Trusting God in Every Moment

Well, good morning, everyone. Can I just add my welcome to you all. Yeah, I'm JT. I'm one of the elders here.

I've got the privilege of being able to take us through this psalm this morning.

We are in a summer series in the Psalms. We've had a couple so far in what is called Book Two of the Psalms.

That may not mean anything to you, but that starts in Psalm 42.

You know, it's great to be in the Psalms. The Psalms is a wonderful book.

If you don't know much about it, or it's always good to remind ourselves, it is the longest book of the Bible.

It's got 150 chapters in it.

You know, there's multiple ways of splitting the Psalms up or looking at them, but a simple way of doing it is that there's two types of Psalm.

There are laments and there are praise.

A lament is an appropriate response to the evil in the world.

And we've seen that over the last couple of weeks.

And then there are Psalms of praise.

Celebrating what is good in the world.

Thanking God for what he has done.

The Psalms, it's sometimes described as the prayer book of God's people.

Who are waiting for the messianic kingdom to come.

That's a bit of a complicated sentence.

But what it's saying is that it's for God's people who are waiting for the Messiah, the promised one, to come.

For his kingdom to come.

And for the people writing this Psalm, for the people, the initial readers of this Psalm, they are waiting for the promised Messiah.

But for us, in the privileged position we're in, we look back, we know that the Lord Jesus has come.

The Messiah has come.

But as we read it, we still are looking forward to that messianic kingdom.

When the Lord Jesus will return and that perfect kingdom of heaven will come into place.

And so we have Psalm 44.

And thank you, Rachel, for reading that so well to us.

Psalm 44, it is a national lament.

We see that plural language.

I hope you picked that up as we read through that.

We see a nation that is in complete distress.

And you maybe have a heading in your Bible.

Please, if you do have a Bible, please keep it open in front of you.

There's plenty of pew Bibles about.

It's page 568 if you have one of them.

Please do have your head in the Bible this morning.

But you might have a little inscription and it says,

For the director of music of the sons of Korah, Amaskal.

Now, the sons of Korah, we don't entirely know what that means.

There's 11 psalms called the same thing with the same inscription.

But we do know that Amaskal, it's an instruction.

And it means that this psalm is to be contemplated for wisdom.

So my prayer is that by the end of this morning, we have done just that.

The psalms are sometimes called a mirror to the soul.

A mirror to the soul.

We've really seen that over the last couple of weeks.

We've been considering, why are you cast down, O my soul?

The end of chapter 43 says,

Why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

So that's the psalms.

And to get us thinking,

Corrie, I'm glad she's come back in and managed to get Maggie settled in the back.

Because we have a running joke that we see things as we're walking around,

driving around, and we say,

You know what? There's a sermon in there somewhere.

I don't think this is working.

If you could just move on, please, Deb.

And we saw this the other day.

We were driving.

It'll definitely not be working now.

We were driving up north.

I think it was to the weekend away.

And we went through the bit on the road.

And there's the roadworks.

And they often have this because they don't want you to break down and block up the road.

Okay?

So it says,

Free recovery.

Await.

Rescue.

Rescue.

We know we all face periods in life that we all have, that there'll be difficulties.

And if we're driving, we may break down.

But do we trust this?

Do we think that this is actually going to happen?

It's just a sign.

Someone's plonked it there, put down some cones and some sandbags and driven off.

How much faith do we have in this rescue system?

You know, we once had a driver at work, a van driver, and the van broke down.

And we phoned the RAC or the whatever, AA, whatever it is.

And they said, yeah, no problem.

We'll be there in 11 hours.

What a system that is for recovery.

But you know, there's some good examples of recovery when people find themselves in difficult situations.

You might recognize these two.

We have the Chilean miners.

Remember that story?

An amazing story.

The Chilean miners, I think it was 69 days, they were stuck underground in a mineshaft.

What a position of difficulty to be in.

But you know what?

They were rescued eventually.

What an amazing story.

Well, the other one, you might not make that out, but that is the football team from Thailand.

And they went down this cave system, miles underground, the waters raised up, and they were stuck.

And these divers flew from all over the world, and they came, and they managed to save every one of them.

Quite a remarkable story of rescue.

You know, in times of difficulty, we do need to look for help.

