Will Life Ever Get Better?

Today on Summit Life, Pastor J.D. Greer talks about having faith in the face of difficulty. If your faith depends on seeing the resolution of your faith in this life, you're never going to make it. If your faith depends on seeing the resolution of your faith in this life, you're never going to make it. You are a crisis of faith walking around waiting to happen. And sometimes it terrifies me to think how many believers are in that category. Welcome back to Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Mollye Vidovich, and we are so glad that you're with us today. You know, it seems like we're constantly hearing news of hurricanes and wildfires, mass shootings, racial injustice, all kinds of senseless tragedy in the world. And on a more personal level, we struggle with chronic pain and miscarriage, broken marriages and unfulfilled dreams. When it all hits, do you ever just wonder if it's ever going to get any better? Pastor J.D. Greer deals with that question today on Summit Life as he continues our study in Psalms called Question Everything. Remember, you can catch up on any missed teaching by going to our website, jdgreer.com.

Right now, here's Pastor J.D. looking at the question, will life ever get better? How many of you have had the experience of getting into a new show, TV show, recommended to you by a friend, but a few episodes into it, you are bored to tears and you find yourself asking, am I missing something?

Am I dumb? I think that sometimes. I think maybe everyone else has a more sophisticated entertainment palette than I have. And I'm just too dumb to actually figure out the deeper meaning of this show. But you're a few shows into it and you find yourself asking the question, does this show ever get any better? I think the show lost, permanently scarred me from confidence and good endings because I kept thinking one day, one day they're going to pull all this together and it's all going to make sense. And I watched and I watched and I watched faithfully for six years I watched. And when the last episode ended, I was like, what?

Were they dead the whole time? I feel lost. Maybe that was the writer's intent. I'm the one that's supposed to be lost in relation to the plot of this show. I hate this show. That was how I ended my relationship with loss.

I share that because there are a number of Psalms in the Bible where if you just read them straight through, it's like you find yourself right in the middle of a bad story and you have no idea of how it's going to turn out. How could it possibly turn out well? You find yourself asking, could life get any better? Will life get any better?

Well, that's our question for this week. Will life ever get better? Maybe you feel like that this weekend in your life. Maybe you're wondering how is this dark chapter ever going to end? Maybe you're just bored and you're like, is life ever going to get better for me? Is it ever going to be different?

Or maybe you're on the other end of the spectrum. Maybe life is really good for you now, but there's this fear in your heart that this can't last. And I know that things are going to fall apart. I'm going to get the phone call.

Something bad is going to happen. Psalm 88, verse 1. Psalm 88 is our Psalm. Lord, you are the God who saves me.

Day and night I cry out to you. Now that sounds like a statement of faith, right? You're the God who saves me.

That is the last overt statement of faith you're going to hear in this entire Psalm. Verse 3, I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death. I am counted among those who go down to the pit. I am like one without strength. I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care. You have put me in the lowest pit, God, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have overwhelmed me with all your waves. You have taken me from my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them.

I am confined and cannot escape. My eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, Lord, every day. Every day I spread out my hands to you. Why, Lord, why do you reject me and hide your face from me?

From my youth I have suffered and been close to death. I have borne your terror and I am in despair. Your wrath has swept over me. Your terrors have destroyed me. All day long they surround me like a flood. They have completely engulfed me. You have taken me from friend and neighbor.

Darkness is my closest friend. The end. And all God's people said, What the heck?

Right? I mean, that's it. That's the last verse. Is there a part missing there at the end, you ask? Isn't there a part missing at the end where the psalmist says, Oh, but God, you made everything all better. And now I am happy all the day. If you're happy and you know it, clap. Isn't there supposed to be a part?

Thank you. Isn't there supposed to be a part of the psalm like that? Isn't that how church is supposed to be? How can one of the psalms chosen to be in God's holy, perfect, inspired Word, how could it end like that? I mean, if you've got a Bible, look at it. Make sure that I do not leave out a section. Like, there's no section at the end of that psalm or there's no little star that says, In some manuscripts there's another end.

There's none of that. It just ends right there. God chose to include this psalm in his Bible. Why? Because sometimes our lives feel like that.

Isn't that right? Sometimes our lives feel like that. But we don't know the specific condition the psalmist is in. We can tell that it involves personal betrayal, verse 18. Friend and neighbor of deserted may have become repulsive to my closest friends. Have you ever experienced that kind of pain? Somebody very close to you turns their back on you. Maybe it's a spouse who rejected you, a father or a mother, a best friend stabs you in the back. Somebody at work turns on you. Maybe it's from your in-laws. Maybe it's not so much betrayal as it is just neglect.

Your kids never call. Your spouse is cold and indifferent towards you, sexually unresponsive. We know this guy's in chronic pain. From my youth I suffered. Most of the pain in my life has had an ending point in sight.

