Helpless But Never Hopeless
Today we’re starting a new teaching series on a book of the bible called Psalms. It’s a series we do each summer to give us melodies of encouragement for everyday life. The reality is life can sometimes be difficult and discouraging, but the book of Psalms teaches theological truths and practical prayers that can give us melodies of encouragement for everyday life. The specific Psalm we’re studying today is about what to do when we’re feeling helpless. It’s about what to do when we’re facing situations that are beyond our control, which happens to everybody. We all sometimes face situations that are beyond our control. Sometimes we face situations beyond our control in marriage, in our family, in our career, our finances, our health, and other areas of life. When this happens we can feel helpless since we can’t do anything to fix it, change it, or control it. So today we’re talking about what to do when this happens. What to do when we’re feeling helpless from facing situations beyond our control, so we don’t spiral out of control. Let’s turn to Psalm 28 and get into it. You can find Psalms in the middle of the bible, and we’ll be in Psalm 28:1-9. The title of the message is Helpless But Never Hopeless, and the big idea of the message is we can sometimes feel helpless, but we’re never hopeless with God...We can sometimes feel helpless, but we’re never hopeless with God...
Here’s your context. Psalms is an Old Testament biblical hymnbook that contains 150 unique songs and prayers. In fact the Hebrew word for Psalms means to praise or songs of praise, which is why our series theme is about finding melodies of encouragement for everyday life. It’s because each Psalm is written by Old Testament biblical leaders who are expressing their real, raw, honest emotions that we can all relate with. Now Psalm 28 was written by King David, who’s considered one of the greatest kings in Israel’s history. We don’t know the exact situation he’s facing when he writes Psalm 28, but we know his words express he’s desperate. They express he’s feeling helpless, as he faces a situation that’s beyond his control. Let’s check out how he responds.
Psalm 28:1-9 states, “Lord, I call to you! My rock, don’t be deaf to me. If you remain silent to me, I’ll be like those going down to the Pit. 2 Listen to the sound of my pleading when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary. 3 Don’t drag me away with the wicked, with the evildoers, who speak in friendly ways with their neighbors while malice is in their hearts. 4 Repay them according to what they’ve done—according to the evil of their deeds. Repay them according to the work of their hands; give them back what they deserve. 5 Because they don’t consider what the Lord’s done or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and not rebuild them.” David’s clearly facing a desperate situation, and it has something to do with his enemies. Most scholars agree that his enemies are either threatening him personally or his entire kingdom, but either way he’s feeling desperate. He’s feeling desperate and helpless, because he’s facing a situation that’s beyond his control. But notice how he responds to this situation. He responds by praying...He responds by praying, “Lord I call to you!...I cry to you for help!” So the 1st thing you can do when you’re feeling helpless, when you’re facing a situation that’s beyond your control is...
#1 Keep praying and pressing into God, instead of pulling away from God. = You need to keep praying and pressing into God, instead of pulling away from God. Sometimes when we’re going through a tough situation in life, it causes us to think God doesn’t care about us, and we might start pulling away from God. We might start pulling away from God even more if we’re praying, but all we’re hearing are crickets from God’s silence. This is the reason why some of you became skeptics, or the reason why some of you aren’t praying that much anymore. It’s because you prayed for something in the past, but all you heard was God’s silence...Most people start pulling away from God when they’re going through a tough situation in life, and all they hear is God’s silence. But in vs. 1-5 we’re seeing David keeps praying and pressing into God instead of pulling away from God. He even expresses his frustrations over God’s silence, but he never stops praying and pressing into God. It’s like Charles Spurgeon once said, “When God seems to close his ear, we must not close our mouths.” When God seems to close his ear, when God seems to be silent, we must not close our mouths. We need to keep praying and pressing into God, even express our frustrations over God’s silence like David. Something we often say here at City Awakening is we want prayer to be our first response and our continual response. That’s exactly what David’s doing! Prayer is his first response and his continual response! He feels helpless and he’s struggling with God’s silence, but he keeps praying and pressing into God, instead of pulling away from God.
Vs. 6, “Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the sound of my pleading.” Notice that David’s prayer turns to praise! He goes from praying and pressing into the Lord, to praising and blessing the Lord. It’s because he trusts the Lord has heard his prayers. So the 2nd thing you can do when you’re feeling helpless, when you’re facing a situation that’s beyond your control is...