But where do we look?

Well, this morning, we'll see that the people here, well, they trust in the Lord, even in their difficult times in life.

Why do they do so?

Well, because he has been faithful.

He will be faithful.

And because he is, by definition, by character, faithful.

The Lord is faithful.

So we're going to look at it in three sections.

We have the past.

We see God's care and provision in verses 1 to 8.

We have the present.

We see suffering and struggles in verse 9 to 22.

And then we have the future, our cry, and his faithfulness in verse 23 to 26.

So let's start with the past, God's care and provision.

So we have this faithful passing on, first of all, of what God has done for the people of Israel.

Look down in verse 1.

It says this,

We have heard it with our ears, O God.

Our ancestors have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.

With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our ancestors.

You crushed the peoples and made our ancestors flourish.

So we see this faithful passing on.

The people writing this psalm, they have heard from the previous generations.

It has been passed down just what God has done for them in times gone by.

And as Peter mentioned this morning, actually, that there is many situations in the Bible where people are instructed to pass on the good that God has done for them.

In Exodus chapter 10, verse 2, Moses, when the plagues are going on, Moses is instructed by God to pass on to your grandson and your grandchildren all that God has done and that you have seen.

Exodus 10:2

And in Deuteronomy 6, the people of Israel are instructed to pass on the goodness of God from generation to generation.

And they are remembering times that God drove out the nations, planted their ancestors, crushed the peoples and made the ancestors flourish.

You know, potentially they're talking about the promised land, the land of Canaan.

And if we know that story, then the people of Israel, they were taken out of Egypt and eventually they ended up in the promised land, in their own glorious land.

But they admit in verse 3 that it was all God's work.

It was not by their sword, the ancestors' sword, that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory.

It was your right hand, it was your arm, and the light of your face, for you love them.

Referring to God, of course.

It was all God's hand.

It was all his work.

I know they would have been thinking about specific examples, but some that came to me.

Jericho again this morning was mentioned.

What did the Israelites do at Jericho?

Well, they marched round the city.

I don't know what general would put that into a battle plan, but most of the time that wouldn't work, would it?

But God said to them to do so.

They followed his instruction and the walls fell down.

God gave that city, that mighty city, into their hands.

It was all God.

Or Gideon.

Gideon, with 300 men, conquered the mighty Midianite army.

Why?

Not because of their might.

Because of God's might.

And it gets personal.

Verse 4.

The writers here, they say,

You are my king and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob.

Through you, we push back our enemies.

Through your name, we trample our foes.

I put no trust in my bow.

My sword does not bring me victory.

God is still the one who brings victory to the people here.

And they have such faith in him.

We see that you language there.

And they admit in verse 6, that it is not of themselves.

They are bows.

They are swords.

They are useless if God is not with them.

They trust in God, not their earthly might.

David and Goliath.

You know, David and Goliath.

We are really doing a tour of the Old Testament this morning.

But David and Goliath.

David volunteered to fight this mighty warrior, giant Goliath.

And the people, they wanted to put on the king's armor.

You know, all these mighty things.

This will help you.

But in the end, David goes, no.

I trust in my sling, yes.

My stone, yes.

But I trust in my God.

He has brought me to this place.

And he will take me on.

And so praise is inevitable.

Having gone through all this,

in verse 8, they say,

In God we make our boast all day long.

And we will praise your name forever.

Praise is inevitable

when we look back on what God has done.

And hymns, they pour out praise.

And you know, the hymns this morning,

it's been lovely just to praise God

when we think about what he has done.

Look at what God has done.

He is worthy of all praise forever,

as the end of verse 8 says.

And as it says there,

In God we make our boast all day long.

It's the only thing we can boast in.

The hymn writer says,

I will not boast in anything.

No gifts, no power, no wisdom.

But I will boast in Jesus Christ,

his death and resurrection.

And you know,

this was for the people writing it,

for the people hearing it for the first time.

But as we hear it this morning,

these things are true for us as well.

If we are Christians and Christ has died for us,

we've sung and thought about that already this morning.

We look back and we remember,

it was all him.

It wasn't us.

It was his mighty work.

The Lord Jesus completed the work.

Is that you this morning?

Do you have that saving faith in the Lord Jesus?

