Worship in Times of Trouble

Are you going to non-Christian worship regard as easy and therefore would walk with good verbal foods with the worship of God, even when life is a natural born juror Martin someone. I learned to worship God through a lifetime of trials worship in times of trouble is the and thank you for joining us for the Friday edition of Turning Point today were going to talk about some truth that comes to us from Psalm 138 serving a discussion of the day with our worship leader Tobin Davis and I told him that one of my great surprises revisiting the Psalms. During these days was the fact that you cannot get through one Psalm without confronting the issue of worship, and particularly in light of the fact that in many of the Psalms were dealing with difficult problems. David was having in his life challenging days that are beyond anything most of us will ever know. And yet there is always on the edge of worship, teaching us what it means to worship God working to learn about that today, as we open our Bibles to Psalm 138 and this is in times of trouble. Psalm 138 we have song of a man by the name of David who is understood a deep truth about his relationship with God and that is that in times of trouble.

The direct route to God most clearly marked out path to God is not a path of crying so much as it is a path of worship. This is a Psalm of worship in times of trouble begins in the first stanza in verses one through three with a reminder to us that in times of present trouble. The Lord is to be worshiped. The psalmist begins by telling us that we should worship the Lord.

Thankfully, he said, I will praise you. He does not say at the beginning who it is he's praising, but as we read the other stanzas we find the name of the Lord no less than six times in here in the first stanza the personal pronoun that refers to the Almighty is found 10 times the word you and your is everywhere. It is evident that David is caught up with the majesty of Almighty God. He said I will praise you in the word that he uses for praise is a very interesting word which perhaps would be better translated attacks by these words. I will give thanks to you, David begins this time of worship in trouble by giving thanks to God.

Isn't that an amazing thing because it is so hard for us when were encumbered by challenges to step away for a moment and realized that no matter what were going through. We still have much for which we must give thanks to God wherever you are in your situation. All you gotta do is stop for a moment and look around and realize that whatever you may think is been taken from you. God has left you a lot for which to be thankful is interesting to me that he starts at the place where we all must start. How many of you know the Bible tells us that were to come before the Lord's presence with thanksgiving Psalm 95 verse two and Psalm 100 and verse four says that were to enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise and be thankful unto him, and bless his name isn't easy for us when we come to the Lord to back our truck up to his desk and just unload everything that we been correct. Sometimes in the night time at all collects in your subconscious mind all the burdens and the challenges and the problems and you get up in the morning and you can scarcely get in the presence of the Lord before you've regurgitated everything that's wrong, and here we are challenged to come into his presence with thanksgiving were to worship the Lord God in times of trouble with a thankful heart. That's one therapeutic lesson we all need to learn and then he adds this truth.

But not only are we to worship him. Thankfully were to worship him wholeheartedly.

The expressions of David throughout the Psalm illustrate that he is a man given to wholehearted worship.

He said I will praise you. I will sing praises to you, I will worship and praise your name. David wasn't someone who just sat in the presence of the Lord in a passive way and if ever were totally devoted to anyone thing would it make more sense to be totally devoted to worship coming we can get so energized by a lot of things but here is the Lord God Almighty was taken note of us who sent his son for us and we have the privilege of worshiping him and we sit so many times jam down in our skin so afraid that were going to be a little bit emotional biases were to praise him with the whole heart, with all that we have God, since difficulty into our lives to drive us upward so that we can praise him with our whole heart. But notice he goes on to say, let us worship the Lord not only energetically and wholeheartedly. But let us worship the Lord courageously. He says before the gods I will sing praise to you.

The Lord God Zeus and little G it's a reference to all of the pagan deities and leaders of the nations that surrounded Judah and what David is saying is this, whereas some are afraid to stand before the pagan deities and worship their God.

I will come boldly in the presence of all bees pagan deities and worship and praise Almighty God. I'm not ashamed of who my God is any praise God boldly and didn't care what anybody thought well. Finally, let us note that as we worship the Lord in this way were also to worship the Lord intelligently notice says let us worship toward your holy temple and praise your name. David mentions three things for which were to praise God when were in trouble. This is interesting to me.

If you put these things together. They will start to make sense to you when you pray out of the difficulties of your life. First of all your to praise him for his mercy and his truth. He said I will praise you for your lovingkindness and your truth of the word lovingkindness is the Hebrew word I said and it's the word for mercy. Have you ever noticed how often mercy and truth are found together in the same passage there twins in the Old Testament. Now the importance of bringing these two together in the same text in the reason we ought to give thanks to God should be evident to us when we began to observe the fickleness of our own earthly friends. How many of you know that there are some people who are endued with mercy. Some people who have truth, but there are very few who have wetted the two together.

If you have a person who has all mercy and no truth than what you have is a lot of injustice. Mercy will be granted without any standard to gauge it against most of us know people who are filled with truth and zero mercy and they have a tendency to be very cruel on my friend, when you meet the Lord God, you meet someone who is perfectly in balance between mercy and truth. His mercy is in the light of his truth and his truth is held in tension by his mercy so that when you come before him in trouble. You know that he hears the very core, hearing of your heart, and he deals with you.

