Three Prescriptions for Pestering Thoughts

It's good to see that you all fared Paul and McGeddon and made your way here to church this morning.

So I want to thank you for being here and looking forward to what the Lord has for us here in Psalm 77.

Now, book three of the Psalms. Might rightly be called the dark valley of the Psalter. Starting in Psalm 73. Running through to Psalm s eighty-nine, this section of Psalms. was uh were they were compiled to minister to the Jewish people as they went through.

exile and face captivity. The author of this psalm in particular, and most of book three, is Asaph, the music minister. of Israel at the time. Yeah. If you are a person who maybe likes minor chord music a little bit more, ASAP is your guy.

And as he writes Psalm 77, he is struggling through his own emotional turmoil. And Behind that, the turmoil of a fallen Israel colors his mental landscape. By this time Babylon has invaded. The Solomonic Temple has been destroyed. The Davidic throne has been empty.

And so as we look at Psalm 77 this morning, We will look at the internal struggles of a believer who is trying to reconcile what he knows to be true about God. with what he's facing in his own personal soul. And by placing this psalm where it is, I believe that the Holy Spirit speaks to those of us who are tormented by thoughts that we cannot silence. And He reminds us that if uh peace can be found for Asaph, In the middle of the rubble of Israel, than pieces available for you today.

So if you're tormented this morning, Psalm 77 is placed in the canon to remind you that God is concerned with the thoughts that are tormenting his people. And if that's you, I think that we can find what we'll call three prescriptions for pestering thoughts today. God in this text calls you first to. Direct your unfiltered cries To God. Direct your unfiltered cries to God.

Now verse 1. In it, Asaph introduces the psalm by condensing his entire experience into one bite-sized nugget. He says, I cried out to God with my voice, to God with my voice. He's repeating that to thrust it home to you. And what was the result of that?

He gave ear to me. Asaph is essentially giving you a drive-through sermon in this first bite-sized nugget of Psalm 77. Asaph is saying, in essence, if you need to know anything about this time, in this season, in my life, the thing I want you to know is that I cried to the Lord. And he heard me. If there's anything you want to know, About the soul of Asaph in the midst of turmoil, both inward and outward, it's, I cried to my God, and he heard me.

Now the word for pride here In verse 1. Is intentionally an echo of what Israel did when they were in Egyptian captivity. It is this yearning, this begging of God to be free from these oppressive chains that bind me. And so Asaph wants us to know at the beginning that whatever he is facing, it's like a ruthless master that has bound him in chains, that he cannot. be freed from on his own A corn.

And so he cries out to the Lord. And I love how he says the Lord responds to him. He says, the Lord gave ear Too mean. The Lord gave ear to me. That is to To refer to a cupping of the ear.

It's as though God takes His divine attentiveness, which we know that He is attentive of all things at once, but for Asaph's human experience, He says, When I cried to God from the shambles of my life, from the chains of oppression, it was as though God Himself cupped His ear and leaned into me. It was as though I was the centerpiece of God's focus in this time of turmoil. I cried out to God. And God focused in on me like I was the sinner. of his attention.

Now we Yeah. We're no more than there's just a few words into a twenty verse Psalm, and Asaph has given us more than enough to contemplate for the rest of the day on the doctrine of prayer and the fact that we have a father who cares about the needs of his people. And so Asaph, wanting to break open the shell that he just gave us, invites us inside to experience alongside of him. the torment that he is facing. I prayed and the Lord heard me.

And ASAP says Just in case. There's a time where there's a people who live in a microwave instant gratification society. I want them to know that you are to pray to the Lord. You are to direct your unfiltered cries to the Lord. You are to do this even when it seems that your prayers are unheard.

As Asaph invites us into his experience, he encourages you to direct your unfiltered cries to God. even when you feel like the Lord is not hearing you. Listen to the beginning of his Of his descent into a place of spiraling in his mind. He says, In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. Asaph says, In the day of my trouble, it could also be rendered, in the day of my distress, or even better yet, in the day of my anxiety, I sought the Lord.

The word for salt here at its root means to repeatedly tread a path.