That is the most important question you'll ever get asked in life,

that you will ever respond to.

The mighty Messiah who was promised,

he came as a baby.

We know that from what we remember at Christmastime.

He was fully God and yet fully man.

And he lived that life.

And through his three years of ministry,

he claimed to be God.

He claimed to be that mighty savior.

And he backed it up by his miracles,

these things that no one else could do.

He proved that he was who he said he was.

And unlike us, he lived that perfect life.

He never messed up.

We have all messed up.

He went all the way to the cross.

He allowed himself to be killed.

He allowed himself to be put there on that cross.

And during those three hours of darkness,

he faced separation from God the Father.

That separation that we deserve because of our sin,

the sin that puts that wedge between us and God.

It causes a divide.

But the Lord Jesus, he took that upon himself,

undeservedly.

So that if we trust in him,

then we can have our sins forgiven.

And he proved that the work was finished by,

yes, he died.

That blood poured from him and water poured from his side.

But he rose again,

witnessing to many that he was alive again,

and then ascended to the right hand of God on high

in glory,

in his glorious place that he deserves.

If we're a Christian this morning,

then we can,

and we should boast in Christ.

We have the best news.

Is it good news?

Is it bad news?

Well, I'll tell you what,

it's over there.

It's on the high street.

I'll tell you that for free.

It is the best news that we have.

So we can,

and we should boast in Christ's death

and resurrection.

You know,

I don't know if your Bible's got this,

but at the end of verse eight,

there's a little word,

Selah,

S-E-L-A-H.

Not sure that's how you pronounce it.

You know,

what that means is it is a,

it is a used in Hebrew poetry for a pause.

It's a pause for reflection,

for meditation,

to bring your heart in a state of praise to God.

So we're just going to pause for a minute

and think about the truths of these things

and how they affect us

before we move on to our next section.

And so now to the present.

Sometimes people like to reminisce

about the good old days,

and I found this cartoon.

I remember the good old days

when the only crisp flavor was salt.

You made sure you get those salt and shakes.

I used to quite like them.

Had a little packet of salt in them.

You know,

I'm a big crisp fan.

If we open crisps in our household,

they don't last very long.

That is for sure.

You know,

nowadays you've got crisp packets

for aisles and aisles in the supermarkets.

There's so many different flavors.

And that personally,

I don't think that's a bad thing.

But you know,

we like to look back,

don't we?

We like to think about fond times,

reminisce with one another.

Oh,

remember the good old days.

But you know,

the present struggles

that we read about here,

the difficulties in the present time,

they're made all the more difficult

because when we look back

at what the glorious past was like,

the good times in the past.

If we could move to the next one,

please.

Dib.

So the contrast with the glorious past.

Now,

if you look through from verse 9

through to verse 16,

there is such language of rejection,

of defeat,

of shame.

I'll pick out some of the words.

We have rejected,

humbled,

retreat,

plundered,

devoured,

scattered,

reproach,

scorn,

derision,

a byword,

shake their heads,

disgrace,

shame,

taunt,

reproach,

revile,

revenge.

If we were studying English,

you would be asked to write an essay

on all that language picked out.

But it paints that picture

of national humiliation.

The people of Israel,

they are in complete humiliation,

distress.

They feel abandoned.

It has made all the more painful

because they have just thought about

that past glories

that God

has brought them through.

And we don't know exactly

the situation that they're talking about

in historical context.

We don't really know why

this has come upon them.

But they don't know why.

In verse 17 to 21,

they are basically saying,

why has God left us?

They are suffering.

They say,

we are suffering,

but we haven't broken

our covenant.

It says,

we have not been false

to your covenant.

Our hearts had not turned back.

Our feet had not strayed

from your path.

But you crushed us

and made us a haunt

for jackals.

You covered us over

with deep darkness.

They don't know why

they are suffering

as they are.

And they say,

verse 20 and 21,

God,

if we had been

unfaithful to you,

you would know

because you're all-knowing.

And God knows our hearts.

He knows each one of our hearts.

We cannot hide the truths

from him.

But verse 22,

yet for your sake,

we face death all day long.

We are considered as sheep

to be slaughtered.

They are suffering

purely for his sake.

They are suffering

because they are God's people.

And you know,

they are a covenant people,

the people of Israel.

