It was the year 1938 during the rise in popularity and power of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany that Martin Niemöller was arrested and convicted and consigned to a German concentration camp where he spent eight years. His crime was abuse of pulpit. Hitler was subtle in that he did not forbid the churches for meeting. He simply regulated worship.
There were things you could say and there were things you could not say. And the churches that complied with that were pretty much left alone. And those churches were the vast majority. But there were some exceptions. Niemöller was one. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was another. And there were others that I won't name.
Niemöller was a theologian and a pastor of the Lutheran Church. And he dared to speak against the Nazi regime. And he paid the price for that, and it was incarceration in a concentration camp. He tells the story because he survived. He lived till 1994.
He was in his early 90s. But he tells of an occasion when, after being in solitary confinement for seven months, that he was called to the Inquisition Room. And a German soldier was assigned to escort him to that room. The German soldier was a young man. He didn't speak a word to him.
He simply was carrying out his duty and he, as Martin, made his way, walking beside this German soldier. He was full of fear and dread and overwhelmed by a sense of loneliness. Where was his wife? Where was his family?
Where was his church people? He's made his way through a tunnel before he ascended these stairs that would take him to the Inquisition Room. In that tunnel, he heard a voice that was barely above a whisper.
And it was saying something and repeating it. And Niemoller wasn't sure where the source was and what was going on until he realized that it was the German soldier who had not spoken a word to him, was simply escorting him, and he was saying, barely above a whisper, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. The name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run to it and are safe.
And this German soldier said this over and over again as they were making their way through the tunnel. And Niemoller said those words, spoke great hope and comfort to his soul. And the fear and the dread was gone and he faced his Inquisitioners. Well, we're in Psalm 55 this morning. And the refuge in the hope that Niemoller found is found for everyone who searches the Lord in honesty and in sincerity. We're looking at Psalm 55 and I want you to notice something about the Psalm before we get into it. It says, my Bible says to the chief musician, depending on your translation, it may say to the chief choir master, with strained instruments, my Bible says a contemplation of David. Yours may say, Ma-skill, M-A-S-C-I-L. We don't know a lot about what is being communicated there except that, that word translated from the Hebrew, the root word means instruction.
So I think we can take from that. This Psalm 55 is an experience of David, safeguarded and recorded for the benefit of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's here for our instruction.
So what instruction do we have here? I want you to see number one, a prayerful cry of desperation. A prayerful cry of desperation. Notice verse one. This is David praying the whole Psalm is a prayer. Give ear to my prayer, O God, and do not hide yourself from my supplication.
Attend to me and hear me, he says. Down in verse 16, as for me, I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me, evening and morning and at noon. I will pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice. I trust if you're a believer in Jesus Christ that you've been taught in times of desperation to turn your heart not inward but upward.
And it has drawn you to pray to seek the face of God and to seek the help from God. That was David's response, a prayerful cry of desperation. Number two, I want you to see the heartfelt expression of desperation. The heartfelt expression of desperation. How desperate was his situation? What was he facing? And there are some hints that would direct us back to the historical narrative of a time when David was betrayed by those he sought shelter with.
They alerted Saul, who was chasing after David to take his life, about David's whereabouts. Some believe that that's the historical context, but what what does he say? What words do we find here? What expression is found in the text here of his desperation? Notice with me in verse 2, he says, I am restless. I am restless in my complaint. He's complaining and there's not a problem with complaining to God. The problem is when we complain of God. When our complaint is toward God, he's complaining to God and he's not upset with God, but he's restless. He's giving expression to this time of desperation, he says, and I've moaned noisily. So there's audible words, maybe not even words, but he's just moaning in pain and in desperation. Why?
Why? Because of the voice of the enemy, he says in verse 3. He goes on to say in verse 3, they bring down trouble upon me.
So he's in trouble, serious trouble. Verse 4, my heart is severely pained within me. He's not just experiencing pain, he gives expression to severe pain. The terrors of death have fallen upon me. Verse 5, fearfulness and trembling have come upon me. And then this expression, and horror has overwhelmed me.
Horror has overwhelmed me. I'm not sure if there have been times in your life where you can identify with David in his expression of desperation, but for most of us, we've lived long enough in a broken and a fallen world and have been affected by sin, sometimes our own and more often by others. And just by the living in a broken world, we've known times of desperation. A prayerful cry of desperation, the heartfelt expression of desperation. Notice with me number three, the cause, the cause of desperation, the cause of desperation. The first cause is the condition of the city, and he speaks of that. Notice in verse 9, he says, destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, for I have seen violence and strife in the city. And folks, this is a description of our day and age.
This is a description of what we see portrayed on the evening news, night after night after night. And it can be a source of great consternation. Violence and strife in the city, he says. Iniquity, verse 10, iniquity and trouble in the midst of it. Sin and trouble of various kinds in the midst of what?
