Pastor Tim Patoka 5th Sunday in Lent
The Struggle: Psalms for Lent March 21, 2021 The Lord’s Help in Our Relentless Struggles Psalm 143:1-12
1) Our Relentless Struggles Bring Us Unrelenting Hardships 2) Christians Confidently Turn to the Lord for Help 3) We Face Our Relentless Struggles as the Lord’s Servant Everybody has their share of struggles that just won’t go away no matter how hard you try. There is the relentless struggle of keeping the house clean from the piles and messes that daily accumulate. No matter how many times or how well we clean the house, we’re going to need to do it again. There’s the relentless struggle of getting to wherever we’re going without too much traffic or construction delay. Maybe it’s just me, but just when it seems that you’ve found that sweet spot, something changes and you need to find a new one. Depending on the people around you, you may also have the relentless struggle of needing to bite your tongue around that certain someone! Because you that, if you were to speak your mind, it would only make the struggle worse. The thing about relentless struggles is that they don’t go away. They are always there and can, little by little, easily wear us out. This is not only true for the minor struggles we face, but also for our major and more difficult struggles. As grim as it may sound, our lives are full of relentless struggles that continually wear us down. It’s because of that stark reality that we turn our attention this morning to Psalm 143. In it, we see how Old Testament believer King David describes his state due to his relentless struggles. Yet, because of our Lord and the help he gives, King David shows us how we can confidently turn to our Lord in our relentless struggles and face them as his forgiven and assured servant. 1) Our Relentless Struggles Bring Us Unrelenting Hardships While we know that King David wrote Psalm 143 and it is God’s inspired Word, there’s not much else we know about this psalm’s historical setting or what specifically drove King David to write these poetic words. But what is sure is how King David accurately describes how we often feel in the aftermath of our relentless struggles. One source of these struggles often comes from ourselves because of our sin-filled pasts. We hear David talk about this when he says, “Do not bring charges against your servant, because no one living can be righteous before you.” (Psalm 143:2 EHV) As you think back to King David’s life or later look him up at home, you can find a number of accounts where he was anything but righteous in God’s sight.
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Pastor Tim Patoka 5th Sunday in Lent
The Struggle: Psalms for Lent March 21, 2021
King David mentions another source for unrelenting struggles when he says, “the enemy pursues my soul. He crushes my life to the ground. He makes me dwell in dark places like those long dead.” (Psalm 143:3 EHV) Who could this enemy be that David is talking about? It certainly includes the Devil himself whose sole goal is to bring our souls to eternal suffering in hell with him. David could also be referring to his physical enemies who pursued his life, forced him to hide in dark and desolate places, and caused him all sorts of struggles. No matter where David’s relentless struggles came from, they brought with them unrelenting hardships. Hardships that, in David’s own words, made it so that, “my spirit grows faint inside me. Within me my heart is devastated.” (Psalm 143:4 EHV) To put it simply, David’s relentless struggles and their unrelenting hardships emptied his spirits and left him with little to no hope. Has that ever sounded like you? Have you ever felt that, because of your relentless struggles and their unrelenting hardships, it’s seemed as if your spirits were emptied and you were left with little to no hope? Perhaps it’s from your struggles that have come from your past filled with sins of your youth or not-so-distant-history. You know that you have God’s free and full forgiveness for those sins! But that doesn’t mean you’ve been able to see yourself as the forgiven child that God sees. What struggles do you face because of your enemies? We know the Devil is out there corrupting tests into temptations and instigating all sorts of sinful effects in our lives. And he’s doing it all for that sole purpose – to rob our souls of faith in Christ so that we suffer forever with him in hell. We also have our physical enemies who have it out for us, or unknowingly, bring hardships into our lives so that our days go from bad to worse. How true it is that we too suffer the same faint spirit and devastated heart as did King David. How true it is that these relentless struggles and their unrelenting hardships can end our faith as they already have with our former brothers and sisters who’ve flaked out of faith and sadly lost their home in heaven. 2) Christians Confidently Turn to the Lord for Help As King David shows us how low our relentless struggles can bring us, so he also shows us who to go to for help in these same struggles. David tells us, “LORD, hear my prayer. Give ear to my cry for mercy. In your faithfulness, answer me in your righteousness…. 5I remember the days of long ago. I meditate on all your works, and I consider what your hands have done. 6 I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you like a weary land.” (Psalm 143:1,5-6 EHV) It is to the Lord he goes and calls on for help as a drought-wearied land thirsts for rain’s 2
Pastor Tim Patoka 5th Sunday in Lent
The Struggle: Psalms for Lent March 21, 2021