They were living

in a covenant relationship.

And what that meant

was that when they were

faithful to God,

God was faithful to them.

But you know,

in times that they

strayed away from God,

when they worshipped idols

or followed other nations

or peoples,

well,

God brought direct judgment

onto them

in their present situation.

And we know that

from times where

nations came

and they conquered Israel.

They took them away

into exile.

They ruled over them.

They didn't have

their own land.

But it was not direct sin

that they are suffering here.

They are purely suffering

for his sake.

And you know this here,

this is quoted,

this verse,

verse 22,

in Romans chapter 8,

Romans 8:36

verse 36,

by Paul,

the apostle Paul.

Now Paul,

he was a man

who suffered.

We know that

if you've been along

to our Timothy series

in the evenings.

He is writing to Timothy

in the second book,

to Timothy.

And he is writing

because he is

at the end of his life.

He knows he's about

to be executed

for God's sake,

for the gospel.

He has suffered

throughout his life.

He has been rejected.

He has been left alone

by those who should

have been helping him.

He has a physical ailment

that we don't exactly

know what it was.

He has been in jail

many times.

He has suffered a lot.

But he encourages others

to stand firm

in his letters

as he did

in the gospel,

in the good news

of Jesus.

Despite the persecution,

despite the suffering,

despite the difficult times

which are inevitable,

which will come,

which we know.

if we are Christians,

we are not promised

an easy life.

The point of salvation

is not where

we suddenly don't have

any more problems

in life.

That is not

what we are promised

in the Bible,

so there's no point

thinking about that.

But we are promised

that in the times

to come

and when the Lord Jesus

returns,

that we will be taken

to that place

where there is

no more suffering,

where there is

no more pain,

when everything

will be made right again.

I think it's worth

reading Romans 8

and it should come up

on the screen.

Verse 31,

What then shall we say

in response

to these things?

If God is for us,

who can be against us?

He who did not

spare his own son

but gave him up

for us all,

how will he not also

along with him

graciously give us

all things?

Who will bring any charge

against those

whom God has chosen?

It is God

who justifies.

Who then is the one

who condemns?

No one.

Christ Jesus

who died,

more than that,

who was raised to life,

is at the right hand

of God

and is also

interceding for us.

Who shall separate us

from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble

or hardship

or persecution

or famine

or nakedness

or danger

or sword?

As it is written,

and this is the quote

from our passage,

For your sake

we face death

all day long.

We are considered

as sheep

to be slaughtered.

Knowing all these things

we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us.

For I am convinced

that neither death

nor life,

neither angels

nor demons,

neither the present

nor the future

nor any powers,

neither height

nor depth

nor anything else

in all creation

will be able

to separate us

from the love of God

that is in Christ Jesus

our Lord.

God.

We miss God

when his face

seems hidden from us,

when we are suffering

in life.

We can think back

to the good times

and it kind of makes it

all the more painful

when we are suffering.

You know,

we are exhorted

to stand firm

in our faith

despite what's going on

as we do so

for God

and we can withstand it

because he is with us

in his power,

in his strength.

Nothing

can separate us

from the love of God

in Christ Jesus

our Lord.

Sometimes the image

is used

that if we are saved

then we are put

in God's mighty hand

and nothing,

no matter what life

throws at us,

can change that fact.

And so to finish

we look to the future,

our cry

and his faithfulness.

So where do we go

in times of crisis?

You know,

you may be seeing

one of these before.

You sometimes get them

at the side of motorways

or they're actually

sometimes just dotted

about cities.

Now this is the kind

of button you want

to just go and press

and just see what happens.

Push button

for assistance.

You know,

I don't know the mechanism.

I've never actually tried it.

Maybe I should.

I don't want to

diss it without

having tried it.

But you know,

what confidence

do you have in that?

Is that going to save the day?

Maybe it will.

I don't know.

But you know,

in times of crisis

and difficult times,

where do we run?

Is it emergency services?

Is it helplines?

Is it charities

that are set up

for such things?

And these things are good.

Is it friends or family?

Do we go to those

who can support us,

help us,

give us wise words?

Is it our church family

and all these things are good?

Or do we run to the world?

Do we have our go-to sins

when we are suffering

our times of difficulty?

