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00:02 Thank you. Nice cheerful words as we end our series on prayer. I'd like to first
00:13 since we're doing prayer and this our ending message on prayer again like uh
00:18 what we've always done, we want to encourage people after the service to stay back for prayer and we always
00:25 trying to try something different. the the intention is to encourage you to receive prayer. I like at this moment to
00:32 ask the counselors to stand. You are you're a counselor. Um you all know the
00:38 team. Can the counselors stand so the church can see who you are? Counselors, can you stand? You see all these
00:44 individuals who have stood up? They have been assigned by the church to pray for
00:52 you. So you just just look out for these people including the leaders of the
00:58 church. What we want to do is at the end of this service they will come in front. We won't do an outer call but if you
01:05 feel led please come in front. But more importantly at any time today or next
01:12 week or the week after and you feel burdened with prayers approach them. See
01:17 these faces they are here to pray for you. We are a praying church.
01:22 Uh and and we understand for some of you, yes, you can you may sit down. Thank you. We understand with some of
01:28 your prayer is confidential. You're not the type that likes to come in front and let everyone see you. Approach them
01:35 privately. Approach me privately and we will pray for you because prayer is is is the heartbeat of of our our Christian
01:42 life and more so in this morning's message. This morning's message. Okay.
01:49 As you just heard of Sister Red, u that was quite an interesting psalm and let
01:54 me tell you why in a while. A short story first. Last week I was
02:00 fortunate enough to go back to Sydney. This is a picture of my old university and not here to advertise Sydney
02:07 education. Now, and I was walking through the the campus. I haven't been back there for 25
02:13 years. And my pastor was with me. He brought me to this little spot. Uh this
02:18 is known as the Baxter steps. Uh it's a state university. It's very large. And you see this really nice. This is what
02:25 they get on a promotion brochures. You Google the internet. This is what you see to try to attract all these foreign
02:31 students who pay full fees. You see, but in one corner of it, you see this. And
02:37 interestingly, I tried to Google it completely. Not one picture of it. In
02:42 the corner of that main concourse, there's this little tuckedway corner,
02:47 very discreet, lot of overrun ferns. And if you look at the corner, the floor, you see a plague, you know, plague.
02:54 Sorry, my spelling my pronunciation is really bad. And on it you see this word
02:60 linchun and you see there the it's not very clear but if you you can look carefully
03:06 there is actually the date 8th June 1970 to 19 April I think that is 2000
03:15 um can't really read it carefully now why am I showing you this because
03:21 Lynchun was a master's student in a university from Taiwan
03:27 And on her graduation day, her most one of, you know, everyone has
03:34 days in their lives in in in your life where you remember, you know, your wedding, your the birth of your
03:40 children, your graduation. Her family had flown in from Taiwan
03:46 and she had just received her her degree. And as she was walking down
03:52 these steps, a lorry parked there, which was not
03:58 meant to be parked there, started to slide down and hit her and she died.
04:08 And and it was quite interesting because I I tried to go online to search and it looked like the university completely
04:14 blocked every story until I found a blog by her husband
04:20 and there the husband poured out her his entire frustrations on it.
04:26 This morning as we close the Psalms we are going to look at a particularly
04:31 difficult topic. Praying through times of sorrow.
04:38 I mean, how do you approach someone like that? Do you say, "I'm sorry for you,
04:44 sister. God has a way when there's no way." Would you approach her and say, you
04:52 know, in all things, God works out for the best of his believers?
04:58 Do you say, "I understand what you're feeling." 16 years ago
05:05 plus I went through a very difficult situation. I don't want to repeat it.
05:11 And I still remember people trying to comfort me and I only had one response.
05:17 You know it's going to sound quite rude but it was would you shut up because it
05:23 didn't help. This morning we look at Psalm 88. It is considered the blackest
05:31 psalm in the entire collection of the Psalms. And in fact, some people call
05:37 this the blackest book of the Bible, even blacker than Job. But I want to
05:43 tell you as we start off this morning on a very heavy topic, that this is one of the most uplifting
05:50 and encouraging Psalms. And I pray if if you are going through any form of difficulty
05:57 this morning, the spirit just floods you. The spirit just engulfves you and you
06:05 leave the hall comforted. And if your life is going great, this
06:10 psalm will prepare you when a storm comes. And this psalm will help you
06:16 comfort those with the comfort you have received. Let's come before God in prayer.
