We are going to do the second to the last of our 15 categories or topics or types of Psalms. We have two left. One is the Psalms of Lamentation and the other is the Psalms of Thanksgiving. And I don't want to end on the Lamentation. I want to end on the Thanksgiving. So tonight we're going to start on the Lamentation Psalms. There are 50 of them on the list that we have, although if you get real detailed and look at how many have lamentation phrases in them. Some have said it's about 70% of the Psalms are filled with lamentations. Lamentations are sorrows and sadness, grief, I recently read a blog post about worship music in general and about the Psalms, in particular the Psalms of Lament. The title of the blog post was, Should Our Worship Songs Be Sadder? The following observation was made in that article. In that blog, it says this, quote, approximately 70% of the Psalms are laments. But I thought this was the actual, this was the part that really grabbed my eyes. Approximately 0% of the top 150 CCLI songs, those are songs sung by most churches, are laments. Approximately 70% of the psalms are either total lamentations or at least partly lamentations, and yet our worship, and this isn't a criticism, it's just an interesting observation, our worship tends, we really want to move towards upbeat and feel good. The comments on this blog, as many blogs open it up for comments, the comments drew much criticism. Why? Maybe because we don't understand the fact that the Psalms are not as much about the head as they are about the heart. And the heart has a lot of emotions, including sadness, including lamentations. The Psalms, especially the Psalms of Lament, are real. The Psalms of Lament If we're reading them with our eyes open, especially the ones that aren't as fun to read, they're pretty raw. They deal with deep sorrows sometimes and deep sadness. The Psalms of Lamentation in particular do not tell us what we want to hear, but they tell us the real truth about life. They tell us the real truth about life, even the life of people who know and love God. Because the fact is, real believers, believers, Christians who know and who love God still live in a world that is vexed with pain and with suffering of every kind. I think you know this, but until we are in heaven where there is no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears, we live where pain and sorrow and tears are very much a part of our reality. We do ourselves no favors if we deny this. One of the criticisms of the Psalms, especially the Psalms of Lament, is that they are for and about those who lived under the Old Covenant. We, insist the critics of the Psalms of Lament, we live in the New Covenant. We should not lament, one of the comments said on that black post, we should never lament because we have Jesus. Hmm. What is right and what is wrong with that line of reasoning? Let me say that line of reasoning again. We should, we live in the New Covenant, we should never lament because we have Jesus. Is there wrong and is there right in that? Well, what is right about it is we do live in the New Covenant. Praise God for that. We do live in the New Covenant, which is glorious in that we have a greater revelation of God in Christ than the Old Testament believers had merely through the law and through the ceremony and through all of the sacrifices, etc. What's wrong with a statement like that is that it fails to realize three New Covenant truths. At first I thought there was only two, but I thought of a third, so I added it. I said, well, I was going to have two, and then I had them. Then I was right in the second one. No, here's another one. What's wrong, number one, is that though we do have Jesus and our sins are forgiven, we still live in a sin-sick world that is still waiting for the culmination of all things when Jesus comes and takes his people to the new heavens and the new earth. We're not in heaven yet, folks. Secondly, what's wrong with that line of reasoning is that it is deaf to what Jesus clearly told us when he said that in this world we shall suffer persecution and tribulation. It is true that greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. But we have not yet been removed from tribulation, nor has tribulation been removed from us. The apostle Paul said that in the book of Acts, that it is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God. The good news is, is that even though we have not been removed from tribulation, nor has tribulation been removed from us, the Lord is with us. He's with us to carry us. He's with us to comfort us through our tribulations. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. We will not be delivered out of all tribulation until the Lord comes again. The third thing is what's wrong with this line of reasoning that we live in the New Covenant, so we should never have any lamentation whatsoever, is that we live in a world of pain and sorrow Because we live in a world of pain and sorrow, sometimes we are overwhelmed by life's difficulties. When I say we, I don't mean they. I don't mean other people. I don't mean non-Christians. I mean us. Sometimes we are. Now, I can't pretend that every one of us knows exactly the same sorrows and has experienced the same depths of sadness. We're all different, and our personalities and our characters are different, so we respond to them sometimes differently as well. Our troubles, including our laments, can I give you some good news? Our troubles and even our deep laments do not knock God off of his throne. He's still God, he's still in control, he still knows exactly what he's doing, and nothing that has befallen us surprises him. We sometimes need to cry out to God in our pain. And it's okay to do that. The Psalms tell us that. We sometimes need to cry out to God in our pain, knowing that He loves us. Do you know that? How often do you just think of the fact that God loves us? I mean, the one song we sing, you know, I'm totally even paraphrasing the line from the song, but He loves me even though He knows me. It's easy to love people you don't know much about. But he knows the ugly truth about who we really are. We can cry out to God in our pain because we know that he loves us. We know that he hears us. He never stiff arms us, straight arms us, and says, speak to the hand. He never tells us, I don't like that kind of negative talk. when we've got troubles and we want to cry out to Him about it, He hears us. And you know, because He loves us and since He hears us, we also know that He cares for us. He cares for us. And then not only that, it'd be one thing if He cared. I can say, I care for your sorrows, but there isn't anything I can do about it. God acts on our behalf. He binds up our sorrows, He binds up our broken hearts, not exactly immediately, and not exactly the same way every time, but this is what the Psalms of Lamentation are all about. Sometimes God delivers us from adverse, sort of as I'm gonna call them, white water circumstances. You can picture what I'm talking about, right? Other times, He doesn't deliver us out of them. But here's the confidence that we can have in our God. When we are in the midst of those white water circumstances, He climbs in the boat with us. He never abandons us. And He comforts us as we go through, as He goes through the white water with us. Some of you heard me say this before, I went through, many years of life and even many years as a Christian, not really, you know, the Psalms, okay. I first fell in love with the Psalms for the very first time in the midst of the deepest sadness. It was in the deepest trial. I think the deepest trial, it wasn't just one thing, it was a number of things, it was a perfect storm, and I'm not going to go into what it was or even when it was, but Francis and I began reading the Psalms, and we also started reading Spurgeon's Treasury of David, his three-volume commentary on the Psalms, and I never noticed how many of the Psalms are about people crying out to God saying, how can this be happening? And at last I understood. So as we worship God, it is not only not wrong, but sometimes it's altogether fitting to sing psalms of lament. Now we're treated to a little bit more of that maybe than some churches, not because we're better, but because my wife loves minors. She likes to sing songs that have a lot of minors, so we choose a lot of minors. But we do look for songs. There's one song we sing. It's named, I Will Praise Him Still. You might remember it by the title. It's by Fernando Ortega. It is like a modern psalm of lament in this way that it correctly acknowledges that the Christian life is filled with both mountains and valleys. They're both in the same song, in the same verse. Both triumph and tribulation, easy times. and times that are miserable. It also reminds us that in either case, God is good and I shall praise Him still. Let me just read, I won't sing it to you, you'll be thankful for that. When the morning falls on the farthest hill, I will sing His name, I will praise Him still. There's a sun coming up. When dark trials come and my heart is filled with the weight of doubt, I will praise Him still. There's the dark times. For the Lord our God, he is strong to save. From the arms of death, from the deepest grave, and he gave us life in his perfect will, and by his good grace, I will praise him still. I enjoyed reading some bits by a man named Christopher R. Smith. He's got a master's degree in theology from Gordon Conwell. That's nothing to sniff at. And he's got a doctorate of Christian history and in Bible from Boston College. He wrote this of the Lamentation Psalms Quote, some of the misunderstanding about laments may arise from a false impression that they are just a means of bewailing unfortunate circumstances. He calls that a mistake. What are often called laments are also known as psalms of supplication, in which the psalmist offers a cry for help and a description of their trials and troubles, but then strive to work through to a statement of trust you know, sort of God, despite all that's happening, I still trust in you. He gives that as an example in parenthesis. He goes on, and to make petition for deliverance and to vow to praise God for that anticipated deliverance, so called laments thus combine a realistic acknowledgment of difficult circumstances and troubled emotions with hard-won expressions of trust and praise. Thought that was a good summary of Psalms of Lament. I read many things about it, but I thought that