Now I With a name like Hunter, y You kind of got to follow the craft. And so growing up, hunting was something that we regularly did. And when I moved to North Carolina to assume my first pastorate years ago, I was invited to hunt on a farmer's land. He said, you just take this. You hunt as much as you would like.

And on that, you're going to go out and you're going to scout. and see kind of if there's pressure points and what's going on on the property. You begin to walk around and you're looking for signs of of familiarity or regularity among the deer there. Do I see trails leading to or from bedding grounds? Do I see trails to and from food sources?

Do I see rub lines among the trees? And on this property in particular, there were some hardwoods. or they're going in there and grabbing acorns. And they're coming across the field into the pines for bedding on the other side. There's a water source.

And I knew if I could just get right outside of that without disturbing that bedding ground, I'm going to be where I know they are. And in essence, you're looking for what we used to call them as kid deer highways. They're just regularly trotting this path because they know that that's the place that meets their needs. And Asaph says: In the place of my torment, in the time of my anxiety, I walked the line of the place that I knew would meet my needs. I treaded before the Lord with regularity.

I frequented myself before the Lord. I sought after God. I looked for his face. The next line invites us to consider what this looks like. What did it look like for you to seek the Lord's face, Asaph?

He said, Well Okay. My hand. My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing.

Now the first thing I want you to notice in this verse Is this contrast? He says, first in the first line, in the day of my trouble, and then he says, my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing. Asaph is trying to invite you in to see that this is not just an hour of contemplation that's plaguing him. This is from sun up to sundown, an issue that is all-consuming, that it envelops him, that is inescapable. From the sun up to sundown, I'm plagued with this, and so from the sun up to sundown, I will seek the Lord.

ASAP's anxieties are inescapable. Whether it's day or whether it's night, he is plagued with pestering thoughts and must seek the face of God. to to stretch one's hand out It's a figure of speech for an for earnest prayer. Small. Listen to Lamentations chapter 2 verse 19.

It says, Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward him for the life of your young children. I don't think that there's a better encapsulation of earnestness than prayer. Lift your hands out to him for the life of your young children. The word salt there also carries a connotation of being poured out.

He is throwing himself out before the Lord, earnestly reaching out to the Lord, seeking the face of the Lord. This imagery is also depicted in the life of Moses. You might remember in Exodus chapter 17 there's a battle that's occurring and Moses is up on the mountain top with his staff. And Moses raises his staff up above his head, and when it's up, As though as a sign of intercessory prayer, Israel prevails, and when it drops, Israel begins to lose in their battle. And so we see that there is aid coming to hold up the arms of Moses that they might prevail in war, and yet Moses had help.

Co-intercessors, we would call them. The only thing that holds up the arms of Asaph through the night, It is grief. He's all alone. In the night, And the only thing that keeps his arms reached out, the only thing that keeps him before the Lord without giving up. Is this all-consuming grief?

The sons of Korah in Psalm 42 were familiar with this. They write. My soul thirsts for God. For the living God. And when shall I come and appear before God?

Lord, my tears have been my food day and night. And they continually say to me, Sons of Korah. Where is your God? The Hebrew, therefore, without ceasing means to. to not grow numb without growing numb.

As he strives to prevail in prayer, ASAP says in verses 2 and 3: My soul refuses to be comforted. I remembered God. And I was troubled.

Now ASAP is a good theologian. I think there's something to be said about good theologians writing the music of the church. I think if you want to submit false doctrine to your soul and cement it in there, just sing it. Um Music is pedagogical. It cements teaching to your soul.

Asaph is a good theologian. He knows the Lord, and yet we would think that as he remembers God, the psalm is immediately going to turn on a hinge, and yet he says, I remembered God. And my soul was troubled. Asaph knows that the only cure that he has is in the Lord. He wants nothing more than to find that peace in the Lord, and he says, Yet as I pursue the Lord, my soul is not comforted.

My spirit was overwhelmed. For your spirit to be overwhelmed, it gives the picture of being. envelope that gives the picture of being consumed or shrouded by despair. I tried to seek the Lord. I couldn't find any comfort.

