jesus Christ. More than I think we realize! They are all accessed by the key to the door, which is trust, or faith.
Then the living waters flow through the situation. The living waters flow from the Father, through Jesus Christ, and by way of the Holy Spirit. And we find healing.
At the beginning of the message I asked you to identify the situation you connect with current pain in your life. Would you like to dunk that situation in the living waters of Jesus Christ?
We’re going to pray. I challenge you as we pray, to choose trust of your God in that situation, no matter how painful. As you do, you’ll sense those living waters flow in, because by trusting Him, you’re giving it to him.
Note: Remember, unforgiveness can be a barrier to healing. If there is someone you need to forgive for what they did, pray that prayer of forgiveness first, and ask for God's grace to overcome any bitterness. Also, if there is an active sin involved, you'll want to make a prayer of repentance and ask Christ's forgiveness as well. Unrepentant sin can be a barrier for healing as well.
Prayer: “Father, we show you the situation we’re in. The memory. The past trauma. The current struggle. Father we confess the pain. We confess the confusion. But, today, we choose to say, Father, we put it in your hands, lighten our eyes, or we will sleep in death. We trust you, we trust in your unfailing love. This situation, we surrender it to you, it’s yours. We trust you. Heal our hearts. Heal our minds. Wash us in your living water, in Jesus name, amen.”
Last verse, as we trust it to God, our heart sorrow turns into heart rejoicing.
Verse 6, “I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”
David went from questioning where God even was in verse 1, to finally saying, I sing God’s praises, for he has been good to me.
We’ve found peace again. We trusted him. The living waters have flowed in. The pain melts away. And it’s replaced by "shalom shalom" the peace of Jesus Christ.
God has been good to me, we declare. And the story of the hurt and healing, becomes part of our testimony. A story of redemption.
Review of Main Points:
Prayer: “Father, we show you the situation we’re in. The memory. The past trauma. The current struggle. Father we confess the pain. We confess the confusion. But, today, we choose to say, Father, we put it in your hands, lighten our eyes, or we will sleep in death. We trust you, we trust in your unfailing love. This situation, we surrender it to you, it’s yours. We trust you. Heal our hearts. Heal our minds. Wash us in your living water, in Jesus name, amen.”
Last verse, as we trust it to God, our heart sorrow turns into heart rejoicing.
Verse 6, “I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”
David went from questioning where God even was in verse 1, to finally saying, I sing God’s praises, for he has been good to me.
We’ve found peace again. We trusted him. The living waters have flowed in. The pain melts away. And it’s replaced by "shalom shalom" the peace of Jesus Christ.
God has been good to me, we declare. And the story of the hurt and healing, becomes part of our testimony. A story of redemption.
Review of Main Points:
- Waiting in suffering is the challenge
- In suffering God will sometimes hide his face
- Wrestling in our thoughts can lead toward the truth
- Sometimes the enemy we face is ourselves
- Turn to God, and ask Him to create a path forward
- Trust leads to the living waters of healing
- The story of the struggle becomes our testimony