Do we have addictions?

Do we run to the pleasures

of the world

to try and escape?

Well, we see here

that the people,

they earnestly plea to God

for action

and for help.

Awake, Lord,

verse 23.

Why do you sleep?

Rouse yourself.

Do not reject us

forever.

The people here,

they turn to God.

They are in the lowest

place possible.

Verse 25.

We are brought down

to the dust.

Our bodies cling

to the ground.

You do not get

any lower than that.

In our minds,

they go to the serpent

in Genesis 3.14

who was cursed

and was caused

to crawl around

on its belly

and eat the dust.

That's where these people

describe themselves

as being.

They are at rock bottom.

In a sense,

they have nowhere else

to turn,

but they make

the right choice.

They ask God

to help them.

You know,

they do so

with good motives.

They turn to God

and they do not

plead their case.

They do not say,

we are so good,

God,

you must help us.

God,

we deserve help.

No,

they turn to God

because of

who he is

and because of

what he

has done.

Verse 26,

rise up and help us.

Rescue us

because of

your

unfailing

love.

God is faithful.

God is

merciful.

When we look back

on the past,

we know that God

has provided

before

and so we can

have confidence

that God

will do so again.

so as we close,

let's consider

these things.

Where do we turn

when things

in life

get difficult?

Do we cling

to the God

who has saved us?

Do we look back

on what the Lord

Jesus has done?

Do we get lost

in the present

struggles?

Do we struggle

to get our head up

and look for help?

Do we run

to what the world

has to offer us?

Do we rely

on ourselves

and our strength?

You know,

tough times

will come.

We will face

suffering.

We will face

persecution

as Christians.

It might be

ill health.

It might be

loneliness,

mockery,

rejection.

It might be

death of loved ones.

And we all face

death ourselves

at some point.

You might be

sitting there

thinking,

didn't come here

for this message

this morning.

I was hoping

for something happier.

But you know,

it is.

These are just

the facts of life.

But the good news

is that we have

the victory

as we read

in Romans.

Our home

is in heaven.

Christ has done

the work.

It is complete.

It is finished.

It is all

on him.

All on his work.

All on his strength.

It is not

on ourselves

and our feeble ways.

So we can have

such confidence

in where our home is,

where we are headed

and that God

is faithful,

that God

is with us

and that he will

continue to be

with us

no matter what

our situation

in present life

may be.

You know,

in all these things,

as it did

for these people,

it should bring

our hearts

to a point of praise,

remembering

who God is

and his faithfulness

towards us.

let me just pray

and then

as is

most appropriate

after this

is that we're

going to sing

hymns of praise

to our God

who has done

so much for us.

The first one being,

yet not I

but through Christ

in me.

And you know,

that's such good lyrics

for what we've been

thinking about.

It's not about us.

It's about Christ

in us.

Let me just pray

as the band comes up

and before we

stand to sing.

God and Father,

we just thank you

for your word.

We thank you

that your word

does not shy away

from the truths

of the world.

Our hearts

at times

are in agony

with the suffering

that goes on

in the world

either to ourselves

or to others.

And as John prayed,

sometimes we just

do not know

what to pray

whether it's

for global situations

or for friends

or for family

who are struggling

and going through

difficult times.

But we just thank you

that we have

the victory,

that we are more

than conquerors

over all these things

if we are in Christ.

We thank you

that our home

is in heaven,

that that salvation plan

was hatched

before the world

even began.

And Father,

we just thank you

for sending the Lord Jesus.

We thank you

for his work

on earth,

for his work

of the cross

and that it was enough

and that it was finished

and that we can trust in it.

And we look forward

to when he will return

and will take us

to be with him

and with yourself,

Father.

and we look forward

to that day

when there will be

no more suffering,

there will be no more pain

and that everything

will be made right.

And so we bring you

praise

and we bring you

the glory.

We just ask

that as we

go from this place

shortly

that we will remember

these things

and no matter

what life throws at us

that you will be with us

as we know you will be

because you are faithful,

you are merciful

and we just ask

that you will help us

with your spirit

to remember these things

as we go about our lives.

So we just ask

these things

and we thank you

so much

for who you are

and we thank you

for the Lord Jesus

and it's in his name

that we pray.

Amen.