According to his divine standard. Then he says were to praise God in times of trouble not only for his mercy and truth before is magnified.

Word it says here, for you have magnified your word above all your name what is happening. Some have thought that this must be a misprint.

How can anything ever be magnified above the name of Almighty God. How could you take anything and put it at a level beyond the name of the holy one of Israel, and yet that's what the text says in any way. You try to misconstrue that you come back to the same place and I don't understand it completely, except to say that God values his integrity so much that he says he is place the integrity of his word. At the same place and even elevated higher than his own name, so that when you read in the word of God that he will be with you. You can count on it. How do you know he is lifted his word higher than anything in all the universe the word of God is endued with everything that's a part of the name of God, and you can trust him when we say in the text that is filled with mercy and truth. The truth can be counted on because it's the word of God. That's higher than the name of God. Then he says what to praise God not only for his mercy and truth, for his magnified word but were to praise him for his mighty provisions in this is what I love in the Psalm read these words in the day when I cried out, you answered me and made me old with strength in my soul. Every word about this important first of all, God doesn't delay in answering when we come to him we may think he delays because we have our own perspective on time but God hears us when we cry and notice what he says. He says, Lord God, when I cry unto you in my trouble you answer me now, please hear what he doesn't say because this is what we would like for him to say when we cried out to God and our trouble. He looked down and it all went away and that's what we want or Lord get this pressure off of me take this trouble away, but notice what it says in the day when I cried out to the Lord he gave me boldness with strength in my soul. How many of you know that when trouble comes, sometimes God takes us through it.

Sometimes he helps us in it, and sometimes he keeps us from it, but in whatever he does, he gives us the strength in our soul to go through the difficult times. When David cried out to the Lord. It was like the Lord came down and reinforced his soul.

He said it gave him so much strike that made him bold in his strength made him proud of the strength that God had given him, so that when he stood in the midst of suffering and challenges in all of the problems that he hadn't. David had so many of them could stand in the midst of an Seo Lord God. When I cried out to you, and I needed you. You infused my soul with strength and supply could go through it and stand up in the midst of it, you know God does that effect. I don't say this presumptuously because I'm not asking for any more trouble.

I got enough but it's almost worth going through it, just to know that God does what he says it's almost worth being there just to know that when God says someone to give me the strength to go through it he will do it and it's not just what's written in this book, my friend. It's what you now have experienced the first two things they will be thanking the Lord for were things that were true because the word of God said they were true.

This last thing was something he'd experienced in his own life. He said when I cried to you. You heard me and gave me strength in my soul. Amen.

Now in the second stanza of this Psalm, which I'm gonna pass over very quickly. David looks into the future and he says two things. He says the praise that I worship God with in the midst of my trouble is just a small little version of the praise that one day will be worldwide in its impact for this coming a day in future triumph when all shall worship God. In fact, he says, not just all but even the kingdoms he says all the kings of the earth will praise the Lord that you know that's coming a day on every king in every place in every president and every leader of every nation, no matter who they may be, are going to bow before Almighty King Jesus and give glory to him. The Bible tells us that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and in that day, every nation and every tribe and every tongue and every people will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, and it will be at that time. In the words of Paul that the name of Jesus every knee shall bow those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the father, every knee shall bow the kings of this earth will bow before God.

David said just as I am bowing before God in the midst of my trouble. There's coming a day when the whole world will do that all the kings shall worship the Lord and then he says something that's quite interesting that all kinds of people will be acknowledged by the Lord. Did you know that the Lord acknowledges everyone in here in this passage of Scripture, Davis drawn a line right through the center of humanity is divided all of humanity up into two categories. He said some are the lowly and some of the lofty God has a relationship with both of them did you know that God has a relationship with the lowly and I often think about this. I think about it often. When I visit the inner city of New York and see the people that come from the poor homes there and come out of the difficult circumstances they've experienced. And I since the love that God has for them in the love they have for God and I realize there's some kind of a special relationship with the people who've gone through difficult times in their life have been pushed down almost to the point where he can hardly lift their head.

God regards the lowly someone is said because the lowly ones think so little of themselves. The Lord thinks so much of them. He listens to their prayers, and he protects them from evil.

But then he says he also has a relationship with the lofty ones did you know that now here is talking about people who are proud and arrogant who think they can live life without God and he says that he resists the lofty ones.