06:22 Lord, we ask again this morning that I be completely humbled. That not my
06:27 glory, oh Lord, but your glory shines and shines so bright throughout this
06:32 place. That I am just a broken vessel. Put away my pride, my ego, not to go by my
06:39 talent, but to go in fear and trembling and by the by the power of the Holy
06:45 Spirit that the anointing will fall on this place and roll us over, oh Lord.
06:51 that you will shake this house and perform your wondrous miraculous
06:56 deeds in whatever form you found it that we be not complacent when the spirit
07:02 moves in us and we say this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, as you read just now
07:08 the psalm, it's you read it carefully, it's quite depressing. I want to bring you through on this character because
07:14 when you when you look at it, it says here at the beginning of it, Amaskil of Hmon the Estraite.
07:22 Who is Hmon? And I gave you a little bit on on who he is is there. You can read it. The reason why I've done it is
07:29 because of the content of the psalms. It's important to know who he is. And if
07:35 you have time to read it, you find he was a man of certain standing in
07:40 society. And King David particularly in Chronicles handpicked him to lead the
07:47 worship of the tabernacle. He was a Levite. He came from the descendant of
07:53 Ezra. Important lineage. He writes many psalms.
07:58 Chronicles tells you he was like you and me. He had a family. He had children. And there's no record in Chronicles of
08:05 Hmon doing anything hinous. Nothing at all.
08:11 So he was a he was in many ways a model church citizen,
08:16 a person who contributed much to church. Now let's go into the content of the
08:24 psalm and I'm going to just bring you through one by one. The first thing we pick up is Hmon is dying.
08:32 And look at verse three. My soul is full of troubles. My life draws near the
08:40 grave. And many commentators believe he has a disease.
08:45 A disease he has been trying to cure but for whatever reason is not getting
08:52 better. He may be dying but Hmon feels he's
08:57 already dead. He has lost the will to live. Look at the next verse. I am counted among those who go down to the
09:07 pit. You know what that's referring to? The the Hebrews call this shol. You know, he's saying he feels like he's
09:14 going to hell. The language is very brutal. It's going to get much darker before we get
09:20 uplifting. So bear with me. I am like a man without strength.
09:28 He's got no will to live. This affliction he has has just taken him away and he feels God doesn't care.
09:37 Doesn't this sound quite familiar to a lot of us when we go through difficulties? Look what he says. I'm set
09:43 apart with the dead like the slain who lie in the grave. Wow.
09:51 And it gets worse. Whom you remember no more who are cut off from your care. And
09:58 then they call this a ka meaning the way the psalms work there there's a repeat he repeats in verse 14 why oh lord do
10:06 you reject me and hide your face from me
10:13 this is a very angry psalm you know not only he says god doesn't care he
10:19 thinks god's punishing him now understand something about the psalms there's two types of truth what we call
10:24 an objective truth and a subjective truth The psalms are written emotionally.
10:30 This is how he feels. We don't really know why he feels that way. Is it God
10:37 really punishing him? But that's how he feel. Look at the words. You have put me in the deepest pit in the darkest
10:44 depths. Can't get any worse. That's why he's telling God. He says, "God, you know what? Your punishment on me, you
10:50 can't get any worse." And then he gets into a lot of language which Asians understand. If you understand Chinese
10:57 culture, we like to use nature. Old writers all like to use nature. Look at it. Your wrath lies heavily upon me. You
11:05 have overwhelmed me with your waves. He feels like he's drowning. A tsunami just
11:11 hit him. And a refrain called out. Verse 16, same word. Your wrath has swept over
11:17 me. That's the imagery of water. Your terrors have destroyed me all day long.
11:23 They surround me like a flood. They have completely engulfed me.
11:32 Try feeling worse than that. Then you ask yourself, can it get any worse? It does. Not only does he feel
11:39 God abandoned him, he feels his friends have abandoned him. You have taken from me my closest friends, made me repulsive
11:47 to them. I confined and cannot escape. My eyes are dim with grief.
11:55 And again the caller refrain, you have taken my companions and loved ones from
12:02 me. One thing to be afflicted.
12:09 One thing to feel afflicted and God doesn't care. How do you get it worse? when you feel
12:15 worse when everyone else abandons you and then he gets worse.
12:22 He suffered since young isn't a short time he had this. No, from my youth I've
12:27 been afflicted and close to death. He's been having this since he was young.
