Help in Your Affliction

Psalm 102. We're not going to do the whole thing.

We're going to do the first little bit of it,

and Lord willing, we'll do the last little bit

of it next week. We don't really know who wrote

this psalm, but it's a psalm that's not so unsimilar

from some of the others that we see. I think

it's a psalm that probably everybody can relate

to at some point in their life. Psalm 102. Let's

pray and we'll get started. God, we come to you

and we thank you that we have freedom to come

into your house tonight and sing these songs

and just love on one another and look at your

word. And I pray, God, that you would just help

us tonight if maybe we're one of these. like

this passage talks about, dear Lord. There are

times in our life where we feel afflicted, where

we just feel like everything is just falling

apart, dear Lord. And I pray, God, that tonight

we would feel your presence, that we would know

that you are nearby, that maybe even tonight

if we're having a good day, dear Lord, that we

just took this passage away and remember it when

our time of affliction comes. I pray that your

Holy Spirit will be with us, that you would help

me to preach and teach. Your words that you would

hide me behind the cross. You'd free us from

distractions. And all for your glory. In Jesus'

name I ask it. Amen. The superscription for this

psalm reads, A prayer of an afflicted person

who is weak and pours out his lament before the

Lord. Now, I like that superscription because

I think that sums up. how we all feel at some

point. There are all times in our life for every

one of us that we feel that kind of affliction

or we feel depression or we feel just overwhelmed

or we want to give up. And that's what this language

in this psalm talks about. It talks about a person

going through hard times, a person who is weak,

a person who is calling out to the Lord. And

that's exactly what we need to do. On the times

that we feel afflicted, on the times that we

feel overwhelmed, on the times that we want to

give up, we have to call out to the Lord in our

weakness and seek His strength. Verse 1, Lord,

hear my prayer. That's a good place to start

in our life. We probably all know we should pray,

and we probably all do pray, and maybe prayer

is the first thing we do when situations arise

in our life, or maybe it's not. Maybe this is

a good reminder for us to know where to start

when we have to make decisions, when we have

troubles in our life, when we have worries in

our life. Perhaps the first thing we need to

do is pray. Lord, hear my prayer. Hear my prayer.

God knows our situations. He knows what we go

through, but he still wants us to come to him.

And there's a lot of strength that comes from

that. We don't want to fall into the habit of

saying, well, God knows what I need before I

even ask it. Well, he does, but he still wants

us to ask. He still wants us to call out to him.

There's strength in that when we seek him, when

we humble ourselves, when we recognize our weakness.

And we know that we need help from the Lord.

And the psalmist did here. Lord, hear my prayer.

Let my cry for help come before you. Do not hide

your face from me in the day of trouble. Listen

closely to me. Answer me quickly when I call.

That's one of the scariest things when we pray.

And perhaps we wonder if the Lord's there. Maybe

we don't always feel His presence. Sometimes

we do. Sometimes we feel the Lord's presence

and we feel the joy of the Lord and the peace

of the Lord. But maybe there are other seasons

in our life where we're going through affliction

and hardships and we don't feel the Lord's presence

in the same way. And maybe we wonder if He's

there or we wonder if He cares or we wonder if

this is the time that we've sinned too much or

is God... even listening to me anymore. And what

does the psalmist say? God, don't hide your face

from me. We know that we need the Lord's presence.

We know that when things get as bad as we think

they can possibly get, that the only hope that

we have comes from the Lord. And the psalmist

recognized that. Lord, hear my prayer. God, don't

be far from me. Don't hide your face from me

because God, I cannot keep going. If you don't

give me the strength to keep going. Now, I suspect

that we've probably all felt that way in our

life. There have probably been times that we

said, I don't know how I'm going to make it another

day. I don't know how I'm going to get through

this situation with family. I don't know how

I'm going to get through this health situation.

