How to Pray When Trouble Comes

0:00 This Sunday begins another summer in the Psalms for City's Church. And after several years now, we're now more than halfway through the book. So if you've been with us the last several years, you know that we've now crested that halfway mark as of last summer, and we're into the second half of Psalms. The Psalms are something of the Bible's prayer guide and songbook. You know this if you're familiar with the Psalms. They teach us in more than a hundred shapes and sizes how to sing to God and how to pray about all kinds of things. They model the inner life of genuine faith, the emotional life of a follower of Christ. They give us the mountains and the valleys that come with trusting and following him. and we all know if we've followed him for any amount of time, that there are great mountains and there are great valleys.

1:03 So the Psalms are this extraordinary gift in that they help us to see and taste and even begin to feel what true followers of Christ, the people of God, feel by faith. In Psalm 86, you can hear it in Jody's reading, Psalm 86 is a valley psalm. It's one of the darker and lonelier psalms. It's a desperate psalm. It's not a hopeless psalm, but it's a desperate one. It teaches us how to pray when trouble comes. I think this prayer does. It teaches us how to pray when trouble comes. do you know how to pray when trouble comes to you not just lord help me or fix this in my life but do you pray about trouble the way that the bible prays about trouble i know that i don't always pray like psalm 86 prays about the trouble in my life preparing for this sermon I was reminded of a prayer that we prayed before meals in our home growing up goes God is great God is good and we thank you for this food amen I have no idea where the prayer came from maybe my parents made it up I'm not sure and I even though I've prayed it a thousand times thousands of times I'm not entirely sure I understand it God is great and God is good isn't great better than good I would say great and then good maybe it's because it rhymes God is great God is good and we thank you for this food good food almost rhymes.

3:09 Whatever it means, wherever it came from, I'm so thankful for those 13 words. How many children grow up in homes where they never acknowledge that God has anything to do with the food? how many children grow up in homes where they never hear their parents acknowledge God at all except maybe to use his name in vain but I heard PB&J after PB&J, spaghetti after spaghetti, I heard God is great, God is good, and it's God who put this food on this table, and so we thank you, God. We thank you. it was a good prayer for a three-year-old four-year-old five-year-old soul and yet if you and I were to have lunch this week and I still prayed like that something would be off right Hopefully I've grown some in the ways that I express my thankfulness for spaghetti.

4:32 Hopefully I'm still growing. I wonder as I look at Psalm 86 I wonder if some of us are still praying four year old prayers about our trials we haven't learned how to pray grown-up prayers about the trouble in our lives, and we all have trouble in our lives of various kinds. All of us do. but we haven't said like the disciples lord teach us to pray that's my prayer for this morning lord teach us to pray about our trouble about our trials so let me pray that and then we'll turn to the text Father, I mean it when I say we all have trouble in our lives, all of us. And if we're just coming out of trouble, or it's been a little while, trouble's just around the corner. You promised that to all who follow you in this broken, sinful world. And we want to know how to come to you. You open wide your throne of grace in Christ you bid us to come so i'm asking this morning through your word through psalm 86 that you would teach us to pray about the hard things in our lives would you do that now lift up your glory and teach us to pray we pray this in jesus name amen all right before we try and learn from this psalm how to pray about our own trouble, we need to ask about the actual trouble that was going on here for King David. Why is David crying out to God like this? We don't know a lot about the circumstances here, and it takes a while in the psalm before we really learn any of the specific details about his situation, but we do find out what's going on near the end of the psalm. We get to learn a little bit anyway. Look at verse 14. Oh God, insolent men have risen up against me.

6:46 A band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them. Now, we have plenty of insolent men in our day. We just don't typically talk about them that way. an insolent man is a rude man who is not a respecter of others especially those in authority in this case of the king they're rude they're disrespectful they're troublemakers who stir up division and hostility again we have plenty of these in our day these particular these particular horrible men are trying to kill the king so these are really insolent men we don't know who these particular insolent men were and unfortunately there were so many men over the course of David's life who tried to kill him that we can't even guess can you imagine I don't think, at least those of you that I know well, I don't think any of you have ever gone to bed knowing that someone is driving around looking for you to kill you.