12:32 Probably started to get worse. That's why a lot of people believe he had the disease he struggled with.
12:38 And he's not only sad, he's scared. He's terrified. I have suffered your terrors
12:46 and in despair. The Hebrew word for terrors is what you fear when somebody
12:51 when you're being shaken. You know, when war comes, he's in terror.
12:57 And then curtains, the last line of the psalm,
13:04 you have taken my companions loved one from me. The darkness is my closest
13:10 friend. The end. You know, when I read it, I was going,
13:16 "What? What's this doing in the Bible?
13:22 Where's the hope?" Hang on. Isn't this a psalm? Aren't we
13:27 taught that psalms are praises? Look at your church bulletin. That's what they
13:32 say. It's true. Are we supposed to use the Psalms to worship God?
13:40 Where is Hmon praising God in this? Nothing.
13:46 Is he hopeful? No. You see, some of the other psalms are also quite depressing,
13:53 but a lot of psalms have a structure. They start off depressing, but they end
13:59 with hope in the Lord. A lot of the Davididic Psalms are but Psalm 88 has
14:06 been picked up and and why it's called the darkest psalm of the Bible and the
14:11 darkest book is because completely there's no hope
14:18 in the end. If you read the psalm, you know what happens to him very brutally?
14:25 He dies. That's it. So you read it, you go, "What? What?
14:33 What was this doing in the Bible?" So let me just break down to you and I want to tell you that the psalm is much
14:40 more comforting than you realize. And and I I I did a lot of study on this and when I went online, you'll be surprised
14:48 and I will tell you end of this there's a lot of joy. Let's pick it up. The first thing I want to pick up is a
14:53 statement from the West Minister uh uh confession of faith and this is done centuries ago.
14:60 And this is what the Anglicans believe when they put it together. He said they true believers may have the assurance of
15:06 their salvation shaken diminished temporary loss in various way. Who here
15:13 hasn't felt this way? Who here hasn't see I I have felt this and I speaking
15:20 here with you. You know, by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance
15:26 and allowing even those who reverence with him to walk and here's that word in
15:32 darkness and have no light. That's that word where darkness is my closest
15:38 friend. I'm going to give you four points today. And here the first point is an important
15:44 point to pick up especially in an Asian culture
15:50 where we're not very expressive and especially in the church where people deem us as conservative. And you know
15:56 what's the first point is this. Let your sorrow
16:03 be real. Look at what Job says
16:10 after this. The third affliction, Job
16:15 opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
16:23 What's interesting in the book of Job, if you know it, is that the devil is
16:29 trying to get Job to curse God. He's so close to it. In fact, his wife
16:36 tells him, "Why are you holding on to integrity? Curse God and die." That's what the devil wants. and he's so close
16:42 to it, he can't do it. He curses the day he's born. And the rest of it is a long section of it. What's interesting is at
16:49 the end of the book of Job, you know what God says about Job? God rebukes his friends and says, "You
16:57 have not spoken of me as the way Job has." Here's a guy who just cursed the
17:03 day he was born. Now, I'm going to give you a few verses.
17:10 Psalm 41:2, you are God, my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Have you not
17:17 had times in your life you felt rejected by God? And yes, David coming out and saying it.
17:24 Here's worse. They consider Psalm 39 the second most blackest psalm evoling by
17:30 David because verse 31 is the last verse. And this is what David says. Look
17:35 away from me. He's telling God that I may rejoice again before I depart and am
17:41 no more. You know, he's telling God, "God, I'm going to die. You want to make me happy, turn away from me."
17:48 What's the Hello? Are we reading the right Bible? And look at Psalm 69:3. I'm worn out,
17:56 calling for help. My throat is parched. There it is, folks. Right back in the
18:02 Bible. The psalmist had no qualms printing it and for us thousand years
18:11 reading how they really felt. What are what is the shortest verse in
18:20 the Bible? Two words the gospel of John
18:25 Jesus wept. Jesus wept
18:31 at Lazarus death. The question isn't that. The question is can we you see we we have a
18:39 slight problem nowadays. I I like to suggest this. We we like to present the
18:45 church as a solution provider and Jesus as the ultimate solution provider. We
18:52 have this impression you know come and have your best life now.
18:58 Come to church and be blessed. Be an overcomer.
19:04 God has a way. Trust him. Celebrate Jesus.
19:11 You know what? There will be days you really won't feel like that.
