WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:22.260 Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:25.880 This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons. 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:30.420 We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:31.260 the latest message. 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:32.460 Thanks for listening. 00:00:45.620 --> 00:00:49.400 If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Psalm 13. 00:00:51.100 --> 00:00:52.420 That's where we're going to be today. 00:00:53.820 --> 00:00:57.320 As you turn there, I want to remind you one of the announcements that came on the screen 00:00:57.320 --> 00:00:58.980 was about our Harvest Hangout. 00:00:59.080 --> 00:01:03.660 What we've done over the last several years is we've had an opportunity, well, not over 00:01:03.660 --> 00:01:08.940 the last several years, but before we had an opportunity in our fall season to partner with 00:01:08.940 --> 00:01:15.400 White Knoll Elementary School to do a time of harvest celebration where we had an opportunity 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:17.980 to get out and to work and to serve our community. 00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:22.480 But because of situations and circumstances over the last several years, we haven't been 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:23.320 able to do that. 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:27.020 And so instead of saying this year, we're not going to do that, what we've decided to do 00:01:27.020 --> 00:01:30.520 is just pull that into our church, into our parking lot. 00:01:30.620 --> 00:01:35.100 And so on Sunday, October the 31st, from four to six o'clock, it's going to be a wonderful 00:01:35.100 --> 00:01:42.120 time for us as a church family to get out together, to be outside, to enjoy, hopefully, the nice, 00:01:42.260 --> 00:01:47.400 cool, fall weather, right, and celebrate just being a church family together. 00:01:47.740 --> 00:01:49.780 And so we're going to do our Harvest Hangout during that time. 00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:53.220 There are games, food, and activities for all ages. 00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:55.180 So this isn't just something for the little kids. 00:01:55.300 --> 00:01:56.780 This is something for all of us. 00:01:56.820 --> 00:02:01.480 And so we want to encourage you to come out, to be a part that night, and to just celebrate 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:05.660 the opportunity that we have to be a church family. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.380 Well, we are starting a new series this morning. 00:02:08.780 --> 00:02:11.900 And over the next eight weeks, we're going to do something a little different. 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:13.520 I'm really excited about this. 00:02:13.820 --> 00:02:19.000 Joel Berger and I have been talking about this for honestly a couple years, and how to piece 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:20.480 us together, and how to do this. 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:25.680 And God continued to open doors through areas of creativity to allow us to do this. 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:29.520 But over the next eight weeks, what we're going to do is we're going to look at a different 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:30.100 psalm. 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:34.540 So each week, we'll kind of bounce around the book there and look at a different psalm. 00:02:34.660 --> 00:02:40.640 But what's going to be cool about it is either during our worship time or during our time 00:02:40.640 --> 00:02:48.360 response, the band is going to come up on stage and play musically the psalm that we just read 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:53.520 about, that we just studied, or that we are going to read and that we are going to study. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:55.560 So like today, we'll do that. 00:02:55.620 --> 00:02:57.020 It'll be a time of reflection. 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.260 But then other times, it'll be a time of corporate worship. 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:06.480 And so Joel and I are really excited about this to kind of dive in and attack the psalms in a really 00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:11.560 creative and in different way that I'll be honest with you is stretching me and is stretching 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:12.020 him. 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:13.560 And I know our team as well. 00:03:13.700 --> 00:03:16.000 But I will go ahead and give you a little sneak preview. 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:21.240 You're going to be extremely blessed by Psalm 13 and how it's going to be led with us here 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:22.140 in just a moment. 00:03:22.320 --> 00:03:22.540 All right. 00:03:22.600 --> 00:03:24.100 So let's talk a little bit. 00:03:24.160 --> 00:03:24.320 All right. 00:03:24.480 --> 00:03:26.540 What is a psalm? 00:03:26.620 --> 00:03:31.580 Not necessarily a word that we use often and definitely isn't a word that is used often 00:03:31.580 --> 00:03:33.700 outside of a Christian context. 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:36.500 And so let's talk a little bit about what do we mean when we say we're going to study 00:03:36.500 --> 00:03:38.000 Psalm 13 this morning. 00:03:38.340 --> 00:03:42.940 So a psalm is a song or a poem that is written for worship. 00:03:43.340 --> 00:03:48.880 So when you open the psalms each time that you read from them and they read like poetry 00:03:48.880 --> 00:03:50.400 and there's a reason for that. 00:03:50.500 --> 00:03:51.820 It's because it is a poem. 00:03:51.940 --> 00:03:52.700 It is a song. 00:03:52.700 --> 00:03:58.560 That when these were written, they were written as an act and as a time of worship. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:01.280 So the early church, they would have turned to these. 00:04:01.500 --> 00:04:03.240 This would have been their time of worship. 00:04:03.420 --> 00:04:08.140 Even the Israelites during this time would have looked at these as they worship the Lord 00:04:08.140 --> 00:04:10.060 and they would have sang the psalms. 00:04:10.140 --> 00:04:13.460 And so that's what we want to look at them as and that's how we want to treat them. 00:04:13.560 --> 00:04:19.340 Now, there are 150 psalms and David that we know as King David, David and Goliath, right? 00:04:19.340 --> 00:04:22.260 He wrote at least 73 of them. 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:27.040 And so a lot of what we study, we're going to be able to draw comparisons of what was happening 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:30.500 in David's life in the point in time when he wrote the psalm. 00:04:30.880 --> 00:04:37.120 Now, what we'll find is this, that the psalms are extremely emotional, right? 00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:38.700 Extremely emotional. 00:04:39.260 --> 00:04:42.740 You think about like the good songs of all time, right? 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:48.740 And you listen to the songs that are there and you can know that whoever this songwriter 00:04:48.740 --> 00:04:54.200 was that wrote this song is like working through and dealing through some things in their life. 00:04:54.320 --> 00:04:56.520 And that's what we're going to find with these as well. 00:04:56.520 --> 00:05:00.780 They're extremely emotional, but they're also revealing. 00:05:01.620 --> 00:05:05.700 And they open our eyes to see things how we haven't necessarily seen them before. 00:05:06.300 --> 00:05:09.500 And honestly, how we don't see things a lot of times in scripture. 00:05:10.020 --> 00:05:12.060 The psalms will be revealing about God. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:17.540 They will speak to the untimely character and nature and truth about who God is. 00:05:17.780 --> 00:05:24.480 But also what we will find out is they will reveal so much about the author also. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:29.700 And so when we look at psalms, we'll find like there's kind of three categories that they move to. 00:05:30.140 --> 00:05:32.760 One of the categories is they cry out to God. 00:05:32.820 --> 00:05:35.240 And that's really a lot of what we're going to look at today. 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:39.120 A cry out to God, but also a need given to God. 00:05:39.620 --> 00:05:41.520 As they go through a struggle, what's there? 00:05:41.640 --> 00:05:44.920 You know, we use this phrase often, turn it over to the Lord. 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:49.780 And what we're going to find out from the psalmist is that in often all of these things of what they're going through, 00:05:50.020 --> 00:05:52.660 they turn their needs over to him as well. 00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:58.580 But also as we look through them, we'll see that many of these are simply songs dedicated to God. 00:05:58.940 --> 00:06:05.600 I like to oftentimes look at the psalms and see they're almost like a love song, right, 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:12.000 written not about a spouse or a significant other, but they're a love song written about God, 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:19.060 of God's faithfulness, of God's love, of God's kindness, and of God's compassion. 00:06:19.960 --> 00:06:22.320 And so that's what we're going to look at each week when we see these. 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:27.220 Now, Psalm 13 is a psalm that was written by David. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:33.900 And it's a psalm that's written by David during a very difficult time in David's life. 00:06:34.340 --> 00:06:41.880 And so if you don't know who David is, David was a boy who was promised by God that he would be the king of Israel. 00:06:42.060 --> 00:06:46.460 God sent his prophet Samuel to tell David this in 1 Samuel 16. 00:06:46.780 --> 00:06:51.320 But there's only one issue when God reveals to David that he will be king. 00:06:51.540 --> 00:06:54.140 It's that there's already a king, King Saul. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:56.840 Now, you know a lot about kings, right? 00:06:56.840 --> 00:07:01.560 One thing that a king does not want to do quite often is release power. 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:04.860 They don't want to turn over the kingdom to someone else. 00:07:04.960 --> 00:07:07.500 And Saul is no different. 00:07:07.900 --> 00:07:08.880 It's his throne. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:17.300 He's been given this throne, and he wants to keep a hold of it in spite of his rebellion to the Lord. 00:07:17.580 --> 00:07:28.200 And so when Saul begins to feel threatened by David, he responds and tries to seek out and to kill David so that Saul can fight for what's his. 00:07:28.860 --> 00:07:35.560 And so where we find David at in Psalm 13 is David is running from King Saul. 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:45.600 In fact, if you looked at 1 Samuel 20 verse 3, it tells us that David says that he feels like there's a step between him and death. 00:07:45.860 --> 00:07:46.820 Like imagine that. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:51.140 David's like, man, death is so close, I feel like it's one step away. 00:07:51.820 --> 00:07:57.120 Like he could just reach out at any point in time, in any moment, and grab it. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:03.460 And so David's world in the midst of the chaos feels like it's falling apart. 00:08:04.340 --> 00:08:13.740 And as David is there and as David is running and as David is hiding in Psalm 13, he begins to wrestle with what is going on in his life. 