was pretty succinct. A number of the Psalms of Lament, as a matter of fact, I think most of them, I didn't read all 50 in preparation for this, but I read a lot of them, and a number of the Psalms of Lament, they resolve. You know how like in a play, or in a story, or in a piece of music for that matter, things can kind of feel like they're going sideways, but then it resolves. It resolves. For those who don't appreciate jazz music, I'm sorry. But in jazz music, many times, especially some jazz music, it really starts to kind of go into cacophony, it seems like. There's just so many things going on. But if you listen, the theme is still in there and it resolves. And that's what happens in a lot of psalms of lament. There's a lot of sorrow and a lot of crying out and, oh God, please help me. And there's people trying to kill me and there's this and there's that. But in the end, It'll resolve into, I trust you. One really good example of that is Psalm 54. If you want to turn to that, we're going to look at that Psalm and we'll look at one other tonight as two Psalms that are very opposite. Psalm 54. Psalm of David. I want you to notice in the first two verses, verse 1 and 2, David cries out to God. He says, Save me, O God, by your name. I want you to notice this. David is in trouble. Nobody cries out to save me unless they're in trouble. By the way, that's an important part of the gospel, is it not? Unless someone knows they're in trouble, why in the world do they need a Savior? It's only if you know you're in trouble that you know you need a Savior. And I want you to notice also, he cries out to God. You know, in our day and age, people try, reach out for all sorts of things, just to kind of medicate ourselves out of thinking about our troubles, whether it's more entertainment, or more stuff, or turning to drugs and alcohol, or turning to more sex, or turning to more whatever, to try to medicate ourselves out of having to deal with our psalms. But David is in trouble, and he says, save me, and he directs it to God. Oh God, by your name, he says, save me. He says, vindicate me by your might. So David knows that he's no match. You need to vindicate me. Vindicate me by your might. I haven't got any. But he knows God has the might to save. Hear my prayer, O God, he says. David does not cry out to anyone or anything but God. Again, we need to be thinking about that. When trouble comes, what do we reach for first? For me, it's food. You know, there's nothing like, you know, eating to just feel better about the world. But you know, it not only doesn't help, it hurts. Hear me, oh God. Don't cry. How often when we're in any sort of difficulties, our first thought, God help me. And I'll just add a footnote onto that. How often, and I try to do this, but I don't always succeed at it. I also try to do this when I am disturbed about something, and even if I haven't really thought to pray, dear God, help me find my keys again. But when I do find them, I really do try to be intentional about saying thank you, Lord. Because even in the little things, it could be little things. Little things. And isn't it interesting how like 50 little things usually come together in the same 15-minute period? Hear my prayer, O God. Call out to God when you have trouble, and then thank Him when He delivers. Hear my prayer, O God. Listen to the words of my mouth. So he pleads with God. Listen to my lament. Listen to my lamentation. And it's interesting. You don't need to answer this because this is one of those questions that answers itself. Does God not know unless we tell him? Of course he knows. But David gives us something very important here. When we got troubles, bring them to God and tell him. Not because he doesn't know, not because he needs more information, but because I think it's humbling for us to say, God, I got nothing. I'm confused, I'm troubled, I'm scared, I'm angry, I'm sick. Whatever it is, God help me and tell him about it. It reminds us that we're no match for many of our issues. But God is super abundantly able. So in verse 3, David lays out his complaint and here it is. He says, for strangers have risen up against me. There were some foes, and the indication of this is arrogant foes, strangers, people that he didn't even necessarily know, or people maybe that he knew, but were acting like they didn't know him. You notice in some other Psalms, David cries out to the Lord about people who have turned on him, and he says, he speaks of these people, he says, when you were sick, I was with you. I was your friend. And you know what? Sometimes those people turn into strangers when they turn on you. And what are they doing? They've risen up against me. He's under attack. And oppressors have sought after my life. Ruthless people. It's like, they're out to kill me. You know, maybe not literally. Maybe literally. Saul was always out to kill him. But sometimes it's, you know, sometimes people aren't literally out to kill you, but you feel like you're in the crosshairs of someone else's ire. Call out to the Lord about that. He says, they, speaking of those oppressors, those strangers who were against him, who were seeking his life, they have not set God before them. He's talking about people without regard for God