I don't know how I can spend another day at that

job. I don't know how this marriage is going

to get any better. I don't know how I'm going

to break this addiction. I mean, there are things

that we just, we come up against them in our

life, and we do not know how we are going to

get through it. And the sad part about that is,

is that there are a lot of people in our world

that don't know how they're going to get through

it, and they've never read the Word of God, and

they don't know of Jesus Christ, and they don't

know of a God who loves them. Because I would

venture to guess that probably for all of us

in this room, hopefully, that when we come to

those situations where we don't know how we're

going to make it another day, we probably do

exactly what the psalmist did. We say, Lord,

hear my prayer. God, I cannot take another step

if you are not with me. God, I cannot go into

that office one more time. God, I cannot go for

another treatment. God, I cannot deal with whatever

it may be. God, I do not have the strength. God,

if you are not with me, I cannot go. And we call

out to the Lord in our weakness and he becomes

our strength. And praise God that we have the

word of God and we have scriptures like this

to remind us of that. Because so many people

in our world are in despair, and they do not

have hope. But those who are in Christ do not

give in to despair because we know what hope

is. And whatever the psalmist's affliction was

here, he knew where his help came from, and it's

the same for you and I. Whatever your affliction

is tonight, or whatever it may be a year from

now or ten years from now, may God recall these

words, His words. to your mind and to your heart,

that we would cry out to the Lord. Listen closely

to me. Answer me quickly when I call. Now, that's

what we want, right? We want God to answer quickly,

and perhaps sometimes he does. But at least it's

been my experience in life that God does not

work as quick as I would like him to. Now, he

could. He could work as quick as he wanted to.

We could ask for something right now, and he

could grant it in an instant. In the blink of

an eye, God could do what we ask. God could bring

healing right now, or he could provide this thing

that we need right now, or he could help our

attitudes right now, or whatever it is that we're

praying for. And maybe God does answer those

things quickly sometimes, but sometimes he does

not. But even in that, I believe God knows what

he's doing. He's using those experiences to strengthen

us. He's testing our faith. And the more we go

through those trials and day after day we continue

to have our affliction, but we continue to pray

to Him, it builds our trust in Him. It builds

our faith in Him. And when we get through that

trial, man, our faith is strong. And we say,

man, I don't know how I'm going to get through

this or that, these things that are before us.

And the way that we get through the thing that

is before us now is because God has built us

up in the thing that we went through before.

And every time in our life when we call out to

God and pray to Him and seek Him, it strengthens

our faith that much more. And then we get to

that next mountain. And we say, I don't know

how I'm going to get through it. We're going

to get through it the same way we got through

the last one. We're going to pray to the Lord.

And we're going to get through it and we're going

to look back. And after years and years of those

experiences, we're going to be able to say, I've

seen God work in my life. I'm up against this

situation, and it's scary, and it's hard, and

I don't know what the future holds, but I know

who my God is. And I know that I have called

to Him, and it has not always been easy, but

He has always been there. And He may not have

always answered my prayers in the way that I

have asked, but I know that He is a good God,

and He has given me the strength in my weakness.

And every time we call out to him in our time

of affliction, it draws us closer to him and

builds our strength in him. And that's what the

psalmist is doing here. And that's what you and

I need to do. Verse 3. For my days vanish like

smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart

is afflicted. withered like grass. I even forget

to eat my food because of the sound of my groaning.

My flesh sticks to my bones. Now, he's using

all these illustrations, burning like a furnace,

withered like grass, flesh sticking to his bones.

He just feels bad, like he's in such affliction

that it affects the way he feels. It affects

everything about him. And some of you have probably

felt that before. Maybe all of you. You've been

in such great turmoil and trouble and stress

and just pain and suffering that you feel it

to your bones. You feel it to your core. It just

weighs heavy on you. And those are not good times.

The psalmist recognized that. He uses this language.

His heart is afflicted. So afflicted, he forgets

to eat. He doesn't even want to eat. He doesn't

even eat. We've been there before. There are

days you just don't feel like eating. You're

just overwhelmed with your stress and your affliction

and your pain and your sickness and all of these

things that it is just so heavy on you. That

is a tough place to be. But praise the Lord in

the midst of all of that burden that we're under,

that Jesus Christ says to us, Come to me, you

who are weary and burdened, and I will give you

rest. Praise God that we know that word. If you

don't know that scripture, you need to learn

that scripture. Man, that's a good scripture.