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:25.060 David knows that God has promised David the throne, but the fulfillment of that day seems like it is getting farther and farther away and not closer like it should. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:33.880 Saul was doing all kinds of evil and rebellion against God, but David feels like Saul's getting away with it. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:39.020 And David is trying to be obedient in all that he does, but he feels like he's getting punished. 00:08:40.040 --> 00:08:42.460 And then, I don't know if you've ever been here, but you probably have. 00:08:42.540 --> 00:08:44.480 I know that I've been here as well. 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:50.040 David's beginning to feel like in this moment, God, why are you letting this happen? 00:08:51.860 --> 00:08:53.400 God, this is what you promised. 00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:56.360 This is what you said. 00:08:57.700 --> 00:09:00.540 This is what I'm doing out of obedience of that. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:07.440 But Lord, everything that is playing out in front of me does not speak to these things. 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.040 And so, God, why are you letting this happen? 00:09:13.500 --> 00:09:16.560 Now, I've found very many points and times in my life where this has been me. 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:18.960 And it's probably been you as well. 00:09:20.060 --> 00:09:21.640 You know, it's probably not the promise of a kingdom. 00:09:22.520 --> 00:09:25.260 It's probably not the pursuit of someone who's trying to kill you. 00:09:25.800 --> 00:09:28.600 But we come to the same end of thought. 00:09:28.980 --> 00:09:31.520 God, why are you letting this happen? 00:09:31.660 --> 00:09:37.420 God, I know you promised good to me, but all it seems like you give me is pain and suffering. 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:44.740 God, I look around me and I see those who disobey you and they feel blessed. 00:09:45.420 --> 00:09:49.600 But I look at my life and my heart to obey and yet I feel cursed. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:51.020 Why, God? 00:09:51.880 --> 00:09:52.180 Why? 00:09:52.900 --> 00:09:56.900 You know, let's talk real quickly about being honest with the Lord. 00:09:57.500 --> 00:10:08.920 So many times we put on this false facade and what we're going to see in the beauty of David's writing is the honesty where he looks at him and says, God, why? 00:10:09.660 --> 00:10:10.060 Why? 00:10:10.680 --> 00:10:11.740 So look at Psalm 13. 00:10:11.820 --> 00:10:13.360 We're going to read verses 1 and 2. 00:10:15.040 --> 00:10:20.360 How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:24.580 How long will you hide your face from me? 00:10:25.560 --> 00:10:31.140 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? 00:10:31.920 --> 00:10:36.540 How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 00:10:37.100 --> 00:10:43.020 This is the raw honesty of David here in this moment as he's going through these situations. 00:10:43.640 --> 00:10:49.560 And what I want us to understand and work through is what do we do when God feels distant? 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:54.060 What do we do when God feels far away? 00:10:54.640 --> 00:10:59.680 Because your life and my life, it's a lot like David's, right? 00:11:00.280 --> 00:11:01.360 David loved the Lord. 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:10.140 David sought to be obedient to the Lord, but yet at the same time, there's the levels of the flesh that are within him where we see these acts of disobedience that come from him. 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:18.260 And so there begins to be moments and times when we know who God is, we know the promises of God, but yet he still feels distant. 00:11:18.540 --> 00:11:20.660 Because here's the truth about your life and mine. 00:11:20.780 --> 00:11:32.780 Your life and mine is this meshed together mixture of success and failure, sin and obedience, glory and brokenness, right? 00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:33.720 That's who we are. 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:37.560 Some days, right, man, I'm clicking, getting this, doing it. 00:11:37.640 --> 00:11:43.640 And then other days, it's like, man, do I even know what in the world I'm doing as I'm living in these moments of rebellion? 00:11:43.640 --> 00:11:54.680 We're this meshed up, mixed up group of holiness and brokenness, all found in one as we live out the practicality of our everyday life. 00:11:55.280 --> 00:12:04.280 And when we live, even as redeemed followers of Christ in this broken world, this can take us to places like it brought David, 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:16.320 where we feel like God has left us, where God has forgotten about us, and where things like depression and anxiety begin to take hold and root within our own lives. 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:19.640 I mean, this is what we see from David, right? 00:12:20.040 --> 00:12:28.900 David, who described in Scripture as a man after God's own heart, but right, like, we don't have the time to get into all the details of David's life, 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:30.840 but, like, let's just cover it by saying this. 00:12:31.160 --> 00:12:34.640 David can't pass a background check to work in your kid's school, right? 00:12:35.060 --> 00:12:35.940 That's King David. 00:12:36.800 --> 00:12:44.340 A man after God's own heart, who has had some hard core sin failures in his life. 00:12:45.780 --> 00:12:51.040 And that's the mixed up, meshed up world that he finds himself in. 00:12:52.100 --> 00:12:58.660 And I don't know about you, but I find the truth oftentimes rings true for us, right? 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:02.580 There's this conglomerate that's there. 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:11.280 And so David, in this moment of honesty, right, he brings these four frustrations to God that we see in these two verses. 