In the midst of the city. Destruction is in its midst. Riding in the streets, destruction is in its midst. Oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets. Don't tell me the Bible is not relevant. Don't tell me the Bible doesn't speak to our life and our times.
This is a accurate description of what's going on all across our country. Violence, strife, iniquity, trouble, destruction, oppression. And he says, it does not depart from the streets. It's ongoing.
It seems to be never-ending. And that is a source of great cause for his desperation. But there's something else that is even beyond that. And notice, he speaks of the betrayal of a companion. Verse 12, on the heels of this description of the condition of the city, he says, for it is not, verse 12, it is not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me, who has exalted himself against me, then I could hide from him.
But it was you. It was you, a man, a man, my equal, my companion, and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together and walked in the house of God in the throne. He has experienced a great betrayal of a companion. And he gives expression to it two times in this psalm, right there in verse 12 through 14, and then in verse 20 and 21. Listen to what he says in verse 20.
Again, about this same person, this unidentified person, whoever he is. He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him. He has broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart.
His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. Somebody who thought, someone whom he thought was his friend was really out to get him, had turned on him. Someone who he had walked close with, someone who had been a companion, someone he had, he speaks of, had walked in the house of God together.
That's some pretty serious and close relationships that we find within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we've seen three things. We've seen a prayerful cry of desperation, a heartfelt expression of desperation, the cause of desperation. Number four, I want you to see the futility of escape from desperation. I skipped over verses six through eight.
Let's go back to it. The futility of escape from desperation. Here he is facing an incredibly difficult time of conflict, of desperation, and in that conflict he says, oh that I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. So this condition, this situation, he's now referring to it as a windy storm and tempest, and it is so intense that he is seeking to escape from it. Oh that I had wings like a dove. Ever been there?
Ever been so overwhelmed by life and trouble and heartache and loss that you just wanted to find a way to escape and get away from it? And you may be wondering, is that something that's wrong? Is that something that's sinful? Is that something that God frowns upon? Well, here it is in Psalm 55. Here it is in the context of a prayer. Here it is about a man who God said about him was a man after his own heart.
So we have to weigh that, and I don't know that I'd ever thought about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus seeking an escape, but I think we wouldn't be too far off to say when Jesus said, Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me. If there's another way, right? If there's a way to escape what I see waiting me on the horizon, oh God, reveal it to me. Show it to me. So let's get very personal and direct at this point. It's easy to talk about David.
That's safe. My question to you this morning is, what do you do and where do you go when you're looking for escape from life and its storms and its challenges and its times of desperation? Where do you turn?
Who do you turn to? Well, I trust as believers we turn to the Lord as David did here. He's praying.
He's seeking the Lord. And it's easy to say that. It's another thing to rest in that and find peace in the midst of, right?
We all know that if we're honest. You remember that occasion in the Gospel of Mark, oh so familiar to us? Mark chapter 4, listen to these words. On the same day when evening had come, he, that is Jesus, said to them, that is the disciples, let us cross over to the other side. Now when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was, and other little boats were also with him, and a great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. They were taking on water. Water was where it ought not to be, right? The vessel was in the water but the water was in the vessel.
A bad situation. Verse 38, but he, that is Jesus, was in the stern asleep on a pillow. I wonder what that pillow looked like. Did it look like my pillow man's pillow? I doubt it.
No, I know it didn't. And they awoke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? You ever thought that of Jesus? Ever said those words?
Ever entertained thoughts? Lord doesn't care about me. Lord doesn't care about my circumstance. The Lord doesn't care about this situation. That was their accusation. Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?
And you would expect some kind of maybe a mild rebuke to come? Because there couldn't be anything further from the truth, right? Why were they where they were? Jesus intentionally said let's get in the boat and cross over to the other side. This was part of God's providence for them.
This didn't catch Jesus by surprise. He has a purpose in them being in the boat, in the lake, in the midst of this storm. And here they are saying, Lord, do you not care that we are perishing? Then he arose and rebuked, what, them? No, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But he said to them, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be that even the winds and the waves obey you?
Yeah. Or the situation over in Luke chapter 10. We won't take the time to turn there this morning, but Martha, Martha and Mary, Martha's busying herself serving the Lord. And Martha said in Luke 10 40, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?
Do you not care? And what did Jesus say to her? Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. I wish Martha would have said, Lord, what things?
What are the many things that you say I'm anxious and troubled by? But she doesn't ask that question and Jesus doesn't elaborate on it. I'm speaking to us this morning from this passage about the futility of escape from times of desperation. The God is sovereign, we sang that. Whatever my God ordains is right. Now, your circumstances this morning, are they outside the parameters of God's sovereign control? Does God have a good and wise purpose in what's going on in your life? Or is life just haphazard and has no meaning to you? Well, we know the right answer, but the question is, are we living in the light of what our minds and our Bibles are telling us or is there a disconnect?