#2 Trust God is hearing your prayers, instead of ignoring your prayers. = You need to 1st keep praying and pressing into God, but you also need to trust God is hearing your prayers, instead of ignoring your prayers. The reason David feels helpless but not hopeless, is because he trusts God has heard his prayers. In the words of Charles Spurgeon, “When you can’t trace God’s hand, trust God’s heart.” When you can’t trace God’s hand, you need to trust God’s heart like David’s doing! He trusts the loving heart God displayed when he redeemed Adam and Eve from their sins in the past, is the same loving heart willing to redeem him from his sins in the present. He trusts the loving heart God displayed when he rescued Noah from the flood in the past, is the same loving heart willing to rescue him from the flood of struggles he’s facing in the present. He trusts the loving heart God displayed when he helped David fight Goliath in the past, is the same loving heart willing to help David fight the Goliath he’s dealing with in the present. David can’t trace God’s hand, but he trusts God’s loving heart in the past is the same in the present. He trusts God’s loving heart in the past, is the same loving heart willing to hear his prayers in the present.
Hebrews 13:8 states, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” That means the same loving heart Jesus displayed when he died for your sins on the cross in the past, is the same loving heart Jesus has for you in the present. His loving heart for you doesn’t change based on who you are and what you’ve done, it’s based on who he is and what he’s done. His loving heart for you is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So when you can’t trace God’s hand, trust God’s heart! You can’t see everything God’s hand is doing in your life, so trust God’s heart and that God has heardyour prayers. John Piper states, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, but you may only be aware of three.”God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, even when you can’t see it. So don’t mistake God’s silence for absence, because he’s never absent. He’s still working, still doing 10,000 things in your life, even when you can’t see it. If his loving heart was willing to die for your sins in the past, then his loving heart is willing to forgive your sins and hear your prayers in the present. So trust God’s heart, trust he’s heard your prayers. Trust his lovin heart is doing 10,000 things with your prayers, even on the days when you can’t trace his hand.
Again vs. 6, “Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the sound of my pleading. 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped...” Notice David’s heart trusts in the Lord, and his heart is helped by the Lord. It’s because he trusts God is still in control, even when it feels like his life is spiraling out of control. He trusts God’s heart, and that God has heard his prayers...I recently heard a story about a little girl who was trapped under some debris from an earthquake. Rescuers immediately rushed over, started digging through the rubble, and were shouting for her, but they didn’t hear any response. After hours of silence, they finally heard the little girl’s voice shouting back. So they kept digging until they finally uncovered the little girl. She was all bruised and busted up from being trapped under the debris, but she was still alive. They asked her how she managed to stay calm for so long in this helpless situation, and she said, “It’s because my dad told me if anything ever happened to me, he’d come for me.” She was completely helpless, but she wasn’t hopeless. She wasn’t hopeless, because she trusted her father would come for her...Are you trusting God like that?...Are you trusting God is a loving Father who hears your prayers, and will come for you?...He might not come exactly when you want or in the exact ways you want. But Psalm 28 is teaching you to trust he’s heard your prayers instead of ignored your prayers, and he’s coming for you. David’s heart trusts in the Lord, and his heart is helped by the Lord. When your heart trusts in the Lord, your heart will be helped by the Lord too. Where in your life are you not trusting the Lord?...Where in your life are you not trusting God’s heart?...The more you trust God’s heart, the more your heart will feel helped like David’s heart.
Again vs. 7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart celebrates, and I give thanks to him with my song. 8 The Lord is the strength of his people; he is a stronghold of salvation for his anointed. 9 Save your people, bless your possession, shepherd them, and carry them forever.” David says two times the Lord is...In vs. 7 he says the Lord is my strength and my shield. Then in vs. 8 he says the Lord is the strength of his people and a stronghold of salvation. What David’s doing is he’s reminding himself of who God is. He’s reminding himself of things that are true about God. So the 3rd thing you can do when you’re feeling helpless, when you’re facing a situation that’s beyond your control is...