I was devoured by grief. I was enveloped in despair. Darkness shrouded my life. There was no joy for me to be to have. And have you been there before?

Are you there now? Have you found yourself so plagued with grief and with anxiety? That you seek to find help in the Lord, and it seems as though there's a blockade set up between the theology you hold up here. and the the feelings that you feel in your heart. This is Asaph's experience.

The famous preacher Charles Spurgeon describes this in his own life, and he says that this experience. It's like a deep valley. in a lonely cave. Which I know well. Which I know well.

The old Puritans would call this a place of spiritual melancholy. A situation in which the truths that you know are not resonating with the soul that you have. And it seems as though the truths that you hold up here, you know the Lord is sovereign and you know he works all things for good and you know that you are the apple of his eye. You know what the scriptures teach, that he has put his love upon you in eternity past. And you know that all things are working together for good and yet in your soul you remind yourself of these and there's no peace at all.

This is ASAP's experience. And the encouragement is definitely not clear here. And yet, there is a sense in which you want to thank the Lord for including such a dark place in this brother's life for the sake of those who are going through dark places. There's a sense in which the Lord ordains the torments that are being faced in the lives of the biblical writers and uses them and inspires them and preserves them for us so that we, going through similar situations, receive balms for our broken souls. The encouragement is not clear here.

But since Asaph gives us his summary in verse 1, that he cried and the Lord heard him. We learn from verses 2 and 3 that even when it seems that your prayers are unheard, that you labor in vain, you are still invited, no, that's not strong enough, you are still called and commanded to seek the Lord, to cry out to the Lord.

Now, the next thing I want us to notice is that we are to direct our unfiltered Christ to God. Even when your mind seems undone. Moving forward, Asaph looks for an escape, for a reprieve in his sleep, and he says that God refuses to give me sleep. He says, Lord, you hold my eyelids open. I'm so troubled that I can't even speak.

I can't even speak. This is a plague of insomnia. Being utterly fatigued, he says that he is so troubled that he cannot speak the word. For troubled here is different than the previous uses of troubled. It refers to to recurring blows.

I was a percussionist, and recurring blows, you can look at your drum heads, and you'll see how tight your patterns are, how consistent your hits are. And these big, shiny, black bass drum heads will be able to show where your mallets are hitting against. And ASAP is saying, It seems for me that the place where I am trying to find reprieve from, it's not just one hit that I'm trying to recover from, but it's a consistent blow against my soul, recurring against me. It's a wave that drags me down into the bottom and it pummels me. I am in trouble and I cannot even speak.

I cannot even speak. This is used two other times in the Bible, and interestingly enough, it's used by Pharaoh. In Genesis 41, and it's used by Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel chapter 2. Both of them say I had a dream.

And it troubled me.

So what's the cure for these men? I'm going to go find the musicians. Or the major musicians. The magicians. I'm going to go find the magicians as the balm for my soul.

The difference between Asaph and these men is that instead of looking for the wisdom of the world, Asaph looks for the Lord. And so ASAP is describing this turmoil, less like one single issue in his life. And instead, like a constant wailing being delivered upon his soul by God. And while he knows he's supposed to go before the Lord, he is so deeply grieved that he says, I. I can't even speak.

I don't even have the words to say. The word for speak there It means to be unable to be able to to arrange or unable to set in order. And I think that gives a wonderful commentary and really colors our understanding of what he's feeling there. I think it gives a beautiful picture of how anxiety can function in our minds, doesn't it? I just can't order things rightly.

I can't seem to logically process and work through the things that are occurring in my mind. In J. Ryan Davidson's book on anxiety, or booklet on anxiety, he describes OCD and anxiety as the brain being locked up into an overheated feedback loop of anxiety. And maybe you've been there before on paper. Your troubles are not logical.

But you're so distraught You're so wailed upon with these troubles that you're just lost in the clutter. Before I went into the pastorate, I was a code officer. And so a lot of times I would be invited to go into houses that were hoarders' homes. And there was this one lady in particular who I could never, there was a small trail. through her home, a very nice home in a very nice neighborhood, but boxes stacked all the way to the ceiling.

