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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
For whatever reason, I have always struggled to pray. And so, as this new year begins and as many of you think about new routines that you wanna give yourself to, especially for those of you who follow Jesus, I wanna invite you to learn to pray the Psalms with us. It's a practice I picked up years ago that really saved, my ability to learn to pray, to speak to God honestly about how I was feeling and what I was thinking. And so every single day on sandalschurch.tv on YouTube, we're gonna be releasing, praying the Psalms, a psalm a day. We started in January 1st and every day you're gonna get a new psalm, but the opportunity to read the psalm with us, to reflect on a phrase, and then to respond to God in prayer, how to pray through the psalms.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:This has been a gift to me in my own journey with Jesus. I pray that it's a gift to you and so would you join us. Grace and peace. As we continue in praying the Psalms, we come to Psalm 10 starting at verse 1. Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In his arrogance, the wicked man hunts down the weak who are caught in the schemes of his devices. He boasts about the cravings of his heart. He blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride, the wicked man does not seek him.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:In all his thoughts, there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous. Your laws are rejected by him. He sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, nothing will ever shake me.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He swears, no one will ever do me harm. His mouth is full of lies and threats. Trouble and evil are under his tongue. Let's just listen to the way that David describes the evil one. He goes on and says in verse 9, he lies in wait to catch the helpless.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He catches the helpless and drags him off in his net. His victims are crushed. Verse 11, he says to himself, God will never notice this. He covers his face and never sees. Verse 12.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Arise, Lord. Lift up your hand, oh God. Do not forget the helpless. Verse 15. Break the arm of the wicked man.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Call the evildoer to account. Verse 16. The Lord is King forever and ever. The nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You encourage them and you listen to the cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror. I wanna draw our attention to just the opening question of David there in verse 1. Why do you stand far off? It's really important for us that we bear in mind that these Psalms, these prayers have been preserved for us in scripture to make room for us and to model for us how we are to pray to God in the face of just real evil. David goes at length to describe the kind of individual who thinks God doesn't see him, who thinks they can just get away with what they're doing.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:They boast and they're evil. And David just as a human, as many of us would do, say God where are you? Why don't you act? And I think it's important for us to to keep in mind and to practice in our rhythms of prayer, making space for just asking God to act, we do so not demanding of him, but desiring God to be who we know God to be. The one who sees all, the one who will make all things right.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:There's a repetition here in this Psalm that we have seen in previous Psalms so far. And I think it's so important that we are reminded of just making room in our own lives for asking God to draw close to us when he feels far away. And so Jesus we hear you even just reminding us this morning, today, wherever we are reading this and watching this, to know that though you feel far off in the face of evil, you are not. You are in fact the king who reigns over all, and help us to take hope and to make our refuge. What we read in verse 18, that you defend the fatherless and the oppressed.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Though you feel far off, you are the defender of those who are weak and in need of protection. And so today God, would we have courage and hope knowing that you in fact will draw close to us in a time of need. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Grace and peace continue with us as we hit Psalm 11.