And so many people in this world, they get crushed

under the burden because they do not know that

Jesus is there to lift. The burden. We need to

know that tonight. Those who are listening online

need to know that if your burden is heavy, that

Jesus can lift that burden for you. That if you

are being crushed tonight, you do not have to

be crushed. Jesus will free you from that. He'll

take that burden from you. If your heart is afflicted,

if your body is suffering, Our only hope tonight

comes through Jesus Christ. Verse 6. I am like

a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. Now

I'm not sure exactly what the... what the point

is he's trying to make with this illustration

of a desert owl. The first thing that came to

my mind is an owl is perhaps on the prowl at

night looking for something to sustain him, like

an owl among the ruins, like an owl that's just

looking for everything's destroyed around. There's

nothing to eat on. There's nothing to sustain

it, but yet he's looking. He's constantly trying

to find that thing that's going to sustain him.

Now, I don't know if that's the heart in which...

The psalmist wrote this, but it's true nonetheless.

It's true that in the midst of our struggles

and our afflictions, we look for that thing that's

going to sustain us. And sometimes, even if we

know God and we know the Word of God, sometimes

we look to be sustained by other things. Maybe

by our fame or maybe by our wealth or maybe by

some addiction that we have. Whatever it may

be, there are some times in our life that we

look at our life and we see that it's in ruins.

That everything around us is crumbled and collapsed.

And we're trying to dig through the rubble to

find something to sustain us. But there's nothing

that we can find in the rubble to sustain us.

Because it's only Jesus Christ. It's only when

we call out to the Lord. I stay awake. I am like

a solitary bird on a roof. Can't sleep. That's

what happens when we are in these seasons of

affliction and worry and hardship. It's hard

to sleep good at night. You can't go to sleep

because it's running through your mind. How am

I going to make it through this? And then when

you go to sleep, you wake up thinking about it.

You just wake up instantly and that burden is

right there. There's no rest for you. He says,

I'm like a solitary bird on a roof. I'm all alone.

And sometimes that's how we feel, probably most

of the time. In the midst of our affliction,

we feel like we are all alone. Nobody understands.

Nobody cares. Nobody can relate to me. But God

cares. God understands. And God can relate to

you. And even if everyone else has abandoned

you, and even if you feel alone, God is still

there. And maybe some of you just need to be

reminded of that right now. I don't know what

anybody's going through in their life. But maybe

you just need to know that truth tonight. God

is still there. You are not alone today. Maybe

you just need to take this psalm and you need

to go home and you just need to meditate on it

and maybe this needs to be your prayer. To just

know that God does hear you. That you are not

alone tonight. Verse 8. My enemies taunt me all

day long. They ridicule and curse me. I eat ashes

like bread. And mingle my drinks with tears.

Because of your indignation and wrath. For you

have picked me up. And thrown me aside. Now I

don't know what his enemies were. But boy that

adds insult to injury. Whatever we go through.

Whatever. However hard it may be. Whatever his

situation was. It's getting from bad to worse.

He's already in the midst of affliction. And

now his enemies are coming against him. And he

says, I eat ashes like bread and mingle my drinks

with tears. Now, we see in the Old Testament

that a lot of time when people are in mourning

and going through difficult times, they'll dress

themselves in sackcloth and they'll cover themselves

with ashes. That's probably the reference here

where he says, I ate ashes for bread. Perhaps

in a real literal sense, maybe he is so covered

in ashes that it covers his food. Or maybe he's

saying he just... in the midst of this mourning

and lamenting that he's doing, he's putting so

much ash on him that it's just in his mouth.