are after him. So he calls out to God. Because God's the only one that's got the answer. In verse 4, David states his trust in God. So here's a lamentation that even in the midst of it, He's not just crying out to God and saying it's hopeless. He's crying out to God and going, I know I can trust you. Behold, he says in verse 4, God is my helper. You know, this is just a real simple confession. He knew that his only hope was God. His only hope was God. By the way, you know what revival is? It's when numbers of people, collectively, come to that realization by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what, you know, if you study the history of revival in the church, the one constant, the one common denominator is not great preaching. It's humble praying. Every great revival in history has been, the catalyst for it has been when people became aware together, we need God. We've left God. We, like sheep, have gone astray, even though we are Christians sometimes. The church has strayed. That's what makes for revival. Behold, God is my helper. When we realize that our only hope is in God. He says, the Lord is with those who uphold my life. Though David was hiding from Saul, by the way, the context of this particular psalm, if you read, it's right there in the beginning paragraph before the psalm starts, a contemplation of David when the Ziphites went and said to Saul, is David not hiding with us? And so this had to do with being chased by Saul and being troubled by the Ziphites. But even then, he knew that God was the one who sustained him. He was hiding with the Ziphites, but it was God who would sustain him. So in verse 5, he lays out his petition. He goes, here's my problem. I'm trusting in you for it, but here's what I'm asking. He says in verse 5, he will repay my enemies for evil. Here he's looking forward to saying, I know that God is going to deal with this. God is going to take care of this. His justice will be served. I'm being dealt with unjustly by people who want to do me in, but God is a just judge. So let the evil justly Let evil justly befall those who slander and attack me, is what he's saying. Cut them off in your truth. Meaning, in your faithfulness, God, destroy my enemies. Now it sounds rather vindictive, sort of like those precatory Psalms that we talked about before. In verse six and seven, he sort of takes a vow of praise. Look at what it says here. I will freely sacrifice to you. So David offers, he vows to offer sacrifice. Now for you and for me, we say, well that's old covenant stuff, that doesn't matter. But we do know this, what was animal sacrifice, or any sacrifice for that matter, in the Old Testament, it was an act of what? Worship. David vows to worship with a free will offering. I freely sacrificed. In other words, this isn't something that I owe you as a sacrifice because I've sinned. If you're familiar with the sin, with, excuse me, with the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, there was free will offerings. There was things that you just said, you know, this isn't a, this isn't, I'm not offering this sacrifice for a sin. I'm not offering this for, I'm offering this because I just want to say, God, I love you. It was a free will offering. And that's what he's wanting to offer. I will freely sacrifice to you a freewill offering to God. I will praise your name, O Lord. Why? For it is good. You know, in other words, I will praise your name. See, here's what he says. I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. In other words, I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. Because that's what it means. It means exactly what it says. Why? Well, the next line sort of answers that question. Why? As he prays to the Lord, what is there that is so good about God that he says, I'm going to praise God even though I'm in trouble? In the next line it says, for he has delivered me out of all my trouble. He recognized God as the great deliverer. Now, wait a second. If he delivered him out of all of his trouble, why was he in trouble again? Because he's confessing his faith that God is faithful. In the past, he's got a track record of taking care of me, and I don't think he's going to cut out on me now. even though I don't see it happening yet. And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies. And so this is David by faith saying, I see God's deliverance, even though I can't see God's deliverance. Does that make sense? Because I know he's going to. It's based on the faithfulness of God, not on the circumstances. Listen, if we live our lives as slaves to our circumstance, we live defeated. But if we live our lives as the servants of the living God, knowing that He has done everything for us. What should we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but offered Him up freely for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? He's already paid the big ticket item, has He not? I think we can trust Him with the rest. And that's what David, I believe, is saying. So that's a little short psalm. It's a classic psalm of lament that you can break down, as I did, by just one or two verses at a time to see sort of the flow of it. The man of God cries out to God. And even though he hasn't seen the answer to his prayers, he knows that it's coming by faith and he's worshiping the Lord for it. And you know what? Most of the Psalms of lament are like that. But there are some others, not very many, but there are some others that the lament is cried out And there is no deliverance in the here and now. There is no deliverance in time and space. The whole thing is just sorrow. And as I said, some years back, when I really started falling in love with the Psalms, it really changed my whole outlook on this book. And I just love the Psalms now, because I think I get it more. I was thinking, but these are weird. They're not like praise songs. These aren't like Maranatha choruses. What are we singing these psalms for? Because they're God psalms, that's why. So I want you to turn to Psalm 88. 