life-giving liquid. And what’s interesting about David’s call for help to the Lord is that he doesn’t base it on himself or what he’s done. Rather, he appeals to the Lord for who he is and what he has done. David mentions 4 particular things about God – his mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, and own name’s sake. David appeals to God’s mercy since it is only because of God’s undeserved love for sinners like us that God helps us in the first place. David appeals to God’s faithfulness and how the Lord has helped struggling believers in the past like Job, Noah, Abraham, and many more. David appeals to God’s righteousness knowing that, however it is that the Lord helps us, it will be perfect and right. David appeals to God’s own name’s sake so that the Lord can uphold his reputation as the God of free and faithful grace that this particular name for him means. It’s not just with David’s own relentless struggles that we see these 4 particular things about God. In fact, we see them all in connection with Jesus’ death as he prophesied about in this Sunday’s Gospel reading. It is only because of the Lord’s mercy for us sinners that Jesus came to this world to live, die, and rise. In keeping with God’s faithfulness in the past, the Lord continues to fulfill what he has promised to do. In line with God’s righteousness, we know that Jesus’ self-sacrifice on the cross was indeed perfect, right, and satisfactory to pay for all our sins. As the God of free and faithful grace, Jesus lives up to this name by providing forgiveness to any and all who believe in him for salvation. It’s because of these 4 things about God that we can confidently turn to the Lord for help in our relentless struggles as did King David. In mercy, the Lord showers us with his undeserved love and doesn’t hold our repentant sins against us, even if we struggle to do the same. In faithfulness, the Lord stands by us against our greatest enemy of Satan as he has with countless believers in the past. In righteousness, the Lord quells our doubts about in all he does because everything he does is perfect, wise, and right. Because of his own name’s sake, the Lord will continue to be our God of free and faithful grace no matter how many times we make use of it. 3) We Face Our Relentless Struggles as the Lord’s Servant As such, we can face our relentless struggles confident of the Lord’s help that strengthens our spirits and encourages our hearts. And this is the way that every servant of the Lord can view themselves. That’s how David did in our closing verse even though he had a host of other titles to choose from. Whether it’s David or ourselves, to be the Lord’s servant means a few things. Not only that we know our Lord is and that we strive to live according to his will in our struggle-filled lives, but that we also go to him for help so we may continue doing so.
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Pastor Tim Patoka 5th Sunday in Lent
The Struggle: Psalms for Lent March 21, 2021
We look back to Psalm 143 to inform us how to face our relentless struggles as the Lord’s servant. We are, first of all, quick to turn to the Lord. As David says, “Hurry! Answer me, LORD. My spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me, or I will be like those who go down to the pit.” (Psalm 143:7 EHV) David knew that he couldn’t face his relentless struggles on his own. If he did, it wouldn’t be too long until he lost it all and ended up in the pit of death. How often have you suffered undue hardships simply because you waited too long to ask for help? Don’t let that happen when it comes to your soul and eternal salvation. As the Lord’s servant, we secondly wait for the Lord to deal with our enemies as he sees fit. In Psalm 143, King David asked the Lord to rescue him from his enemies and also to wipe them out entirely. While we can be quick to ask for rescue from our enemies, we need to be careful about asking for their end. But know this – Lord will certainly hold all accountable whenever they pass away. Whether it is his servants, their enemies, or anyone else, the Lord will judge all people equally on the basis of their faith in Jesus Christ and give them the resultant eternal sentence. As we servants of the Lord face our relentless struggles, we lastly continue to study God’s Word and live according to it. King David tells us once more, “Teach me the way that I should go, for I lift up my soul to you….10Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” (Psalm 143:8b,10 EHV) As much as our enemies of sinful self, Satan, and opposing others may want, let us never give up our hold on God’s Word. For not only does it make us confident of God’s help because of his mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, and own name’s sake, but it also guides us to live our lives for him in the midst of and despite our relentless struggles in life. Conclusion Everybody has struggles that just won’t go away. It can be as small as cleaning an everdirty house or as serious as Satan himself. But no matter where our relentless struggle comes from, it brings with it unrelenting hardships that threaten to empty our spirits and devastate our hearts with eternal consequences. It’s for that reason we, like King David of old, turn to the Lord for help. And because of his mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, and own name’s sake, we can be confident that our Lord will help us in our relentless struggles as he knows best. As such, we self-identify as the Lord’s servant as we face our struggles by quickly turning to him for help, waiting for the Lord to deal with our enemies as they deserve, and continuing to study his Word so we may live according to it. May our Lord help us look to him in all our relentless struggles, now and forever. Amen.
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