But you wonder, what's it like to be in a situation where there is no ending point that you can ever see happening? I'm in the darkest depths, he said, verse 6. Have you ever had the experience of being in total darkness for any amount of time? A couple years ago I read the account of a guy named Sir Ernest Shackleton, who was the leader of the doomed expedition to try to be the first human to cross the South Pole. The thing went terribly wrong and he and his team were stranded at the South Pole for over a year. He said, yes, sub-zero temperatures. We barely had enough food to survive, he said, but the worst thing was not the cold or the hunger, the worst thing was the darkness.

The sun goes down at the South Pole in mid-May and doesn't come back up again until August. And he said, there's a darkness that eventually just puts a shadow into your soul that you cannot shake. That's how some people feel about their problems. I'm confined and I cannot escape. I read one time that if you get buried alive in an avalanche, if you survive that, that they're trapped underneath the snow, a lot of people that have no idea which way is up, they don't know how to dig out, there's too much pressure, they've been turned around too much. They don't know which way to begin to escape. That's how the psalmist feels.

God, I don't even know where to start. I've given up praying for the situation to be changed because I'm not even sure you can change it anymore, God. The marriage is too far gone now.

Maybe she's remarried or they're dead. My career and my reputation have been hopelessly destroyed. There's no coming back from this one, not even for you, God. And then there's the loneliness. As I've talked to people who've gone through intense, sustained times of pain, they say one of the worst things is the loneliness because even people that love you just can't understand what you're going through.

And so you can't understand what you're going through if they've not gone through it themselves. The psalmist feels like God even cannot understand. In fact, if anything, it seems like God is against him. He keeps saying throughout the psalm, Lord, you did this to me. I remember one struggle that I was in where I prayed and prayed and prayed. And finally I said, Lord, I'm not praying about this anymore because it seems like everything I do, you do the opposite. Verse 15 summarizes what the psalmist is feeling. I'm in despair.

Despair means not only am I in pain now, despair means I have no hope it will ever get any better. This guy is way past the question, will life ever get better? He is resolved that it will not. And then he ends the psalm.

He puts a period. And we all sit here looking at it saying, what in the world? But then look at how Psalm 89 opens, written by a different guy, by the way. Psalm 89 verse one, I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

Verse eight, you are entirely faithful, O Lord. You rule the oceans, you subdue their storm-tossed waves. For Jewish people at the time, the ocean was the great unknown and a hurricane at the ocean was like the uncontrolled power. You, God, control the uncontrollable. Verse 10, you crushed the great sea monster.

Scholars say this was a reference to Egypt, Israel's great enemy from across the sea. You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. Everything in the world is yours. You created it all. You created north and south, Mount Tabor, which marked the western boundary of Israel and Mount Hermon, which marked the eastern boundary of Israel.

You make north, south, east, and west. Praise your name. Verse 21, the Lord says, I will steady him.

Talking about David and his descendants of faith, which would include us. I will steady him with my hand, with my powerful arm. I will make him strong. The enemy shall not outwit him. The wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. I will extend his rule over the sea, his dominion over the rivers. He will call out to me, you are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. No, I will not break my covenant with you. I will not take back a single word that I have said. How are these two Psalms placed side by side?

In the editing room, somebody said, oh, let's put these two together. The book of Psalms is written in part to present you with the enigma of the Christian life. Because you go through chapters of your life, sometimes long ones, that feel like Psalm 88. And the fact that Psalms like this one are in here shows you that you can be honest with God during those chapters, yet they do not invalidate the steadfast love and the faithfulness of God that is celebrated in Psalm 89. You see, here's what Psalm 89 assures you.

I'd encourage you to jot these things down. Psalm 89 assures you, number one, that God's steadfast love rules over everything in your life. He rules the raging sea, verse nine, which represent life's most chaotic elements.

This for you would be the cancer cell, the unexpected job loss, the sudden departure of your spouse, the random accidents. He controls the sea monster, verse 10, which would be your most sinister enemy, whether that's an enemy terrorist or just a boss who has it in for you or an ex-spouse that's trying to take everything that you've got. He stands guard at the north and the south. He'll make whatever come from Mount Tabor in the west or Mount Hermon in the east. He'll make those work to praise his name, meaning there is no power coming from any direction that he cannot and will not turn into his plan for your life that will lead to your good and the praise of his name. Nothing falls outside of God's control for you through which his steadfast love and faithfulness are not working for the good purposes he has for his people. He will not break his covenant with you.

