Rev. David Holwick W [Adaption of Sept 17, 1986, sermon]
First Baptist Church (several thought it was too depressing)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 15, 2012
Psalm 88
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I. Hiking Buckskin Gulch.
A. This Utah slot canyon is said to be the longest in the world.
1) Slot canyons erode deeply but stay narrow.
a) They often have wavy walls with beautiful sandstone
patterns.
b) This one was so deep it almost seemed like a cave in
portions. The air was noticeably cooler.
2) Much of their erosion comes from flash floods.
a) This is what makes it exciting for hikers - you never
really know when the next flash flood will come.
1> It can be bright and sunny above, but if it is
raining miles away - wham!
2> I spent a lot of the time looking around, wondering
where I would go if I heard the roar of a flood.
b) Sometimes I would go miles with very few options.
1> We would have been goners.
3) We hiked 23 miles in two days.
a) In the end, there was no flash flood.
b) In fact, there was little water at all, except for some
small seeps near our campsite.
c) The lack of water in the canyon made hiking much easier
but almost did us in on the long hot hike out.
B. The Bible uses a similar image to describe feelings of despair.
1) Pits and depression are both dark, silent, empty and
forbidding.
2) Psalm 88 is probably the finest Biblical example of this.
a) It is the only psalm in the Bible that doesn't have a
happy ending.
b) It stays bleak from beginning to end.
3) If you are depressed, it will speak to you.
a) For some people, it leaves them even more depressed.
b) The beauty of this psalm is that it is the ultimate
in realism.
1> Not all of our problems magically disappear in life,
even if God is on your side.
2> We have to be able to handle that, and keep
believing.
II. What can go wrong in life.
A. Troubles.
1) Heman seems to describe health problems that have brought
him near death.
a) It is not just a recent thing, either - he has been
afflicted like this since he was young.
b) Some have suggested he had something like leprosy but,
like most psalms in the Bible, he doesn't get too
specific so we probably shouldn't press it.
2) Many people in our church have problems like this.
a) Some have recently been diagnosed with serious illnesses.
b) Others have battled afflictions for years.
1> They pray and pray about it, but little seems to
change.
2> It can get pretty discouraging for a believer.
B. Isolation.
1) In verse 8, he mentions being shut off from his closest
friends.
2) If you want to break someone, one of the fastest ways is
through isolation - it works better than pain.
3) People need other people.
a) The psalm writer is not only alone, but rejected.
b) Even if they could be close to him, they refuse.
4) How many friends do you have?
a) The Bible says a friend close by is better than a blood
relative.
b) Too many people lack close human ties.
1> Electronic relationships don't cut it.
2> You need real flesh-and-blood friends.
C. Spiritual despair.
1) Heman speaks as if God is his personal enemy.
a) God is punishing him for some reason.
b) Some commentators assume Heman sinned somehow and that
is why the psalm is so gloomy.
1> But Heman never admits to any wrongdoing.
2> More likely, he is interpreting his circumstances
and assumes God is out to get him.
2) We shouldn't be too harsh on Heman - Jesus felt like this,
too.
a) On the cross, Jesus asked why God had forsaken him.
1> We know it was all part of God's plan of salvation.
2> God the Father had to look away from Jesus because
the sins of the world were being put on him.
3> Still, I think Jesus felt the pain of spiritual
despair.
b) Many of us interpret our spiritual status by our
current circumstances.
1> Life is going good - God must be happy with me.
2> In reality, he may be just giving you more time to
repent.
A> Good times don't prove God is happy with you.
B> In the same token, bad times don't mean God
has rejected you.
III. He felt as low as the grave.
A. Psalm 88 paints a bleak picture of death.
1) Many people pretty much agree with him.
Five years ago, a woman in China had a problem.
She bought a field with the idea of farming it, but no
one would work for her.
The land was completely surrounded by a graveyard.
So she had a brilliant insight - she built a hotel there.
It is shaped like a mausoleum.
The beds are shaped like coffins.
The owner provides no services at night, and there is
nowhere to go since it is surrounded by graves.
It is her little way of helping people experience death.
#36166
Most of us would rather not experience death.
At least, not right now.
2) Heman says things about death that bother us.
a) In verse 5, he says God does not remember the dead.
b) In verses 10 and 11 he questions whether God's love
and power exist beyond the grave.
c) Verse 12 calls death the land of forgetfulness.
d) This is paralleled by other Old Testament passages.
1> Here in verse
B. Why the Jews felt this way.
1) The Jews put most of their focus on this life.
a) They had a covenant relationship with God and the
blessings and curses applied here and now.
b) When you wanted to praise God, you walked over to the
temple and did so.
c) Death ends life. And worship. And everything else.
2) Fortunately, this is not the complete picture.
a) Jews did understand that spiritual people had communion
with God after death.
1> They did not cease to exist.
2> As Jesus famously quoted, God "is" the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
b) There is also an understanding of resurrection in the
later books of the Old Testament.
1> Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel present this idea.
c) What is hinted at in the Old Testament, is made clear
in the New Testament.
1> Jesus' resurrection at Easter proves that life does
not have to end at the grave.
2> No matter how bad life gets, Christians have the
hope of something better awaiting them.
IV. What should we do with Psalm 88?
A. Christians must be aware that we can suffer.
1) Happiness is not an inalienable right for us.
a) Listening to Christian radio on our vacation: their
theme was "Positive Uplift!"
1> We like that.
2> Thoroughly positive.
b) But sometimes, life will stink.
c) There will be prayers that will not be answered.
2) This does not mean that God does not care.
a) In his wisdom, he may withhold blessings from us.
b) Many of the great saints in the New Testament
experienced this.
B. In tough times, we can still keep the faith.
1) As depressing as Psalm 88 is, Heman still keeps praying.
a) He thinks God has given up on him, but he doesn't
give up on God.
b) In the very first verse, he addresses God as the one
who saves him.
2) Psalm 88 is the story of Job -- at least half of it.
a) We hear Job's side, but not God's answer.
b) Satan's key question in Job 1:9, is, "Does Job love you
[that is, God] for nothing?"
1> We should love God even when the blessings are thin.
2> We love him for who he is, not for what he does
for us.
c) Is this true for you?
C. This present reality is not the final one.
1) The Bible claims that God has a purpose in everything.
2) Our challenge is to believe this even when God seems very
far away.
a) When we feel we are trapped in a slot canyon with no
way out.
3) Everything in life is part of God's refining process.
Spiritual writer A. W. Tozer once said:
"It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly
until He has hurt him deeply."
#62890
a) Pain is not the final answer.
b) But perhaps it is what you are experiencing right now.
1> Don't give up.
2> Keep seeking God and his mercy.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#36166 “Dead Hotel,” The Week Magazine, December 21, 2007, page 12.
#62890 “God Can't Bless You Until He Has Hurt You,” by Marvin McMickle,
Preaching Now, www.preaching.com, November 16, 2010. From
the November-December 2010 Issue of Preaching magazine.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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