12.07.06
Cheer Up Christian! (Psalm 43:5)
One of the best things about the football world cup is the expressions on the faces of the players after a penalty shoot out. For the team which has won, like Portugal, faces light up with smiles and shouts of joy. For the team which has lost, like England, faces dull down with grimaces and tears of grief. There are no neutrals after a penalty shoot out. But whilst the television screens can show us what players are like on the outside after a penalty shoot out, the book of Psalms gives us an unprecedented glimpse of what we as God’s people look like in the extremes of our Christian experience. And here, in Psalm 43, especially in vs. 5, we have both extremes interlocking into one song – the experience of living in darkness and living in light.
[A] Living in Darkness
The psalmist begins his plaintive cry by talking about why his soul is so downcast? The word which is translated as ‘downcast’ is a very rare word in the Bible – it is used most often in Psalms 42 and 43. But it’s Greek form is used in the New Testament in a few occasions – the most interesting of which are when Jesus uses it to describe how He felt on the night before He was betrayed as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane; in Matthew 26:38 Jesus says, “My soul is very sorrowful (literally: downcast), even to death.” And so, if you are living in darkness at the moment, know that you are sharing in the experience of our Master. At some point in the life of every Christian, they walk in darkness – with hearts which are full of sorrow. Know then that in these situations, which I am sure at least some of us here are enduring this evening, you are at one with Christ and you can echo the sentiments of Psalm 43:5, just as He was able to do on that night in the Garden of Gethsemane as He stared full face at the horror of the sufferings of the cross.
And so, what factors caused the psalmist to walk in darkness, what factors caused Christ to walk in darkness and what factors may be causing you to walk in darkness? In a word, isolation; aloneness. But this isolation works itself out in 4 ways:
1. Ideological Isolation (vs. 1a) – in vs. 1 the psalmist uses legal language ‘defend my case against an impious nation’. What then is the case the Psalmist is holding onto? What views does He hold which are so radical as to evoke the opposition of the entire nation against Him? Is it not His trust in God? In the midst of a nation which was running full tilt away from the God who had saved them time and time again, the Psalmist found Himself in a minority of one by continuing to trust and rely upon the Lord. Most respectable Israelites had, by this point, given up on God – they had moved onto trendier, more contemporary, more touchy-feely gods like Baal and Ashtoreth. To be alone, truly alone, in what you know to be true is heartbreaking. You may be the only one in your street, in your workplace or even in your home who believes that Jesus is Lord – you are totally isolated and it makes you sorrowful – just like Jesus Himself, on this last night in the Garden of Gethsemane, was the only one on the whole planet who knew that the cross was looming large. He was all alone in what He thought, just like the psalmist, just, maybe, like you too.
2. Sociological Isolation (vs. 1b, 2b) – to think different from everyone else, and to be completely alone in your worldview, is disconcerting – but to be shunned and oppressed on account of what you believe, that is even more painful. But that is what happened – in the second half of vs. 1, the psalmist finds himself pursued by one particular man – a man he calls deceitful and unjust; and again in the second half of vs. 2, this hostile enemy of his is oppressing him. He can’t shake him off – no matter how hard he tries, his enemy lurks behind him to torture and destroy him. All alone, standing against an ungodly nation with its chief executioner chasing after him, no place to run, no place to hide – the psalmist talks of going about mourning, going about in darkness – a word which Job uses often to describe a world without the sun. For Jesus also, this was a reality – every step He took was marked by His enemies. From the very beginning of his public ministry, the religious leaders looked for a way to destroy Him; Satan Himself, the chief prosecutor of hell dogging Him, tempting Him, oppressing Him. And how did Jesus face the ultimate trial of the cross? Was He surrounded by thousands of His loyal supporters cheering Him on? Did even His closest friends hold up His arms? No – they slept whilst He prayed with drops of blood; they ran away when He needed them most – and as for the thousands cheering Him on, all the thousands did as He stood before Pilate was to shout out ‘Crucify Him’. And what about you – you are standing alone for Christ perhaps in school or college or in your workplace, you may have one particular person who has it in for you because you are a Christian – and you are so sad, because you are lonely and oppressed, Again, can you not join with the Psalmist and with Christ as they cry out to God, ‘why are you downcast, O my soul’?
3. Theological Isolation (vs. 2a) – more painful than anything to the Psalmist, was that he felt that God Himself had rejected Him – that He was totally alone and that not even God was with Him in this darkness. ‘Why have you rejected me?’ he plaintively asks God in vs. 2. Nobody thought like he did, everybody was after his blood, and now, the one person in the Universe he might have expected to be a stronghold to him at this time had also cut and run – He was totally alone. Can we not immediately carry this forward 800 years to the experience of our own Saviour upon the Cross at Calvary; where in the midst of ideological and sociological isolation, Jesus cried out ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ In fact, what Jesus was here saying is exactly what the psalmist was saying before Him, ‘God, where are you when it hurts?’ Maybe that’s how you feel tonight – nobody is on your side, not even God – everyone is against you. No wonder then we go about with long faces and cried out eyes, no wonder we cry out ‘why are you downcast, O my soul?’
