Finding Comfort in Psalms Amidst Trials

Sometimes We Hurt Comfort from Psalms Sometimes We Get Discouraged Sometimes We Feel Lonely Sometimes Our Faith Gets Weak Sometime We Almost Quit

Frustration Turns to Trust Psalm 55 I. A Frustrated Heart (vv. 1-8) II. A Wicked Friend (vv. 9-15) III. A Resolve in God (vv. 16-23)

To Fly to God Is Better Thought About Flying Away 6 So I said, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. 22 Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. 7 Indeed, I would wander far off, And remain in the wilderness. Selah Change 8 I would hasten my escape From the windy storm and tempest."

I. II. Lessons From the Psalm The Psalm

Seems That God Has Forgotten His People I. Seems Like God Has Forgotten His People (1-9) A. Cries out to God finds no comfort (vv. 1-3) B. Troubled and thinks back (v. 4-6) C. Questions: has God forgotten (vv. 7-9) II. Hope and Confidence Based on the Past (10-20) A. Admits his thinking was wrong (vv. 10-12) B. His comfort is in God (vv. 13-20)

Lessons From The Psalm 1. Cry out to God & express your grief (vv. 1-3) 2. Sleepless nights of anguish can drive sober thinking (vv. 4-6) 3. Ask questions but seek the answer (vv. 7-9) 4. Troubled soul has a narrow focus (vv. 10-15) 5. Remember God s power is greater than power of world (vv. 16-18) 6. God has delivered his people & can deliver (vv. 19-20)

Two Psalms of Comfort Two Psalms of Comfort Psalm 17 Psalm 17 A Plea for Help When Oppressed Psalm 121 Psalm 121 Jehovah is the Keeper of His People

Plea for Help When Oppressed I. Plea to Hear (vv. 1-5) A. Plea for God when unjustly treated (vv. 1-2) B. Declaration of innocence (vv. 3-5) II. Plea for Mercy (vv. 6-12) A. God hears my cry so show mercy (vv. 6-7) B. Keep me as the apple of your eye (vv. 8-9) C. Enemy (arrogant) seeks my harm (vv. 10-12) III. Plea for Deliverance (vv. 13-15) A. Delivered by your sword (v. 13) B. Enemy s focus is only on this life (v. 14) C. Hope is in righteousness Satisfied at resurrection (v. 15)

Comfort Learned from the Psalm 1. Often we feel unjustly treated (strive to do right and still ) our vindication is ultimately from the Lord (vv. 1-2) 2. Must appeal to God from a position of righteousness. We cannot expect the Lord to bless if don t live right (vv. 3-5) 3. Assurance that God hears even if he lets you go through the trial or test (v. 6) 4. Power is in word (v. 4) 5. Peace is the portion of the one who prays (Scroggie) 6. God s sword (his word) defends us (v. 13)

What Does It Mean to Turn to God? 1.Obey his word 2.Pray

Jehovah is the Keeper of his People I. Lord Helps (vv. 1-4) A. Help only comes from God (vv. 1-2) B. God watches does not sleep always involved (vv. 3-4) II. Lord Keeps (vv. 5-6) A. Lord is your keeper [ft note: protection] (v. 5) B. Lord is your shade (v. 6) III. Lord Preserves (vv. 7-8) A. When he preserves (vv. 7a, 8b) 1. Now from evil (7a) 2. Forevermore (v. 8b) B. What he preserves soul (v. 7b) C. Where he preserves in totality of activities (v. 8a)

Comfort Learned from the Psalm 1. Look to God for help 2. Many hearts have been strengthened for the pilgrimage of life by this song (Leupold) 3. God watches over his people in all their activities

What Does it Mean to Look to God? 1.Look to his word 2.Obey his word 3.Pray

1 1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. 2 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. 3 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. 4 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-- That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

5 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 7 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9 9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.

10 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.

14 14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. 15 15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. 16 16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-- These, O God, You will not despise.

18 18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. 19 19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

Repentance & Forgiveness

A Penitential Psalm This is the fourth and the greatest of the seven Penitential Psalms (Scroggie) Psa. 6, 32, 38, 102, 130, 143

A Penitential Psalm Repentance & Forgiveness

A Penitential Psalm Repentance & Forgiveness A Plea for Forgiveness but more , Renewal Expresses deep inner grief over sin Purity as well as pardon is the desire of the true penitent (Jensen, 68). This is the heart of genuine, true repentance (Robert Taylor, 54)

A Penitential Psalm Repentance & Forgiveness A Plea for Forgiveness but more , Renewal Occasion: Nathan s rebuke to David For his sin with Bathsheba 2 Sam. 12:1-13

1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. 4 And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." 5 So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!