Listen to that but the proud. He knows from afar. Listen to this, he embraces the lowly ones, the ones who come with humility out of their experiences and circumstances, but the proud relationship he has with them is an arm's-length someone is that you don't have to get close to the proud because you can see what they are from a long way and if you can't see them tell you or someone else said there's no noise like the noise of an empty semitruck railing down the highway declaring to everyone who will hear there's nothing in here. What's the problem with the proud person's relationship with God is so full of himself as a place for God in the Bible tells us that until we come in humble recognition of who we are and who God is. There is no hope for us. We all ultimately come to God the same way the ground is level at the foot of the cross. There's no such thing as a proud person in the presence of Almighty God. David said there's coming a day when all the kings will bow all the potentates will bow will be evident, then, that God regards lowly, and he resists the proud, over and over again in the Scripture were told that God resists the proud, well we come to the last two verses in here is that final chapter in this little prayer of David. It's a wonderful wonderful two verses, he says, though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me you will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies in your right hand will save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me just tell you what David says in these two verses he said. First of all that when we come to the Lord ultimately in worship. There are times of personal uncertainty when we need to worship him in these verses.

He said when he is in the midst of trouble.

In fact, he says when he walks in the midst of trouble. It's one thing to be in trouble.

It's another thing to be in the midst of trouble.

It's a totally different thing to walk in the midst of trouble means you're continuing to be in the same place you just walked in trouble when I walk in the midst of trouble. Lord I know that you know and you're going to revive me. First of all, David is rejoicing in this truth that the Lord will protect him, though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will stretch out your hand against the wrath of mine enemies. Generally, David spent all his life in trouble.

I kinda went back over his life he spent the early part of his life running away from the most powerful man in his world. Finally Saul dies. David becomes king and all of a sudden everything comes unglued with all of his neighbors and he gets in the war with everybody so now he's in trouble with all the neighbors around and finally gets that all settled down and lo and behold he spends the last years of his life with incredible domestic problems. His sons are rebelling against in his whole house is in jeopardy.

He walked in the mist of trouble.

All right, so you think you're having a bad day you read the life of David you feel better. David walked in the midst of trouble with the Bible says God promised to protect him.

In fact, these are the words that David wrote that we know so well from Psalm 23 he said he restores my soul he leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake and yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me and every believer knows that when you walk through the valley. When you go through the trouble you're in the midst of trouble, that's when you feel the presence of the Lord like you never felt before Lord's promise to be with you and then almost as if an afterthought.

But perhaps the most important thought in the whole chapter. David says not only will the Lord protect you but listen this now.

He will perfect you he will perfect the things that concern you see what happens to you when you go through troubles you lose all cited perspective, you begin to think the goddess forgotten you that the plan you thought he had for your life is been aborted. You're now not even in his plan book. But remember this when you go through trouble, God is still working on you.

You still working in you and his purpose is to perfect you and the complete you to make you mature, and the whole and the only way that God can give us from where we are to where he wants us to be as let us walk through the midst of trouble, we don't learn things the easy way. You don't learn very many important lessons in times of prosperity you learned important lessons when you are reduced to a one-on-one relationship with God is your only hope your only asset.

Your only possibility and you look up into his eyes, and you realize that from the very beginning. It's always been like that just didn't know it.

And during that time. What is God doing he is perfecting things that concern you. Someone is said that this is the Philippians 16 of the Old Testament.

I write that verse in my Bible a lot when I signed Bibles goes like this being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work and you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. My friend, if you're going through the midst of trouble God is working in you, he is perfecting you.

He hasn't forgotten about you. He is doing those things in your life which you may not have signed up for how many of you know, you don't get the volunteer for this class, you don't even get to vote on what you wanted in the curriculum, but God sends you through the program.

With this purpose in mind. Not only that he can show you how good he can protect you but so that he can demonstrate how wonderfully he can perfect you so that when you come out on the other side you been tried in the dross is burned off and what's left is primarily the gold of your life. What a wonderful God. When we began to get the perspective of the songs on the difficulties of her life long things begin to change in the way we think. Let me just close my Bible with the last phrase of the Psalm for this is really wonderful. His last words are these Lord do not forsake the works of your hands in the picture is the David views himself in the hands of Almighty God said, Lord, you started this work on me and started working on me a long time ago when a shepherd boy was called back from the field to stand before Samuel, when you anointed me to be the king. You begin that work in my life, Lord, don't forsake the work of your hands.

I do know if you ever thought about being in the hands of the Lord, but it's a wonderful thought the hands that created the universe.

Those of the hands that you read the nail scarred hands that hung upon the cross and paid for your redemption with the male stars in the midst of those of the hands that your hands that will one day welcome you to glory those of the hands that you're in goddess put you in his hands, how many of you rather be in the hands of the Lord than anyplace else in the world is not a great place to be. In the hands of the Lord whatever it is you may be facing whatever challenge you may be going through. God is able to do about and beyond all that you could ever ask if you will just grab hold of his hands and let them take charge reference thank you for joining us for this frightening mission of Turning Point. The message comes from shadow Mountain community. Jeremiah served as senior pastor is ministering to you.

It is not Turning Point. 38 San Diego, California 9216 visit our website at David Jeremiah don't hold/radio cost for your company and I shall go shorter encourage you in this unprecedented time.

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