Sayre Woods Bible Church

Answer me quickly, O LORD, my spirit fails. (143:7a)

Psalm 143 is a good reminder that following God is not easy. God has not promised us a problem-free, doubt-free, stress-free, trial-free walk through life. As Jesus said, In this world, you will have tribulation (16:33). It is not a promise that we particularly like but it is reality.

Psalm 143 (like 142) was apparently written while David was on the run from Saul. He is tired. He is fearful. He is depressed. He is burnt out.

The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead. My spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.

David “feels” life. He is an emotional man. At this point in his life, he feels wiped. He has had enough. I’ve never been on the run before but I can imagine that spending every day hiding in the caves and every night moving to a new location to avoid being caught and killed probably does a number on you physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit.

In the midst of all this, David cries out…Answer me quickly, O LORD! David not only wanted an answer; he wanted one quickly. Why? Because his spirit was failing. He did not know how much he could take. He felt like his life was descending into the pit.

Somehow all this encourages me. It reminds me that life will be a struggle at times, that sometimes emotionally and spiritually I will feel spent and out of touch with God. This is not unusual. In fact, it appears to be part of God’s plan, a part of His sharpening of our character. God knew that David needed these times in his life just like He knew that Paul needed a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him dependent and humble. We can’t operate correctly on 24-hour, 7 day a week emotional highs. We don’t even do well on 7 day a week emotional plateaus. It is the emotional valley that sharpens our character, softens our heart and draws us back to God.

What do we do in these valleys? We follow David’s pathway. We cry out to God for His mercy recognizing that we do not deserve anything on our own (vs 1-2). We remember God’s work in our lives and meditate on the glories of His creation (vs 5). We hide ourselves in God (vs 9) and ask Him to bring us word of His love, show us the way to go, rescue us from our enemies, teach us how to do His will, bring us out of trouble and lead us on level ground. And we write all this down in a psalm and learn to sing to Him.

David messed up alot in his life. He had no perfect track record. But he was described as a man after God’s own heart because deep down he wanted nothing more than to be with God, to sense His presence, to sing His praise, and to do His will. Psalm 143 is an example of this.

Lord, fill my heart with Your joy, teach me to do Your will, tune my heart to sing Your praise.

Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul. I cried out to You, O LORD; I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

David experienced the full effect of loneliness. No one was at his right hand. He had no “right hand man” so to speak–a friend next to him for support and comfort. He had no refuge. No place to run. And no one cared for his soul. Whoa. David may have had lots of people around him but no one really cared for him. No one really knew him or made an effort to minister to his soul.

Ever felt like that? It is amazing that we can live in the midst of our family, our church, and our world and still feel totally alone…like no one really knows us…like no one really cares for us on the “soul level.” I find it interesting that David ends this psalm by praying, “Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise Your name.” That is quite a picture. David’s soul felt like it was in prison…isolated and confined. Sometimes the trials of life put our soul in prison. Sometimes we put it there ourselves simply choosing to isolate ourselves and hide our true soul from others. We want someone to care for our soul but, at the same time, we are afraid to open the door to let anyone in. 

In the midst of his loneliness, David cries out to God. “You are my refuge, O LORD!” We may not have an earthly refuge but we always have an eternal one. “You are my portion in the land of the living.”

What does it mean that “God is our portion”? It echoes back to God’s words to the Levites who were given no land or inheritance in the Promised Land (Deut. 18:1-2). Instead God was to be their portion…He was to be their sole possession, their security, their inheritance. Thus to say that God is your portion is to say, “I have nothing here on earth but I have the Lord. And He is enough.” The good news is that when we come to this point, God often surrounds us with the righteous (142:7), with people who care for our souls as we care for theirs. 

Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; protect me from men of violence, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. (140:1-2) As I read this psalm today, my mind immediately thought of the persecuted church around the world. It is hard for me to relate to David’s prayer in Psalm 140. I do not have people seeking my life on a daily basis. In fact, I can’t even imagine such an existence. To wake up every day not knowing if it will be your last…if your enemies will prevail…if you will be targeted for an attack. Yet this is the existence of thousands of Christians around the world. Spend time now praying for the persecuted church. You can visit the Open Doors website for more information, www.odusa.org.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept… (137:1a)

Psalm 137 is considered one of the “imprecatory psalms.” There are ten psalms (7, 35, 55, 58, 69, 79, 109, 137, 139) which contain imprecatory prayers or calls for God’s judgment or curses upon the nation’s enemies. These are often hard psalms to interpret or explain, particularly in light of the NT exhortation to “forgive one’s enemies.” So what do we do with these psalms? I think we have to read them understanding the historical and emotional context in which they are written.

The Psalms reflect the emotional and spiritual struggles of God’s people. They do not present a “sanitized” view of life, a “trust-in-God-and-everything-is-rosy” perspective. They deal with life as it really is. That’s why the psalms cry out to God at times, “Why, O Lord?” “How long will You let us suffer?” “Will You hide forever?” These psalms do not teach us that God is absent. He is always with us. But they do teach us that at times our emotions are so stretched and our spirits are so dry that do not see God. God seems absent. He seems to have abandoned us.

God does not seem to mind the struggles that sometimes enter our hearts. In fact, He seems to invite us to wrestle with Him. It is the expression of emotion that shows that our hearts are still alive, that we have not grown cold or apathetic. More than anything God seems to hate the apathetic, indifferent heart. This is the lukewarm heart that God vomits out of His mouth in Revelation 3:16. 

So when we read Psalm 137, we need to remember that the Jewish people have suffered greatly. Jerusalem and their entire nation have been wiped away by the Babylonians. The Babylonians destroyed everything, mercilessly killed many men, women, and children, and then carted the rest off to Babylon. While in Babylon, the Babylonians taunted the Jews, “Sing us one of those victory songs! C’mon, entertain us! We love to hear how your God will save you.” It is the taunt of the Jewish leaders to Jesus, “If you are the Messiah, come down from the cross and we will believe in You.” It is the taunt of arrogance.

The Babylonians not only destroyed the Jewish nation, but they also tried to destroy the Jewish spirit, to humiliate them, to crush them. The best we can do to try to understand their sorrow, pain and anger is to think back to 9/11. Only to make it equivalent to the Jews’ suffering, we would have to imagine our entire nation being destroyed, with thousands upon thousands killed, and the rest of us made captives of another nation that regularly laughed, scorned, and taunted us, “Sing that Star Spangled Banner song again! Or how about that God Bless the USA one. C’mon entertain us with those great American songs!” Get the picture?

This psalm was written in the midst of that kind of suffering…and it is real. What would be your emotional response to such violent destruction and constant humiliation? “God crush them. Do to them what they have done to us. May someone cast their little children against the rocks so they can feel the pain we experienced when they dashed ours against the rocks.” It is not pretty. It is not supposed to be. But it is real emotion expressing itself to God, waiting for His justice. 

So should we pray the same things today? No. Christ has taught us a different way, a higher way. But the imprecatory psalms teach us that forgiving our enemies is not some emotionless task. Spirituality is not stoicism, stuffing our emotions and acting as if everything is okay. Spirituality feels emotion, struggles with it, and then finally surrenders it to God.

C.S. Lewis wrote about the imprecatory psalms in his book, Reflections on the Psalms. It is a good chapter worth reading some time if you get the opportunity. Lewis reflected on WW II in which he served as a soldier with the British army. Lewis remembers an evening in which a group of his fellow soldiers are sitting around talking about Hitler and his reported crimes against the Jewish people. Some expressed outrage and anger, but many of them were indifferent to the whole affair, even thinking it was simply British propaganda to get them worked up for the fight. In Lewis’ mind, the indifference was more scarey than the anger. A person who sees diabolical wickedness and feels anger is still emotionally alive. Such a person who then, through the power of Christ, chooses to forgive his enemies expresses true forgiveness. On the other hand, the person who feels nothing neither sees the wickedness nor struggles to extend forgiveness. He simply does not care. This is the worst state to be in.

Lord, keep my heart from growing cold. May I not stuff my emotions but learn to feel them, express them to You, and experience the power of Your Spirit in learning to love as You have loved.