19:17 You don't want to come to church. And if you come, here's our problem. We
19:23 bottle it inside. And that's why I asked the counselors to stand up because if you're here today,
19:30 this morning, and and you're going through something, the worst thing you could do to yourself
19:36 is just come and leave because that's not what Jesus did when
19:41 he saw Lazarus. And that's not what the psalmist did. You know, some people like to make
19:48 remarks, hey, you know, I know that outer call. I I want to just really say it doesn't matter whether there's an
19:54 outer call, no outer call, or whether you come or don't come. What's important is you receive prayer. The second
20:00 service last uh last time I spoke a sister cried and she fell.
20:06 Does it make her weaker? No. I thought she were the bravest person I fell. By the way, please bring tissues,
20:12 counselors. I don't mean that cynically, but I mean it realistically. and and and
20:18 and I think it takes a lot of courage for people to come and sit with someone
20:25 else and pour themselves out. And that's what the psalmist do. You know what they're doing? They're doing it publicly. You're reading what they feel.
20:32 You know, we we we can't even come to church to tell a person how we feel. And
20:37 here the psalmist is writing it for all eternity. He doesn't care.
20:43 And in particular, I want to say something. Men have this problem
20:51 very embarrassing. I cannot show I'm weak. That's an Asian problem
20:57 because your God wept and you can't come and approach someone
21:02 for prayer. Do it privately. Do it on a week. And
21:08 I'm thankful for those who have done it to me uh who have approached me quietly and they don't want to see anyone else.
21:13 But that's what God wants. weep because God wept. You see online, I picked up this. No,
21:21 your sorrows be real by what? You pray out your pain. I caught this on on one
21:28 of the blogs and and look at the way he writes it. I thought I was lost forever when darkness has no ray of light at the
21:36 end. My God path lost forever in a maze of false possibilities.
21:43 In my every waking moment, fear clutched my stomach, waking to the wretch of the
21:51 lies that thundered in my head. You read it, you think, gee, this is a guy who
21:58 probably lost his faith. It's not. And I read the blog is a committed
22:03 Christian and he wrote this before going for his MRI.
22:11 And this is the great God we have. Our God doesn't get offended by angry
22:18 prayers. Our God doesn't get offended if you go
22:23 to him with your fears, your anger, your your frustrations, your all your issues.
22:31 He doesn't get Chinese gong suhei. You know,
22:36 he's not sensitive in that area. So let your sorrows be real.
22:44 Now let's move on. Second point, this is a very famous confusion uh uh scholar
22:51 Sununi. I I don't know. You must ask uh Eden how to pronounce him. He was very
22:56 famous. He met Greek philosophers, tremendous humanist and he was very well
23:01 known for picking up on the nature of man. In fact, he was the first few uh
23:06 humanist Confucious scholars who say that man is essentially evil.
23:12 Now, he didn't have much time for God. In fact, many people call him the first atheist, the first Chinese atheist, you
23:17 know. And he said something very interesting about prayer. And if Sunzi
23:23 saw what I just spoke, he said, "Well, you know, this is all psychological. If if it makes you feel better to pray it
23:30 out, then do it." This is what he says about prayer. Pray all you want. Heaven
23:36 can't hear you. It's not going to stop the winter because you're cold. It's not
23:41 going to make the earth smaller because you don't want to walk so far. You pray for rain and it rains. But your prayer
23:48 has nothing to do with it. Sometimes you don't pray for rain and it rains anyway.
23:54 What do you say then? And typical confusion saying you want to have a better life, educate yourself. think
24:00 carefully about the consequences of your actions. Now, he's half right. I tell you why
24:07 it's half right. Because in many people, whether you're Christian or Muslim or
24:13 Jew or Hindu or Buddhist or Tauist, you know what is prayer? Prayer is simply a
24:20 wish list and you clutch on to it when you're desperate. You pray and you pray and you
24:27 pray and you pray to all the gods and when things go wrong for that split
24:33 moment it doesn't matter whether you're Catholic, Protestant, charismatic, evangelical, reformed, Armenian, Calvinist, you don't understand all of
24:39 it. It doesn't matter. You will pray to any God because you're desperate. A lot
24:44 of people do that. And then when the prayer is not answered,
24:50 you turn away from God. You see that's what happens with a lot of us. We plead and we pray and say,
24:58 "God, no. My so and so has cancelled. My business is this and Lord, please, what
25:06 did I do to deserve this? Help me." And then we make promises. If I do this, I'll come to church more often. I'll
25:12 fill in the form just now. I take every column.