6 And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity." 7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

11 Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.' " 13 So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

A Penitential Psalm Repentance & Forgiveness A Plea for Forgiveness but more , Renewal Occasion: Nathan s rebuke to David This Psalm has no equal Very much to the point is Oesterley sstatement: For the realization of the sense of sin, set forth with unflinching candor, it has no equal. H. C. Leupold, p. 400

A Penitential Psalm Repentance & Forgiveness A Plea for Forgiveness but more , Renewal Occasion: Nathan s rebuke to David This Psalm has no equal Author: David

A Penitential Psalm Repentance & Forgiveness A Plea for Forgiveness but more , Renewal Occasion: Nathan s rebuke to David This Psalm has no equal Author: David Psalm of comfort: Forgiveness & Renewal

I. Prayer for Forgiveness (vv. 1-4)

The Sin 1. Transgression (vv. 1, 3) Rebellion against right; willful deviation Rebellion against right; willful deviation 2. Iniquity (vv. 2, 9) Offense against God s law Offense against God s law Strong terms for Strong terms for an ugly thing are an ugly thing are intentionally intentionally employed. employed. - - Leupold Leupold, 401 3. Sin (vv. 2, 3, 4, 9) Miss the mark or come short Miss the mark or come short , 401 4. Evil (v. 4) Bad Bad denotes the hurtfulness of sin denotes the hurtfulness of sin 5. Bloodquiltiness (v. 14)

I. Prayer for Forgiveness (vv. 1-4) A. The Request The Request (vv.1-2) 1. For Mercy (v. 1) The psalm begins with at once grasping the character of God as the sole ground of hope. H. C. Leupold, 401

I. Prayer for Forgiveness (vv. 1-4) A. The Request The Request (vv.1-2) 1. For Mercy (v. 1) 2. Take away sin (vv. 1-2) Blot out (v. 1) Wash (v. 2) Cleanse (v. 2)

Descriptions of Forgiveness 1. Blot out my transgressions (vv. 1, 9) 2. Wash me thoroughly (vv. 2, 7) 3. Cleanse me from sin (vv. 2, 7, 10) 4. Purge me (v. 7) 5. Hide your face from my sin (v. 9) 6. Renew & Restore (vv. 10-12) 7. Uphold me (v. 12) 8. Deliver me from bloodquiltiness (v. 14)

I. Prayer for Forgiveness (vv. 1-4) A. The Request The Request (vv.1-2) B. The Confession The Confession (vv. 3-4) 1. Acknowledge my sin (v. 3) I know how grievously I have sinned, and the thought of it clings to me night and day. Or again this might be paraphrased: I am not unaware of the enormity of my deed. H.C. Leupold, 402

True penitence is not a dead knowledge of sin committed, but a living sensitive consciousness of it (Isa. Lix. 12), to which it is every present as a matter and ground of unrest and pain. Keil and Delitzsch, II, 135

I. Prayer for Forgiveness (vv. 1-4) A. The Request The Request (vv.1-2) B. The Confession The Confession (vv. 3-4) 1. Acknowledge my sin (v. 3) 2. Against God (v. 4)

since sin is directed against God only, any indictment of man that God presents, as Nathan did against David, makes it very plain that God s charges are entirely just, and His judgments are quite unimpeachable. A truly penitent man in no wise belittles his wrong, nor does he, on the other hand, unduly exaggerate it. He simply admits that over against God he is entirely in the wrong, and that over against him God is entirely in the right. When excuses are offered, penitence is not sincere. H.C. Leupold, 402

The first step in repentance is contrition; the second, confession; the third, amendment of life. Pulpit, 394

I. Prayer for Forgiveness (vv. 1-4) II. Plea for Renewal (vv. 5-12)

II. Plea for Renewal (vv. 5-12) A. Know Wisdom Know Wisdom (vv. 5-6) God wants men to be upright down to the very core of their being. H.C. Leupold, 403

Figurative Language Job 31:18 Job 31:18 Psa. 51:5 Psa. 51:5 (But from my youth I reared him as a father, And from my mother's womb I guided the widow); Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Not literally overstated for emphasis I ve heard that all my life.

II. Plea for Renewal (vv. 5-12) A. Know Wisdom Know Wisdom (vv. 5-6) B. Pure Pure (vv. 7, 10) The verb for wash is more vigorous than the translation might suggest, for it includes pounding, stamping, and vigorous rubbing in order to loosen the dirt. H.C. Leupold, 404

II. Plea for Renewal (vv. 5-12) A. Know Wisdom Know Wisdom (vv. 5-6) B. Pure Pure (vv. 7, 10) C. Joy Joy (vv. 8, 12) D. Steadfast Steadfast (v. 10)

This is to be redone, as is also the spirit of the man himself, which had wavered in uncertainty and vacillated between hope and despair. What he needs and prays for is a steadfast spirit that rest assured on God s grace and a total pardon. H.C. Leupold, 405

II. Plea for Renewal (vv. 5-12) A. Know Wisdom Know Wisdom (vv. 5-6) B. Pure Pure (vv. 7, 10) C. Joy Joy (vv. 8, 12) D. Steadfast Steadfast (v. 10) E. God With Me God With Me (v. 11)

Result of Forgiveness 1. Joy (vv. 8, 12) 2. Gladness (v. 8) 3. Rejoice (v. 8) 4. God with you (v. 11) 5. Teach others (v. 13) 6. Sing (v. 14) 7. Praise (v. 15) 8. Service to God (vv. 16ff)

I. Prayer for Forgiveness (vv. 1-4) II. Plea for Renewal (vv. 5-12) III. Pledge of Gratitude (vv. 13-17)

III. Pledge of Gratitude (vv. 13-17) A. Teach and Correct Sinners Teach and Correct Sinners (v. 13) B. Sing Praises Sing Praises (vv. 14-15) C. Sacrifice of a Contrite Heart Sacrifice of a Contrite Heart (vv. 16-17)