Wow, there is so much in Romans 15. I like verses 15:5-7.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Jesus Christ, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Paul’s prayer is that the “spirit of unity” would be manifest in the church at Rome. “Spirit of unity” implies not a uniformity where everyone thinks alike but an attitude of grace and humility that pursues unity despite the differences we all have. Such a spirit of unity requires at least three things:

1) God must work in our hearts. It is God who must give us endurance (to bear with one another), encouragement (to move our hearts toward unity) and the spirit of unity itself (by the work of His Spirit in our hearts).

2) We must be following Christ. Paul says that this spirit of unity comes only as you follow Christ Jesus. When we’re not following Christ, we are following our own wants, desires, and agendas…and unity is the first casualty.

3) We must learn to accept one another as Christ accepted us. How did Christ accept us? He looked past all of our faults, weaknesses, and sins and decided to love us, pursue us, and embrace us anyway. That is the attitude that must pervade our church before a spirit of unity is possible.

Paul says that God is glorified and praised when this kind of unity exists in the church. I believe the converse is also true. When a spirit of unity does not exist, God is not glorified and praised. We may sing all the songs we want, preach/teach all we want, and smile all we want, but it is the spirit of unity that evidences the Spirit of Christ and brings God true glory.

Another thought hit me from Romans 15. At the end of the chapter Paul asks the church to pray for him. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed (15:31-32). I assume the church did pray for Paul. What is interesting is that God did not answer this prayer…at least in the way Paul or the Roman believers expected. Paul was eventually arrested in Jerusalem. But by God’s providence, it was Paul’s arrest that eventually brought him to Rome for trial before Caesar. So God brought Paul to Rome but in a far different way than Paul expected. It is reminder to me that God often accomplishes our prayers through different means and ways than we expect. We simply have to trust God along the way. He will accomplish His purpose. In Paul’s case, his arrest and trial in Rome gave him an opportunity to not only impact the church at Rome but also the Roman imperial guard (chained to Paul 24 hours a day) and the church around the world (through his prison epistles).

Lord, give SWBC a spirit of unity as we follow You. Help us also trust You when You take us down different paths than we expect or prefer knowing that You will always accomplish Your purpose in the end.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. (Romans 14:19)

Do you realize that most conflicts between believers happen over minor issues? Actually most conflicts in most relationships really boil down to minor issues, at least “minor” in the eyes of God. Romans 14 is a great chapter for believers to memorize. The topic in Romans 14 is “gray areas”–areas of life in which there is no clear biblical mandate on what to do or how to live. For examples, Paul brings up the issues of what foods to eat (meat-eater or vegetarian) and what days to honor (sabbath and feast-keepers and people with more flexible schedules). These were big issues between Jews and Gentiles in the early church and it generally created conflict between the two. Today the issues are more like–what music in the church is best? how should you raise your kids? how should the church be involved in politics? what version of the Bible should you use? what methods should you use in evangelism? and so forth.

To these issues, which so often divide Christians, Paul gives three main points of advice:

1. It is really none of your business to judge someone else’s spirituality based on your convictions. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand (14:4). 

2. The ultimate evaluation is from God and not from us. You, then, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat (14:10).

3. Pursue the things that make for peace and mutual edification not conflict. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification (14:19).

It really is simple advice. Unfortunately it is so hard to implement. Our pride gets in the way and we tend to evaluate everyone else based on our own standard of spirituality. That is why we have to make “every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification.” We have to consciously decide to stop making secondary issues primary and start focusing on our commonalities rather than our differences. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). If a person recognizes their sin, embraces Christ as Savior, and exhibits the life of the Spirit in their attitude and actions, then they are a brother or sister in Christ and regardless of their convictions we are to love them, seek to be at peace with them, and mutually edify them.

Lord, forgive us for our pride and for allowing secondary issues to so often hinder our fellowship. Bring unity to SWBC for Your glory and for the furtherance of Your gospel.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21)

Paul begins Romans 12 with an exhortation to present our bodies to God as living sacrifices. The very practical implications of this decision are seen throughout the rest of the chapter. A living sacrifice renews his mind, lives in humility, serves others with the gifts God has given him/her, loves, honors, blesses, shows hospitality, and responds to evil with grace.

