When Nothing Makes Sense

well this morning we turn in our bibles to psalm 39 and i had asked uh was talking with some people the other day about psalm 39 and dr godfrey was standing there and so i asked him i said i said you know i'm really struggling with psalm 39 this is a hard psalm and i vented a little bit of my frustration and i said do you have any advice for me why did you pick that one i actually I think that was a really good question because I had to wrestle through that. Why did I pick Psalm 39? Psalm 39 stands out as a very autobiographical psalm. It's a psalm, nothing like we would ever, as a pastor's going through, it's not the kind of psalm you stop and pick. It's a hard psalm. It's a challenging psalm. But what I love about this psalm is how real it is about life. And you may say today as you're hearing this psalm, well, I'm not really going through exactly the kind of thing that's going on here. That may not be true now. You may soon, you may later. Most likely at some point in life you will. But something to remember as we go through this psalm is that these are the kind of things, as we go through these psalms, the Lord is teaching us how His people learned through all of life's circumstances to trust Him and to worship Him. These are the prayers of God's people. And remember this when you struggle with prayer that we should pray the psalms. It's a wonderful way to keep us focused and to understand and think through how God's people wrestled with these problems in the past. Psalm 39 this morning. We're going to consider all 13 verses. I said I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue. I will guard my mouth with the muzzle so long as the wicked are in my present. I was mute and silent. I held my peace to no avail. And my distress grew worse. My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue. O Lord, make me know my end. And what is the measure of my days? Let me know how fleeting I am. Behold, you have made my days a few hand breaths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath. Surely a man goes about as a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil. Man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather. And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool. I am mute. I do not open my mouth. For it is you who have done it. Remove your stroke from me. I am spent by the hostility of your hand. When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him. Surely all mankind is a mere breath. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry. Hold not your peace at my tears. for I am a sojourner with you a guest like all my fathers look away from me that I may smile again before I depart and am no more may the Lord bless the hearing of his word what everyone is on a quest today for what everyone seems to be on a quest today for is just to find meaning to their lives to understand life we see this in the world all the time it's been the great search of mankind from the beginning just to understand all of this and all of the world's wise men have offered us their wisdom on the matter haven't they i don't think john lennon was very wise but i remember his song nowhere man and sometimes it's good to think about how the world has offered up their songs in light of the song and you remember that john lennon's song which was a obviously a great hit he's a real nowhere man sitting in his nowhere land making all his nowhere plans for nobody doesn't have a point of view knows not where he's going to isn't he a bit like you and me nowhere man please listen you don't know what you're missing nowhere man the world is at your command you may think the psalms at times are rather depressing i think that's the most depressing thing i've ever read and that was a hit that was a hit i replied to john lennon you fool you don't even make one hair black or white like jesus said you should have at least stopped with einstein's assessment of life remember what einstein said maybe you've heard this his assessment was and he summed it all up with all of Einstein's great wisdom here it was we have a short stay here on earth not knowing the why or the wherefores that's encouraging isn't it that's about the best the world can come up with and their songs reflected all the time now I say that fully realizing that when I speak about the Christian life I can easily act like I've got it all figured out oh yeah you christians you guys you guys got this all figured out don't you tell us then if god is in so much control why all this misery why so much misery you you would think that if if you guys have this all figured out and and things are so clear for you christians then then why does god even crush the righteous i'm going to be honest as i was working through this psalm i was i was i was overwhelmed with this psalm and i came to the realization that this psalm is is taking us deep into the heart of someone who has been struck with a very severe blow by god himself and he has to think through that he is thinking through that uh and wrestling with that and and and here we are attempting to read uh this psalm and understand this psalm written so many years ago and the struggle of of these kind of psalms in the Psalter these deep psalms of of lament is that someone's heart who is experiencing grief the weight of grief I don't think there's anything easy about mining that and understanding that and that's the challenge with the psalm like 39 we have as Christians have God's revealed will given to us and when life is is going great and when things are going well we don't have to think very much do we we don't have to think very much about anything hey god is good look at the blessing