Life?s Ups and Downs - Part 1

Nine exhibit life through the highway.

In reality what was a lot more like a roller coaster through would only speak the truth to their stomach drops Turning Point of your mouth like a closer look at these peaks and valleys of life and how you can depend on God's mission from the 30th watch ups and downs is well. Speaking of ups and downs. Is this not been a time like that one day you hear some encouraging news about how soon this is going to be over this thing that were living in in the next day someone comes out and says no it's three more months of structuring and then the next day you listen to someone else and they show you pictures of people together having a good time in another state and then you listen to your governor, and he says no you can do that you can have church and secure the place. One moment you're up.

The next moment you're down, that's what life is like this. Life is just a steady walk all the way from where you are to where you going there bumps their detours. There's dangers and side trips and difficulties that the first time that's ever happened to any generation, it was going on when David wrote the Psalms, and that's why he wrote this Psalm Psalm 30 scald life's ups and downs. What you do in this uncertain time when there doesn't seem to be any straight directory in life. Well find out if we open our Bibles to this Psalm and I hope you will do that with us as we unpack it in these next two days. Well here we go with part one life Psalms and downs as we continue our study of this Old Testament illness were going to talk about Psalm 3012 versus the great Psalm by David and I'm going to entitle our discussion. Life's ups and downs seminary professor once chastised student for turning in a sermon that had a very boring title he was trying to teach this young man to be a better preacher and he said to them, sermon titles have to be catchy and have to be relevant. They have to be engaging so much. You take this sermon and bring it back tomorrow with the new title that will grab hold of people and make them want to listen while the young man wasn't exactly sure what he was being asked to do so.

He said how do I come up with a catchy title.

While the professor said it's easy. Just imagine that your sermon title is posted on a sign in front of your church. It's Sunday morning and a big bus full of people has stopped momentarily by your sign you want to sermon title so catchy, so compelling that all the people on the bus will jump off of the Greyhound and run in your church.

Just think of it that way and I'm sure you'll come up with a great title student left to ponder the matter in the next day he returned with his new title. There's a bomb on your bus to get to church when nothing else would sometimes as I look out at our world, and I'm sure you have the same emotion. I wonder for not writing on a bus that's got a bomb hidden on it somewhere if it's cultural problems that we face them moral and ethical problems that we face, but it seems like there's a heightened sense of concern on the part of people as to where this bus is going after all, I don't know how you relate to that. But the journey is filled with a lot of peaks and valleys. If there's a lot of ups and downs and it's not like some people expect when you become a Christian that from then on. Life is just going to be kind of sailing on a cruise ship for the rest of your life do you ultimately sail into the harbor of heaven. Most of us have found out that the Christian life is filled with a lot of challenges and there a lot of ups and downs in the Christian life. In some respects life is like a soccer game.

It seems like you play hard through the entire game and never really score any goals but then nobody else does either. So you don't feel too bad you get kicked in bruised and not down in you quickly get back up and into the game and avoid getting penalties as best you can with the exception of the normal kinds of mistakes that are part of the game and then the entire game is over and it's ultimately decided by the flick of a hand in the goal of mere deflection. One defining moment. Everybody says that's the game you played so hard for so long and it came down to one defining moment in your life. Throughout the game. If you are like me, your emotions were rocketed from one extreme to another, from disappointment to acceleration from anger at what you thought was unfair and maybe unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of the other team and then admiration of the play that was well executed from total fatigue to the discovery of energy that you found them dredge up from somewhere you didn't know where and it seems like that's the way life is. It's a lot of effort over a long period of time and it ends up being decided by one or two defining moments along the way.

All of us know that were the product of the ups and downs of life. Psalm 30 is an honest expression on the part of the psalmist of life. That's why love the Psalm so much. I find myself here. I find my emotions here I find the things I have felt and thought of here expressed in ways much better than I could ever express the superscription over the Psalm. If you notice carefully says that it's a song at the dedication of the house of David. Let's cause a lot of confusion on the part of the scholars because the only house that David really built himself was his own house that was built by Hiram when he became king and most people do not believe this Psalm fits that occasion, but rather that it is meant to describe the events that were involved when David brought the ark back to Jerusalem and set it up in Jerusalem as the final resting place for the ark of the covenant where the temple would ultimately be built and as you read this Psalm, you begin to see that there are many connections with it that have to do with that particular event is recorded in second Samuel, you see, when David became the king over Israel.

