Finding God in Our Struggles and Frustrations

Oh wow, I've never had someone sit in the front row. This is going to be a new preaching experience. They must say that, you know, people don't see the road because, you know, they're worried that the preacher's going to spit. You know, wear your rain jackets! I promise it's not true; it's really safe.

It was funny on Thursday. I was doing some work in preparation for this sermon tonight, and it was about 2:30 in the afternoon. I was sitting in my office; Corey was sitting in the reception office. The phone started ringing, which is fine. That's perfectly acceptable; that's what happens at a church from time to time. The phone rings.

Usually, I wait for Kara to pick it up because she's excellent at that. Lo and behold, the phone stopped ringing. I'm like, "Okay, fantastic! Curry's got it." And it would have been about five seconds later that the phone rang again. I'm like, "Oh, okay, no worries. That must have been one of those awkward moments."

And again, it just stopped ringing. I'm like, "Great! Curry's got it." Then about five to ten seconds later, it started ringing again. At this point, I don't quite know what's going on, but I feel sorry for Corey. How about I pick it up and we'll see whether it's a phone issue or if I pick it up?

I said, "Hello, Else Baptist Church, this is Gavin speaking," and I'm hearing not much on the other end. I'm trying to work out what is going on here because these people are calling us, right? And yet they're not actually saying anything anytime we pick up. So I hang up and I put it back down on the thing. Then, ten seconds later, it rings again.

At this point, Corey comes in by my office and says, "Have you noticed?" I'm like, "Yeah, I've noticed! This phone keeps on ringing. We keep picking it up, and we keep hearing nothing pretty much despite our best attempts." Then we hang up and we try it again. This would have happened ten, eleven, twelve times in a row.

I actually got to the point of thinking, "Maybe it's a technical issue." You know, like, could this be the rest of my day? Where I'm just sitting here being interrupted like every fifteen seconds with the phone ringing? It was just a horrible existence to consider.

But it was this kind of funny moment as I was preparing this message because we were picking up this call, but the one who was calling just wasn't quite there. They were there enough that clearly they had somehow managed to keep on calling the church, but when we actually went to respond, they had nothing really to say or evidently something was going wrong at the other end.

And tonight, as we start this brief series on fighting rest and exploring some of the Psalms, I actually feel like this dynamic—the ringing phone, the pickup, the emptiness at the other end, or the something kind of missing at the other end—is very similar to what the psalm tonight is actually speaking to.

Now, when we call on God, is what I'm talking about, but we aren't quite there, right? When we're calling out to God and we're trying to reach out in our desperation or whatever it is, but we also know that in our calling out, we're not quite where we ought to be. Thankfully, unlike me, God doesn't get frustrated at that, right? He's okay with that.

But as we work through this Psalm, which is just quite an incredible Psalm, the more that I kind of unpacked it, I just feel like there's this beautiful invitation to keep on calling even when we don't have the words to offer. It'll make sense in a little while.

But before we kind of go into that, I want to talk about Psalms. You know, you open up your Bible halfway; you're pretty likely to hit the Psalms at some point or another. It's important to understand that Psalms, and the category they fit into, which is what we call wisdom literature, are considered to be tools for the journey.

We're on this journey of faith; we're trying to discover who God is, what He's like, and what it looks like to engage faithfully in this world. These tools, such as the Proverbs and the Psalms, help us make it through the difficult times, just as they did for the nation of Israel thousands of years ago as they were journeying through the wilderness, particularly during these times when they were in exile, when they had been overtaken and were under oppressive situations.

These tools, including the Psalms, help us to walk the path. One of these tools in this wisdom literature are songs, and that is what Psalms are. They are songs. So if you ever kind of pop that open and create like, "What's going on here?" it is a song. That is what we are talking about when we talk about Psalms.

Now, the Psalms were essentially the pop culture music of the day, right? For us, this is like seriously—like as we open it up—because like, is that what's going on? This was like the popular music. These were the songs that people knew and could recite and would become part of a ritual as they journeyed to various places, right? These were the things that they kind of had on their hearts.

In the same way, I don't know about you, but for me, as I go down doing my day-to-day business, sometimes there'll be like a worship song, right, that kind of I'm reminded of, and I start to kind of sing internally. It's like these are the kind of things that the Psalms were.

I don't know what you kind of grew up with. For me, I grew up with some great pop culture kind of influences. There was a particular genre of music that I don't think exists anymore called pop punk. Now, pop punk was like teen angst, right? It was like if you're a teenager and you have father issues, then these guys were the ones who gave you the lyrics to express it.

Now, I didn't think I personally had father issues, but nevertheless, I liked to identify with those people who had part of the issues. So I spiked my hair and I listened to Good Charlotte. I listened to Simple Plan, who basically were 28-year-olds pretending they were 16, and it was a good time, right?

Because what it did for me—and I look back at that time quite fondly—and we'll all have these various kind of influences in our life. They offered me words when I didn't have words myself. This is what sometimes these Psalms do. When we don't have the words ourselves, when we can't generate the language to give expression to what we are feeling and the emotions that we have, we return to songs in order to give us those tools.