And she got lost in that house. I had to go see if we could find her upstairs. She was lost in the clutter. And they often say that your workspace is a representation of your mind. When Jed came into my office or Judah came into my office yesterday, I said, I'm working on this sermon.

It's dealing a lot with anxiety. And you'll look at my desk, and really as messy as it is, it's kind of giving me anxiety. He said, Well, you're entering into the sufferings of the people there. It's a reflection. Your workspace and your life is a reflection of kind of what you are dealing with on the inside, pouring out.

And for that lady, obviously, her mind was a troubled place. And while your workplaces may look fine, you may be in a similar place as she or as ASAP is. I'm just lost in the clutter. I'm being so hit with opportunities or with priorities or in this case with anxieties. I just can't set things in order.

I'm lost in the clutter. In verses 5 through 6, Asaph seeks to find rest. He says, You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to remember Better days. It says I call Verse 5, I have considered the days of old.

Now that's a sweeping statement. The days of old is a more short-term thing that he's looking for, and then he's broadening his horizons. The years of ancient times, I'm looking for anything that I can find as an anchor for my soul here. And then he says, I call to remembrance my song in the night. I meditate within my heart.

and my spirit makes diligent search. And what you'll find is that verses 7 through 9, which I'll get to in a minute. This time of remembrance does not help him. At all. It actually leads him into a fever pitch.

As he tries to remember those better days, those songs in the night, which is language for jubilance, for happiness, as I try to remember better times. This clouded perspective, this disillusionment has so colored his perspective. Then it leads him to being more distraught. In essence, Asaph Looking back on how good the Lord was in the past is more disturbed at how bad that same Lord is allowing things to be right now. And it throws him into a tornado of thoughts that we would call spiraling.

Look at verses 7 through 9. Asaph is going to ask six questions in three couplets, and they're all one main thing that he's concerned with. God, are you who you said you were or not? He is obviously thinking back. On Exodus thirty-four, verse six, it says, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.

And as Asaph. It's so disillusioned. He reads that and contemplates it and says, I cannot square what he said about himself with what I'm seeing going on around me. And so he says, will the Lord cast off forever? Will he be favourable no more?

Has his mercy ceased forever? Has his promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And then the psalmist says, See Law.

Most likely a musical term. Inviting a time of silence among the congregation of the Lord to contemplate, think about what we just said here. To summarize what's happening here, Asaph is essentially meditating on Exodus 34, and he's crying out, Lord, you told me that you were merciful and compassionate and that you were faithful in Exodus 34. And Lord, if that's changed, then you're not who I thought you were. That's a dark place to be.

And so again, we want to ask. Have you been there before? It's easy as I it's easy as Ivory Tower theologians to go obviously hasn't considered the doctrine of divine esseity. How dare you question the triennial God? He does not need you.

And who do you think you are to raise your voice at him? And we sit here and we scoff at him and we say, Asaph. You foolish man. But it's easy to do that when the blockade between your soul and your mind seems to be flushed away and everything's going well. But wait until you fall into one of these categories, and then you're going to find that ASAP is a blessing to you.

Have you been here before? And if you have, let me encourage you by saying. The Holy Ghost Include You gotta think about this. The triune God has ordained the sufferings of all of Israel to so work through the soul of Asaph that Asaph might write this experience under divine inspiration. And God has preserved this, working this whole tapestry to minister and to educate you as the church of the living God.

And what did we gather from this?

Well, the fact that this is included in divine scripture. Is an invitation to direct your unfiltered cries. To the Lord. When you're in lonely caves of despair and anxiety, When it wails on you like a ruthless taskmaster, God invites you to cry out from your soul. And those very explosions from Asaph's questioning heart provoke the cure for his conditioned, which will be answered later.

And so what I want you to do, what the scriptures are calling you to do, is to not direct your pampered and pedicured and theologically astute prayers to God, but direct your unfiltered prayers before a holy God. Asaph's soul is exploding before the Lord. I'm not telling you to go home and take your journal and write out this is how I really feel. But let me make sure that it really reasons well with what Calvin's Institutes are teaching me, and then I'll deliver them to the Lord post-haste. Come before the Lord.

