How Long Must I Suffer? #1

Charles Spurgeon says we have called this the Howl Long Psalm. He said we had almost called it the Howling Psalm. David, howling to God. How long?

How long? God, I cannot bear this. I am crushed beyond my ability to endure. For Christians, suffering is not an aberration on this side of heaven. Even though we know that, we can still feel abandoned by God when great suffering arrives. Pastor Don Green will put it all in perspective for you today on the Truth Pulpit as he continues teaching God's people God's Word. I'm Bill Wright, and we're beginning a series titled How Long, O God, with part one of a message titled How Long Must I Suffer? And Don, this series is a little personal for you, isn't it? Well, that it is, Bill.

This one cuts close to my heart. You know, my friend, I have been on the receiving end of a lot of grace from the Lord over the years. He's blessed my life. I'm thankful for that.

I'm grateful to him. But I also want you to know that there have been times where I have gone through deep valleys of a lot of discouragement. Different episodes in my life where it seemed like God was far away, and it was hard to pray and hard to read his Word. And those things went on for years sometimes, and it seemed like there was no end in sight.

Can you relate to that at all? Well, it's important for you to know that the writers of Scripture knew those kinds of feelings of delay, of seeming abandonment, and they point us to the grace of God with their writings. And our privilege today is to open God's Word on this needful topic of suffering as we study God's Word together today on The Truth Pulpit.

Thanks, Don. And friend, let's join our teacher now to begin today's message on The Truth Pulpit. The great Charles Spurgeon said this about Psalm 13. He said, In other words, what Spurgeon is saying is, this is the experience of God that we find expressed in Psalm 13. It will be the experience of the true people of God at some point in their journey. If the Lord gives us an extended period of life here on earth to walk with him, there will be times of deep sorrow. And I repeat myself so much.

I have said so many times in the past several weeks, not just recently, that I like to be realistic. And I think it is just so important for us over time as a body together. I look and see, you know, we are together as a body. We are joined together as a body. For us to be realistic of the fact that there will be times, there will be episodes, there will be seasons, in our individual lives, in our hearts, as a body where the weight of life and the weight of living in this broken world seems utterly unbearable.

Now it is not always like that. It is not always a time, a veil, a valley of sorrow that we go through, but there are times like that. And if we pretend that spiritual life is always a joyous, happy occasion on the top of the mountain, and if we always in our public gatherings try to project that sense, that that is not only the norm, but that is the only expression of true Christian living, we are doing ourselves a great disservice and causing great destruction in the lives of the people of God.

And I'm not willing to do that. We as a church are not willing to do that and to pretend that the sorrows of life are not real. If we acknowledge them, if we address them, then we can come to Scripture and find that there is real help for them in the times when we most desperately need them.

So we're not going to put on a false happy face. Songs of joy are not appropriate when the heart is in great pain. There is a place for the minor notes to be played in the spiritual life, and we find that when Scripture addresses us in those times of hurt and sorrow, we find a depth of soil for our spiritual growth that far transcends what imagination and pretense could never do for us. Well, like I say, whatever we choose to do in interactions with men, at least vertically, we can come to Psalm 13 and find that which gives voice for our souls to God in the midst of these times.

And if we can walk with God and find the comfort of God in them, then the manner of dealing with men will sort itself out in time. First of all, let's look at David's sigh of despair as he opens this psalm, and he is intensely discouraged. You can practically hear him moan as he writes these words. What is it that has provoked him to this level of depth as he cries out repeatedly, how long, oh Lord? Well, first of all, part of what's provoking his soul is his silent God.

His silent God. Here is David suffering. The mere use, the repetition of how long lets you know that he's been suffering a very long time, and as he's prayed, he has simply been met with seeming inaction on God's part. God has not helped him. God has not responded. David has gone day by day, week by week, perhaps month by month, trudging along, crying out for help, crying out for deliverance, and finding that there is none.

The difficulty of yesterday is repeated today and is on tap for the schedule for tomorrow. In the midst of that, his loneliness aggravates the problem, and from much distress and aggravation of soul, he cries out to God in verse 1. He says, how long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul?

How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Four times in those two verses, he cries out, how long? God has not provided the practical help that David believes he needs in his difficulty. God has not answered. God has not responded to his prayers. God has not blessed him with prosperity and peace. It's evident, isn't it, from the reading of the Psalm that that's his spiritual experience.

And we're not to chastise David for praying this way. Rather, we find sympathy and say, here is a man who's been where I am. Here's a man who's been where I've been. I get this.

I understand this. This gives eloquent voice to that which I could not articulate in the problems of my own soul. Charles Spurgeon, again, says that in his Treasury of David, he says, we have called this the how long Psalm. He said, we had almost called it the howling Psalm.

H-O-W-L-I-N-G, like a coyote howling. We had almost said the howling Psalm from the incessant repetition of the cry, how long. David howling to God, how long, how long. God, I cannot bear this. This pain is too much for me.