Not a single word of all that he has said will not come to pass. All the promises of God are, yes, in Christ Jesus for you. You're listening to Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer, and we'll get right back to today's teaching in a moment. But first, did you know that our team curates an exclusive, featured resource each and every month for our gospel partners and financial donors? We are honored to say thank you to the incredible group of people who make this ministry possible and who keep Summit Life on the radio each day by sending them something we believe will help them grow in their faith and help them to make disciples as well. This month, we are sending each of our faithful givers a copy of Goodness in the Middle, a study through Psalm 23 that Pastor J.D. wrote specifically for you, our Summit Life support team. We couldn't do this ministry without you, so please accept this small token of our appreciation for your generous gift.

To join with us and to get your copy of Goodness in the Middle, just give us a call at 866-335-5220 or visit us online at jdgreer.com. Now let's get back to today's teaching. Once again, here's Pastor J.D. Number two, God's steadfast love is not always immediately apparent to us. You see, the psalmist in Psalm 88 cannot see any evidence of God's steadfast love. Even in Psalm 89, he would say this, verse 46, oh Lord, how long will this go on?

Are you going to hide yourself forever? You see, we have a tendency to judge God's love for us by the situation that we're in in the present. So if things are good, we must be walking in God's love and favor. Sometimes we're willing to put up with pain in the present if we can see clear evidence of how God is making it all good in our lives. Have you ever heard Christians talk like this? Oh, I lost the job over here unfairly, but that led to this job, which I make more money in.

She broke up with me, but that led to this new relationship, and I like her better anyway. Jehovah Jireh, praise God, God is good all the time. Have you ever heard Christians do that? And by the way, sometimes that happens. Sometimes that happens.

It's not illegitimate. But see, that logic can start to work against us because sometimes, in fact, a lot of times, we can't see the evidence of the good plan. God is working through us, and we cry out in bewilderment with the psalmist, how long, God? Are you going to do this forever?

So you can't always see it. Sometimes you may never see it in this life. And if your faith depends on seeing the resolution of your faith in this life, you're never going to make it. If your faith depends on seeing the resolution of your faith in this life, you're never going to make it. You are a crisis of faith walking around waiting to happen.

And sometimes it terrifies me to think how many believers are in that category. Number three, God's steadfast love shapes the glorious conclusion of His plan. God's steadfast love shapes the glorious conclusion of His plan. Eugene Peterson wrote a book on the Psalms in which he points out that laments, like Psalm 88, laments are the predominant category in the Psalms, where the psalmist cries out, How long, O Lord? Peterson says, but the last five Psalms, Psalms 146 through 50, are all praise. Not a single word of lamentation, not a single word of complaint. Five Psalms of nothing but praise.

Psalm 150 is an example. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His mighty deeds. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with tambourine and dance. Praise Him with strings and pipe. Praise Him with sounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

Nothing but praise. Peterson's conclusion was that even, listen, Peterson's conclusion was that even, listen, the shape of the book of Psalms has a meaning, and that meaning is that all prayer prayed long enough eventually turns into praise. So why, you ask, why put Psalm 88 in there without putting some of that praise mixed in it? Because sometimes your life on earth feels like and ends in a Psalm 88, but the story of what God is doing with you and in you and in His people ends, Psalms assures you, in unfiltered, total praise.

All Psalm 88s prayed long enough eventually turn into praise. It may not be until eternity when God wipes away every tear from your eyes, and when God takes away all sickness and all crying and all pain until that glorious day when, in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, the writer of Lord of the Rings, when on that day when every sad thing becomes untrue, it might not be until that day that you finally understand it, but the book of Psalms assures you that it will happen. Not a single word of all that he has promised will not come to truth into your life. Paul would compare it to the experience of a mother after giving birth to a baby.

All that pain that we call the labor process immediately wiped away because of the joy of what she now holds in her hands. There is coming a time, Paul says, when the pain of this earth is going to seem strangely insignificant in light of the glory that God brought about in us and through us in and through that pain. Think about it. You could already, most of you, if you've been a believer for any amount of time, you can already look at some of the chapters in your life that were the most painful in which you could not understand what was going on. You could already look at those and see how God was working something good in your life, can't you? The divorce taught you to depend on God. The struggle with the addiction taught you how much you were in need of grace. The death refocused your faith. The lost job woke you up out of a life of materialism.

Well, here's the question. If now, with only a very limited perspective and limited wisdom, if already you can see a reason for some of the pain in your life, don't you think that given enough perspective and God's wisdom, you will see a reason for all of it? All Psalm 88s prayed long enough eventually turned into Psalm 150s.

And in order for you to experience the joy of Psalm 150, see, sometimes you've got to go through with Psalm 88. I was listening to a leadership guru this week named Simon Sinek. He was talking about the millennial generation, which technically, actually not even technically, I missed by about 15 years. Okay, so I'm not in the millennial generation, but Simon Sinek said, he said, this generation suffers from a complete inability to appreciate delayed gratification.