And it's important that as we look through the Psalms, we're going to explore just a few. There is a psalm for every emotion under the sun. There really, really is. The more you go through it, they offer words when we have none.

I wanted to kind of frame this up right from the get-go so that we treat Psalms for what they are rather than for what they aren't. Because the Psalms—it's important to understand this—this is so critically important. Psalms are not primarily theological statements.

So when we open the Psalms, there can be certainly a number that is true, okay? We're not saying it's not true, but first and foremost, these are songs, right? And they're not actually designed to make distinct theological statements about who God is. First and foremost, they may, but that's not their purpose.

First and foremost, Psalms actually reveal the human condition. They reveal far more about the human state of being—what's true about us—than they do about God. In fact, sometimes you'll see references to God in the Psalms that aren't actually very consistent with what we see as God made fully demonstrated in Christ Jesus, right? And that's okay because it's coming from this place of human angst: "God, do this! I want you to do this! Despite those people, smite them! Do whatever!"

You know, any kind of like, "Oh, is that who God is?" No, no, no. That is far more reflective of the human condition that we all know rather than a theological statement about the character of God, okay? And so when we treat the Psalms for what they are, this is incredibly liberating and it's transforming, okay?

Because again, these are tools for our journey. And so tonight's message is going to be a bit different, okay? Because tonight, I want you to find yourself right in Psalm 4, okay? Which is what we're going to be looking at. It's only eight verses long, okay?

Now, I don't want you to do anything with this right now. When I say that, really, I want to be really specific about this, right? Because most sermons, you're like, "Hey, here's the text. Now I want you to do something. Action this!" All right? We've been conditioned, right, to apply sermons. I totally understand that, right?

And I will share some observations; don't worry for those. I won't hang you out to dry. But first and foremost, I want to encourage you to let the psalm do the work in you, right? Allow it to speak to your condition and then, of course, allow God to be revealed in the midst of that story.

But in order to actually allow the psalm to do a work in us rather than for us to do it, we actually need to prepare ourselves, right? Sometimes we actually need to shift our mind and perspective to look at these Psalms differently.

And the Psalms, right, require us to slow down, to rest before we can heal, okay? Which is something we often don't like to do, by the way, because if we slow down, we risk feeling things. See, if we kind of push on and push forward, if we look toward the next accomplishment, we can just kind of be defined by our next aspiration or what we have achieved in the past.

There's almost a risk to slowing down because suddenly I have to take stock of where I am, what I am feeling, what is going on in me. It's a very risky thing to do. I risk anxiety when I slow down. And yet the Psalms actually remind us that we need to take that risk on a regular basis.

We need to slow down because unless we slow down, we actually close the door for God to do some healing work that He desires to do within us. So in order to prepare tonight, this is the question I want you to consider: In order to prepare for this psalm, for the work that this Psalm is going to do in you and through you by the Holy Spirit, what is the thing that is frustrating you the most right now?

What is the thing that's frustrating you the most right now? That guy up the front, would he just stop talking? No, no, no, no! There's got to be something. Like, what is the thing that's frustrating? This might be an alternate way of thinking about it: What is the thing that you are most worried about right now?

Okay, it might be one or two things that come to mind; there might be more. And even as we do that, right, you might actually feel a little bit of angst. "Don't make me feel, Gavin! Don't make me think! Don't make me stop!" Right? No, right? This is—we don't like it. We need to do it, though.

You know the stories you're carrying. So to prepare ourselves for this psalm, for this sound to speak and for the Spirit to do a work through us in it, what is the thing that's frustrating you right now? What is the thing you are most worried about? Hold that thing in your mind as I read through this psalm:

"Answer me when I call to you, O God who declares me innocent. Free me from my troubles; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. How long will you people ruin my reputation? How long will you make groundless accusations? How long will you continue your lies? You can be sure of this: the Lord set apart the godly for himself; the Lord will answer when I call to him. Don't sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. Offer sacrifices in the right spirit; trust the Lord. Many people will say, 'Who will show us better times?' Let your face smile on us, Lord. You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace, I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe."

That's it. It's a fascinating psalm. I want to make a few observations about the various parts of this psalm. You may have noticed, or you may not have, and that's okay too, that these first two verses—the lyrics are characterized by the burden of the other, particularly verse two: "The burden of the other."

"How long will you people ruin my reputation? How long will you make groundless accusations? How long will you continue in your lies?" I love that from the beginning of verse one, the lyric says, "A God who declares me innocent." I love the fact that the psalmist is really in this state where he's like, "You are the judge, and I am in the right here."

That frustration, that thing that's worrying me is like, "God, you are the judge. You are the one who makes declarations, and you will declare me innocent." It's almost a bit of arrogance, perhaps confidence, maybe in such a statement: "Have mercy on me and hear my prayers."

God, you know that this is important to me. Hear my prayers. Again, we know God hears our prayers. To me, our out. And then those three statements of lament: "How long will you people ruin my reputation? How long? How long? How long?"

There is this pure frustration and almost candor that comes from our perspective—the perspective of the author. And after this sense of, "Hey, I'm in the right here. This is important to me, and this sucks," the psalmist takes a breather. They call it sometimes, true landslated as interlude.