25:17 I give away X amount of money.
25:23 And then the blood count goes down, hospital bills goes up,
25:30 hot rules against your favor, your loved one leaves you,
25:37 you stop praying. Doesn't matter what religion you are in.
25:42 Here's the second point. It's very important. The first point, let your sorrow be real. Here's the second one
25:48 which I missed for many years. Let your sorrow be sacred.
25:54 Now, what do I mean by that? Now, look at the beginning of Psalm 88. It has a heading is, in fact, it has the longest
26:02 heading for any psalm. What's the first first word there? It's
26:08 a song. The sons of Kora, musicians, there's a
26:14 director of music. According to Mahal Leonov, there's a Hebrew term meaning use this for times
26:22 of affliction. A mascul is a chant or a contemplative
26:30 prayer. You know, you know, if if uh I approach Chuch Chang, I say, "Hey, we're going to
26:36 write some music." Oh, hallelujah. Let's write some music, Chuch Chang.
26:41 Okay. Amen. Chuch Chan, we're going to write music. Let's do it to the Psalms.
26:47 Amen. And then we can pick up, you know, like what you wrote down there. Psalm 25, the Lord is my shepherd. All these
26:55 good ch Let's do a song to Psalm 88. And I want the church to sing it next
27:01 week. Yeah, you will be going what are you crazy?
27:07 You see, when we think of Psalms, we think of uplifting songs. We think of of
27:14 praying through psalms. We forget one particular part which is integral to
27:20 worship is this word called lamentation. And lamentation is worship. And our
27:28 sorrows have to be sacred. There's a very old singer called Michael Cart.
27:34 You're as old as me. You will know him. He's during the time of Amy Grant and David Miz before ever Hill Songs United
27:42 existed and made number five on the Billboards 100 with their latest album
27:48 during that time not very popular and Michael K wrote songs like El Shadai
27:54 and he says this you know that we have forgotten to take our sorrows and bring
28:00 it towards God and if we do we take it as a concession and here's what he's
28:06 saying we forget what the psalmist is telling us is that these offerings of
28:13 your lamentations are pleasing to God because if they are not they wouldn't be
28:20 in the Bible but what we have done is we have taken
28:26 parts of the psalms which we like be still and know I'm God I think I'm going to take that
28:32 but I'm not going to take the part that says Lord I cry to you all day you don't hear me. But there it is in the Psalms.
28:39 Lamentation is worship. You see why? Simple story. You know, uh
28:46 in in the time of the Exodus, the Israelites complain. They complain. They were in Egypt. They came out Egypt. They
28:52 complained. They complained about God's plan. They complained, complain, complain.
28:58 Moses also complained. But what's the difference? Moses complained to God.
29:04 Now I I I'll give you a simpler example. Now if you have your son or your
29:09 daughter doesn't complain to you, what does it show? It shows he doesn't care.
29:16 If he doesn't complain to you, it means he doesn't want to talk to you. I have staff and my staff last week said
29:24 some remarks about me. You know, boss, you're getting cranky, getting 50, getting cranky.
29:32 I said bear battle pause you know he didn't used to be so cranky you know
29:38 but but but I appreciated it because if they don't tell me it mean they don't care
29:45 I mean you go to McDonald's right the food is bad do you complain to the casure complain to the waiter doesn't
29:51 matter who cares you complain to the manager and and what Moses is doing is that he's
29:58 complaining to God he said these are stiff neck people, why are you putting me with them? And have you realized
30:03 this? When you lament to God, it shows God matters in your life. But what we
30:10 are very prone to do is lament about God. We sit with our friends and we say, you
30:16 know what, God doesn't care. And what God is telling us today is let your sorrow be sacred and take it to
30:24 him. And it is not just something where you offlet, which is great. We all need
30:30 to offlet. And why sununzi is wrong? Because prayer is an offering. The
30:35 sorrow is not just real. The sorrow is sacred because you're lamenting to God.
30:42 And this is what God wants. Let your sorrow be sacred. And do it
30:48 persistently. Look at how Hmon says, "I cry for help, oh Lord. In my morning, my
30:55 prayers come to you." Verse 13. And in fact, if you look at verse 10, he says
31:00 this, uh, I call to you, oh Lord, 10 9b, I spread out my hands to you. He's
31:07 stretching out his praying. But what is he saying? What is he praying every morning? This is what he's praying every
31:13 morning. Why, oh Lord, do you reject me? Oh, not very nice, you know, and hide your face from me. Can you imagine doing
31:19 that every day? That's what he's doing. Every morning, he comes to God. He stretches his hand and says, "God, you
31:25 reject me." But what is more wonderful about the word of God is that this
31:30 lamentation is a worship act. Is a worship act.