Too often there's a disconnect. Remember over in John chapter 17, John chapter 17, Jesus was praying his high priestly prayer and he says to the Father, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil one. So it is not God's design to rescue us, to deliver us from this world, but to sustain us in the midst of this world and there is a huge, huge difference between the two. Admittedly, there are times that God chooses to deliver us from our trouble, from our situation that brings us in desperation. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord deliver them out of some of them.
No, out of all of them it says. The previous Psalm, Psalm 54, verse 7, verse 6, I will praise your name O Lord for it is good. Why has he moved to praise the Lord? Verse 7, for he has delivered me out of all trouble. He has delivered me out of all trouble. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. But what if his purpose is not to deliver you, me, out of the trouble, out of our time of desperation, but has chosen to sustain us in the midst of those times of desperation. Can you say praise the Lord, hallelujah, when that's God's purpose for your life as opposed to delivering you from? Now you and I, I mean let's just be honest, we would much, much rather God deliver us from our trouble, not sustain us in the midst of our trouble. But God's more interested not in our temporal comforts, he's interested in our spiritual well-being and what's best for our spiritual life and sometimes what's best for our spiritual life is the lessons he wants to teach us as he sustains us in the midst of our times of desperation.
And here's the balance I think we need to strive for. In Daniel, you remember the story Nebuchadnezzar demanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego bow down to his image and if they were willing, if they were unwilling to do that and refused to do that, there was serious consequences. He was going to throw them into the fiery furnace. And listen to what they say to Nebuchadnezzar.
He calls them together and he says, fellas, just in case you missed it, let me just remind you one more time what's at stake here. Nebuchadnezzar verse 14 spoke saying to them, is it true Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that you do not serve my gods or worship the god the image which I've set up? Now if you're ready at the time you hear it, the sound of the horn, the flute, the harp, the lyre, and the psaltery in symphony with all kinds of music and you fall down and worship the image which I have made good. But if you do not worship you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace and who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, oh Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us from your hand O king, but if not let it be known to you O king that we do not serve your gods nor will we worship the god the gold image which you have set up. Our god is able to deliver us from this situation.
He's able to deliver you from your situation, never doubt that, but if he doesn't, are you okay with that? Is there room in your theology that allows God, if not, I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to honor you. I'm going to look to you. I'm going to worship you. I am not going to dishonor you. That's the question.
That's the balance. Confidence that God's able, but leaving it up to God whether he delivers us from or whether he chooses to sustain us in. So again the question, where do you go? What do you do in an effort to escape the pressures of life? And there are things that we do that are not sinful in and of themselves, but if examined carefully in the light of the text here we would say, you know what, all that was was an escape. All that was is to get away from some of the pressure that I've been under. Work can be that way.
Hobbies can be that way. A man flees the house to go to his shop to work to 11 o'clock at night. Why?
Because he wants to get away from the pressures and the demands of being a husband and a father to his children. I'm going to the shop. Abandon my post. Escape. There are more escapes than there are men and women who seek them.
They are endless. There are some sinful escapes. Drugs, the abuse of alcohol are escapes. Avoidance is an escape.
Anger can be an escape. Sinful pleasures. I'm thankful that the Bible is so honest with the human condition. Psalm 73 is a psalm of Asaph and he begins that psalm by saying, my feet had almost slipped when I saw the prosperity of the wicked and I envied them. I almost slipped.
I almost fell. But later on as he begins to give voice to what he sees and the prosperity of the wicked and how much better in a position they are than he was, he says in verse 13 of Psalm 73, surely I have cleansed my heart in vain. What is he saying? Just honest now, I'm not asking you to speak to me. God knows your heart. Have you ever thought, Lord, I have tried to do right and be right and what has it got me? It's been a vain pursuit.
It hasn't helped me a bit. I look around and there are people who seem to be better off than I am. Those thoughts enter our mind sometimes. We can live in the past. We can nurse wounds. We can give ourselves to bitterness.
We can play the victim. Those are all escapes, flight or escape that promises freedom further, more often than not, in prisons. So what's so attractive about escapes, whatever they might look like and whatever may be your choice of escape? Well, number one, they provide momentary relief. Momentary relief. Why would a man inject something harmful into his veins, a drug that renders him unconscious and unable to think and act appropriately? Well, to numb himself, to escape.
Why does a man drink until he has no control over his senses? It's an escape. But what happens when we choose escape rather than trust in God? Yes, it provides momentary relief, but the situation doesn't change. In fact, most often, more often than not, it just gets worse, right?
It becomes more complicated. And when the choice is a sinful choice, then there's guilt. If you're a believer, there's guilt on top of the circumstances you're in. Guilt because you failed to trust God.
