Dealing With Life's Hardships and Uncertainties (Part 4)

What are you doing to combat the temptation to get all stressed out and worried about

some of the uncertainties in your life?

Or some of just the plain hard things you're having to go through?

Or maybe it's not you that you're tempted to worry about, it's somebody you love, somebody

in your family, one of your best friends.

Are you learning what God has given us in His Word as alternatives to worry?

Replacing worry with such things as we've seen over the last three weeks, like praying

instead of worrying.

That's what Paul told us in Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Are you trying to live with the right priorities and focus on one day at a time as Jesus taught

us in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6?

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Have you been reading Psalm 137, or 139 rather, that we started looking at last week?

Psalm 139 is one of the great passages of Scripture that call our attention to God and His just

greatness.

But also His personal involvement in our lives.

Psalm 139 is one of the best chapters you could ever read, think about, dwell on.

That would help us to trust God instead of worrying.

Trust Him in every situation, even when we don't know what the outcome's going to be, instead

of being anxious and fretting over it.

I want us to return to Psalm 139 this morning.

I want to begin like I did last week by giving you sort of an overview.

David tells us some things about God, listen, that He found comforting.

Everybody does not.

The first part, verses 1 through 6, God knows everything.

That's what we looked at last week.

Today we're going to look at just verses 7 through 12.

God is everywhere.

Now I said last week that I did not want to take four weeks to go through this because

there's four sections.

There's just no way that I could do justice to it and just go through all these 24 verses

today.

So we're going to do it in four weeks.

Last week, God knows everything.

Today, God is everywhere.

Next week, God can do anything.

Verses 13 through 18.

Then the last week, God will deal with everyone.

Verses 19 through 24.

Let's just read verses 7 through 12 today.

Psalm 139, 7 through 12.

Where shall I go from your spirit?

He's writing about the spirit of God.

He's talking about God.

He's referring here to the spirit of God.

Where shall I go from your spirit?

Where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you're there.

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there

your hand shall lead me.

And your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night.

Even the darkness is not dark to you.

The night is bright as the day.

For darkness is His light with you.

Last week, we looked at verses 1 through 6.

God's knowledge.

What David tells us in those first six verses is that God knows everything.

But we're going to make this personal.

As we go through this, Psalm 139, we are going to see what he says about how great, glorious,

awesome God is.

Because, for example, He knows everything.

But David is making this personal, so we're going to make it personal.

Don't just think God knows everything.

Think God knows me.

And we looked in detail last week how God knows everything about me.

Today, God's presence.

God is everywhere.

But don't just let that blow your mind about God being every place, fully, at the same time.

Think more personally.

God is with me.

God is always with me.

Now, David, the psalmist, he's describing how God is present in every part of the universe.

But what he really wants to emphasize is how God is always present with him.

And the readers of this, we need to think how God is always present with me.

This section begins with two rhetorical questions.

Look at verse 7.

Where shall I go from your spirit?

Where shall I go from your spirit?

Where shall I flee from your presence?

David expects everyone who reads this or hears this to say, nowhere.

I cannot escape God.

He thinks that will be the automatic response of people who are hearing or reading this.

But just to make sure there's no misunderstanding, what he does in the rest of these verses that we've read,

he goes on to point out specific ways that God is present in every part of the universe.

Now, keep in mind as we read through this, the psalms are poems or songs.

So David is describing where God is, how he's everywhere in symbolic ways,

as you do when you're writing poetry.

But don't miss the point.

Look at it.

God is in heaven above and the grave below.

That's verse 8.

Look at it again.

If I ascend to heaven, you are there.

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

Heaven is the place of the living.

Sheol is the place of the dead.

Sheol is not hell.

In the New Testament, the word would be Hades.

There is a word that refers to the fire of hell.

The place of punishment, Gehenna.

This is talking about the place of the dead.

That we can think of as until Jesus comes back,

and there's a new heaven and a new earth, and the final state takes place.

In the place of the dead now, there's a place like paradise.

Jesus told a parable about a rich man and a poor man.

The poor man was named Lazarus.

And they both died.

Lazarus was in what he called the bosom of Abraham.

He was in a good place.

A place of comfort.

But the rich man, because he had just been so selfish all of his life,

didn't care about God or other people,

he was in a place of torment.

But it was the place of the dead is what I want us to see here.

Heaven is the place of the dead.