31:38 When I was in Australia, there was a height where uh Lynden was playing against Ling Chong. You know, Malaysians
31:45 all talk about it. The Australians don't care. They only take care about football.
31:50 And during that time last week, they were playing against New Zealand. They called the All Blacks.
31:56 and and me and my wife were walking by town and we saw throns of people and we were told 80,000 people were going to
32:02 the stadium and one Aussie told me look that the Australians had no chance in
32:08 whatever to win in fact they lost 43 to3 I that's not a
32:15 game that's a massacre one guy told me they're going to get flogged they're
32:20 going to get flogged 453 I mean Ling versus Lim Chawi that's a hope you The
32:25 doubles quite close. You go up to rubber, you know. So, so why go you know
32:31 you're going to get flogged. They lost 453. The mais andhilated them.
32:37 Why 80,000 people go? Because they love their country.
32:43 Because it's the right thing to do. So when you are really in pain
32:50 and if you are so this morning in whatever capacity take it to God and
32:57 take it to God regularly because it's the right thing to do
33:02 because it shows you love your God. Now let's go on for there.
33:08 Not only your sorrow is real, not only your sorrow is sacred, it has to be God-
33:15 centered. And here's the center p of the text. In fact, these are the angriest
33:20 verses of this psalm. Tim Keller says what he's almost doing is that he's
33:26 putting God in the dock. You know, he's putting God on the witness stand and and
33:32 Hmon is like a lawyer and he's grilling God. It's actually a very rude psalm, you know. And look what he says. Do you
33:39 show your wonders to the dead? And he's expecting God to say no. Do
33:44 those who are dead rise up and praise you? No. And to add extra insult, he uses the word sail,
33:50 which is an emphasis point in the music. Is your state love declared in the grave? Your faithfulness in destruction?
33:57 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness or your righteous deed in the land of oblivion? At every point, he
34:02 expects God to say, "No, no, no, no." Now, why? Now, this is what he's trying
34:08 to say. He's saying, "God, save me because if I'm dead, I can't show your
34:16 wonders. If I'm dead, I cannot praise you. If I'm
34:21 in the grave, I cannot declare your steadfast love. If I'm destroyed, I
34:27 cannot tell of your faithfulness. If I'm the plate of darkness, your wonders will
34:32 not be known. If I am the land of obligent people won't know your righteous deeds. And what Hmon is saying
34:40 is save me God not for my sake.
34:45 Save me God for your sake. That's tremendously important. You see
34:53 lament by itself has no value. Lament has to lead to praise.
34:60 But here's the difficult thing and I want to speak honestly. You know sometimes people say uh you
35:06 know because we want to be politically correct Christians you know and we say you know what I'm going through a very difficult time but I need to fight for
35:12 joy. I need to say that Lord I still praise you even though it hurts and and
35:18 that's very noble. You want to say Lord I'm going through so much difficulty but I still want to say Lord I love you. I
35:26 consider pure joy I'm facing such tribulations. James chapter one but the
35:32 heart doesn't feel it you know you see lament leads to praise but sometimes is
35:38 a long journey and what Hmon is saying is God I can't
35:45 praise you but I want to praise you. You see the
35:50 difference in that? is a very important difference because it's honest
35:56 because sometime I feel quite concerned because if you're hurting inside and you you intellectually you know you know you
36:02 say the Bible says God wants me to find that there's a there's a get a goodness
36:07 out of this you know that you have a perfect plan and I need to find joy and you and I think it damages you if you
36:14 force yourself to it and Hmon's honesty is very very encouraging. He's basically
36:19 saying, you know what, God, I can't praise you, but I want to.
36:25 God, get me there. It's going to be a long journey, but get me there. You see,
36:31 uh, look at this song. We all know this song by Horatio Spacio. It is well with my soul. This is a favorite at funerals.
36:38 I don't think he meant it for funerals. I I wonder why we don't sing this in church.