00:13:11.420 --> 00:13:14.900 The first one that he says is, how long, Lord, will you forget me? 00:13:15.980 --> 00:13:19.620 David feels like God is alienating him, right? 00:13:20.300 --> 00:13:23.500 Have you ever been rejected by God or felt rejected by God? 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:27.460 Have you ever felt like God, like, I'm here, but where are you? 00:13:28.180 --> 00:13:30.460 Have you ever felt stiffed, armed, away from him? 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:32.460 That's what David is experiencing. 00:13:32.920 --> 00:13:35.640 How long, O Lord, will you forget me? 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:40.080 Lord, how long will you make me feel alienated from you? 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:41.940 But that's not his only frustration. 00:13:42.060 --> 00:13:45.500 He comes back and says, how long will you hide your face from me? 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:50.640 Well, the face of God is associated with the blessings of God. 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:56.780 And so David's saying, not only do I feel alienated from you, not only do I feel rejected by you, 00:13:56.780 --> 00:14:01.320 but God, in this moment, I feel like you're revoking your blessings from me. 00:14:01.920 --> 00:14:04.240 I feel like my life is a curse. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:07.640 And then David brings up another frustration. 00:14:07.780 --> 00:14:13.200 He says, how long must I take counsel in my soul, in sorrow, in my heart? 00:14:13.420 --> 00:14:15.520 Here's what David confesses right here in these words. 00:14:15.940 --> 00:14:17.080 God, I'm depressed. 00:14:18.660 --> 00:14:23.340 And the spirit of depression is what speaks to me. 00:14:24.560 --> 00:14:27.120 I don't know if you've ever gone through depression. 00:14:28.280 --> 00:14:33.120 But depression speaks oftentimes at the most inner part of your soul. 00:14:34.280 --> 00:14:35.000 You're not worthy. 00:14:35.140 --> 00:14:35.780 You're not loved. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:36.620 You're not cared for. 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:38.220 You don't matter. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:44.680 David comes before God and says, God, I feel like you're stiff-arming me, pushing me away. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:49.580 God, I feel like you're revoking and removing the blessings that you've given me. 00:14:50.060 --> 00:14:51.560 And Lord, I don't hear you. 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:57.780 The only thing that I hear is the depression that sinks with inside of me. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:05.180 And then he said, God, and how long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 00:15:06.180 --> 00:15:07.900 And here's the honesty of David. 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:10.480 God, this is where I am. 00:15:10.540 --> 00:15:13.940 And why are you letting this happen? 00:15:14.660 --> 00:15:14.800 Right? 00:15:16.040 --> 00:15:23.680 Now, this would be the message that many of us have gone through, sometimes often in our life. 00:15:24.800 --> 00:15:31.340 David brings the perspective as a man who loves the Lord, but yet finds the circumstances around his life 00:15:31.340 --> 00:15:38.180 are not what he would have chosen for himself, but even more so is not the circumstances that he feel like God has promised him 00:15:38.180 --> 00:15:41.100 that don't reflect the faithfulness of God. 00:15:41.420 --> 00:15:46.900 But what we see in these first two verses are from David's perspective, but not the perspective of God. 00:15:47.300 --> 00:15:49.200 God hasn't forgotten David. 00:15:49.400 --> 00:15:50.700 Who's sustaining David? 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:51.720 God is. 00:15:52.180 --> 00:15:54.940 God has not removed his blessing from him. 00:15:55.080 --> 00:15:57.320 It will be fulfilled, but in God's timing. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:03.680 God is not leaving David alone in his depression, but God is working in restoring him. 00:16:03.920 --> 00:16:10.200 And God is not exalting David's enemies, but what God is doing is God is exalting himself. 00:16:12.100 --> 00:16:14.920 But from David's perspective, you can't see this, right? 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:22.980 And so you and I, we need to look here in this moment as we walk through these things, and we have to make the choice. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:24.140 What do we do here? 00:16:24.880 --> 00:16:27.340 What do we do when life brings us this? 00:16:27.920 --> 00:16:34.580 What do we do when our meshed up world of sin and obedience, right, begin to collide in these moments, 00:16:34.580 --> 00:16:39.160 and we're wondering, God, where in the world are you? 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:41.100 Are we going to call it quit? 00:16:42.260 --> 00:16:43.240 Are we going to be done? 00:16:44.520 --> 00:16:47.920 Or are we going to do what David needs to do here in this moment, is lean in and trust God? 00:16:48.660 --> 00:16:49.880 Lean in and trust God. 00:16:52.880 --> 00:16:54.120 David knows what he needs. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:55.920 David knows what he wants. 00:16:56.040 --> 00:16:57.620 David knows what he's desiring. 00:16:58.260 --> 00:17:02.000 But yet he feels that these are far and removed to him. 00:17:02.420 --> 00:17:06.340 So let's look at ours, our life, and our moments, and our struggles. 00:17:07.300 --> 00:17:12.120 Be willing to bet that no one in here feels like they should be the king of anything, right, or even the queen of anything, you know? 00:17:13.040 --> 00:17:18.400 But we begin to see here the health struggles, the sickness of life, and we ask our questions, God, where are you? 00:17:19.260 --> 00:17:27.240 We see our marriages begin to struggle and fall apart, and we wonder why in our obedience to God and desire to see him glorified, God, where are you? 