It is the last one that is perhaps the most difficult. No one likes conflict (at least no one really sane). And no one especially likes being the recepient of injustice. When I am treated or judged unfairly, there is something that rises up in me wanting to defend myself or fight back. I think, in some sense, that is a reflection of the image of God in us. We were created by a righteous God and we long for/expect to be treated righteously in this world (even if we don’t always treat others righteously). Of course, early on in life we learn a very important lesson, “Life is not fair.” It’s a hard lesson to learn and we don’t especially like it, even when we know it is true.

So how are we supposed to react when “life is not fair” to us? This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where being a “living sacrifice” becomes more than just a quaint religious phrase. When we are treated unfairly, Paul says we are to respond in the following ways:

1. Do not repay evil with evil. Do not seek revenge. First thing, don’t retaliate. Don’t give in to your first instinct. When someone cuts you off on the road of life, don’t give in to your sinful passions and tailgate them with your brights on. Don’t react in anger, learn to respond in grace.

2. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. I find this pretty amazing. Even though we are all sinners; we all still have some concept of what is right. Even unbelievers know what is right. Paul says instead of retaliating, calm down, consider your options and choose that which would be considered right in the eyes of everybody. Take the high road.

3. If it is possible, as much as you can, seek peace. When we take the high road, we leave the door open for reconciliation. Retaliation always, always escalates the problem. Instead of one offense, now there are two to deal with…and usually that number is multiplied as time goes on. Of course, Paul recognizes that reconciliation is a two-way street. We can only do so much and then we have to leave the rest in God’s hands and in the hands of the other person.

4. Repay evil with good. Here is really the most radical statement in all of Scripture. It is the equivalent of Jesus’ words to “love your enemies.” It goes against the grain of every passion in our being. It runs counter to our culture. It is one thing to overlook an offense and to choose not to retaliate. It is quite another thing to actually respond to an attack with grace and goodness. Yet there is something inherently powerful about such a response. For one, it shows a strength that can only come from God. And two, it heaps “burning coals” on the head of the one who mistreats us. I’ve always wondered exactly what this means. My best guess is that it means that responding with kindness piles a burning sense of shame and conviction on the other person that is more effective than fighting back. That, however, is no guarantee that they will relent or that we will be shielded from further harm. I am sure as Paul wrote this he had a mental picture of Stephen being executed and looking up to heaven and praying for his enemies. I do not think that picture ever left Paul’s mind. Paul was there and a part of that unjust execution. But Stephen’s grace burned through Paul’s hardened heart and opened him up to the more amazing grace of God.

This is not the easy road. This is the road of the living sacrifice.

Link to today’s reading in Romans 6: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%206&version=51

Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:19-23)

In Romans 6, Paul is reminding believers that Christ’s death not only frees us from the penalty of sin, it also frees us from the power of sin. Now we are free to follow God and serve Him and not just live a sinful lifestyle, serving our flesh and feeding its appetites.

These last verses in Romans 6 caught my attention this morning. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. What does Paul mean? Obviously he does not mean that before we were saved, we were not obligated by God to do right. God’s standards never change. He is speaking from a human perspective. Before I was saved, I not only did not have the power to do right but I did not have any motivation to do so either. I could live any way I wanted and do anything I wanted. On the surface, that sounds pretty good. It is the #1 attraction to sin and a sinful lifestyle. In fact, it is the theme behind every beer commercial shown on TV.

But Paul is quick to say, And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. Paul’s point is that sin always looks attractive but it is ultimately destructive. It brings shame, guilt, bondage, destroyed relationships, destroyed lives, and ultimately eternal doom. Since we have been set free from this, why would we go back? Since we have been freed from the slavery of Egypt and set on the road to the Promised Land, why would we turn back? Yet the lure of sin is always present with us and within us. And just like the Israelites, when the road to the Promised Land gets rocky, we start pondering a return to Egypt. Paul says ”don’t do it!” Following and serving God leads to holiness and holiness leads to life. Our joy and peace will always be found in the Promised Land not in Egypt so keep your eyes straight ahead and your feet walking toward Him.

Lord, preserve me from the allure of sin. Remind me that the consequences of sin are never worth the momentary pleasure of sin. Remind me that true joy, peace, and pleasure are found in Your presence and in following Your ways.