After waiting for such a long time to be finally crowned the king when he came into his kingdom. His first desire, according to the Old Testament was to go and get the ark of the covenant and bring it back to Jerusalem so that it would be central to the worship of God's people.

Now the ark of the covenant, as we learned already represents the presence of Almighty God in the Old Testament system of worship, the ark of the covenant was that which represented the Shekinah glory of God. The presence of Almighty God.

I was reading again what happened when the Philistines got a hold of the ark of the covenant to remember that in the ark of the covenant went throughout Philistine everywhere. It ended there was all kinds of problems and frankly they finally got to the place where they want anything to do with the ark of the covenant and they send it away for many years now, the ark of the covenant had not been at the center of Israel's worship. In fact, during the time when King Saul was in the office. The Bible says that during Saul's reign. Nobody even inquired about the ark of the covenant, they didn't even ask any questions about it, but David knew that the ark of the covenant was central to the worship of Almighty God.

And so it was his desire to bring it back to Jerusalem and as soon as he became king that was his intention.

Well, unfortunately, he assigned this project to some of the people in his kingdom work very well studied in terms of the Old Testament law and if you read the story in the Old Testament, you'll discover that they went to get the ark of the covenant and they didn't follow the instructions for moving the ark of the covenant because in the book of Numbers. There are detailed instructions as to how this piece of furniture was to be moved. They thought the most convenient way to get it from where it was to Jerusalem was to put it on an oxcart and just take it on down to the city. Well, that was, not the way you were supposed to move the ark of the covenant, and on their way down. They came to a place called the threshing floor of all that, even in the Bible says that the oxen stumbled, and when the oxen stumbled the cart kind of jolted and a man by the name of, as I reached out to steady the ark of the covenant on the card so that wouldn't fall off and as soon as he touched the ark of the covenant.

He died right there on the spot he was justified in a moment, and the Bible says that David got angry nonowner why he would get angry because God said that's what would happen if anybody touched that piece of furniture in that way. God told him that was the penalty because it represented the holiness of God. But the Bible says David was angry.

In fact he was so angry that his anger turned into fear, and in second Samuel chapter 6 verses nine through 11, we read that David was afraid of the Lord that day and he said how the world can the ark of the Lord come to me, so he would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the city of David, but he took it aside into the house of old that even the get type and the ark of the Lord remained in the house of old that even the get type for three months afterwards, David was so bent out of shape over what happened and so afraid of what it happened, that he said just leave it word is I don't want anything to do with it. I'm not bringing it back to Jerusalem. Now, let's just abandon this project and get back to things. One interesting thing about the stories that after the ark of the covenant had been in the household that even for about three months, would trickle back on the Jerusalem that everything all that even touched was turning the gold everything that he did was so successful because the Bible says that the Lord bless the house of all that even because the ark of the covenant was present and all of a sudden they got renewed interest in getting the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem and so this time he went back and he studied the Old Testament law and he found out how it was supposed to be done and he went back and got the ark of the covenant and it tells us in second Samuel chapter 6 beginning at verse 12 that David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of old that even to the city of David with gladness and so it was when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep and many scholars believe that it was at that particular moment that Psalm 30 was born that David wrote that song for right there in that moment when the joy of the Lord was on them and the ark of the covenant was returning to its special place. Well it was a glorious and exciting day but I want you to just think back for a moment over the story. I just briefly told you and look at the ups and downs in David's life. He went from being angry and afraid to being overwhelmed with joy. He went from being mad at God because something he did in the flesh failed to being filled with exhilaration to the point where he couldn't contain himself, and I rather suspect that most of us have been on that up-and-down trail through much of our life. How many of you know that their peaks and valleys and sometimes the height of the wave the crest of the wave determines the depth of the prophet comes after it is not true and you know life is hard to navigate like that were going along trying to make sense out of it and we just can't, and I often think about that as a pastor I don't know of any career that you can ever sign up for any position you could ever take that would challenge your emotional equilibrium more than being a pastor. You go from a party at night to celebrate somebody's anniversary to a wedding the next day to a funeral the following day to the hospital to people in trouble and your emotions are all over the place and I think that's much of what David was talking about affecting the Psalm were to do this quickly. There are five contrasting experiences that are pointed out by the psalmist in the ups and downs of life. He begins in the first four verses and in verses eight through 10 with the cycle from hurting to healing. We do not know exactly what was going on in David's life at this time because we have no record in the narrative. The David ever had a serious sickness, but a number of his songs allude to the fact that he experienced some sickness in his life. It was my him to death. And here in the eighth verse of the 30th Psalm we read these words, which are the prayer of David about his own situation in life. A prayer for his healing noticed the eighth verse of the 30th Psalm.