88 is, as a matter of fact, in my Bible, this isn't in the text, but this is just what the publishers put in. Psalm 88, crying from deepest affliction. And I wonder if they said deepest because as some people have said, some people call this quote, one of the darkest Psalms in the Bible. What we're going to do next for a little while isn't going to be terribly uplifting. I'm just telling you. I'm just saying. Okay? Because we're going to go through this psalm that never turns the corner from lamentation. It never turns into worship and praise. It's just a boatload of sorrow. But it's in the Bible. So there's a reason for it. Psalm 88 says, A psalm of the sons of Korah to the chief musicians said to Mahalaf, Leonov. So if you know the tune, you can sing it. A contemplation of Heman the Ezraite. I will say without reserve, I think the best place to look at help with the Psalms is always going to be Spurgeon's Treasury of David. It's, as they say, it's three thick volumes and it's all it is, is the Psalms. And it's Spurgeon at his at the top of his game. Spurgeon commented on this psalm as a whole with these words, and they're so good, I just want to read them to you. Quote, this sad complaint reads very little like a song, nor can we conceive how it could be called by a name which denotes a song of praise or triumph. Yet perhaps it was intentionally so called to show how faith, quote, glories in tribulations, unquote. Assuredly, if ever there was a song of sorrow and a psalm of sadness, this is it. The sons of Korah, who had often united in chanting jubilant odes, are now bidden to take charge of this mournful dirge-like hymn." To bring it up to date, since I don't know the tune to Mahalaloth Linenoth, a song just kind of broke into my thinking as I was looking at this song. Born Under a Bad Sign. Those of you who don't know the song, I'm sorry. Born Under a Bad Sign, lyrics written by William Bell, music by Booker T. Jones. By the way, he's Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the MGs. This song written by these two guys, it's a blues song. It's recorded by just about every blues singer who's ever sung since. The one famous line of this song sums up just how bad things were. Some of you know it, and if you don't, when you hear it, you'll recognize it. If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all. I mean, that's, when you're underneath it, that's how you feel. As for dividing up the psalm, and again I borrow from Spurgeon. Spurgeon said it can be divided, I love what he says on this, it can be divided into two parts, which I'm going to do. Psalm 1-9 is a description of the sick man's suffering. And verse 10-18 is a prayer for deliverance, and then I added, though no relief is ever in sight. Because if it isn't for bad luck, you've got none. No luck at all. But as with the person in deep turmoil, there's a bit of Randomness, I don't know how if you ever thought about this in your with your own life I've noticed it myself sometimes when I'm when things aren't going well. I feel like I'm out of sorts in a lot of things little things just you know maybe this didn't connect with anybody, but when I'm I Disturbed sometimes it just seems like everything's wrong not bad not the end of the world wrong But it's like it's like I like this illustration. You know if I was to say you know fold your hands with me Just do this real quick. Could you go ahead do that with me right there? You know how that goes just put your hands together now. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to just Turn them and go the other direction one, and you know that doesn't feel right does it? That's how I feel when things aren't going right. It's not like this. It's everything's like this right now. I Spurgeon describes that randomness that's in this psalm with these words. It is the incoherence of the author's grief. I love it. He calls it incoherence because he just rambles on. He rambles on about his sorrows. Verse 1 through 9 is a description of the sick man's suffering. He says in verse 1, O Lord of my salvation, I have cried out to you, cried out day and night before you. cried out day and night. There's no end. Let my prayer come before you. Incline your ear to my cry. So this is pretty simple. God, he recognizes God of my salvation because I cried out to you, only you. And it's all the time, it's day and night. Please, hear my prayer. Please listen to my cry. Because that's what it is. It's a cry. Verse 3, for my soul