He knows the hearts and the minds of his people, and yet, even still, he invites you to deliver your unfiltered cries before him.

So, if you're plagued by inescapable anxiety, take it to the Lord. 1 Peter 5:7 invites you, cast all your cares on Him. Why? Because he cares for you. Not cast all your cares on him because you know.

That you have been a really good boy this week, and so you've earned the right to throw some baggage on the Lord. The grounds by which you are encouraged to go before the Lord. Is not rooted in your conduct, but in what He has done for you through Christ. Cast your cares on me. Because I care for you.

If you're plagued with insomnia, which we see happen here. Perhaps the Lord is using this as an instrument to drive you to Him. That is not a medical or clinical diagnosis, it's looking into seeing how the divine hand is working here providentially. If you find yourself unable to speak, I want you to find peace in knowing this, beloved, that when the blows of life are welling upon you, when you cannot get things in order, when you cannot speak as you wish you could, there is peace for you in Romans 8. Verse 26, it says, The Holy Spirit helps in your weakness.

For we do not know what we should pray. as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. When you are so trapped in this endless feedback loop of trouble. When blows wail upon you and you cannot stand up under the weight of your tumultuous thoughts. Paul says I want you to know When you cannot pray as you ought.

The Spirit prays for you. He's interceding for you. What a great God we have. We've rebelled against a holy God. He has sent his son.

Living a life like us, suffering through life like us, and yet sinless, and he crushes them under divine wrath. to propitiate, to remove his wrath against you. And he doesn't go. I did enough for you. Go ahead and figure it out.

Christ has resurrected, Christ has ascended, and you have the Spirit dwelling in you, and the Spirit and Christ are interceding on your behalf before the throne of the Father. This is the grounds by which Jesus encourages Peter, right? Peter, I want you to know something. Satan has requested to sift you like wheat. And the Lord doesn't say, and I told him to kick rocks.

He says, Peter. He's going to sift you like wheat. And I have prayed for you. I love the statement by Michane, who says, If I could hear Christ. praying in the room next to me.

I would not fear a thousand enemies. And yet the distance makes no difference. Christ is praying. For me.

So direct your unfiltered cries to God. Second. Decide To consider Who he is. When you were tormented The prescription that God has given you is to decide to consider who He is. Notice in verse 10, that he summarizes his anguish.

He says And I said, This is my anguish. This is my anguish. Everything that you have heard so far is an encapsulation of the sufferings that I have endured. And then a hand chapters. And he says, but Hi.

Will Remember. But I will remember the years of the right hand. of the most high.

Now, notice with me: if you're going and you say, I want to teach or I want to understand something, first thing I always look forward to is repetition. And boy, the word remember Zakar is used a lot in this psalm. Six times in total, this is number three, and things are really going to begin to make the difference. The words of Kar, when you see it in the Old Testament, it's really a remembrance that provokes action. Noah.

is sailing. on this blue dot in space. under the divine judgment of a holy God. And it says And God remembered Noah. and the waters began.

to recede. It's a remembering that provokes an action. This is the third use of the word, and it is here that he fully throws himself into going against the grain. I'm really going to get to the bottom of this. And I'll be honest with you, as I work through this text, I just kept saying to myself, What exactly's changed here, ASAP?

It would be easier if you just said, and I never thought about the Lord, and I was looking for ways to cure my anxieties and the ways of this world. Maybe going to the book of Ecclesiastes and women and wine and riches. That's not what he says. He keeps saying, I'm trying to remember the Lord, so what's changed here? And here's what I concluded.

In verses 1 through 9, Asaph is viewing God according to his pain. In verses 10 through 20, Asaph is viewing his pain according to who his God is. You see the difference there? First nine verses, I'm viewing who God is through my pain, and then in verses 10 through 20, I'm viewing my pain through who God is. At first, remembering God's goodness angered Asaph because that goodness didn't feel good in the moment.