4. Geographical Isolation (vs. 3-4) – compounding the pain of isolation was the fact that the psalmist, at this point, was far away from Jerusalem – the place of God’s presence on earth. It was in Jerusalem that God’s people met together to worship and learn of God, and to meet with Him and enjoy Him. But for the psalmist, these things are but memories. For Jesus, not only did He face every kind of isolation possible to man, but He also died outside the city walls of Jerusalem – outside the city He had come to save. What about you? You may feel that because there are so few of you that you are geographically isolated – that when you come together there aren’t masses of you, the glory days have gone and you feel so very alone. When you sing praises, the roof doesn’t come off with the noise, the only noise the roof makes is sarcastic laughter. And how you long for it to be different! You long to feel part of something big, something better. And so, just like the Psalmist and just like Jesus, you cry out, ‘why are you downcast, O my soul?’
The point is this, you think you are all alone in the way you feel, right? You feel completely isolated and alone, right? But you aren’t alone. God’s people have experienced times like this for thousands of years – you are standing in a long line of people stretching back right into the mists of antiquity. There are Christians alive today who are experiencing this to the max – one I know of on an island in the Indian Ocean who has been imprisoned for his faith in the Lord Jesus along with 3 friends. His friends, under torture, recanted their faith, leaving this man all alone in a dark prison cell. This man, he stands all alone against an ungodly nation, and against ungodly torturers and prison guards – He must feel abandoned by God and he’s in prison, so he’s not able to meet with other Christian believers. He knows how you feel. And more importantly than that, Jesus knows what it feels like to be completely alone. He has experienced the sorrow you now feel in a way and to an intensity that you and I will thankfully never know. And so, it is a natural thing for a Christian to, at times, feel as if he is walking in darkness and to be downcast in soul and spirit.
[B] Living in Light
Is darkness the ultimate reality? Is sorrow to be the perpetual reality of the Christian’s life? Are we doomed to have downcast souls? The answer is no! Darkness and gloom are not the ultimate reality; light and joy are. But how do we move from living in darkness to living in light? The answer revolves around two challenges:
1. Challenge Yourself – the great Puritan Richard Sibbes writes, “If we would but examine and question ourselves, accuse and condemn ourselves, oh how happy and blessed creatures might we be!” We are simply not allowed to let our gloom and doom attitude win – rather, we have to fight for the right attitude towards those things which are causing our darkness. That’s what the Psalmist did by asking Himself, ‘why, O my soul, do you feel this way’? So, how do we challenge ourselves?
a. Remember God – the whole of Psalm 43 is taken up with memories; memories of good times and bad times, but also memories of what God is like. In the dark times, we must remember, and act upon, the kind of God we have. The psalmist remembers five things about God:
· My stronghold (vs. 2) – God is the refuge to which he can run in times of difficulty. He is the strong fortress into which our ungodly enemies cannot penetrate. In times past, we have found this to be true, in times future we shall also find this to be true – and so, says the psalmist, find it true now! The walls of Jerusalem were thick, but they didn’t stop the Babylonians from destroying the city. But God’s fortress will never be shaken, just make sure that you are in it!
· Light and Truth (vs. 3) – the psalmist, at this point, is experiencing deceit, ungodliness and darkness. But God is the opposite of all these things – He is truth against the deceit of the nation; He is goodness against the impiety of His enemies and He is light against the darkness of mankind. You may feel all alone, but you are a servant of the King of light and truth. Stand then for these things!
· My Joy (vs. 4a) – we live in a hedonistic society where every person lives for pleasure. But for the psalmist, there is only one place to find true joy – and that is in God Himself. You might be all alone in this world, but find your joy in God – fight for joy in God and not in the empty pleasures of this world.
· My God (vs. 4b) – ungodly people tried to take away everything from the Psalmist – his possessions, his reputation, his faith and even his life. But one thing they could not take away from him was his God. And that’s true for us today – think of that poor Christian brother in jail on the Indian Ocean island. His persecutors have taken everything away from him, but they cannot take his God away from him. And again, Richard Sibbes writes, “The world may strip us of these earthly things, vex our bodies, and restrain our liberties, and take away outward things from us; but this is our comfort, they cannot take away our God from us, for this is an everlasting portion, my God, my help, my all-sufficiency.”