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:33.200 We look at our struggles with our kids, some of them young, some of them old and moved away, and we see the brokenness that's there. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:39.780 We see we know what we raised them to pursue, but we see them pursuing other things, and we ask God the question, God, where are you? 00:17:40.580 --> 00:17:47.040 We try to honor God with our finances, but yet we continue to see financial struggles, and we wonder, God, where are you? 00:17:47.780 --> 00:17:56.320 I don't know about you, but we can continue to leave list after list after list as we walk through these, as we face these, as depression begins to sink in, 00:17:56.320 --> 00:17:58.700 and say, God, where are you? 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:08.380 And in those moments, in a breaking point of choice in the life of a follower of Christ, you and I are going to choose one of two things, 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:11.060 to either dig in or quit. 00:18:12.280 --> 00:18:13.420 To dig in or quit. 00:18:14.060 --> 00:18:15.200 And I want to be honest with you. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:26.140 I've seen so many men and women proclaim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and then something between a speed bump and a mountain enters into their life, 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:31.220 and in that moment, it's too difficult to push through, so they throw their hands up, and I'm done. 00:18:32.500 --> 00:18:33.260 I'm done. 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:39.280 And they quit, but that's not what David does, and that's not what God wants us to do. 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:40.540 What does David do? 00:18:40.620 --> 00:18:41.400 David digs in. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:42.720 Look at verses three and four. 00:18:44.220 --> 00:18:44.760 He says, 00:18:44.760 --> 00:19:02.700 So here's what David does. 00:19:03.360 --> 00:19:17.360 Everything that he feels like God is promising him is falling short, and so what David does is David digs in, and David cries out to God. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:21.460 And so I want to look at this morning of what does it mean to cry out to God? 00:19:22.420 --> 00:19:23.460 What does that mean? 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:25.820 Well, let's start off with this. 00:19:27.040 --> 00:19:34.520 Look, can we admit that when it comes to the Lord, that if we can't be honest with him, who can we be honest with? 00:19:35.340 --> 00:19:36.200 Life is hard. 00:19:36.320 --> 00:19:41.760 This world is broken, and you and I live in the reality of that every single day. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.580 Life is hard, and God knows that. 00:19:46.500 --> 00:19:50.700 The other day, I went to the gas station to get a big gulp in a Snickers bar. 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:51.760 Moment of confession, right? 00:19:52.420 --> 00:19:52.840 Oh, yeah. 00:19:53.600 --> 00:20:05.900 And I walked in, and I walked back, and I got my, like, 124-ounce styrofoam cup for 99 cents, and grabbed the Snickers bar, and I walked up to the counter, and I set it down there, and the lady said, 00:20:06.100 --> 00:20:08.800 How's your day going today, and what do you think I said? 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:10.080 Fine. 00:20:10.760 --> 00:20:11.340 Fine, right? 00:20:11.620 --> 00:20:11.900 Fine. 00:20:12.740 --> 00:20:16.480 And then I said, because it's common courtesy, well, how's your day going? 00:20:16.860 --> 00:20:18.600 And what did I expect her to say? 00:20:19.300 --> 00:20:20.380 Fine, right? 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:21.760 She didn't. 00:20:23.380 --> 00:20:24.140 She didn't. 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:26.980 I know about her boss. 00:20:27.060 --> 00:20:28.040 I know about her kids. 00:20:28.140 --> 00:20:29.180 I know about her husband. 00:20:29.420 --> 00:20:30.600 And let me just tell you, right? 00:20:31.180 --> 00:20:33.220 We're going to have a prayer service for her in a little while. 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:36.000 It was a tough, tough day. 00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:44.920 But I asked, and she answered, and she answered with realness and rawness, and I just gave it fine. 00:20:45.840 --> 00:20:47.060 I'm going to be honest with you. 00:20:47.900 --> 00:20:53.820 So many times, we look at maturity and say that going before the Lord and saying we're fine is maturity. 00:20:55.500 --> 00:20:57.740 But David is a man after God's own heart. 00:20:58.820 --> 00:21:01.920 And David comes to the Lord and says, I need to be honest with you. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:02.960 I'm not fine. 00:21:03.080 --> 00:21:04.200 I'm not okay. 00:21:04.380 --> 00:21:05.240 I'm not good. 00:21:06.520 --> 00:21:11.120 And we've got to have an honest conversation between you and I. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:16.040 And what David does here is David makes three requests to the Lord. 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:19.580 The first thing that he says to him is he says, God, look at me. 00:21:20.300 --> 00:21:21.120 Look at me. 00:21:22.120 --> 00:21:29.620 What David's wanting in that moment of where he's at is he says, God, I want you to express your love to me. 00:21:29.760 --> 00:21:30.740 God, look at me. 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:32.140 Look at me. 00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:34.720 And then David says, answer me. 00:21:35.500 --> 00:21:36.100 Answer me. 00:21:36.220 --> 00:21:36.940 What does David want? 00:21:37.600 --> 00:21:41.180 David's crying out so that he hears more than his depression. 