By God's grace, his soul has ascended above the clouds of tumult that were choking his soul, and he got a fresh glimpse of who God is. Spurgeon says Memory is a handmade for faith. When faith has its seven years of famine, have you ever felt that way before? You're not always on what we would call the mountaintops. of spiritual vibrance, are we?

There's seasons in which we might feel like we're in those seven years of spiritual famine. And he says: when faith has its seven years of famine, memory. Like Joseph in Egypt. throws open her granaries. Are you troubled?

Now before we want to remember what the Lord did. ASF says, I want you to consider who he is. Just decide to consider who he is. But I will. J.

Ryan Davidson, in his work on anxiety, says. That he finds that the writers of the Psalms, much like Asaph, are masters. in reorienting their thoughts. and rooting them in who the Lord is.

Now, before Asaph remembers the acts of God, he remembers who his God is. In verse 13. He remembers the incomparable holiness of God. This is most likely an echo of Exodus chapter 15 verse 11. But I have a feeling that there's there's something more here.

By highlighting the temple or the sanctuary, Asaph is saying. In summary, There is no other God as great as you. He says this in verse. 13. Who is so great a God as our God?

And then that line before it. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Asaph is saying, There's no other God as great as you. You are holy, you are incomparable, and you dwell among us as your people. Asaph, remembering who God is, recalls that God is holy and comparable, and God is pleased to be with us as his people.

Now, this is a total turn of events from what we saw earlier when he says, God, have you cast us off forever? You're a God who is holy, unlike any other, and you want to be among us. It is something. That when God redeems these foolish Israelites out of Egyptian captivity who barely know who he is, what does he tell them when he resurrects his tabernacle among them? I want you to put it right in the middle of all of you.

I want to be at the center of your life. And I want to dwell with you. I want to be right there in the thick of it with you. He says, God, you're unlike any other. And you're holy.

And you're pleased to be with us. as your people. In verse 14, Asaph remembers that God furthermore, God is a wonder worker. He says, You are the God who does wonders. How so?

He says, well, by declaring your strength among the people. And how did you do that?

Well, by redeeming his people.

Now notice the contrast here. First, you declared your strength among the peoples. And then it's, how did you do that? by redeeming your people. The people Your people.

The word for redeemed here is g'all. It's the word for the kinsman redeemer. Uh The Goel, it was the, was the nearest family member that was bound by covenant. to buy you out of trouble when all else fails. And so, by attributing this kind of language to God, ASAP is saying that when all else seemed hopeless, he's referring back to the day at the Red Sea, when all else seemed hopeless.

When we were camped out beside the Red Sea, and the stomping feet of angered Egyptian soldiers came up behind us, and we were pinned between their feet. and the crashing waves of the Red Sea. You've redeemed us. when no one else could. You were there.

To rescue us when no one else could. You upheld your covenant to my fathers, and you faithfully delivered us. when nothing else would.

Now when he says that this is declared to all people, I can't help but think about this little lady in particular that we like to call Rahab. In Joshua chapter 2, we notice that Joshua and Caleb are entering in. The spies have entered in. They are about to, the spies are about to enter in, they're about to march around and tear down the walls. And she says, look.

I've heard about what your God is doing. I don't want to be on the receiving end of what he's doing. I'm switching sides. You can hide here as much as you would like. Just please don't kill me.

They said, da-do, sounds good. We'll do that. She had heard about who God was. How did she hear about who God was? How did God declare his strength to her?

Well, through the deliverance of his people. God uses his people as trophies of grace to declare his handiwork in the eyes of a world that's watching. That's what we find here. To summarize, Asaph is saying, Lord. Everyone knows that you are glorious, both the Jews and the Gentiles, and you've made it clear through your redeeming display to all people.

through the lives of your people.

So If you are consumed with tormenting thoughts today, You must have the ASAP experience. Yeah. You must have a fresh glimpse of the glory of your God. You're not doing theology for theology's sake. You're not doing theology to argue with people for the sake of arguing.

You're not doing theology just to be better than the next guy or girl. You do it because you want to know who your Lord is. Because for the believer, there's no greater solace, there's no greater respite, there's no greater place or cleft for us to hide in than in the shadow of the Almighty. When the ways of life come crashing down among us, I need to know who the foundation is that I can stand upon and that he's trustworthy.