I am crushed beyond my ability to endure. And so what is it that's prompting David in this? First of all, it's the seeming silence of God in response to his distress. Sometimes, beloved, it'll go for years. You know, over the years I've talked with people in the midst of the distress and they'll ask this question, how long do I continue on like this?

And there's, you know, pastor, you want to have answers, but there are times where I just don't know what to say. I don't have any answer. I can't tell you how long it will be.

How long it will be before the relief comes. But for the Christian, does there come a point where I quit? And to that question, I answer, not yet, not yet. However long it has been, however long it will be, the time to quit has not yet come. And that's always true.

Not yet. We don't give up. We don't give in to it.

But we instead turn our sorrow into this plaintive cry to the Lord. How long must this go on? How long in this unequally yoked marriage that is so difficult for me?

How long with this rebellious child that will not respond to me? How long will my soul and my heart be broken over these things, O God? The very asking of the question shows that there's no end in sight, right?

Well, where do we go? And here's what I would want you to see, maybe as a passing observation at this point in the psalm. The very fact that David asks the question, how long, means that he doesn't see an end in sight. But it doesn't stop there.

And the fact that you wrestle with the issue doesn't mean that you stop there. In the discouragement and the grief and crying out how long, there are other steps to take from there, even though you don't see where the relief is to come. The fact that he cries it out but the psalm doesn't end there tells us that there is spiritual direction yet ahead.

And that's what I want you to see. His silent God has provoked this cry. Secondly, also, his suffering heart. His suffering heart has provoked it. Look at verse 2. God's delay has burdened his heart, but in verse 2 he goes on and he says, how long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? God, this is unbearable.

This is insufferable. This is too much, he cries out. And David's thoughts are evidently tossing within him. Martin Luther, the great reformer, of course, said this about this aspect of David's psalm. He says, his heart is like a raging sea in which all sorts of thoughts move up and down. He tries on all hands to find a hole through which he can escape.

He thinks on various plans and still is utterly at a loss of what to do. Beloved, that's Martin Luther saying that. That's the man who launched the Reformation describing that aspect of spiritual experience. And what I want you to see, there is a certain deep and profound comfort in that. To see men like that recognizing the depth of the struggle. To identify with a man like David in the struggle. To identify with our Lord Jesus on the cross when he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? These are not men lightly dismissed, obviously, especially as we speak of Christ. We look at our Lord primarily and then we look at these other men of like human flesh with ours whom God used so greatly, whom God called men after his own heart, whom God used to shape centuries of church theology and experience. And I find something really helpful there in my own life, in my own past sorrows.

And I invite you into this realm of comfort as well. You know, the superficial nature of much of preaching, not all preaching, but much preaching in our day and age. The superficial expectations of Christians around us, you know, put on a happy face. You know what, I can't put on a happy face.

The tears will make the makeup run if I do. And I find help in stepping out of the superficiality of the age in which we live and stepping into the deep experience of true men of God proven in Scripture, proven on the cross, proven by vindication in church history and say these are the men that I want to identify with. These men understand. The Word of God understands even if my world doesn't, even if my circle of acquaintances doesn't, even if my circle of Christian friends doesn't, I've been there. I speak from experience. I've known, as many of you have, the stinging barbs of Job's so-called comforters, the stinging barbs of people perhaps even well-intended, but their words simply pour salt on the wound because they're unwilling to recognize, to validate, and to enter into the suffering with you.

And you just realize how useless it is. And with Job, and with my friend Steve Krylov incidentally, to say, oh, if you would just be silent and your silence would become your wisdom, if you don't have anything intelligent and useful and biblical to say in this manner of despair, at least keep your lips closed and don't make it worse. How long, goes the cry, how long as the sobs come again?

How long, Lord, must I be drugged through this? Scripture, I hope you see, this psalm comes to us and comes alongside us. This psalm written 3,000 years ago under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this psalm from God's Holy Word comes alongside and it enters into the depths of those recesses of our soul and whispers to us, I understand.

This psalm, God's Word comes and puts its arm around us and draws us close and embraces us in the midst of that kind of spiritual experience and says, I understand, here's help, here's direction, you're not alone, this is not alien to the experience of the true people of God. That, beloved, even if no one else on earth understands, that is worth 10,000 happy faces. That is worth 10,000 bouncy sermons.

That is worth 10,000, nay, it's far better than 10,000 false promises of immediate comfort that will prove to be false. How long, I see no answer, I see no way forward, God, how long? And Scripture comes into your soul and says, we're here, the Bible understands.

We find that though no man understands us, we have a book, we have a word from God that understands us and that's far better. So David's silent God, David's suffering heart is provoking this cry of how long. Also we could say his surging enemy, his surging enemy. David's enemies are too strong for him, look at the end of verse 2. He says, how long will my enemy be exalted over me?

