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SCRIPTURE REFERENCES FOR THIS SERMON:
Psalm 41:1-44:26
41:1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
How blessed is the one who treats the poor properly.
When trouble comes, may the Lord deliver him.
2 May the Lord protect him and save his life.
May he be blessed in the land.
Do not turn him over to his enemies.
3 The Lord supports him on his sickbed;
you have healed him from his illness.
4 As for me, I said:
“O Lord, have mercy on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you.
5 My enemies ask this cruel question about me,
‘When will he finally die and be forgotten?’
6 When someone comes to visit, he pretends to be friendly;
he thinks of ways to defame me,
and when he leaves he slanders me.
7 All who hate me whisper insults about me to one another;
they plan ways to harm me.
8 They say,
‘An awful disease overwhelms him,
and now that he is bedridden he will never recover.’
9 Even my close friend whom I trusted,
he who shared meals with me, has turned against me.
10 As for you, O Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up,
so I can pay them back!”
11 By this I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 As for me, you uphold me because of my integrity;
you allow me permanent access to your presence.
13 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise
in the future and forevermore.
We agree! We agree!
42:1 For the music director, a well-written song by the Korahites.
As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God!
2 I thirst for God,
for the living God.
I say, “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?”
3 I cannot eat; I weep day and night.
All day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
4 I will remember and weep.
For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,
shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.
5 Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.
6 I am depressed,
so I will pray to you while in the region of the upper Jordan,
from Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 One deep stream calls out to another at the sound of your waterfalls;
all your billows and waves overwhelm me.
8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love,
and by night he gives me a song,
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will pray to God, my high ridge:
“Why do you ignore me?
Why must I walk around mourning
because my enemies oppress me?”
10 My enemies’ taunts cut me to the bone,
as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.
43:1 Vindicate me, O God!
Fight for me against an ungodly nation.
Deliver me from deceitful and evil men.
2 For you are the God who shelters me.
Why do you reject me?
Why must I walk around mourning
because my enemies oppress me?
3 Reveal your light and your faithfulness.
They will lead me;
they will escort me back to your holy hill,
and to the place where you live.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to the God who gives me ecstatic joy,
so that I may express my thanks to you, O God, my God, with a harp.
5 Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.
44:1 For the music director, by the Korahites; a well-written song.
O God, we have clearly heard;
our ancestors have told us
what you did in their days,
in ancient times.
2 You, by your power, defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land;
you crushed the people living there and enabled our ancestors to occupy it.
3 For they did not conquer the land by their swords,
and they did not prevail by their strength,
but rather by your power, strength, and good favor,
for you were partial to them.
4 You are my king, O God.
Decree Jacob’s deliverance.
5 By your power we will drive back our enemies;
by your strength we will trample down our foes.
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and I do not prevail by my sword.
7 For you deliver us from our enemies;
you humiliate those who hate us.
8 In God we boast all day long,
and we will continually give thanks to your name. (Selah)
9 But you rejected and embarrassed us.
You did not go into battle with our armies.
10 You made us retreat from the enemy.
Those who hate us take whatever they want from us.
11 You handed us over like sheep to be eaten;
you scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for a pittance;
you did not ask a high price for them.
13 You made us an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us.
14 You made us an object of ridicule among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt.
15 All day long I feel humiliated
and am overwhelmed with shame,
16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me.
17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you
or violated your covenant with us.
18 We have not been unfaithful,
nor have we disobeyed your commands.
19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs;
you have covered us with darkness.
20 If we had rejected our God,
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god,
21 would not God discover it,
for he knows a person’s secret thoughts?
22 Yet because of you we are killed all day long;
we are treated like sheep at the slaughtering block.
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you look the other way,
and ignore the way we are oppressed and mistreated?
25 For we lie in the dirt,
with our bellies pressed to the ground.
26 Rise up and help us.
Rescue us because of your loyal love.