life good for you right now what are you thinking about right now i've got a full plate i'm relatively happy i get to come and worship with no real burdens upon me what happens when that day turns dark what happens when i'm i'm forced to reckon with everything that i've believed in such a way that it that it overturns everything that i've i believe formerly it attacks what i believe formerly about about the goodness of god because what is in front of me doesn't declare it at all it doesn't seem to declare it and then i struggle with god's providence do you bring up the sun just to make it black on people i don't understand what you're doing lord what are these events of providence really say what does this all mean what does life mean we wrestle with that we struggle with that are you angry lord does this thing that has happened indicate that maybe you're angry and that you have had turned your face away from me felt that what we have this morning is david in great inner turmoil and i don't know that i find a psalm that is that is so much like this this one really stands out this way because what has happened makes absolutely no sense to him why is god striking this way and sometimes things are not always clear for us are they there are not always there are not always answers to the wise and the wherefores maybe but the psalm does tell us something this morning the psalm does tell us that in the most profound way god's involvement and eye upon us even when he strikes the psalmist walks away from this understanding even then his life is precious to the lord precious even when things are unclear and he's using these things to draw us to him to trust him and i don't think that's an easy path i don't think this psalm is easy to preach by any means but i want to look at it with that great goal in mind to try to mine through how one of god's servants in the past got through this it's a wonderful psalm for life and meaning let's look at it in verse one uh you'll notice there there's a connection obviously to the previous psalm where david has been severely chastised and and there is sickness that david had faced but this psalm is really a deeper kind of lament a kind maybe a kind of climax to 38 but whatever the case here we read in verse 1 i will guard my ways that i might not sin with my tongue i will guard my mouth with the muzzle so long as the wicked are in my presence i was mute and silent i held my peace to no avail and my distress grew worse this is an amazing moment in the psalm right at the beginning uh he is deeply lamenting and the first thing he is saying is i'm going to be very careful right now i'm going to be very careful right now i'm not even going to speak because i know the wicked are listening and i know they're processing and i know they're watching me through all of this it's quite a moment because whatever the situation is that david is is facing this is overturned life in a moment he knows the wicked are watching what's he going to do with this one but what makes this so remarkable is that the very thing he is restraining you'll notice here so that unbelievers will not have the opportunity to mock at the lord on the inside he is deeply wrestling with god he is deeply wrestling with why god has even allowed this to come to be what is it well you know that oftentimes the psalms don't give us a context for a very practical reason so that you would take this and apply it to your life right we should do that but if i had to pick which i probably shouldn't do but i'm going to try i'm going to pick an incident i believe this speaks to remember the incident in second samuel 6 with it was one of the greatest moments of joy in israel it was a wonderful moment of joy and remember the ark of god which had been captured by the philistines that the ark of god is coming back it's coming to jerusalem and this was the greatest moment of joy in uh in israel so far i mean this was what a moment when you open up that passage what you get is david and all the house of israel were making mary before the lord with songs and harps and tambourines and cymbals this is a moment this is a praise service and that's what's coming out you'll notice at the beginning of psalm 39 there's a name there mentioned that's a a very interesting name it's jedu jeduthen that was one of david's chief musician that was if you will the one who led the music and remember there they are singing and praising the lord and this is the joyful moment and all of a sudden they get to the threshing floor remember what happened they're heading up in the ark of god the oxen stumbled and obviously one of david's dear servants whom he loved had simply put out his hand to stop the thing from tumbling down the hill remember and he puts out the hand to stop it and remember what happened in one moment we read the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah. And we read, God gave a death blow to him. And he struck him and he died in front of everyone. And the next thing we read in the text is this. And David became angry because of the Lord's outburst against Uzzah. And David was afraid of the Lord that day. From the ultimate pinnacle of joy and happiness, right on into the depths, Full of sorrow. I don't know if that's the circumstance. I can apply that circumstance here. And you can apply a variety of circumstances here. But if it is, Psalm 39, David has had something like that happen and whatever it is, it has completely changed everything and he is deeply struggling with why would God do that? Why would he blow like, give a death blow like that? Verse 3 says that while David mused, the fire burned so that he began to sit and think about this and he began to