Sheol is the place of the living.

Sheol is the place of the dead.

That's what David is trying to tell us.

But then he tells us in verses 9 and 10,

God is in the east and the west.

Look at what he says, how he says that.

If I take the wings of the morning,

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

and your eye hand shall hold me.

The phrase, the wings of the morning,

most likely is describing the rays of the sun

as the sun rises in the east,

and that uttermost parts of the sea.

David's riding from Israel.

And to the west is the Mediterranean Sea.

And so he's riding about the uttermost part of the Mediterranean Sea

on the west and the rising sun,

the rays of the sun on the east.

David is trying to let us know, poetically,

that wherever we go,

whether we be high or low, east or west,

God is there.

But then it's a little bit different here in verses 11 and 12.

He points out another way that God's present in our life.

God is present in the darkness.

Look at it again.

If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,

even the darkness is not dark to you.

The night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

You know, there's a lot of people

who think of darkness as scary.

Or maybe secretive.

I don't want to ask any boys and girls

to embarrass themselves by raising their hand,

but I bet there's a lot of boys and girls

in this room right now.

Truth is,

you're scared of the dark.

And truth is,

there's adults in this room,

you're scared of the dark too.

It's sort of a universal thing.

And then,

we as adults,

more likely,

and teenagers

fall into this category too,

darkness is sort of like a secret place, isn't it?

Darkness,

that's where you can go

and hide

or do things

that you hope nobody ever finds out about.

A lot of bad things,

evil things,

take place at night,

take place in the dark.

A lot of things we don't want anybody to do,

we slip around and do it

when we think no one will notice

or see us

at night.

Well,

David is trying to tell us,

listen to this,

David is telling us

that with God,

there's no such thing as darkness.

For God,

He's never in the dark.

God is light,

and so wherever He goes,

He lights up everything.

So,

think of this.

When we think we're doing something in secret,

when we think we're slipping around in the dark,

God is there.

And the,

His spotlight

is shining brightly.

No one else

may see us.

No one else may figure it out.

But God does.

It's sort of like

He's standing over our shoulders.

He's with us.

He's watching.

He knows what we're thinking.

He knows what we're doing.

David's telling us,

wherever you go,

whatever you do,

high, low, east, west,

dark,

whenever.

God's there.

He is there with you.

Now,

those are the verses.

Let's think about it.

Is the thought of God's constant presence

in your life like this.

Does it comfort you?

Is it a good thing to you?

Well, for David, it was.

It really was.

David was not a perfect man,

and most of you know here,

David had his own issues.

He did sinful things.

Sometimes he tried to cover up sinful things.

And the Bible tells us about that.

Very clear.

But at the same time,

overall,

David was thrilled to know

that God knew everything about him.

Look at verse 6 from last week.

Verses 1 through 5 talks about

how God knows everything about us,

and then he says,

such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

It is high.

I cannot attain it.

He loved the thought God knew,

even though there were some bad things.

He didn't want,

deep down,

he didn't want those bad things to continue.

He was glad God saw it,

knew it,

and brought him to a place of

owning up to it,

confessing it,

being forgiven.

Well, we see now in verse 10

that David finds comfort

in knowing that God is with him.

Look at it, verse 10.

Even there,

your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

David thought of God's hand

as comforting,

strength,

his strong hand.

What about you?

Do you find comfort

in knowing that God

is always with you?

Well, if we have a right relationship

with him,

we should.

If we really understand

who we are as Christians,

united to Christ

by faith,

if we really understand

that our sins are forgiven

because Jesus took our punishment,

we really are right before God

because Jesus lived that perfect,

right life,

and that's credited to us

when we trust him.

So if we really know

who we are in Christ,

we will know that

we are children of God

who are accepted by God.

You know, a lot of people,

even some Christians,

a lot of people think

God's always out to get them.

God can never be satisfied.

I can never be real sure

and comfortable

in my relationship with him

because I'm not perfect.

That's not what the Bible teaches.

Certainly, we are sinners.

We don't deserve his love,

his favor.

We don't deserve to be his children.

But God's God of grace.

He gives what we don't deserve.

God forgives us,

makes us his child

when we trust in Christ.

And that should be comforting to you

to know that God accepts you,

he loves you,

he's your heavenly father,

and he wants to take care of you.

You know, this is a reoccurring theme

in the Bible.