It's not just the spiritual suffering, it's not just the agitations of his heart, there's a human dimension to this as well. He has, as he often did, enemies. And the enemy is not specifically identified, there's no historical background given to help us know what episode of David's life this comes from. We have to be content simply to say that somehow there is a man who is opposed to him, who is somehow prevailing over him unrighteously. David, writing as the king of Israel, finds his godly position threatened, his representative capacity for the people of God in addition to his own earthly sorrow at stake. And in that circumstance, God is nowhere to be found, seemingly.

David is afflicted both internally and externally. Men assault him and God is inactive. No wonder, no wonder, he cries out, how long, how long, how long, how long.

Four times, I didn't even exaggerate. And so we see his sigh of despair and the reason for it. But, as I said, this psalm doesn't end there. And sometimes, beloved, I would say this, and looking back in my own episodes of deep sorrow, I was content to stay in the first two verses of Psalm 13, you might say.

I didn't understand, I didn't embrace, no one had ever told me that even in the midst of that kind of deep sorrow that there is still spiritual responsibility. There is a way to respond rather than simply staying in the realm of verse 2. And that there is a spiritual response for the people of God to seek and to activate and to do in the midst of that. We see it in the second point, the summons for deliverance. The summons for deliverance. In James it says, you do not have because you do not ask. And we're reminded here in the next section of this psalm that there is a place and there is a responsibility for us to ask for the help that we need. David has been asking, but having found that there is no deliverance yet, he needs to ask yet again. And in the midst of his despair, he asks for help from God.

Oh, beloved, this is so very important. Let me read verse 3 and then make a comment on it. Verse 3, he says, consider and answer me, O Lord my God.

Enlighten my eyes or I will sleep the sleep of death. He's thought this over incessantly and he has no answers. He doesn't know what the solution is. And there's something so very practical to what I'm about to say that certainly responds to a lot of false thinking that I had in my life earlier on, what I think is not uncommon in the broader realm of supposed Christian thought and experience on the whole matter of prayer.

Let me state it negatively first. David here in this psalm does not, he does not have a solution. He doesn't know what the way out.

He is in a black dark room surrounded by a black curtain with a blindfold on. He can't see his way forward. Now how many times have I heard in ministry, you would have no way of knowing the number, how many times have you heard people trying to figure out what it is they're supposed to ask for in prayer? You know, what is it the solution that I want and then I'll ask for that and saying, you know, if I can just figure out what the answer to this complex dilemma is, I'll ask for that and then that'll be the key that unlocks it. The idea being that you have to figure out what you need before you can ask God for it and get help for it. That's not true. In fact, that's a very foolish way to think. First of all, it's not true to experience. There are times where there is times where there is no solution to your sorrow. There is no bringing back the past in order to make the present feel better. You can't do that.

That's impossible. And beyond that, thinking theologically here, God always has a purpose for us in the midst of our sorrows but He doesn't tell us in advance what that long-term purpose is. How can we know in the present, in the moment, what it is that God is working out? He doesn't reveal that to us.

And so how are we supposed to know how to ask for what He would do? As if we needed to have the circumstantial solution figured out and then we go to God and ask Him for it. No, it's just the opposite, beloved. For some of you, I realize this may turn your whole thinking about prayer upside down.

If so, it's about time and it's for your benefit. No, the whole point of these episodes in life is that we go to God in utter humility and utter dependence and say, God, I don't know what to make of this. I don't have any solutions, God. I can't change this situation. I can't change this person. I can't change this hostility. I can't silence the pride of my enemies. I can't humble them. There's nothing I can do. I don't have a secret bank account in Switzerland to go to to fund my way out of this, Lord. I am helpless here.

And that is precisely the point. God, I don't have any answers. You help me. You're the one with all the wisdom.

You're the one who is omniscient. You know the future. You have a purpose. You have a plan. You help me. I can't help myself here. And you embrace your... I mean this in a constructive way. You embrace your ignorance. You embrace your inability.

You embrace your lack of understanding. And you say, God, that's precisely why I'm here. I need someone greater than me to help me. And that's you. I need my Lord, my Master, my King.

I need you to help because I have none to give to myself. And there is an utter bankruptcy. There is a poverty of spirit involved in this kind of praying that you come and you lay that out. Rather than thinking that, somehow people get the distorted idea in their mind that the way to pray in the midst of such circumstances is to figure out the answer and then you go and inform God what the answer should be so that He can do it. When you see it clearly, you realize how foolish that is.

Sometimes our hearts are too broken to think clearly. Well, we'll pause right there for today, but Pastor Don Green will have part two of his message titled How Long Must I Suffer next time here on The Truth Pulpit. So be sure to join us then.

But right now Don's back here in studio with a special invitation. Well, friend, if you are anywhere near the Cincinnati area and you don't have a good church home, I invite you to visit us at Truth Community Church. I'm in the pulpit almost every Sunday, and we have a loving congregation that would simply be thrilled to meet you and welcome you to our body.

We are striving to manifest the principles that you heard taught today. Why not come and see us? Bill will help you find us on our website. Just visit thetruthpulpit.com for directions and service times. That's thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright inviting you to join us again next time when Don Green continues teaching God's people God's Word on The Truth Pulpit.