It's part of his diet, so to speak. What he's

saying is, I spend so much time lamenting and

calling out to the Lord that I spend time covered

in ashes and I spend time crying that my tears

are mingled with my drink. This is a man who

is broken because of his situation. Now, whether

it's of his doing or whether it's his enemies

or whether it's just some just normal life situation

that happens, he is afflicted and he is broken

and he is mourning and he is calling out before

the Lord to help him. And he says, because of

your indignation and wrath, for you have picked

me up and thrown me aside now. That's pretty

scary. Now, some would say that. that God really

hasn't picked him up and thrown him to the side,

but he just feels that way. And that's certainly

possible. Perhaps there are times that we do

feel that way. But maybe there's some literal

truth to this. Maybe his situation is some result

of something he did. I mean, we see plenty of

times throughout the Old Testament that God's

people are disobedient and God brings punishment

on them and the people have to suffer. Praise

the Lord. A lot of times they call right back

out to the Lord and they say, Oh God, we need

you. And God is gracious to them. And then what

do they do? They go back and they do some boneheaded

thing and then God brings something on them again.

And so it's possible that whatever this psalmist

is writing about, maybe there is something that

he's done. Now I say that very carefully. We

don't want to think that every time something

bad happens to us, it's God punishing us for

something we've done. Maybe there are some times

that the things that are happening to us are

a consequence, a result of something that we've

done. That certainly is the case sometimes. But

we have to be careful not to fall into the trap

that everything bad happens in our life that

we begin to stress in such a way that we say,

Oh God, what have I done? Is God punishing me?

Well, the psalmist felt that way. Whether it

was accurate or not, he felt that way. And perhaps

sometimes we feel that way too. But nevertheless,

the psalmist knew what to do. He called out to

the Lord. Verse 11. My days are like a lengthening

shadow, and I wither away like grass. Shadows

eventually go away. You could see a shadow outside

a couple hours ago, but not now. The sun has

set. It has gotten dark outside. The shadow is

gone. And he says, I wither away. His affliction

has gotten the best of him. Physically he is

worn out. Emotionally he is worn out. He doesn't

know if God hears him anymore. He doesn't know

if God's there. Is God punishing him for something?

All these things are going through his mind,

but what does he do? The very first verse, Lord,

hear my prayer. Let my cry for help come before

you. Even though all these things that he just

mentioned are on his heart and on his mind, he

knew where to go for help. Even though sleep

escaped him, he knew where to go for rest. Even

though his burden was heavy, he knew where to

go for his burden to be lifted from him. What

about you tonight? Are you afflicted tonight?

Do you feel crushed by the burden of sin, of

life, of sickness, of bad relationships? If we

feel the pressure of those things, if we feel

the burden of those things, And Jesus can free

us of that. If we would just call out to him

and seek him tonight. If we would just ask for

forgiveness of our sin. If we would just ask

for strength in our struggles. Jesus Christ will

do that for us. If we would only cry out to him.

And ask him for help. Let's pray. God we thank

you for this good word. Because God we are an

afflicted people. And maybe not tonight. But

there's probably been times in our life that

we have been, and no doubt will be times in our

life that we will be in the future. So I pray,

God, that you would help us to be a people that

would seek you, not just on the bad days, but

on the good days, and that we would recall this

scripture, dear Lord. Maybe there are some tonight

that are burdened down, that they read these

words of this psalmist, and they... can relate

far too well. And they have felt the burden of

that mentally and emotionally and physically,

dear Lord. And they feel crushed on every side

today. I pray that they would call out to Jesus.

I pray, dear Lord, that this psalm would be their

prayer, that you would hear their voice, that

you would come to them quickly, dear Lord, that

you would meet their need, that you would give

them rest, that you would give them deliverance.

God, I pray that we would not leave this place

in despair, but that we would leave with hope,

dear Lord. That those who are here and those

who are listening online will know that there

is hope, God. There is hope in the midst of our

affliction, in the midst of our troubles. And

that hope is found in nothing less than Jesus'

blood and righteousness. So God, I pray that

we would trust in that tonight. And I ask these

things in Jesus' name. Amen.