36:44 Now, if you look at the lyrics, which I won't go to it, he doesn't say, "God,
36:50 I'm going to praise you even though it hurts." That's very noble. You know why he can't say it? Because he doesn't feel
36:55 it. He can only say, "It is well in my soul. I can take it. I have I'm having a
37:03 dark night of my soul." To quote St. John of the Cross, but it is well. You
37:09 know the storms below it is well. But in the middle of a song at one point he says I will praise you. You know when he
37:16 says it he says this in the third second refrain. My sin the bliss of this
37:22 glorious thought. My sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross. I bear
37:29 it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord oh my soul. In the midst of his
37:35 pain, he remembers this glorious thought that his sins are nailed to the cross.
37:44 When I went through a difficult problem, I don't think of my sin. I get angry.
37:51 I get furious. And my problems drown me.
37:57 I think of nothing else but to get out my problem. And if God doesn't rescue me, I come close to cursing God. But
38:05 mature men and women don't do that. In the midst of great suffering
38:11 where it blows and it floods you, Horatio spatial finds a quiet moment and
38:18 remembers one thing which makes all of us Christians. He is a sinner
38:26 and he praises God for rescuing him from that. You know what? A lot of modern songs now, they really need to
38:33 rediscover lyrical quality of this. Really, they're so missing. They all
38:38 feel touchy good. And I almost come to the point to say a lot of them biblically are just verging on not being
38:45 sound. But here's a man who understands the heart of the psalmist because there is a
38:52 space between lamentation and praise. And if you can't praise, don't come to
38:58 church and raise your hand and say, "Celebrate Jesus." Because your heart is not saying that. You'll be lying to
39:03 yourself. Don't do it.
39:09 But say in your heart, "God, get me there." You see why? Because here's the
39:14 fundamental issue of sorrow. In the conversation at chapter one, the Lord says to Satan, "Have you considered my
39:20 servant Job? There is no one on earth like him. blameless, upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And the devil
39:28 tells God this. Does Job fear God for nothing?
39:33 Have you not put a hedge around him, his household, everything he has? So this flocks and herds are spread throughout
39:38 the land, but stretch out your hand, strike everything he has. He will surely
39:44 curse you to your face. And what happens this? Because Job
39:50 centuries ago picks up what all of us is important. I mean I want you to pause and and it's a heavy morning. I want you
39:56 to think about it. Some of you are going through difficult problems. What's one difficult problem? Let's name it
40:02 financial. Financial. So the first thing the devil uses to
40:09 whack is let's get rid of financial security. Wipes him out. Takes away all
40:14 his assets. What's the second one that really is going to make you drown? Take away the
40:19 ones you love. Everyone dies. Then to really break him, let's make
40:27 your life hell by putting you in so much pain by giving you a disease.
40:33 And that's what happened to Job. Have you recognized that these three things are what each one of us makes our life bearable? Good health, financial
40:41 stability, and people we love. You take this tree away from us, we have no reason to leave. Let let us come out and
40:48 just say it. You know, you take that away from me, I I I will feel very close to going on top of a building and
40:54 throwing myself down. I'm going to be honest with you. And that's why Job says, "I cursed the day I was born." And
41:01 what is this? Because the devil is trying to tell you about Christians nowadays. They don't come to church
41:06 because they love you. They come to church because you give them stuff. They come to church to ABC so that you
41:14 bless their children, you give them good health, you bless their finances, you
41:19 take this away, they are all going to depart from ABC and spit you in the face.
41:25 God says, "Okay, let's try this out." And here's the big irony of it. Job
41:32 never hears this side of the conversation. And despite him really saying, "I cursed
41:39 the day I was born." What is the end of the book of Job? God says, Job speaks
41:44 well. You have not done as my servant Job. And God blesses Job. Here's the
41:51 thing about suffering. Suffering has to be God- centered. Let me end with one
41:56 last point. And is a heavy morning, but but I I
42:01 really hope that this encourages you. And here's the last and most important point. Your sorrow has to be redemptive.
42:12 You see, when we look at the end of it, we say, "Look, this is a crazy way to end a psalm. Darkness is my closest
42:19 friend." Hello, man. Now, last time there's a movie in the 1980s called
42:24 Ordinary People. You're as old as me. And the movie Buff Like Me, you watch stuff like that. Anyone of you seen
42:30 this? I don't think anyone has seen this, you know. 1980 movie available on YouTube. That's Donald Sutherland before
42:35 he became the bad guy in Hung Hunger Games. Okay, the movie is interesting.