Even the Old Testament prophets,

they had a lot of things to say

to the people of Israel

about their sin,

their just rebellion.

They sometimes did preach

a strong, hard statement

about judgment.

Unless you repent,

you are going to perish.

And that happened.

But the prophets also

offered hope to the people.

The prophets talked about

God's love and God's mercy

and God's forgiveness.

The prophets, a lot of times,

were God's own spokesperson.

Spokesman.

Here's an example.

Isaiah chapter 41.

Isaiah 41 · chapter mention

I'm going to read

from the New Living Translation.

Speaking for God, Isaiah says,

don't be afraid

for I am with you.

Listen, God's saying,

don't be afraid

for I am with you.

Don't be discouraged

for I am your God.

I will strengthen you

and help you.

I will hold you up

with my victorious right hand.

God wants you to understand this.

If you're his child,

he wants to help you this way.

You know, one of the last things

Jesus told his disciples

before he ascended into heaven,

he would always be with us.

Jesus told us,

we need to be in the world

sharing with people

what Christ has done for us,

sharing the gospel with people.

We need to be making disciples.

That's one of the things

we're called to do as Christians.

Well, Jesus didn't say,

go and do that

the best you can.

He says, go and do that

and I'll be with you always.

Look at it.

Matthew 28, 20.

Jesus said,

and behold.

In the New English,

in the ESV version,

English Standard Version,

when you say that word,

behold,

that means sit up

and take notice.

What's about to be said

is very important.

And it says,

and behold,

Jesus said,

I am with you always

to the end of the age.

Jesus said that

because it's supposed

to mean something to us

as his follower,

that he's with us.

It's supposed to help us,

comfort us,

strengthen us.

When or where

do you feel the most alone

or afraid?

When do you feel

the most insecure?

For a lot of us,

it happens during,

while you go through

a crisis at night.

I want you to think,

it happens a lot of times,

it can happen at any time,

but I want you to think

about some of the crises

you have gone through

and it was dark,

it was night.

It just felt like

it would never end.

Think about

when you had a child

who was sick

and you had to sit up

with that child

trying to take care of them.

Or for some of you,

you can,

you can understand this now

and you couldn't

in a time gone by,

sitting up with a parent

who's in bad shape

or even dying.

Sometimes you can be

at a hospital

or even at home.

You're waiting

for them to die.

And it's night.

And you feel so all alone.

You feel like it's going

to last forever.

Sometimes you've had

conflicts in your home

at night.

It may not have started

until 12 o'clock,

but it was going on

at 2 and at 3.

It was a long,

dark,

alone,

anxious night.

Well, the best ways

for us

as God's children

to deal with such times

is to first of all

acknowledge

that He is God

and that we

as His children

can trust Him.

I'm not being

simplistic here.

As we go through

these times,

these times of

anxiety,

loneliness,

isolation,

whatever you want

to call it,

well, the best ways

for us

to deal with it

is to acknowledge,

pray,

talk to someone

we're involved with

about the fact

God is with us

and we're going

to trust Him.

We're going to trust

His promises

that He will not

abandon us.

Look back at that

Isaiah 41.10

that we looked at

a while ago.

I'm going to look at it

now from the

English Standard

Translation.

He says,

Fear not,

for I am with you.

Be not dismayed,

for I am your God.

Look at this.

I will strengthen you.

I will help you.

I will uphold you

with my righteous

right hand.

God wants us

to trust us.

God wants us

to trust Him

that He is

for us,

that He is

with us.

He promises

to give to us,

His people,

His children,

what we need

when we need it.

Look at it again.

He says,

God says,

I will strengthen you.

I will help you.

I will uphold you

with my righteous

right hand.

Here's the question.

Do you trust God

automatically

in those times

of stress?

And just,

it's just natural

for you

as a child of God

to ask Him

to strengthen you

when you are weak.

To help you

when you're helpless.

To hold you up

or hold you together

when you're about

to fall apart

physically,

emotionally,

or even spiritually.

You know,

children do that.

Little children

in a home

where they know

their parents love them

and they know

they can trust

their parents.

When something

bad happens,

children just

automatically,

it's a knee-jerk reaction,

they go to their parents

because they know

their parents

will give them

the strength

or just be there

with them

to help them.

They know their parents

will try to

get them through it,

listen,

encourage,

comfort

in some kind of way.