Guilt because you chose an escape, a sinful escape, rather than trust God. Yes, the futility, futility of escape. So if escape is a futile attempt to escape the times of desperation, what is the God-honoring response to times of desperation? Very quickly, we've seen a prayerful cry of desperation, a heartfelt expression of desperation, the cause of desperation, the futility of escape from desperation, number five. And finally, the God-honoring response to desperation.
What does he say? Verse 16, he says, as for me, as for me, I will call upon God. Verse 19, God will hear and afflict them, even he who abides from of old.
Now, there's a change here in David's heart. Initially, he wants God to kill these who have turned on him and betrayed him and become his enemies. He says in verse 15, let death seize them. He's angry. He wants God to avenge him and judge them.
But as the psalm goes on, it seems almost as if it's come to his mind that he's the one. He's the one who was the betrayer. He's the one who betrayed Uzziah the Hittite.
You know who Uzziah was, Bathsheba's wife. They were companions. They were more than acquaintances. They took sweet counsel together.
They walked together. They were in war together. David betrayed him. He broke covenant with him. He saw that the man was killed to save his own neck. And it seems as though that's come to his mind, although we don't have any evidence of that, but something's happened because he's moved away from God, you kill him, to God, I'm going to trust the whole thing to you.
You do with it whatever you take care of it and however you seem best and wise. Why is he saying that? Well, because he knows that if God dealt with him, the way he was asking God to deal with these people, he'd be a dead man. No, he's going to entrust himself to a sovereign God. He says, I will cast my burden on the Lord. Notice verse 22, cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain you. Now notice what it doesn't say, cast your burden on the Lord and he shall deliver you. No, he's saying cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
You see how much more mature of a response that is? And then he closes the psalm with verse 23, but you, O Lord, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you. A subtle trust in the Lord.
Quickly, let's think about some lessons. Lesson number one, learn and settle it in your heart that the Christian life is no insulation from the heartache and pain from the storms of life nor times of desperation. So many people have believed the lie. They've been told a lie. Come to Jesus and life will be wonderful.
Where's that promised? Now yes, Jesus said, John chapter 10 verse 10, I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly, but abundant life doesn't mean a life that's void of trouble and difficulty. That's a lie. And there are people who believe that lie and then when reality smacks them in the face, they go, what is this?
So learn and settle it in your heart. This is a broken world. And even though we are redeemed and saved by the grace of God, we're still sinners. Lesson number two, from the immortal words of Corrie Tim Boom, there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still. Man, is that powerful. The words aren't only powerful, they're powerful because of the experience that those words are born from. That woman lived through hell on earth. In a concentration camp, there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.
He's both able to deliver or sustain you in whichever places him the most. Lesson number three, yes, betrayal is a very, very hard and bitter providence. I thought about some situations that would fit the language there of the betrayal that David gives voice to, whether it is a business deal or a partnership that has turned sour, whether it is a broken marriage and a covenant partner who has broken trust and betrayed and abandoned you, or painful church split that you've had to live through, yes, let's be honest about the hard things in life, but they're not too hard for our God to sustain us in the midst of. Lesson number four, let grace temper and inform and instruct you in your times of desperation.
What do I mean by that? Well, I've already spoken to you about what I think was going on in David's life when he wanted God to kill him, and then he goes, oh, Lord, I think you just deal with them however you deem deems best to you. Finally, let's resist the tempter's lie, that lie that the Lord doesn't care nor understand what we're going through. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 12 and verse 3 says, consider him. Consider who? Consider Jesus, who endured such hostility of sinners against himself. Why? Lest you become weary and discouraged in your soul.
Consider him. If anybody knew betrayal, it was the Lord Jesus, but those who knew him the best, who walked the closest with him, and then on the cross of Calvary, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And here's the truth of the gospel. Jesus was betrayed. Jesus was forsaken, so that you and I never will have to be.
That's the good news of the gospel. If we're in Christ, Jesus will stick us closer than a brother. We're told in the gospel accounts, even these men who turned and were nowhere to be found when he was hanging on the cross of Calvary, we're told, Jesus loved them to the end. He will love us to the end. His love is an everlasting love. What shall separate us from the love of God? Romans chapter 8. We sang about it already this morning.
Nothing. Well, this is a psalm of instruction. I trust that the Spirit of God will take it and instruct your heart and help you in your walk with him. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for how relevant it is, how it meets us at the very place of life.
There's no one here who's a stranger to what David talked about. We may not be in a time of crisis. It may not be an acute thing that's brought us to despondency, but we all know storms. We all know disappointments. We all know heartaches, dreams that have failed. Lord, come to us and minister to us and help us, Father, that we might seek you regardless of what it is you choose to do with us, whether it is to deliver us from or sustain us in the midst of these things. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