is full of troubles. You know, probably everything in his life wasn't bad at that moment. But you know, when there's a lot of things that seem bad, or even if there's one or two things, or sometimes even just one thing that's really bad, it can feel like all of your life is in turmoil. And that's how he felt. My soul is full of troubles. I like this. Well, I don't like it, but it's picturesque. And my life draws near to the grave. This is a person who was so sad that even though he really wasn't facing death, probably, at that moment, he was despairing of life. I want you to just notice, even at the outset of this psalm, this is a place where we are in the depths of sorrow. The depths of sorrow, despairing of life. I am counted with those who go down to the pit. The psalmist felt like those who saw him, saw him as one without hope. Notice how he says, I am counted. Counted by who? In other words, when people see me. I'm counted with those who go down to the pit, someplace of no hope. I'm like the man, he goes on, who has no strength. Do you know the difference between weakness and no strength? Weakness is weak. No strength is without strength. None whatsoever. This is the, by the way, this is the phrase that Saul, excuse me, that the Apostle Paul uses in Romans when he says when we were yet without strength. He doesn't say when we were in a weakened condition. He doesn't say when we were drowning in sin. He says when we were without strength. It's not a figure of speech. It's saying we had absolutely zero. Our strength bank account was empty when we were without strength. Christ died for the ungodly. That's when we need him most, is it not? When we realize how far down we are. And that's how the psalmist here says, not just weak, but altogether without strength whatsoever. Verse 5, adrift among the dead. These words are so Can I say, rather than beautifully, can I say they're so horribly, in a beautiful sort of way, they're so horribly poetic, adrift among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, like those hurting, Those are just like the hurting words of deep despair, friends. For someone to describe, how are you doing? I feel like I'm adrift among the dead. I feel like the slain who lie in the grave. He's not exaggerating his case. That's really the way he felt. He goes on, "...whom you remember no more and who are cut off from your hand." How did he feel? He not only felt this way about himself, but he felt utterly rejected by God too. Remind you of anybody else that you know of that was maybe hung on a cross outside of Jerusalem sometime later? Forsaken by God? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Verse 6, "...you have laid me in the lowest pit." in darkness, in the depths. The Proverbs talk about the person who digs a pit for his neighbor. In other words, he's digging a trap or a snare for his neighbor. And he says, whoever digs a pit for his neighbor will fall into it himself. But he's not saying I'm just in a pit, a random pit, a common pit. What does he say? I'm in the lowest pit. This is the deepest hole that's ever been dug and I'm in the bottom of it. This is a person who, written by a person who knows and loves God. Verse 7, your wrath lies heavy upon me and you have afflicted me with all your waves. He does not see himself merely as the victim of men, but as the object of God's sore displeasure. Maybe because it's so bad, he thinks men couldn't even come up with making me feel this bad. Only God could do this. But I also think it's very interesting that he talks about with waves. I love the beach. You know, if everybody leaves California, I'm staying, because I don't want to go away from the beach. I like to go to the beach. I love the sound of the waves. I don't even hardly get in the water anymore. I just like the sound of it. As a matter of fact, I love the sound of the waves so much that many times I get out my phone and I turn on, when it's time to go to bed, I turn on YouTube and I type in rain, thunder, and wave sounds. And I find these videos that go immediately to a black screen, and they play 10 hours. They play 10 hours of the sounds of waves with rain and thunder in the distance. Boy, that's relaxing. I love the beach. But you know one of the things about waves? They just keep coming. You know? It's like a great observation to say that the waves keep breaking on the shore, but God holds them back and tells you you can go this far and no farther. But the waves keep coming, and he says, this is like waves of God. They're relentless. There's no rest from this. There's no respite. And you know, yes, if anybody's thinking this, and if not, maybe we should, but the answer is yes. Even a Christian can feel this low. Even a Christian, even a person who knows and loves God can feel this low. It doesn't happen to everybody, praise God, but it happens probably to more of us than we realize. And as a result, verse 8, as a result, he feels utterly friendless in the world. Even those who are no friend of God think they have friends in the world, right? Even those who think they have no friend of God, they think they have friends in the world, but not this poor chap. And after saying that God is the one who's been doing me this way, he says in verse 