He said, part of the reason is because everything in their life is instant, right? It's like if you want to talk to a friend, you just text them and bam, you guys are in connection. You want an answer to a question, just type it in on Google.

Bam, there's your answer. You want to buy something, you just go on Amazon, order it, and bam, a drone flies into your house that afternoon. You want to watch a TV show, right?

I mean, back in the old days, you had to wait till Thursday night when the A-Team came on if you wanted to see the next episode, but now you just go to the DVR and you pull it up and you can watch previous episodes. He's like, so everything in their life is instant. He said, listen, but some things in life don't work like that. In fact, the best things in life don't work like that, and maturity is one of those. Maturity is a long process. It's never instant.

He said, it's our generation. They can see the top of the mountain, but what they can't see is the mountain. They don't see that to get to the top of that mountain, you got to go up that mountain. God's work in our life takes time. The praise of Psalm 150 requires from Psalm 88, and it requires you walking through those Psalms. Number four, we behold God's steadfast love for us and the rejection of his anointed one. Psalm 89 shows you that you're going to behold God's steadfast love for us and the rejection of his anointed one.

In the middle of Psalm 89, there's a very strange little segue that the Psalm suddenly goes and you're like, what's he doing? But now verse 38, now you have cast off and rejected your anointed. You are full of wrath against him.

You have renounced the covenant with him. You have defiled his crown in the dust. You have breached all his walls. You have covered all his walls. All who pass by plunder him. He has become the scorn of his neighbors. You have cut short the days of his youth. You have covered him with shame, selah, which means think about this.

What's he talking about? You know the Hebrew word for your anointed is the word messiah, messiah, Christ. This is a prophecy about Jesus.

Did you hear that in the description? You have rejected him, verse 38, renounced your covenant with him and poured out him because God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us. So it was the perfect beloved son of God on the cross who had heard you're my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. That's the son who said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Verse 40, you breached his walls. A spear was driven through the walls of his heart and blood and water flowed out. Verse 41, all who pass by plundered him.

The soldiers divided up his garment so that nothing was left that he owned. Verse 45, he was covered with shame. They spit on him. They defiled his crown on the dust. When they put a crown of thorns on him and bowed down before him mocking him saying, hail king of the Jews. He was cut short in the days of his youth.

He died in his prime. He's talking about Jesus who would go through Psalm 88. But why?

Why? Isaiah explains, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken by God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. You see around here we say that you can summarize the gospel in four words, Jesus in my place. It's not just that Jesus died for the sins of the world. He died for my sins. I was on his mind when he died on the cross. It was my transgressions, my rebellion, my pride, my impurity that put the nails in his hands and his feet that gladly he went to the cross for so he could suffer the penalty in my place.

He was rejected in my place. He went through Psalm 88 in my place so that I would never have to be rejected and go through that. Martin Luther regarded Jesus's cry from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He called those the greatest words in all of scripture.

Why? He said because, and I quote, in them we see that God faced abandonment in our place so that we would never, not in any circumstance or any situation, have to fear that abandonment or rejection. So when I feel like God has forsaken me, I'm wrong. I have to be. If you really want to experience true faith and peace, you have to dig out the lie that's at the root of your fear. This is Summit Life with J.D. Greer. So Pastor J.D., we're in this new teaching series called Question Everything from the Book of Psalms.

Can you tell us a little bit more about it? This week we are looking at some relevant questions that really bother us. And for those answers, we're diving into an ancient song about the Psalms where David basically and the other psalmist just talk about human experience and questions like, why am I not happy? And what's wrong with me? And why do I feel disappointed in life? And why isn't God doing what I think he should be doing? And do I have a purpose?

Those sorts of existential questions, they deal with our identity. And we're going to find through the scriptures that our identity is in Christ alone. To help us see the goodness of God and find our hope in Him, we've created an exclusive Summit Life study to go along with this that'll work through Psalm 23 that you can have.

It's called Goodness in the Middle. It's eight sessions working verse by verse through the Psalm. It's one of the most rewarding studies I've ever done and talked to the church here. All message series are things that you want to feel, but there's some that you feel very deeply and intensely in your soul.

And this is one of them. We would love for you to reserve a copy. You can do that just by giving a gift to us and starting a partnership with us.

You can do all that at JDGrier.com. We'd love to send you a copy of this all new resource called Goodness in the Middle based on one of the most famous Psalms in all the Bible, Psalm 23. We'll be studying this chapter in a little while here on Summit Life, but we'd love for you to get your hands on this new resource and jump into the chapter now. To give, just give us a call at 866-335-5220 or head over to JDGrier.com.

As always, we'd love to send you a copy. I'm Molly Venovich inviting you to join us tomorrow when we'll conclude today's teaching and continue to look for hope in the midst of our most difficult days. Tune in Tuesday to Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.