Well,

God wants us

to reach out

to Him that way

because He is

our Heavenly Father

who loves us

and He enjoys

doing such things

for His people.

Boys and girls,

listen to me,

boys and girls,

wake up.

Wake up.

As I asked you

a while ago,

are you ever

afraid of the dark?

Are you ever

afraid to go

to sleep at night?

Well,

God wants you

to know

that He's always

with you,

that you're

never alone

in that house

or that room

or in that bed.

God promises

to help you.

And so the next time

you're alone,

you're afraid,

say this out loud,

God is with me.

God will strengthen me.

God will help me.

Think to yourself,

I can go to sleep

because God's

going to stay up

all night.

I can go to sleep

in this dark room

because God's here

and it's not even

dark to Him.

He's going to

watch over me.

He's going to

stay on guard.

He's going to

stay alert

so I can

let my guard down

and go to sleep.

You know,

one of the most

comforting statements

in the Bible

about this

is just a statement

found in Hebrews

Hebrews 13:5

chapter 13,

verse 5

that a lot of you

know.

I've referred to it

a lot over the years.

I want you to look at it.

For He has said,

talking about God,

I will never leave you

nor forsake you.

I like the way

the NIV translation

really emphasized

the fact that God

will never do this.

Look at it.

Never will I leave you.

Never will I forsake you.

Do you know the context

of that statement?

That's just part

of verse 5.

I want you to look

at the whole thing.

Look at all of verse 5.

Hebrews 13, 5.

The writer says,

Keep your life free

from love of money

and be content

with what you have

for He has said,

I will never leave you

nor forsake you.

The thought is,

our greatest source

of contentment

should be that

we know God

and we have a relationship

with Him

in which He promises

to never leave us

nor forsake us.

God is saying,

keep your life free

from the love of money

and if money's not

your problem,

put something else there.

The love of what?

Be content

with what you have.

In other words,

let God be enough.

Let knowing Him,

having a relationship

with Him,

having His promises

be enough

to make you content

where you are.

There are many reasons

why that's true,

but I want you to note

what's pointed out here,

what's obvious.

God will never leave us

nor forsake us

now or for all eternity.

Money will leave you

and forsake you

and forsake you

eventually.

The fact is,

we are not going to

take any of it

with us

into eternity.

You know,

what we're looking at here,

it's very similar

to what we saw

in Matthew chapter 6

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

two weeks ago

when Jesus told us

not to worry about

what we eat,

drink,

or wear.

Jesus was just

basically saying,

don't worry about

the necessities of life.

Your Heavenly Father

knows what you need

and He'll make sure

that your needs are met.

Now,

it does not say

that He'll do everything

you want Him to do.

He'll give you

everything you desire.

But Jesus is saying

the key to not worrying

is to trust

your Heavenly Father

knows you,

He loves you,

He's able to meet

your needs,

and He will.

Therefore,

you seek Him first.

You seek His priorities.

You seek His will.

You seek His rule

over your life

is what He actually said.

That's the key

to finding comfort

in the fact

that God is always

present in our lives.

That's the key,

having a close relationship

and trusting Him

this way.

Now,

is the thought

of God always

being with you

comforting

will thank Him?

but let me

switch gears

a little bit.

Is the thought

that God is always

with you

convicting

in the sense

that it makes you

feel guilty?

Or is it

frightening

you?

If it is,

it most likely

means one

of two things.

Either you're

not a Christian

or you are

a Christian

but you're not

living in a

close relationship,

having good

fellowship

with Him.

Let's look at both.

If you're not

a Christian,

you need to

understand that

one day

you're going

to stand

alone

before God

and give an account

for how you've

actually lived

your life

in this world.

That's going

to be a problem

for you

if you're not

a Christian.

Because the Bible

clearly says,

and I want you

to look at it,

Hebrews 4.13,

nothing in all

creation is

hidden from

God's sight.

Everything is

uncovered and

laid bare before

the eyes of

Him to whom

we must give

an account.

We're all

going to stand

before the Lord.

We're all

going to stand

before God

on Judgment

Day.

If we're

Christians,

we've got the

Lord Jesus

standing there

beside us.

And we're

still sinful

people.

We've got a

lot to be

ashamed of,

but Jesus

has paid the

penalty for our

sins.

We are

clean before

God because

of Jesus.

That's how we

get through the

judgment as

Christians.