00:21:41.760 --> 00:21:46.880 He wants to hear more than the dark space in the back corners of his mind. 00:21:47.100 --> 00:21:50.640 David wants to hear more than what his sinful heart is trying to say to him. 00:21:50.860 --> 00:21:53.120 David says, God, I want to hear from you. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:55.240 And then I love this. 00:21:55.300 --> 00:21:56.400 He says, he says, give me light. 00:21:57.180 --> 00:21:58.020 Give me light. 00:21:59.020 --> 00:22:00.120 God, I know I'm blessed. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.180 Let me see it. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:05.140 Let me see the blessings of life. 00:22:05.380 --> 00:22:06.560 Now, notice this. 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:09.580 David's cry isn't about the problem. 00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:12.440 Never mention Saul. 00:22:14.380 --> 00:22:16.460 David's cry is not about a quick fix. 00:22:17.560 --> 00:22:20.760 David didn't come to the Lord and say, hey, could you just wipe this out for me, 00:22:20.820 --> 00:22:21.120 real quick? 00:22:21.820 --> 00:22:22.700 Just do it. 00:22:23.420 --> 00:22:24.960 Just, he's gone, right? 00:22:25.840 --> 00:22:26.740 He doesn't do that. 00:22:27.340 --> 00:22:30.520 What does David want in his moment of brokenness? 00:22:30.940 --> 00:22:32.640 He wants more of God. 00:22:33.640 --> 00:22:34.940 He wants more of God. 00:22:35.620 --> 00:22:42.160 The solution to David's despair is God and more of him. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:49.660 David's saying, God, I trust you. 00:22:50.940 --> 00:22:52.400 But I just need more of you. 00:22:53.620 --> 00:22:54.920 I just need more of you. 00:22:56.080 --> 00:23:02.480 I'm reminded of the father in the gospels who cries out to Jesus because his child is dead. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:06.200 And Jesus says, everything's possible for those who believe. 00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:10.540 And the father cries out, Jesus, I believe, help my unbelief. 00:23:11.600 --> 00:23:11.720 Right? 00:23:12.360 --> 00:23:13.200 That's trust. 00:23:13.420 --> 00:23:14.260 That's faith. 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:15.280 It's all there. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:20.060 And David cries out because he knows he needs more of God. 00:23:21.780 --> 00:23:22.980 And so then God's going to answer, right? 00:23:23.860 --> 00:23:27.080 We're going to read the last two verses and God's going to be like, cool, I got this. 00:23:27.120 --> 00:23:29.320 And then like thumps all off the earth. 00:23:29.600 --> 00:23:29.840 Right? 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:30.860 No, that doesn't happen. 00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:32.300 Let's look at verses five and six. 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:36.520 David says, but I've trusted in your steadfast love. 00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:39.780 My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 00:23:40.840 --> 00:23:45.680 I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. 00:23:46.560 --> 00:23:56.220 And so what David chooses in the midst of the reality of what's there, what David chooses as he cries out for the Lord is worship. 00:23:57.340 --> 00:23:59.780 And he worships through the circumstances. 00:24:00.840 --> 00:24:06.200 One of my favorite authors, one of my favorite pastors to read is a guy by the name of John Piper. 00:24:06.300 --> 00:24:08.460 And I'm going to try to quote him the best I can. 00:24:09.460 --> 00:24:10.180 But he says this. 00:24:10.260 --> 00:24:13.940 He says, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. 00:24:14.040 --> 00:24:17.180 And then I was at a conference one time and he tagged an end part to this. 00:24:17.220 --> 00:24:18.000 And I love this. 00:24:18.260 --> 00:24:19.840 So let me add the tag at the end. 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:24.340 God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him, especially in our suffering. 00:24:25.560 --> 00:24:25.920 Right? 00:24:27.340 --> 00:24:34.380 And so David in the pit of despair, David in the moment of crying out, says, but I want to make you beautiful. 00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:36.720 And so I will worship you. 00:24:37.160 --> 00:24:38.180 I will worship you. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:52.580 The same man who says that death feels like a step away in these two verses says that he can trust because he knows that God loves him and that God always will. 00:24:53.220 --> 00:24:57.060 David says, but I have trusted in your steadfast love. 00:24:57.340 --> 00:25:02.960 David's trust is not found in his circumstances, but is found in the holy love of God. 00:25:03.460 --> 00:25:07.200 David says that he can rejoice in his salvation. 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:23.400 David says, but my heart shall rejoice in your salvation because what he knows is that God cares for him, that it may feel that he's distant, that that may be the reality, but that knows that God cares for him. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:33.240 And then above all things, David says, I will sing to the Lord because you deal with me, not in how I deserve, but you deal with me through your grace. 00:25:33.460 --> 00:25:43.940 David even understands that at the pit of where he finds himself, that what he's being overflowed with is the holy grace of God. 00:25:45.060 --> 00:25:48.840 And that this is where he finds himself. 00:25:51.320 --> 00:25:53.500 Don't let your feelings mislead you. 00:25:54.540 --> 00:25:57.740 This is a message that I have to preach to myself often. 00:25:59.060 --> 00:26:01.140 Don't let your feelings mislead you. 00:26:01.840 --> 00:26:06.740 When God feels distant, and he may feel distant right now, he isn't. 00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:08.600 He isn't. 00:26:09.600 --> 00:26:13.720 If you want to go deep with God, I hear this from people a lot. 