ruminate on this. And the more he thought about it, the more he considered what had just happened, the more the fire began to grow on the inside and he is angry. He can hardly speak at this point. He knows he shouldn't speak in front of the wicked. He restrains himself in that way, but he really can't hold it in. The grief was that great. The grief was that painful. I find it remarkable. don't you it's a remarkable moment because when we begin to look through the psalm a little bit we see what really has gotten into the heart of david in verse 10 he says something i am spent by the hostility of your hand when you discipline a man with rebukes for sin you consume like a moth what is dear to him surely all mankind is a mere breath selah think about this this is very personal we're almost stunned as we read what is in this psalm a little bit if we could apply that as an incident think about verse 11 when by discipline you a man you give him a death blow for his sin you just took away the only thing he has you just ended his life and what david is really struggling with you'll see in verse 11 surely every man is like a vapor if you put all this together it goes like this why do you give a death blow and take that which is most precious to man when he's only a vapor anyways he's here today and gone tomorrow and you put a target on him he's not even here long enough why would you do that his life is what is most dear to him and boom you attacked it and took it now if you know the story of job you know that job made this very complaint what is man that you make so much of him and that you set your heart on him visit him every morning to test him every moment how long will you not look away from me nor leave me alone till i swallow my spit if i sin what did i do to you you watcher of mankind why have you made me your mark why have i become a burden to you why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity for now i shall lie in the earth you will seek me but i shall not be it's the same thing it's the same struggle which means that when we come into periods of grief and hardship what you're really going to be confronted with what you're really going to struggle with is God's purposes in affliction because at times they make absolutely no sense. Are you shocked? This is shocking. Can a man speak to God this way? Should man speak to God this way? You're so magnificent. You're the creator of all. You're full of all glory. You're self-sufficient. You have no needs. You're eternal. and you make little man your mark who lives here in but a little vapor of time. Why do you even care? Why are you so involved with us? You don't need us. Now we know life's not always like that, and I'm thankful it's not always like that. Many of the Psalms are full of a lot of praise, aren't they? We started our worship with one based on 103, full of praise of the Lord. And, you know, if you're honest, right now many of you are sitting in that kind of state. You're sitting in a very state of, hey, I would love to sing some praise psalms today, you know. I'm feeling good. But what this psalm is telling us is how quickly all that can be forgotten when life gets hard. And then you have many questions. You know, I struggled in the ministry to see a young couple have their first child. and they enjoyed that child for a week believers and then they go to the crib seven days later after the birth and the child's dead and here we're carrying out to the cemetery a coffin this size why does god strike seven days old i've seen um men whose health has been so strong all of their life and they uh they didn't have one affliction and then they get to the end of life thinking of one and they have to go through and i have to shepherd and pastor this they have to go through one of the the most difficult afflictions that i've ever seen at the very end when they've not known that and you struggle you stand back you say lord why are you putting them through that why are you doing that and the anger's real i i wish to i wish it i could say oh yeah hey come on just be happy what does joel osteen do with psalm 39 it's real and you see it's in this present darkness that all the light has been blotted out and david can't help but to call it god's severe chastisement why are you not dealing kindly with me anymore doesn't make sense you ever been here and then what the challenge of all this comes uh is this okay i asked the question should man be questioning god this way and that leads to a further problem in verses four through six i struggle with verses four through six because he now openly voices to god what he openly won't voice to the wicked oh lord make me know my end and what is the measure of my days that i may know how fleeting i am behold you have made my days as a few handbreaths just a very short period of time boys and girls and my lifetime is nothing before you surely all mankind stands there as a mere breath selah surely a man goes about as a shadow surely for nothing they're in turmoil man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather it you know this is the language of ecclesiastes vanity vanity says the preacher it's all vanity isn't it is it we're just here doesn't really matter what happens to us our lives are in turmoil for nothing we exist for nothing we have an inconsequential life some believe that i've heard reform preaching like that it's a kind of oppressive preaching that takes the view in the whole scheme of things we're so rotten we're completely worthless vanity of vanities all of it we have a valueless existence how do you read ecclesiastes million dollar question just a pessimistic view of life it's all vanity is that what david is asking of