42:42 It won multiple awards, best actress for Mary Tymore, best movie. You look
42:48 carefully, the title is interesting. You know why it's called ordinary people? Because the movie is about ordinary
42:55 people, me and you. Now look carefully at that poster. the right side there's a
43:00 crack in the picture of the sun. Meaning the movie is trying to says ordinary
43:06 people look fine but you look carefully they are cracks and the movie shows
43:11 about family whose upper middle class rich they don't live in downtown Syria
43:17 in Aleppo where they barrel bombs they are not people trying to flee the causeway to try to go to Europe they are
43:24 not starving they are rich upper class people but this family had a tragedy one
43:32 of the sons died. The mother buried it inside. The son had
43:38 a guilt trip and the father tries to hold everything together. And the movie basically shows how an ordinary family
43:45 like me and you try to keep things together. They try to celebrate Christmas. They try to go for holidays.
43:53 In the end, it falls apart. And in the last five minutes of the film, Donna
43:59 Sudden, the husband, goes to marry Tyler Mo, the wife, and says this. I was crying because I don't know if I lo love
44:07 you anymore, and I don't know what I'm going to do without them.
44:12 You see, when you talk about darkness and Hmon talks about death,
44:19 but here's the thing with all of us. When we go through a bad time,
44:26 something dies. Something dies.
44:32 In the case of Donald Suddenland, his love for the wife didn't survive the
44:37 tragedy. The wife when the son died,
44:42 joy and life died. And this is what Hmon is saying. You
44:48 see, you don't have to go through physical death. You go through a difficult
44:53 problem, something dies. How do we get out that? You go back to this.
45:02 Because at Calvary, the Gospel of Mark tells us when the
45:08 sixth hour had come, there was what? darkness
45:15 over the whole land under the nine hour. And at the 9th hour, Jesus cried out
45:21 with a loud voice, "My God, my God, why
45:26 have you forsaken me?" Because Jesus
45:32 understood the darkness. And that's why Hmon
45:37 goes back to this. And I'm going to end just on this point, verse one.
45:43 Oh Lord, the God who saves me.
45:50 I like to ask the worship team to come up.
45:56 His darkness does not overcome him. He is the God who
46:01 saves him. this morning as we go through this, I ask especially if you going through a
46:07 difficult time that you remember God saved you at the cross. He anchored you. He knows your
46:16 tears and he wants to redeem you and and maybe like Hmon that prayer you ask may not be
46:24 answered but this journey God wants to make you a better person. It is it is my
46:30 prayer that your prayers are answered. But you know this is life. Sometime it just doesn't happen.
46:37 But God still saves and one day he will wipe away every tear.
46:44 I like to pray that you come to God and your sorrows be real. Your sorrows be
46:50 sacred. offer it to him as a lamentation and your sorrows are god- centered
46:57 and you walk away redeemed. Let's come before God in prayer as we
47:03 just uh close this and and and uh have this song. What am I what are we trying
47:10 to do this in application? I'd like to suggest one thing. Go back after church and find a quiet moment.
47:20 But before even you do that, after service, come and see us and pour your heart out
47:27 to us. Find that quiet moment where you can be so still
47:34 and bring out your anger, your frustrations, your your your your troubles and may
47:41 that quiet moments you sense God. Let's pray before we just
47:46 sing this song. Lord, we just go through this such a heavy psalm, Lord. Psalm 88.
47:55 And Lord, right now in in particular, we pray for those who are just suffering in our midst.
48:03 And the suffering may come in many forms. Some here have financial problems.
48:09 They won't tell me, would tell us. Some of us have got illnesses.
48:16 Some of us got broken relationships. But Lord, we ask this morning that we we
48:23 let our sorrows be real. Give us the humility, the courage to just break it
48:28 out and cry before you, Lord, and bring that anger.
48:34 But in that moment, Lord, we ask that we do it sacredly and we lament to you,
48:39 persistently, daily, for that is our act of worship.
48:44 and pray Lord one day that lamentation will come to praise as we turn our
48:51 sorrows from just ourselves to being God- centered and we lament on
48:57 our sins. lament on a broken wall. And in doing so, Lord, you you you
49:04 redeem us. You change us. You make us better people, not bitter people.
49:12 And that we are people who like Hmon, even though things go so bad, he can
49:18 still say, "Oh God, you are the one who saves me."
49:23 We say it in Jesus name. Amen. We're going to sing this song.