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:15.080 I want to go deep. 00:26:15.140 --> 00:26:15.620 I want to go deep. 00:26:15.660 --> 00:26:16.200 I want to go deep. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:16.720 I want to go deep. 00:26:16.860 --> 00:26:17.580 Go deep here. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:20.020 Go deep in prayer. 00:26:21.140 --> 00:26:22.220 Go deep in confession. 00:26:23.740 --> 00:26:30.220 Go in your room, close the blinds, close the door, and get ugly before the Lord. 00:26:31.520 --> 00:26:32.960 That's what depth looks like. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:35.080 That's what it means. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:43.720 That God, through my tears, and through my struggle, and through my pain, and through my suffering, I'm going to dig down deep. 00:26:44.940 --> 00:26:47.900 And when these seasons come, and they do. 00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:52.280 Some of you, I know what you're going through right now, and you're in the midst of this season right now. 00:26:52.700 --> 00:26:54.580 You know exactly what it feels like. 00:26:54.840 --> 00:26:58.720 You know, because that circumstance is closer than a step behind you. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:08.140 You feel that that circumstance has just wrapped its ugly, nasty, filthy arms around you, and it's trying to bring you down, and it's trying to destroy you. 00:27:08.280 --> 00:27:09.220 Here's what I want to tell you. 00:27:09.500 --> 00:27:10.420 Worship through it. 00:27:11.220 --> 00:27:12.220 Worship through it. 00:27:12.560 --> 00:27:13.600 Press through it. 00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:15.040 Dig in through it. 00:27:15.280 --> 00:27:16.720 Cling to the Lord through it. 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:17.180 Read. 00:27:17.280 --> 00:27:18.980 I know you don't want to read your Bible. 00:27:19.320 --> 00:27:19.960 Read it anyways. 00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:23.040 I know you don't want to pray, but cry out in the midst of it. 00:27:23.040 --> 00:27:29.580 I know you don't want to sing, but sing in the closet of your room, and let it out so that the Lord can hear it. 00:27:29.800 --> 00:27:33.560 And in those moments, when those seasons come, you can either quit or dig in. 00:27:34.840 --> 00:27:35.460 Don't quit. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:37.540 Don't quit. 00:27:38.740 --> 00:27:40.200 Dig in. 00:27:41.180 --> 00:27:48.520 I'm going to ask, we've got some members of the band that are going to come up, and they're going to lead us in a time of response and reflection. 00:27:50.060 --> 00:27:55.580 Because there's so many of us that the words of Psalm 13 is where you find yourself right now. 00:27:56.620 --> 00:27:59.780 The struggle and the pain and the suffering that's there. 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:05.500 And so before we take communion together, we just want to have a time of reflection. 00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:10.220 And so maybe for you, as Joanne sings the words, you just want to listen to the words. 00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:17.940 Maybe it's a time of getting bright and bowing your head before God and crying out to Him. 00:28:18.740 --> 00:28:22.320 You can come down front and you can do it right where you are. 00:28:23.380 --> 00:28:25.780 But it's a time to realize, to be able to say, you know what? 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:28.660 It's okay to not be okay. 00:28:30.180 --> 00:28:33.940 It's okay to say that these circumstances and these things around us are not what I've chosen. 00:28:34.280 --> 00:28:34.980 They're not what I wanted. 00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:36.980 My marriage may be falling apart. 00:28:37.080 --> 00:28:38.260 My life may be falling apart. 00:28:38.340 --> 00:28:39.760 My finances may be falling apart. 00:28:39.980 --> 00:28:41.400 My kids may be falling apart. 00:28:41.620 --> 00:28:43.660 And God, I just need to bring this to you. 00:28:45.180 --> 00:28:46.540 And lay it down at your feet. 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:55.080 And so as they play, as they sing, let the words of this Psalm minister to you. 00:28:55.080 --> 00:29:17.620 I will confess some days I feel forgotten. 00:29:17.620 --> 00:29:23.660 It seems like you're hiding your face from me. 00:29:23.660 --> 00:29:35.800 I will admit that I wrestle with my thoughts, struggle with all of the sorrows deep. 00:29:35.800 --> 00:29:47.140 How long will you leave me without answers, crushed by the words of my enemies? 00:29:47.140 --> 00:29:59.720 But I will trust your unfailing love. 00:30:02.760 --> 00:30:10.680 I will rest knowing you're in love. 00:30:14.280 --> 00:30:20.520 I will give praise through all my days. 00:30:20.520 --> 00:30:25.640 You have been good to me. 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:40.380 I will confess some days I feel forgotten. 00:30:40.380 --> 00:30:46.240 It seems like you're hiding your face from me. 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:57.780 I will admit that I wrestle with my thoughts, struggle with all of the sorrows deep. 00:30:57.780 --> 00:31:08.820 How long will you leave me here without answers, crushed by the words of my enemies? 00:31:10.380 --> 00:31:14.240 I will trust your unfailing love. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:21.240 But I will trust your unfailing love. 00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:31.500 I will rest knowing you're enough. 00:31:31.500 --> 00:31:36.980 I will trust your unfailing love. 00:31:36.980 --> 00:31:41.760 I will give praise through all my days. 00:31:41.760 --> 00:31:46.140 You have been good to me. 00:31:46.140 --> 00:31:55.360 I will trust your unfailing love. 00:31:55.360 --> 00:31:58.740 I will trust your unfailing love. 00:31:58.740 --> 00:32:03.600 I will rest knowing you're in love. 00:32:03.600 --> 00:32:05.600 I will rest knowing you're in love. 00:32:05.600 --> 00:32:09.220 I will rest knowing you're in love. 00:32:09.220 --> 00:32:15.340 I will give praise through all my days. 00:32:15.340 --> 00:32:19.520 You have been good to me. 00:32:19.520 --> 00:32:28.200 I will give praise through all my days. 00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:34.640 You have been good to me. 00:32:40.200 --> 00:32:40.980 You're not forgotten. 