Throughout this Psalm we are made aware that the singer is in trouble. We would like to know who he was. But since he has remained anonymous the Holy Spirit intends for the application to be universal. Any one of us could apply these principles in our lives. In this evening's section we find hope when it seems hopeless.
I. A Troubled Soul (81-83)
A. He Needed Revival (81)
1. The circumstances in which he found himself were trying.
2. He was despairing.
3. His Soul Was Fainting-He Was Longing for a Work of God.
B. 'Salvation' is used a number of ways in the Bible.
1. The biblical context must always determine what kind of salvation the writer has in mind.
2. There is, of course, salvation from sin-its penalty, power, and presence.
3. There is salvation from sorrow as well as salvation from situations.
4. This last aspect of salvation is in view here, although we do not know what the singer's situation was, we know that he was seeking deliverance from his despair.
C. Every cloud has a silver lining.
1. I have heard that all my life, but it never made a lot of sense to me.
2. Taking off one day on an airliner I understood clearly the meaning.
3. The day was gray, dismal, and cloudy.
4. On board I relaxed for the take off and as the plane climbed higher, I noticed the sky grew brighter.
5. Above the clouds the sky was blue and the sun was shining.
6. It was all a matter of perspective.
7. The blue skies were there all the time and, seen from above, the dark clouds were already being hurried away by the wind.
D. The Word of God is like the sun, shining always in the sky.
1. Our circumstances are like the clouds.
2. When we stare up at them from down below, they appear threatening.
3. But when we allow God's Word to change our viewpoint we see them as temporary troubles, soon to vanish.
E. His Sight Was Failing-Looking for a Word from God (82)
1. So often, when the Bible seems to be silent, or seems to be saying wrong things, it is not the Bible that is wrong.
2. But our view point or our interpretation.
3. In James, the sick are instructed to call for the elders.
a. They call for the elders the church, have themselves anointed with oil, and expect to be healed.
b. When healing doesn't take place they become confused.
c. They doubt the Scriptures, or think something is wrong with their faith.
d. God has not failed.
e. They have invested a passage of Scripture with a meaning it does not have.
f. Nowhere does God unconditionally guarantee healing to sick believers ever time they are ill.
g. Obviously God is not going to heal everyone every time. Otherwise, 'believers would never die.
h. The passage in James, as the context shows, has to do with the healing of a person who has become sick as a result of sin and consequent church discipline.
4. So the psalmist needed revival in his discouragement.
5. God's Word seemed to be letting him down.
B. He Needed Restoration (83)
1. "…like a bottle in the smoke…"
a. Folks back then made containers for wine and water out of the skins of animals.
b. Exposed to the smoke they would soon be useless.
c. The contents would take on an unpleasant odor and taste of the smoke.
2. The psalmist was that wineskin.
a. The smoke was the penetrating, pervasive, polluting influence of the world.
b. He felt contaminated by its atmosphere.
c. Worse, he felt that God could no longer use him.
d. He needed restoration.
3. "…Yet do I not forget Thy statutes…"
a. There was one way to get rid of that smoke.
b. The Word of God was able to cleanse deep within.
c. The contaminating power of the world is more than counteracted by the cleansing power of the Word.
4. We cannot escape the world, but we have God's Word to restore us.
II. A Trying Situation (84-87)
A. The Seeming Delay (84)
1. Why is God delaying?
2. Why is He waiting so long?
3. Time is running out.
4. My days are slipping fast away and my prayers remain unanswered.
5. Apart from God's Word, there is no answer to the seeming indifference of God to the sufferings of His saints.
B. Help in understanding this.
1. The stories of Job, Joseph, Jonah, and others help us see that God is not oblivious to what we are going through.
2. He is simply working out His plan through our circumstances.
3. Our problem is we do not have a large enough perspective.
4. We know only the surface facts.
a. This brother is sick and is going to die unless God intervenes.
b. Here is a family that is falling apart.
c. Another loses his job, or fails to get that all important promotion.
d. We ask why?
e. We will never get the right answer if tile surface facts are all we know.
f. As Paul Harvey would say, only God knows 'the rest of the story'.
C. Serious Danger (85-87)
1. The psalmist complained that men were using snares and traps against him.
2. He was being persecuted wrongfully.
3. His strength was almost gone.
4. "…help thou me…"
a. His prayer was very simple.
b. When a person is desperate, he does not make a speech.
c. If a man who can't swim falls into a river, and sees a man on the bank, the drowning man has no use for flowery language.
d. He doesn't say: "I say there, my friend, I wonder if I could persuade you to divest yourself of your garments and plunge into this swiftly flowing river and save me from a watery grave. I shall be forever obliged to you for your kind consideration. I am about to be inundated by these waters. Please come to my aid."
e. He just calls out for help.
5. How he survived thus far…the Word.
III. A Trusting Saint (88)
A. Our hope is in the Lord.
1. The psalmist cries out for God to 'quicken' or renew him.
2. No demands, no threats, just a cry for help.
3. All of us need help from time to time.
4. We need to draw upon God's source of hope.
B. God's Word has come straight from God's mouth.
1. It is "God-breathed."
2. The God who inspired this Book is the creator of the universe.
3. The Bible can never get out of date, never be wrong.
4. It will give us the strength we need to fulfill the purpose for which God has chosen each of us.
Where is our hope in the midst of troubles and trials? What about revival for our souls? It can only come from God through His Word. What do we need tonight?
Salvation? Strength? Cleansing? Revival?