Have you ever had that moment where you just have to get everything off your chest? "This is not okay! These people, what they have done, what they are doing, it is not okay! How long will you do this to me?" And finally, when you get it all out, the psalmist takes agreement.

And as he takes the breath, something shifts. You see, because the next couple of verses are characterized by something different. You could say that they're characterized by a self-awareness: "You can be sure of this: the Lord will set apart the godly for himself; the Lord will answer when I call him."

That's a confirmation—that it's self-awareness. Suddenly there's a shift. Maybe it isn't about them; it's actually about me, where I am at. And then in verse four: "Don't sin by letting anger control you." He's not talking about God, obviously. He's not talking about others. The psalmist is talking about himself.

He's saying, "I need to pause. I need to stop." And then he does just that. Takes a breather, has a little intermission as he allows that to sink in. Thought it was about you out there, then I took a breather, and I suddenly thought that it was about you right here.

And then after his little breather, he continues: "Offer sacrifices in the right spirit and trust the Lord." Many people will say, "Who will show us better times?" The psalmist is reminded he's not alone in his anticipation and hope for what God might do.

And then verse seven: "You have given me greater joy, for you alone." Verse eight: "O Lord, will keep me safe." This isn't about me; it's actually about you. And there's this beautiful, contented ending.

I get that this is a weird sermon, by the way. What are you doing here? Yeah, yeah, it's a psalm, right? We've got to understand what is happening to us, what is happening to the psalmist in this moment because this speaks to the human condition—one that you and I are very, very familiar with.

Notice how in these eight verses, the "you" has changed. This frustration, this worry, this thing that I am burdened by—how often do we start? It's about them. It's about what they did. It's about their offense. They need to change. "How long? How long?" I'm not alone here. Tell me I'm not alone, right?

And then after we do that—and that's not a bad thing—we take a breather, and we gotta go, "What's my part in this?" What is my role in this? What can I do? What is my calling in the midst of this? And that's not a bad thing to do, but we start to say, "You, you, you."

Maybe this is more about me and my state. And once we get ourselves into a tizzy, we take a breather because it hasn't quite resolved yet. Can't expect them to always fix this, and actually, my resources are limited.

And so we take a breather, and suddenly we're invited to shift our perspective once again and go, "Actually, this stressor, this worry, this frustration—where is God in this?" And that's where we start to see the transformation of perspective.

It's what we start to see healing from the fear and the frustration, but rarely do we go straight there. And that is what this psalm illustrates. So is it a guide, a set of instructions? Maybe, sure. If you're going through some frustration, going through some stress, yeah, think about them, and then think about you, and then think about God. Sure, why not?

Or is it just true, right? Is it just true that this is what we do, right? That when we choose to call out to God—which is what the psalmist did from the beginning—in humility, by His Spirit, actually does a work in us, right?

It's like when we choose to call out to God, when we choose not to hold that frustration, when we choose not to hold that worry, and we actually cry out to God like the psalmist from the beginning: "Hear me, O God!" The Spirit actually takes us on a journey, by God's grace, through an awareness of others, awareness of self, and ultimately awareness of who God is as He does a work of healing in us.

What I love about this psalm, right from the beginning, I'm going to go back to it: this verse one: "Answer me when I call to you, O God who declares me innocent. Free me from my troubles; have mercy on me and hear my prayer."

When you first read that verse, it sounds very righteous, but actually, when you look at the journey of this particular psalm, when he initially called out to God, I don't believe his focus was on God at all. That's not where it actually starts, right? But he's still called out, and this should be of immense encouragement to us who find ourselves in this exact same space.

We call out to God because we know we're supposed to do that, but actually, what's going on in us, right, in that very moment is, "They have done this to me, and I aren't happy." And that's okay. Maybe I don't have the words. Maybe I don't have the answers. Maybe I can't draw from within and solve this situation, but I'm crying out anyway.

So if you are feeling tired and burdened, I want to remind you tonight that you don't need to be in the right space to cry out. You don't need to be in the right space with God in order to cry out. In that moment, just cry out! Like that phone that just kept ringing a dozen times, right? It's okay. Just keep ringing.

Even if you've got nothing else to offer in that moment, just keep ringing. Just keep crying out because that is what God uses—that moment of humility—to do that transforming work in us.

So to end tonight, I want us to actually sit within a song, which is the lyrics of Psalm chapter 4. It's been turned into a song as part of the Psalms project, who are looking to try and turn all of the Psalms back into contemporary songs of sorts.

And you might be sitting here tonight, or you might be joining us online, and maybe you don't have the words to match your burden and frustration right now. Maybe it is you're sitting here, and you just need permission to be where you are in the midst of that wait.

Or maybe you just need the invitation to trust God to be extended once again. And I believe that's what this psalm does. When we don't have the words ourselves, we sit in the psalm, we cry out, and we allow God to do the transforming work in us.

So this song goes for about five minutes, and we're actually going to just conclude our service with it. I might pray at the end; we'll see. And I encourage you to take that burden, that frustration, and hold it out to God as you cry out to Him, and then listen to how this psalm speaks into that experience and into the faithfulness of God.