This is a summary of the sermon preached on December 29, 2019.
- Date: Sunday December 29, 2019
- Venue: A Sunday service at Tokyo Multicultural Church
- Title: "Give thanks and praise in suffering"
- Scriptures: Psalm 56
For the director of music. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” Of David. A miktam. When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.
1 Be merciful to me, my God,
for my enemies are in hot pursuit;
all day long they press their attack.
2 My adversaries pursue me all day long;
in their pride many are attacking me.
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
5 All day long they twist my words;
all their schemes are for my ruin.
6 They conspire, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
hoping to take my life.
7 Because of their wickedness do not let them escape;
in your anger, God, bring the nations down.
8 Record my misery;
list my tears on your scroll—
are they not in your record?
9 Then my enemies will turn back
when I call for help.
By this I will know that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise—
11 in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 I am under vows to you, my God;
I will present my thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.1
目次
Introduction
Those are the kind of questions that people have regardless of time and space, including the author of Psalm 56.
As you can see, the psalmist appears to be in a fearful and miserable situation (vv. 1, 2, 5, 6). Yet even in such a time of difficulty the psalmist was able to give thanks and praise to God (vv. 10-12).
Today, I’d like us to see why the psalmist was able to give thanks and praise to God even in the midst of suffering.
Give thanks and praise in suffering
This psalm is said to be written by David when he was seized by the Philistines in Gath (see superscription).
At that time David was running away from Saul, the first king of Israel, who had been trying to kill David out of fear and envy (1 Sam. 18—19). And David visited Achish, the king of Gath, probably for protection (1 Sam. 21:11; cf. 1 Sam. 27: 1-4).
But they had seized David possibly because the servants of Achish had thought that David came to invade them (cf. 1 Sam. 21:11-12). In such a time of difficulty, David cries out to God for his mercy in Psalm 56:1-2.
Yet, David also expresses his trust in God in the midst of difficulty in vv. 3-4. Notice that even David, the great servant of God, got afraid just like any of us.
So the question is:
In the case of David, when he got afraid, he put his trust in God. And as he trusts in God, fear goes away because mortals or people cannot do anything to him, David proclaims.
This is an amazing confession of faith.
Notice also that in the midst of suffering, David was not only able to put his trust in God, but also able to praise God’s word (vv. 4, 10), and give thanks to Him (v. 12).
From Psalm 56, I think we can find at least three reasons.
God is faithful
First of all, David knew that
In Isaiah 55:8-11, God speaks through a prophet Isaiah that
When things are not going well as we expect, we tend to think that God is not doing anything for us. So in order to get God’s attention, we may try, for instance, to pray more, tithes more, or read the Bible more.
Although praying, tithing and reading the Bible are all very important, those are not the means to get God’s attention or to earn His favor so as to get some help from Him.
God helps us not because we’ve done something good for him. But rather
And because His ways and thoughts are much higher than ours, God usually helps us in a way which we’d never expect. The greatest example is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
No one, including the disciples of Jesus, had ever expected that the Messiah, the Promised Savior in the Old Testament, would be crucified.
But God has accomplished what He desired and achieved His purpose by using the worst event in history, in which an innocent man, God’s only Son was crucified on our behalf.
God is able and powerful enough to bring the best out of the worst.
This truth may enable us to give thanks and praise to God even in the midst of suffering just like David.
God is just
The second reason why David was able to give thanks and praise to God in suffering is because he knew that
In Psalm 56:7 David is asking God not to let the wicked escape, but to bring them down in His anger. David knew that
Here notice that David did not intend to bring justice to the wicked by himself; rather he trusted in God and His judgment (cf. Matthew 5:39; Romans 12:19-21).
We are not to take revenge because it is God who repays. In other words,
God cannot let go of anything evil because He is a holy, righteous God. We see that most clearly in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ because, Jesus, God the Son Himself, has taken our penalty for sins, which is death, on the cross.
And Jesus died on the cross because He loves us. On the cross, therefore, we see both love and justice of God.
Moreover, the Bible promises that
So
This truth may enable us to give thanks and praise to God even in the midst of suffering just like David.
God is powerful
One more reason why David was able to give thanks and praise to God in the midst of suffering is because he knew that
In Psalm 56:8-9 David is asking God to remember his misery caused by his enemies, and he is quite confident that when he calls for help, his enemies will turn back because God is for him.
This implies that God is much more powerful than David’s enemies. In fact, David proclaims that God is so powerful that He has delivered him from death in v. 13. And we see that power of God most clearly in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
For us humans, the worst and the most powerful enemy would be death. But the Bible promises that
The resurrection of Jesus gives us a piece of evidence and hope that we’d one day have the same kind of body as the resurrected Christ (Phil. 3:21).
Then, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, the Bible promises (Rev. 21:4).
So
And knowing the truth that this powerful God is also a faithful and just God, we may be able to give thanks and praise to Him even in the midst of suffering just like David.
Conclusion
Even in the midst of suffering, David was not only able to put his trust in God, but also able to give thanks and praise to Him. This was because he knew that
In other words, David knew that
And we can appreciate them all in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So if you do not feel like giving thanks or praise to God because you’ve been going through some rough time in life,
God does not want you to suffer forever; rather
That’s why God Himself came to suffer and die on the cross, and rose from the dead for you. It is true that you’d suffer in many ways as long as you live in this world. But never forget that
Bibliography and Notes
- Tate, Marvin. Psalms 51-100. The Word Biblical Commentary. Waco, Tex.: Thomas Nelson, 1991.
- VanGemeren, Willem A. Psalms. Revised edition. Vol. V. The Expositor’s Bible commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2008.
- Wilson, Gerald H. Psalms. Volume I. The NIV Application commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002.