the lord i'm just weary of all of this uh just let me see that i'm going to die soon is that how we treat grief the change doesn't come till verse 7 as everyone realizes is the real turning point of of the psalm but i believe you have to stop and reflect upon this when i said earlier that that the complexity of grief is very difficult to mine through and it gets very similar to what satan said to the lord with regard to job skin for skin remember what he said a man will give all that he has for his life in other words you attack his life you'll see how he responds i think david's right up at the brink of that and a lot of people will inwardly haven't you ever seen it shake their fist at god and inwardly rage over what has happened in their life and blaming god for the things that have gone on and the question that comes out counselors will tell you all the time why doesn't god leave me alone was david wrong at the end of the day i do agree with john calvin that david is wrong to complain against god and that david is wrong here because he's filled with the spirit of bitterness but i am not about to for a moment act like that is not something that's going to happen what you have here what has this tragedy done for David well initially there is something true in this prayer isn't there he's been confronted with the brevity of life he's been smacked in the face about his own mortality and what has that done verse 3 tells us something very interesting it tells us that this whole thing has caused David to muse that's an old word we don't use very much anymore but it's a very important word to think about do you know what it means to muse boys and girls to muse means to think do we think about our mortality do we think about death as one writer said we're often so intoxicated by prosperity we don't think much about anything but here's the reality we walk the same path today that somebody else walked i kick a stone today that tomorrow will be kicked by somebody else that will outlast both of us. The money in our pockets has the pictures of dead men on it. And that money is going to be in somebody else's pocket tomorrow. The guy standing here preaching behind this pulpit today, there'll be somebody here soon in the Lord's timing in the whole scheme of things tomorrow. And yet I live as if I'm not going to die. Isn't that the truth? And we think a certificate of good health today is going to last you know you ever looked at an hourglass in the sand passing through we live as if it's never going to end and you say pastor this is immensely depressing sermon but what has it done to you right now it's done something i was sitting with somebody this past week and he was speaking of dealing with the sufferings of people and things he had to face in his job and he says you know it finally made me wake up to see what is most important in this life and you see affliction has done that here david is musing and one of the devil's greatest ploys today is to have us not think right i mean that is just what he wants he wants you to not think to be aloof to it all to be cold to it all and instead what does he do do you know what the word amusement means well if you have muse think and you put an a in front of that You have to not think. And we have amused ourselves to death in this country. And what does that do? We avoid at all chances dealing with the real meaning of life and asking the really important questions about life. Why we're here, what's our purpose, what is the chief end of man? And when I'm confronted with my own mortality and as things are dearly, that are dear to me, taken away or i have my own life taken out from under me the fact is i do struggle with the meaning of life then and i do struggle and come into a real period of questioning what is god doing that's not what i've experienced throughout the course of life and now i struggle feeling like this is all inconsequential when grief hits the complexity of grief is i don't see clearly the value of what god is doing and i don't see god's goodness present when he strikes a man who is but a near near a near paper mirror you know why it's hard it's because grief brings total bewilderment and that's the first part of this song bewilderment the inward turmoil has done something and in all of this musing there is something that comes out that he knew there is something that you know that the clouds darken and what is it well i have to fall back on what i've always known at a time like this and what i've always believed but did you notice that the real turning point of the psalm is verse 7 and now lord what do i wait for now that's a question north pondered what's holding me back what's keeping me from what i know what am i doing my hope is in you the most important thing not the things that are going on that he doesn't understand but the most important thing has become clear wait a minute i'm blaming god and treating him as if he doesn't know what he's doing and i let all these thoughts come into my mind attacking his goodness and sorrow comes over me and it clouds things so much so that i have doubted that his working in his people's life is sincere and meaningful i've doubted that when the truth of the matter has been from day one you've always been my hope you're not to blame for these sorrows as if you've afflicted man with no cause if anyone's taken the wrong course in life it's me and that's the first thing he says here deliver me from my transgression deliver me from any path that would not bring you glory you see the reason i strove to maintain the honor of your name before the wicked here it is here's the great moment of the song ready because it was you who did it do you feel that