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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 1, and every day you're gonna get a new Psalm with 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.
Dani Crowley:Let's continue our journey through the Psalms today by reading Psalm 57. Says have mercy on me, oh god, have mercy. I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by. I cry out to god most high, to god who will fulfill his purpose for me.
Dani Crowley:He will send help from heaven to rescue me, disgracing those who come to me. My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness. I'm surrounded by fierce lions who greedily devour human prey, whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows, and his tongues cut like swords. Be exalted, oh god, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth.
Dani Crowley:My enemies have set a trap for me. I am weary from distress, and they have dug a deep pit in my path, but they themselves have fallen into it. My heart is confident in you, oh god. My heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises.
Dani Crowley:Wake up my heart. Wake up, oh liar and harp. I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations for your unfailing love is as high as the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches out to the clouds.
Dani Crowley:So be exalted, oh God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth. As we reflect on these words, maybe you think about a time where maybe you were staring out into the ocean or at a massive mountain, this sense of grandeur and wonder and something so much bigger than yourself kinda creates this, like, holy, almost insignificance or like a smallness feeling. And that's kind of what David's doing in this moment of despair and pain and trouble. He's he's it sounds like he's in real danger.
Dani Crowley:He's looking. He gazes upon God as his as his shelter. Think about just the grandness of the wings that would have to cover him. And it's creating this sense of confidence and also comfort as we look to God in times of trouble and despair and when, man, we just don't know what the way out might be. We look at God and we find ourselves with so much confidence knowing that there is a God that is bigger and grander and stronger than even our enemies.
Dani Crowley:It says that their their their wickedness is their trap for the enemies in and of themselves. And so, as we look to God, let us, just find comfort and rest in his grandness over us, and let that turn in us this posture, this heart of worship and of praise for who he is. So, god, we just, we say thank you that you are a god to whom we can hide in the shelter of your wings when we don't know where to go or who to turn to or, got the way out. Amidst difficult times, we look at you and we find great confidence and comfort and hope, that you are a God who is good and who makes all things right. And so, God, we ask that you would renew this hope in us today.
Dani Crowley:We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.