#3 Focus more on who God is, instead of how big your problems are. = You need to focus more on who God is, instead of how big your problems are. When you’re feeling desperate and helpless you need to remind yourself of who the Lord is...Like David we need to say, “I’m feeling weak, but the Lord is strong...I’m feeling defenseless, but the Lord is my shield...I’m feeling defeated, but the Lord is my stronghold of salvation...I’m feeling helpless, but I’m still hopeful because the Lord is still in control, even when it feels like life is spiraling out of control...” So even though you’ll sometimes feeling desperate and helpless, you can still be hopeful if you pause to remember who the Lord is. The more you focus on who the Lord is instead of how big your problems are, the more your heart will be helped. In the words of Oswald Chambers, “We have to pray with our eyes on God, not our difficulties.” We have to pray with our eyes focused more on how big God is, instead of how big our problems are. The reason David becomes hopeful and starts praising God, is because he starts focusing more on the size of his God than the size of his problems. It’s because he knows it doesn’t matter how big the Goliaths are in his life, he can always find strength in the Lord to face those Goliaths. He knows he can always find strength in the Lord, when he can’t find strength in himself. He knows the Lord is, still in control.
Now we can all relate to David feeling desperate and helpless in vs. 1-5. But we need to focus more on who God is if we want to be filled with hope and joy like David in vs. 6-9. We need to 1st keep praying and pressing into God, 2ndkeep trusting God hears our prayers, and 3rd keep focusing on who God is, instead of how big our problems are. We need to focus on who God is, and what God’s already done for us on the cross. We need to remind ourselves that Jesus is our incarnate God who was willing to come and die for our sins. If he cared enough to come and die for our sins, he’ll care enough to come and help us when we feel trapped under the debris. If he cared enough to die for our sins, he’ll care enough to hear our prayers. So trust the same loving heart that was pierced for your sins, is the same loving heart that’s willing to help with your struggles. Trust his loving pierced heart to save your sinful heart, and to help your struggling heart.
The big idea of the message is we can sometimes feel helpless, but we’re never hopeless with God...We can sometimes feel helpless, but we’re never hopeless with God...Psalm 28 doesn’t teach us that life will always be easy, it teaches us that life will sometimes be hard. But it also teaches us that we have a God who hears our prayers, and that we’re never hopeless with God. If you’re a skeptic, then you’ll sometimes feel both helpless and hopeless, because you don’t have anywhere else to turn when all your other hopes fail. If you’re a believer, then you’ll sometimes feel helpless like the skeptic, but you can still be hopeful because you always have hope with God. The only way for any of us to have infinite hope, is to trust in the infinite God who’s infinitely greater than our problems. So trust in Jesus who’s the infinite God, who’s infinitely greater than your problems. Trust his loving heart to save your sinful heart, and to help your struggling heart.
Communion is a reminder of the loving heart Jesus has for us. It’s a reminder that Jesus is our incarnate God who loved us so much, that he was willing to die for our sins on the cross. He did this so we can have an eternal relationship with him, but also to give us the eternal assurance that he’s always willing to forgive our sins and listen to our prayers. If you don’t believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins, then please refrain from taking communion so you don’t go through the motions of this. Instead use this time to reflect on the message and consider putting your faith in Jesus today so he’ll always forgive your sins and listen to your prayers too...For those of you who already put your faith in Jesus we have three stations set up, and in a few minutes I’ll invite you to come forward to the station closest to you. If you have a gluten allergy the table in the back has gluten free bread. When you come forward we’ll give you a piece of bread as a symbol of the body of Christ broken for your sins, and you’ll dip it in the cup of juice as a symbol of the blood of Christ shed for your sins. After that you can eat, drink, and head back to your seat to pray before we close in worship. So at this time let’s have those who are serving Communion start heading to your stations, as we prepare to remember and receive the good news of Jesus again.
On the night Jesus was betrayed he took some bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it saying “This is my body which is to be broken for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you eat it, do so in remembrance of me, in remembrance of who I am and what I’ve done for you.” When supper ended he took the cup, blessed it, and gave thanks for it saying “This is a symbol of my blood which is to be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you drink it, do so in remembrance of me, in remembrance of who I am and what I’ve done.” Respond to this good news by remembering and receiving. Remember what he’s done for you on the cross, and receive his grace and hope for your life again. Come as you feel led.