I cried to you oh Lord and to the Lord. I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit. Will the desperation you will it declare your truth here. Oh Lord, have mercy on me and be my helper out. Interesting thing is David's praying because he's sick and he's arguing with God. He saying, Lord, let me just plead my case with you for a moment, why are you letting me be.

Second, why am I almost dead Lord what profit is there in my blood if I die is my dust going to praise you Lord, you let me die, you lose a worshiper. That's kind of the argument that David is bringing before the Lord. What good is there I can do you any good when I'm dead Lord once you let me live in and I'll worship you and praise you and the one thing you have to say for David's argument is at least his argument was not totally self-centered, as most of ours are.

He seemed to be concerned about the glory of God and he said if you will save me, I'll be one more worshiper who will bring honor and glory to your name and finally get success in his head and he quits all this argument and he just pleads to God for mercy. In the last verse, he says, hero, Lord, have mercy on me and be my helper and that's where we end up if you've ever been sick or you ever found out that you have something that is scary to you in terms of sickness. That's kind of the way you pray Lord you may argue with him about lots of things but when you get right down to the end of it you say Lord I need your mercy. Please please help me.

So he prays for his healing and then in verses one through four, we see the praise for his healing.

For this is what happens after God heals it in you, oh Lord, I put my trust, I will extol you, oh Lord, for you have lifted me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me oh Lord my God, I cried out to you and you healed me sing praise to the Lord. The saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holy name. Now here's the picture wherever David is in the situation in his life. He is gone down almost to the grave and he says, oh Lord God, I extol you, for you have lifted me up in the word lifted up from the Hebrew language is the same expression that you for dipping a bucket down into a well and drawing water up out of the well. David has this picture in his mind, Lord God, you reach right down into the grave and you pull me right out of the grave.

I was almost gone and the interesting thing is the word extol means to lift up and so if you read the text that way. David is saying, I will lift you up. Oh Lord, because you lifted me up I want to lift you up in price because you lifted me up and he begins to praise God for his healing. Anyone is ever been through life-threatening experience or a difficult disease knows that when God brings you back from that disease. You just can ever wake up in the morning without thanking them for the light of day. You can get up any day without thanking the Lord for his goodness to give you another day and you see the colors differently and you see the beauty of his world differently in your heart is filled with joy for the renewed opportunity to be alive. In fact, this is what David says.

He says Lord you healed me, and you kept me alive. How many of you know that when God heals you, or whether he doesn't hear you if you're alive today it's because God's keeping you alive and every day whether you ever experienced a threat to that or not you should get up and look out at the world in which she's placed you and say Lord God, thank you for keeping me alive through another day through another night I lift up my voice in my hands to you and praise for your goodness.

Notice David is gone now from hurting to healing and then noticed the purpose for his healing which is in the fourth verse and will touch on that a little bit later, but he just says he turns now and addresses the people and he says sing praise to the Lord you saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holy name. When people are praying for somebody who is sick and God raises them up.