· The Salvation of my Face (vs. 5) – the word for salvation in vs. 5, is the word from which the name Jesus is taken. Remember, in the dark times, the salvation you have in Jesus – and how in Him, no matter what is going on around you, you have everything. Don’t forget Jesus – the Jesus who knew the darkness and conquered the darkness so that you could walk in the light. Remember the cross on which your sins were nailed; remember the empty tomb and remember the throne of the lamb in heaven.
b. Wait for God – how easy it is to wilt in the darkness, rather than wait for the Lord – and yet, this is exactly what the Psalmist challenges Himself to do – in spite of the isolation and loneliness, in spite of the oppression and the pain, in spite of the rejection and distance – wait for the Lord. On a winter’s morning, we can often think that the dawn will never come and waiting for the sun is hard. When walking in the darkness, we can often think that there really is no light at the end of the tunnel, but the day will come, the light will arise and shine once again upon us. Two years ago, I planted some broccoli in my garden and I harvested it in August – or rather, gave up on it, because the broccoli plant was all leaves and no trees or florets. But what I didn’t know, is that you don’t harvest broccoli until the following February – you have to give it time to grow the florets. I was too impatient and unwilling to wait. If I had waited, I would have been rewarded. In the darkness, wait for the Lord to bring light! Put your hope in Him – not an uncertain hope like those who put a £1 on the lottery, but a sure and certain knowledge that God will turn things around – that your enemies will be defeated and that you will once again know joy and peace.
c. Be Ready to Praise – in Golspie, where I am from, there is a hill called Ben Bhraggie –and on top of the hill is a statue of the Duke of Sutherland. My grandfather used to say to me that if you couldn’t see the ‘mannie’ as the locals call it, it means that it is raining, and if you can see the mannie, its going to rain. Either way, you can’t win in Golspie – its either raining or its going to rain. How like the Christian life – either we are praising or we are going to praise – when its light, we are praising, when its dark, we are going to praise. Either way, God will be praised. The psalmist challenged himself to prepare to see the salvation of God and be ready to praise! Let’s challenge ourselves in the same way – to be ready to praise when God acts!
2. Challenge God – sometimes, the language of the psalms shocks us, because the psalmists seem to be so bold in what they say to God. The psalms aren’t nice namby pamby prayers, they are true and real life cries of the heart. And here, the psalmist challenges God to do five things:
a. Judge Me! (vs. 1)– the psalmist wants God to examine him and to vindicate him. The psalmist stands alone – everyone thinks he is crazy to believe what he does. And by the simple law of democracy, if 99.9% of people think one thing, then they are right. But the psalmist wants God to show the world that they, though in the majority, were wrong, and that he was right. You might be all alone and feel downcast – challenge God to show those who are making fun of you that in fact, you are right and they are wrong. Challenge God to convince them and to convince you, that to believe in Jesus is the right thing to do.
b. Defend Me! (vs. 1)– the psalmist has given up on trying to defend himself and his beliefs. He knows that no-one wants to listen – all they want to do is put him 6 feet under, and so, He prays that God would do the fighting for him – that somehow, God would step in, Himself, to defend him. Again, why don’t you challenge God like that – when you’ve been fighting and defending, why don’t you pray to God, ‘defend me from my unbelieving friends or family. Defend me from all those who hate me on account of my faith in you.’
c. Deliver Me! (vs. 1)– often, the situations we find ourselves in leave us absolutely helpless and we can’t see a way out. The Psalmist felt that way, King David felt that way, and you might feel that way tonight. Perhaps the situation you face here in Paisley Free Church at this time leaves you feeling absolutely helpless. The apostle Paul found out, in 2 Corinthians 1, that God is a master at delivering His people from death-type situations. Challenge God – ‘deliver us!’ and though you might find that people aren’t humanly able to turn things around, God can.
d. Show Me! (vs. 2)– the psalms are stacked full of ‘why’ questions. Modern Christianity is so certain about everything – watch the God channel and you will see thousands of shiny happy people who seem to have everything sorted out in their lives, but that’s just not the way it really is. Sing most hymns and you’ll never find the slightest hint of the language the psalmist uses here. Our lives are chock-full of why questions – ‘Lord, why are you letting this happen to me’. Now I’m not saying that God will definitely tell us why we are going through a dark period, but this I do know, He wants us not to be shiny happy people, but children who depend upon Him for everything, including the answers to life’s problems. So challenge Him and pray to Him saying, ‘Lord, why? Lord, show me!’
e. Send to Me! (vs. 3)– the Psalmist feels that he is in a room full of mirrors and he can’t figure out where the exit is – he doesn’t know the way ahead. Everywhere about him, there is oppression and deceit – and he is beginning to feel lost. And so he prays that God would send him his light and truth to be guides to him. How we need to pray the same prayer today, that in this world which is a wilderness of mirrors, where everyone follows their own desires and pleasures and sees themselves as gospel, we would have God’s Word as the guiding principle of our lives, so that in every situation, we may be able to understand how to think and behave like Christ.
So, the verse which begins on a gloomy note, ends on a note of confident praise – the face which once was long and sorrowful, is now certain and joyful. The answer, the remedy: speaking to yourself about God and speaking to God about yourself – challenging yourself and challenging God. Now, if you are downcast tonight, why don’t you join with the psalmist on this trail of the upturned face – Christian brothers and sisters, even though the going is really tough, cheer up! AMEN