But if you're

not a believer,

if you're not

one with Christ,

you're going to

stand there

alone.

A pastor by the

name of James

Boyce describes

how, let me

put it this

way, he

describes what

Judgment Day

could be like.

No one knows.

But look at what

he says.

What will you do

on the day when

all your sins

will be read

out?

His idea of

Judgment Day is

God's going to

read from his

book, Our

Life Story.

He says, on

that day, you

will be abased,

confounded,

speechless, and

overwhelmed as

God unfolds the

records of your

sinful past life,

paragraph after

paragraph, page

after page.

Stop, you will

cry.

But God will not

stop until every

sinful thought,

every evil deed,

every curse,

every theft,

every lie,

every neglect of

what you should

have done is

read out and

justly punished.

That's scary.

And it ought to

be if you're going

to stand there

alone.

But the good

news this morning

is you don't

have to wait

until Judgment

Day and be

there alone.

Jesus died on

the cross to

pay the penalty

for the sins

you have

committed.

Jesus died on

the cross to

take your

punishment so

that you could

be forgiven and

so that you

wouldn't have to

be in terror on

the day of

judgment.

But we have to

respond to what

Jesus has done.

Jesus' death on

the cross doesn't

automatically save

anyone.

We've got to

acknowledge we

need a Savior.

We've got to

admit to God our

sinfulness, our

selfishness and

change our mind

about it, repent,

turn from it,

grieve over it.

We've got to put

our faith in Jesus

that he died for

me and call upon

him to save us.

Scripture, one of

the clearest

statements about

this, for

whosoever will

call upon the

name of the Lord

will be saved.

that can be

you if you're

not a Christian

and it bothers

you and you

want to come to

him now.

You'll find

comfort then in

your relationship

with God, not

fear.

But let's think

about the other

scenario.

If you're not

getting any sense

of comfort and

encouragement with

the fact that God

is always with you,

it may be that

you're a Christian

but you've either

rebelled against

God or you've

drifted away from

him.

Either way, you're

not close to him.

If you know that

you've rebelled

against him, you

know there's

something between

you and God, I

want to encourage

you to admit that,

own up to it,

quit denying it,

repent of that,

turn from that,

and come back to

the Lord with a

renewed commitment

to him as the

Lord of your life.

It could be that

you've just drifted

away from the

Lord.

There's no one

thing you can point

to and say, I've

rebelled this way,

I don't care, I'm

never shaking my

fist at God.

It may be that

you've just let

things in your life

become a priority

that shouldn't be a

priority.

And you've just

sort of ignored

him to the point

that there's a

lot of distance

now.

Well, that in

itself is sin that

is separating you

from closeness with

God that needs to

be confessed and

repented of.

You need to come

back to him, if

that's the case

today, in a renewed

commitment yourself

to seeking to know

him better, love

him more, spend

time with him.

As we've seen on

several occasions,

God is ready and

willing to forgive

his returning

children, repentant

children, if we'll

come to him, as the

verse says in 1 John

1, 9, if we confess

our sins, he is

faithful and just to

forgive us our sins

and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

If you're away from

God, not enjoying

closeness with God, the

idea of him being

everywhere in your

life is not a

comfort to you.

draw to him in

confession that way.

Leave here.

In fact, let me ask

to say this in

closing.

God's presence in

our lives is intended

to comfort us.

I want to encourage you

to do whatever you

need to do so that you

can leave here thinking,

God is present in my

life and I like that.

I love that.

It comforts me.

Whatever God shows you

you need to do for that

to be true about you

when you leave, do that

now as we pray together.

Father, show us how to

respond.

Father, help us to see

from David's life, his

experience, what he's

written here, that the

thought of you knowing

us and always being

with us should comfort

and encourage us, even

though we aren't

perfect.

Dear God, if there's

people in this room who

are not Christians and

that's why they're afraid

and they're running from

you, call them to faith

in Jesus now.

Father, if there are

Christians in this room

who have rebelled, who've

backslidden or just let

too much of the things

of this world capture

their attention, wake

them up, draw them back

to you to that closeness

that you desire with them.

Show us all how to respond.

In an attitude of prayer,

you do what God tells

you to do.

I'll be here at the

front and we'd be happy,

love to pray with you

during this time.

You come.

God so leads you to do

that.

Let's just be still and

quiet, prayerful, and

respond as God speaks to

each one of us.