00:32:40.980 --> 00:32:41.560 You're not forgotten. 00:32:42.420 --> 00:32:43.340 You're chosen. 00:32:45.140 --> 00:32:46.780 You're not forsaken. 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:48.580 You're loved. 00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:51.200 You're not cursed. 00:32:51.900 --> 00:32:52.680 You're blessed. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:56.720 That's the truth for everyone who's found in Christ. 00:32:57.640 --> 00:33:00.040 And there's no greater reminder of that. 00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:04.540 There's no greater source of that that's found in Jesus. 00:33:05.540 --> 00:33:10.380 And the work that he came to do so that you and I could be made at peace with the Lord. 00:33:10.840 --> 00:33:12.980 So that you and I could be made at peace with God. 00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:17.720 So that every sin, every failure, every shortcoming would be wiped away. 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:23.580 The Bible tells us that forgiveness, the word that we use as forgiveness, it is not remembered, 00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:24.960 but we move past from. 00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:28.300 But forgiveness means removed from. 00:33:29.120 --> 00:33:35.420 So when Jesus forgives you, he removes from you every failure, every sin. 00:33:35.900 --> 00:33:37.080 He removes it. 00:33:39.620 --> 00:33:40.500 So it's just you. 00:33:42.020 --> 00:33:47.620 So we're going to acknowledge him and what he's done by taking part in the Lord's Supper. 00:33:48.620 --> 00:33:52.040 So if you would open and take the bread that's on top. 00:34:16.420 --> 00:34:18.420 That represents the body of Christ. 00:34:20.300 --> 00:34:22.360 Died on the cross for your sins and mine. 00:34:23.640 --> 00:34:26.260 And the Bible tells us that Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, 00:34:27.340 --> 00:34:29.820 he took the bread and he broke it. 00:34:30.580 --> 00:34:31.640 And he gave thanks. 00:34:32.600 --> 00:34:34.500 And he said, this is my body, which is for you. 00:34:35.300 --> 00:34:36.540 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:34:36.540 --> 00:34:38.660 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:34:38.660 --> 00:34:51.320 And the next he took the cup. 00:34:52.580 --> 00:34:56.600 The cup that would represent his blood, the forgiveness of sin, the new covenant. 00:34:57.640 --> 00:34:58.700 And Jesus says so. 00:34:58.700 --> 00:35:01.680 He said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:35:02.580 --> 00:35:05.460 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:35:08.860 --> 00:35:09.660 Will you pray with me? 00:35:20.040 --> 00:35:21.520 Lord, I come to you this morning. 00:35:22.920 --> 00:35:27.820 Knowing that so many of us right now, Lord, we feel like you've forgotten us. 00:35:29.220 --> 00:35:32.440 We feel as if your face has been hidden from us. 00:35:34.200 --> 00:35:38.000 All we can hear is the depression of our soul. 00:35:40.920 --> 00:35:44.140 And God, we want to see you exalted. 00:35:45.680 --> 00:35:51.620 God, I just lift up every person in this room that this is the reality of what they face right now. 00:35:52.620 --> 00:35:57.380 Lord, can we have the moment of honesty where we cry out to you. 00:35:58.400 --> 00:35:59.940 Where we're honest with you. 00:36:00.900 --> 00:36:06.440 And Lord, where we seek are not solutions to our problems, but just more of you, Jesus. 00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:10.160 More of you, Jesus, is our sustainer. 00:36:10.900 --> 00:36:12.580 It's the one who provides our hope. 00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:14.940 The one who cares for us. 00:36:16.600 --> 00:36:17.900 And so, Lord, look at us. 00:36:18.560 --> 00:36:19.380 Answer us. 00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:20.600 Give us the light. 00:36:21.120 --> 00:36:23.200 Lord, we want to experience your love. 00:36:23.380 --> 00:36:26.880 We want to hear your sweet voice. 00:36:27.220 --> 00:36:29.660 Lord, we want to live in the blessings of God. 00:36:32.860 --> 00:36:34.180 Lord, may we press through. 00:36:34.840 --> 00:36:35.580 And press through. 00:36:36.100 --> 00:36:36.840 And press through. 00:36:39.620 --> 00:36:40.740 May we dig in. 00:36:42.520 --> 00:36:43.400 And not quit. 00:36:45.040 --> 00:36:46.160 Let's sing Jesus and pray. 00:36:51.120 --> 00:37:02.160 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:37:02.640 --> 00:37:04.800 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:17.380 If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources, visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:17.380 --> 00:37:19.040 Thanks again for listening to this week's message. 00:37:19.040 --> 00:37:19.080 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church. 00:37:19.080 --> 00:37:19.480 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:20.080 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:20.080 --> 00:37:20.980 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:20.980 --> 00:37:21.580 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:21.580 --> 00:37:22.480 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:23.580 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:23.580 --> 00:37:24.580 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:24.580 --> 00:37:25.280 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:26.520 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:26.520 --> 00:37:27.480 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:28.520 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:37:28.520 --> 00:37:58.500 Thank you.