So, do you take time? And this day decide to consider who he is. The more you know him, The more bandages you'll have for the bruises of your soul, yes, his holiness is terrifying. The holiness of God is terrifying. If you're an enemy of grace, But it's all the joy we have if you're his friend.

And what a great grace it is to be a friend of grace. He cannot be holy and break his covenant with you. You are his and he will hold you fast. You might not see his hand working right now, which ASAP will get to later, but he is still a wonder worker. Notice he doesn't say that you have done wonders, but he says, I'm going to remember that you are the God who does wonders.

You weren't absent at the Red Sea? And you're not absent now. You're the God. The God that you're casting yourself on cares for you. And so far, we have been called to do two things in this text.

First, to direct unfiltered Christ to God, and second, to decide to consider who He is. And then, knowing who that God is, only greater magnifies what that God has done for us. That's our last thing. I want you to dwell on God's covenant faithfulness. Direct unfiltered cries.

decide to consider and dwell on God's covenant faithfulness. Verses 16 through 18, Asaph is going to draw on some rather powerful imagery here. He says The waters saw you, O God. The waters saw you. They were afraid.

The depths also trembled. The clouds poured out water. The sky sent out a sound. Your arrows flashed about. The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind.

The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Pretty powerful imagery there. He is personifying the waves. And then he is depicting God as a divine warrior.

And and Um In the ancient Near East, like I mentioned two weeks ago in my sermon on baptism. Water is symbolic oftentimes of chaos, which is what Moses is communicating in Genesis chapter 1, verse 2. And so, by describing God as a divine warrior. Scholars are pretty agreed that this language of of um Let me see if I can find it. Your arrows flashed about, it's taking lightning, and it is communicating them as arrows from a bow.

We see the language of your voice. The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. They're taking that imagery to mean the wheels of his chariot. He is storming in. And what is he waging war against?

It is against chaos. God is a divine warrior waging war against chaos.

Now, when did this happen exactly? When is God this terrifying warrior who conquers chaos?

Well verse 19 tells us again what he's referring to. Your way was in the sea. Your path is in the great waters. And your footsteps were not known. If Asaph is faced with chaos both within and without.

And as he's faced with this chaos, he finds peace by remembering not only who God is, but what that God has done for them. Asaph God is holy. He is unlike the gods of this world. Asaph's God is a wonder worker, and he dwells with his people.

Now notice with me the connection between verse 13 and 19. Do you see what's happening? Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Now does Asaph have a sanctuary anymore? We're in book three?

No. And he says, your way was in the sanctuary. Notice this correlation between verse 19. Your way was in the sea. Now that sanctuary is gone, but was there a sanctuary for God in the midst of the Red Sea?

No? And yet God was still present with them. In the midst of the tumult, of the Red Sea. In verse 13, God's way is in the temple. In verse 19, God's way is in the water.

During the Red Sea crossing, there's no temple, and that's what's going to give encouragement to people who just watch the temple crumble under Babylonian hands, isn't it? God, are you still with us? Because it doesn't seem like it. Because the temple is your visible declaration: I am with the people of Israel.

Well, where are you at? Because it doesn't feel like you're here anymore. The Babylonians are oppressing us. Our land is taken from us. Our temple is destroyed.

Our king is slaughtered. You told us he would be king forever. Where are you? And then he looks back and he finds a respite in the fact that Even when I didn't see him, even when we didn't see him, even when there wasn't a temple. He was still present with us.

in the midst of the Red Sea. And you're still present with us now. That same mighty and holy God that was with us in the temple is the same God that was with our fathers in the sea, and He's the same God that is with you in the tumultuous storms of your life right now, and He is the God that conquers chaos and sets it in order. And what was the biggest? Again, we've already said this, but what's the biggest declaration of God's divine power in the Old Testament for the Israelites?

What is there? Their delight to consider. That's when God split the Red Sea open. gave them a comfortable stroll through the world's first aquarium, and then devoured the greatest military on the face of the earth with it. And they look back on that.