8, you have put away all my acquaintances far from me. It's still God who's in control, but he goes, I don't even have any friends left. You've removed even those people from me. You've made me an abomination to them. Makes me think about how Job felt. I am shut up, I cannot get out. You know, when a person falls, there is hope and expectation of getting up, right? What's the first thing you do, especially if there's people around, you get up, well, the first thing you do is you look to see, did anybody see me fall? Because the most important thing that you're worried about hurting when you fall down is your pride. You don't want anybody to see, and then what is it you do as soon as you, I'm fine, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm getting back up, I'm fine, and you know, like, where you fell really hurts. I don't know how many of you came in the front of the office over here. There was a little step that was about this big. And I came up there one day, and I had some stuff in my hands, and my toe caught that little step, and I went completely over and somersaulted and laid flat out on the concrete. And the first thing I thought of was, I hope nobody saw that. And then the second thing I thought of was I better get up really quick. So I got up really quick, and as I was getting up, I thought, man, that's gonna hurt tomorrow. Because it already did. You know, when we fall down, there's an expectation we can get up. We want to assure ourselves we're fine, we're okay, we're gonna be okay. But when one has fallen and has no hope and no expectation of ever getting up again, that's cause for despair. And this is what he says, I'm shut up. I cannot get out. I'm done. There's no escape from this problem I'm feeling. Verse 9, my eye wastes away because of affliction. Again, borrowing from Spurgeon, of this expression, my eye wastes away because of affliction, Spurgeon wrote, quote, he wept his eyes out. He wept his eyes out. He exhausted his glands. He wore away his own sight. Tears in showers are a blessing and work are good, but in floods they become destructive and injurious to us." Close quote. He says in verse nine, my eye wastes away because of affliction. I've cried my eyes out, Lord. I have called daily upon you. You have stretched out my hands to you. Once again, even as he said at the very beginning, I call out to you day and night. Here he says, I've called out to you, Lord. I've been calling out to you day every day. He stretched out, and I like the picture. He says, I stretched out my hands to you. He's painting a picture of the desperation of saying, please, pick me up. Isn't it precious when a little child comes to you and they lift up their hands and they want you to pick them up? Why do they do that? Because you're someone to them. They don't do that to strangers often. And well, they shouldn't. But here's a person who's crying out to God and he's stretching out his arms. But there was no answer. You might have heard the expression, when the heavens are brass, it means I'm crying out to God, but nothing's coming back because it's just cold. It seems like the heavens are brass. You know, when the heavens are brass, even Christians despair. When you pray, and you pray, and you pray, and you say, Lord, why am I not getting better? Why is it that I take one step forward and four steps back? Why? Am I saying that despair is good and that despair is right? No, no, no, no. Let me correct that if it sounds like that's what I'm saying. Despair is indeed evidence that we are in a dark place that we cannot, where we cannot see or even imagine what God is up to. It doesn't necessarily mean we're angry with God, although some people cross that line, but it means we can't even imagine that God has got a plan in this. Why, Lord, why? How many of you have read the book of Job? It wears him down. At first he's like, you know, God gave, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. But after a while it's like, yeah, so, yeah, really? What is happening to me? Why is this happening? Despair is not good. In some ways, and I want to be careful to say this, because I don't mean this to be critical or to pile on to someone who already is, but let's face it, in reality, for the Christian, despair is evidence of a lack of trust in God. We can't see what he's up to, it doesn't make sense, and so we can despair. But you know what? Even though despair is not good, it is sometimes a reality, this side of heaven. That's one of the reasons why the picture of heaven in Revelation chapter 21 is so precious. There's no more tears. There's no sorrows. Why is that such great news? Because here there are plenty. And they wear us down. They wear us out. So verses 1 through 9 is a description of the sick man's suffering, and boy oh boy oh boy, it is picturesque. Verses 10 through 18 is a prayer for mercy and deliverance, and as I add, though no relief really ever comes in view, there's none in sight. Verse 10, will you work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise you? Even though he cries out to God again, Note how he sees himself beyond hope. How does he see himself? I'm dead. I don't need to get better. I'm dead. You're going to do something for somebody that's too late? It is as