It's just as much their responsibility to praise God for the healing as it was for them to pray for the healing in the first place. And I know that for many of you, you've prayed for those who been ill but have you always been careful to give praise to God when he has healed. And sometimes when the healing comes the pressures often we forget were so careful to say Lord if you do this I'll give you price but then we don't often do it. So David exhorts the people sing praise to his saints and give thanks to God and remember his goodness because of his healing. Now you see the first contrast is one of going from hurting or ill health, to healing and it's kind of a long way between the two.

He goes secondly to another contrast from hurting to healing and now from weeping to joy. Notice what verse five says it says weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning from weeping to join up most of the time, weeping and joy don't go together. I noticed one exception, and that is that sometimes women cry when they're happy I don't understand that completely. But I've seen them sons you know what I'm trying to figure that out. I can understand it but most of the time. Weeping goes with sadness and joy goes with gladness and David Knaus talking about this big chasm that exists between the ups and downs of weeping and joy and you know you can experience those things in just a moment of time. You can be filled with joy. One moment, and in tears. The next because events change and things happen. I want you to notice two things about this little expression this little contrast between weeping and joy. First of all, this is an everyday truth.

This doesn't even necessarily have to come from the Bible to be true, but it is true it's good common sense that when a person is going through a difficult thing you can usually say to that person with meaning and not be false in doing it. You know what, it's not going to be like this forever.

Just hang on. It's going to get better. Just hang on, you'll get through this. One of the great verses of the Bible which is been a bit misinterpreted with this little phrases but I like this misinterpretation.

Some guy was asked what his favorite verse in the Bible was and he said his favorite verse in the Bible was this and it came to pass income this day came to pass, no less, the way it is. A lot of people think you know when you go through trouble.

It's forever, but the Bible says weeping comes in the night time, but joy comes in the morning and it is true.

This is an everyday truth and I see this all the time as a pastor sometimes when were paying tribute to someone that we've loved to his gone on to be with the Lord, and you look at the sadness in the faces of the family members and you think it'll never ever be all right with them within a year later. So you see that somehow God is healed over the open wound and is brought back some gladness and joy.

I was talking with a pastor friend of mine just recently they just gone through some tragic things with one of their children and his wife said. I looked at my husband the other day and I said I wonder if will ever smile again. Some of you been through her so awful that you actually wondered if you'd ever be able to smile again because it hurt so much.

At that moment time but you know what, generally speaking, God restores it and you move through that time of weeping and God brings back the joy he just has a way of healing. But you know this is not just an everyday truth. This is an eternal truth and I will explain this to you because this is a precious thought. How many of you remember in reading the Old Testament account of creation, that the Bible says something if you think about it this rather strange. After describing the creative work every day. The Bible says this and the evening and the morning were the first day know what's wrong with that class is not upside down is that backwards isn't it morning and evening is the first day, but in God's calendar. It's not like that in God's calendar. He says it's the evening and the morning. That's the first day and you know what, there's a wonderful little practical thought there. If you just grab hold of it.

How many of you know that if you start the day the night before and the thought process in the planning process and the thinking process. The next day will always go better if you sit down at night and read just a little bit from the word of God before you go to bed, look over the things you're going to do the next day and say Lord. These are the thoughts that I have is I look at tomorrow and just bless them you know will happen, you go to bed that night, God will organize those things in your mind while you're sleeping and you get up the next day in the evening in the morning will be the day I think it's important to start early with God.

But maybe we should start even earlier.

Maybe we should start the night before. I just love the concept. In the evening in the morning were the first day and I've noticed that when I do that when I try to get a perspective on what's can happen the next day and just sort of land out and organize it, maybe ask God about it. Something happens and I'm not making this up. There's great evidence that your subconscious mind organizes your thoughts during the time when you're sleeping so there you go. Give that a try in the evening in the morning were the first day we have the some more information about life's ups and downs and will talk about that tomorrow in the third edition of Turning Point C) tomorrow. Thanks for listening.

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