And it's as though the New Testament tells us, if you think that's great. You ain't seen nothing yet. In Luke chapter 9. Jesus is taking his inner circle and he says, I want you to come up on this mountain with me. And they come up on the mountain and like usual they fall asleep.

It's like me. Look, ASEF, if you've got insomnia, come hang out with Peter. I have not had a trouble sleeping anywhere. Anytime Jesus invites me somewhere, I'm going to take a nap. I'm going to take a nap.

They wake up groggily, and what do they see before them? It's Moses and Elijah. And the text says that they spoke together. And have you ever wondered what they spoke about? Luke chapter 9, verse 30 says, Two men talked with him, that is the Lord, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his decease, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Now here's where it gets really great. The Greek word For deceased there It's Exodus. And can you imagine the fascination? in the mind of Moses, This Moses Who raised the bronze serpent in the wilderness and said, Look and live. Is looking in the face of the one who is going to be risen on a tree for the deliverance of sick sinners.

This Moses who struck the rock And quench the thirst of Israel. He's looking at the one who is going to be struck. to quench our thirst for eternal life. This Moses who crossed the Red Sea and yet never entered the promised land is looking now at the greater Moses who came to accomplish a greater Exodus. If you think that me saving you from Pharaoh was good, you have not seen anything yet.

That was a mere shadow of what I'm coming to accomplish. The Exodus was wonderful through water, but there's a greater deliverance coming through my blood. In Christ. We have been saved from the forces of hell. In Christ.

All knees will bow. and will be wiped out in a flood of divine judgment in Christ. We see a divine warrior who brings judgment on his enemies and deliverance for his friends. In Christ. We see that this is the solace of Asaph, and this is the respite for all believers for time now and eternal.

Where is our peace? There is no greater place for me to look when I question whether God loves me than the cross. I should have been there. And yet he has taken my place. I should have been pinned beneath the feet of the marching wrath of Satan.

And yet Christ allowed himself to be crucified in my stead. And in that, this is what Saint Augustine calls the divine mousetrap theory. Satan thought that he had me, and yet when he pinned me on the cross, he thought that he had that nice piece of peanut butter, and then it went snap and off with his head. Christ has bound the strong man. He has stormed his house, and we are the spoils of his holy war.

Asaph, do you want to know how good your God is?

Well, how great is it that he stormed into Egypt and delivered you? and destroy the enemies of God. and his people. It's in Christ the warrior. That we find not only a warrior.

But a shepherd. Notice how he ends. It's almost abruptly, but it's beautiful. You're hearing booming thunder, crashing waves, lightning bolts like arrows flying around. You've got whirlwinds in the air that are supposed to be like chariots.

It's chaos. And then he goes. You led your people like a flock. By the hand of Moses. And Aaron.

My beloved brother or sister, who is plagued with tormenting thoughts this morning, let me remind you. of who your Lord is and what He's done for you. He is a mighty Lord. And he's a gentle shepherd. He is the Savior of your soul.

and the judge of all the earth. That Lord that reminds you that He is the good shepherd. has not lost a sheep yet. And there are some of you this morning that are struggling. with great anxieties and tumult in your heart.

There's a restless, a relentless, daily, exhausting battle with thoughts that will not leave you alone. And yet the Lord invites you in. to direct your cries to him. to decide to consider who he is. and to dwell.

on his covenant faithfulness. This is your God. Praise be to God. Let's pray. Most kind and gracious Heavenly Father, I ask.

this morning that you would allow us to find reprieve in yourself That as the waves of life begin to knock us to and fro, that we might, like Spurgeon, say, I have learned to kiss the waves that knock me into the rock of ages. Lord, you are kind and gentle with us. And yet there are seasons of life in which we are so encapsulated, engulfed, enveloped in grief that we cannot see beyond the clouds. Of judgment that seemed to lie over us. And yet, Lord, we ask this morning that we would ascend beyond them to see you.

not through the lens of pain, but that we might see you for who you are, and then in turn see our pain through who. You are. Lord, I pray this morning. that you would do a work of grace in the hearts of those who do not know you. and that we would find you as our only hope.

and life and death. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Yeah.