though he cannot ever imagine praising God again. That's why he says, shall the dead arise and praise you? Verse 11, shall your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or your faithfulness to the place of destruction? Verse 12, shall your wonders be known in the dark and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? Can I just ask you this? I'm sure you do, but can you hear the despair in those words? Can you feel the utter hopelessness that this person is going through? And this is a person who loves God. Verse 13, But to you I have cried out, O LORD. And in the morning my prayer comes before you. He's still having his quiet time. He's still getting up in the morning and saying his daily prayers, apparently. Can I just comment and say this about that? Do the best you can not to stop doing the right thing, even when there's nothing in you pushing you forward to do it. You know, some people say, well, it's not in my heart, so I'm not going to do it. No, no. Praising God, reading His Word, being in church, being in fellowship, it's the right thing to do, even if your heart's not in it. The problem is not in the doing, the problem is in the heart being in trouble. So do the right thing and trust that through those means of grace, God will help deliver you. We can't just phone it in and give up, saints. We can't do that. We've got to keep going. We've got to keep going. Verse 14, Lord, why do you cast off my soul once again? Why do you hide your face from me? He's not just in a bad place, but he feels forsaken by God himself. This is the person who reads the verses in scripture, it's in the Old Testament as well as the New, that God says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And you say, but it sure feels like it. I don't have a friend in the world. I don't have any strength left. I feel like I've cried my eyes out. Whatever it is, it's like there's no hope. Why do you hide your face from me? Not just a bad place, but even forsaken by God. And again, I ask this question. Sound like anyone you know hanging on a cross outside Jerusalem some years later? Why have you forsaken me? Now I want you to listen how this psalm ends. You see, most of these psalms are lament. It's like, but praise the Lord. Better days ahead. Listen to this. I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth. I suffer your terrors. I am distraught. Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off. These are all directed to God. They came around me all day long like water. They engulfed me. It's like being immersed. Verse 18. Loved one and friend, you have put far from me. You've even taken away my companions and my acquaintances into darkness. Period. I didn't catch a lot of uplifting stuff in that psalm. This wouldn't make for a yippy-skippy praise song. But it's in God's songbook. What does that tell us? Where's the deliverance? Does the sun never rise again? Answer for believers, it will. Someday. Maybe not until heaven. I read a book years ago, it's an interesting book, it's called Don't Waste Your Sorrows. And the premise was, it was about suffering, and the premise was that don't miss what God wants to do even if he doesn't reveal it to you in this life, even if he doesn't reveal to you what he was doing until you get to heaven. Don't waste your sorrows. The point is that when you are in that place, that place described in this psalm, it certainly doesn't seem like the sun will ever rise. So there it ends. So I would ask this question, what good is there in a psalm like this? Well, let me give you a couple things that I think are, three things that I think make this psalm worthwhile. The first one is people, even believers, can really experience feelings of utter despair, including Christians. Think about some of the ramifications of that. Here's the second thing. God is still there. God is still there. No matter how far you may feel God has left, He hasn't moved. God is still there. And this Psalm is in the Bible, which tells you that God wants us to wrestle with this. God knows our sorrows. Listen to me. God knows your deepest sorrows, even when you don't think He does. You are not alone in your despair. And thirdly, even if we never feel this way, and I pray you don't. If you haven't, I pray that you are able to get all the way through life and never feel this way. But even if you never feel this way, let us learn from this to demonstrate patient compassion on those who may be in this place. Because Christians do suffer. Psalms of lament. They are about real people with real problems and God is right there with them even when it feels like he's not. It is okay, even biblical, for some of our worship songs to be sad or at least to address sadness because the Psalms certainly do. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this just kind of overview of the concept of the Psalms of lament. Father, may we not be unrealistic. Your word certainly is. Father, I pray that these Psalms would be a comfort to us in our times of difficulty, and as I say, even for those who maybe never have, and maybe never will experience those kinds of troubles. May those people be patient and compassionate with those who are in a dark place. And we praise you for it in Jesus' name, amen.