you did it you need to circle that you need to remember that whatever happened the way he got through this his confession god you did it none of the grief that i have experienced could have ever come upon me without your consent and since you are my hope if you've consented to that if you have determined that for me that only leaves me to believe that your purpose in this even though i don't get it or understand it is good and right you did it and that's the thing that i have to cling to in the times of bewilderment the other day i was sitting at the conference and i was struck with the belgic confession about god's providence everyone mocks us for god's providence that we believe that everything happens you know not by chance but think about what it says god leads and governs all things according to his will god is not to blame nor the author of sin listen to what we believe for his power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible that he arranges and does his work very well and justly even when devils and wicked men act unjustly this doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort since it teaches us that nothing can happen to us by chance but only by the arrangement of our gracious heavenly father he watches over us with fatherly care keeping all creatures under his control do you want it any other way i trust that david trusted that you're called to trust that and he ends this prayer saying asking god to deliver him with what he has learned deliver him from his sin help him to remember that he doesn't belong to this world the real beautiful benefit that has happened through this whole struggle but that i am indeed a stranger and a foreigner i've got a better home that awaits and lord i'm asking you that you would look away from me that i might smile again before i go away and no more that's an amazing ending to that song because there's a bigger picture to this psalm isn't there you almost get the sense here that this is what God's heavy hand is like without a what? A mediator. And it's no surprise when David says, I want God's smiling face upon me, not a gaze of anger. Should it really surprise us in Psalm 40 that we meet someone who comes, behold, in the volume of the book, it is written of me to do your will, O God, and this one is going to not restrain his lips, it says in the next Psalm. but he is going to declare good news, gospel. He's going to declare God's salvation and his loving kindness and his truth. And God answers us this morning in the gospel of his son. All of this darkness is dispelled by what his gospel has brought in bringing life and immortality to light. And so when I struggle and with you struggle, when you struggle with what God is doing and you feel a little bit like David and you feel a little bit like Job, what do you want with us? Why are you so involved in our lives? Why do you care to afflict us in this way? It's not meaningless. It's not worthless. Your hope is in Him. And you are purchased with the blood of His Son. And that Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came here and lived a remarkable life of 33 years. A very short life. Younger than your pastor this morning. And that was the most meaningful life ever lived. Because what He did for us is announce to us in the fullness of time how deep the Father's love is for us and not His wrath. He was oppressed and afflicted and what was the only time He didn't open His mouth? When He's dying to pay for your sin. oh he could have opened his mouth righteously he was oppressed and afflicted and yet he opened not his mouth never committing one sin becoming sin for us he remained silent on the cross and he is god's answer god's severe strike of wrath and blow fell upon him so that you don't have to taste that eternally and that's why the new testament will tell you that christ suffered for us committing no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth when he was reviled he did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but committed himself to him who judges righteously who bore himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you are killed whatever god is doing in your life it has eternal value he made you for himself unless of course you're an unbeliever today and have turned away then you have to feel the blow without immediate eternal but to all who believe do you know the glorious gospel he has made you for himself you are his purchased by the blood of his son and your life is immensely precious to him whenever we struggle with sorrow and feeling of a meaningless life. You need to turn your eyes somewhere else. Where do your eyes need to go? God did turn away his eyes and he fixed his gaze of wrath on his son. So I think we should gaze our eyes of faith on his son. Because it is in his son that we see the shining face, smiling face of God. The psalm ends on not a very high note. And I think that's a teaching thing in and of itself. Sometimes it's not always going to feel very high. But when our eyes are fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be sure that He has been merciful and kind to you and blessed you and caused His face to shine upon you because of the great love with which He has loved you. Amen? O Lord, our God, we are so grateful for your loving kindness and that when in affliction we don't see clearly, we can see clearly Jesus and that you have given hope and confidence and peace and gospel through his name. Thank you that you have identified us with that name and that today we can live in confidence that whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord and so in whatever you afflict us with may we glorify God in our bodies in Jesus name we pray