7:59 That was normal for David. he was in serious trouble here. And while our trouble is different from his, I believe that God means for David's trouble, these insolent men, I believe he means for his trouble to teach us how to pray in our trouble, whatever trouble that we face. And I want to summarize the lessons in four simple prayers. I see all four of these in Psalm 86. Here are the four. First, meet my need.

8:31 Second, glorify your name. Third, teach me your way. And fourth, gladden my heart. Meet my need, glorify your name, teach me your way, gladden my heart. I want you to notice, grown-up prayers, they don't need to be long or complicated. but I believe there are precious lessons for us in these four simple prayers so first Lord meet my need David doesn't mention the insolent men here in the first verse but he does start right off by praying about what he needs in the moment beginning in verse one incline your ear In other words, Lord, meet my immediate need, the need right in front of me right now. These guys are really trying to kill me, and I'm asking you to stoop down and intervene on my behalf.

9:55 Do something about this, God. I know there are millions of people on earth, now billions in our day. I know there are millions of people on earth, but I'm asking you to focus your infinite wisdom and strength to protect just one of the millions, me. and just from a handful of bad men. That's what I'm asking you to do. when you think about what the psalms are, these divinely inspired prayer songs meant to be studied, memorized, rehearsed for thousands of years. We're giving our 45 minutes here to this psalm 2,000 years later, more than 2,000 years later. When you think about what they are, these God-given prayer songs, it's kind of wild how specific some of them are. God clearly wanted us to hear godly saints pray for specifics.

10:57 it's one of the great gifts of the psalms and of all the prayers in the bible we get to hear real people pray about real needs real stuff like your real stuff God knew that we would have our own specifics and he knew full well that our specifics would be really different from the specifics in Psalm 86 he's not surprised by any of the specifics in your life he knew that we would have our own specifics and he wanted us to know how to pray for specifics do you still pray for the specifics in your life even the little specifics Philippians 4 verse 6 says do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God anything and everything God wants us to pray for specific needs, large or small, anything and everything.

12:10 If you're anxious about something this morning, about anything this morning, he wants you to pray about it. one way God accomplishes his God-sized plans for the world is by addressing you-sized needs in that world. Do you believe that? One way that God accomplishes his massive, eternal, God-sized plans for the world, for his glory, is by meeting you-sized needs. month by month, week by week, even hour by hour. Lord, meet my need. okay so the first prayer meet my need it's a real and it's a good prayer we pray for specifics as christians like when madmen are trying to kill us what's happening here or when the youngest child's eyes start swelling a little bit and you're not quite sure why we pray for specific needs david really wants god to intervene in his actual human life and change something meet my need oh god but that's not the highest prayer in psalm 86 and this is where our prayers start to grow up into fuller maturity let's start in verse 6 give ear oh lord to my prayer listen to my plea for grace in the day of my trouble i call upon you for you answer me he's still asking for help here give ear to my prayer meet my specific need what does he say next this is the second prayer glorify your name glorify your name here's how David prays it verse 8 there is none like you among the gods oh lord nor are there any works like yours all the nations you have made shall come and worship before you oh lord and shall

14:18 glorify your name for you are great and do wondrous things. You alone are God. Why would he pray like that? Lord, I need you to protect me from these bad guys. They're trying to kill me, and I need you to stop them. There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. Why does he pray like that? why would he suddenly go from this particular need this specific need to the promise that all the nations are going to bow and worship God glorify your name oh God the Bible talks like this so much that you hear it and you don't even blink why does he pray like that David prays like this because our confidence in asking God to do anything in our lives is rooted in his commitment to do all things for his glory our confidence that he'll do anything in our lives is rooted in his commitment to do all things, everything that he does for his glory.

15:49 God will glorify his name. We see this all throughout the Bible from beginning to end and amazingly it's hard to even believe it. Amazingly he chooses to glorify himself through showing kindness to us. By meeting our needs. he pours grace on undeserving people like me grace to forgive me and save me from hell grace to change me and empower me to live more like him and then grace to meet my very practical needs like daily bread to provide the food that I need and the home that I need and the job that I need.

16:41 God spreads his glory by loving his needy people who trust him and depend on him for everything. and so we don't just pray God deliver me from the insolent men because you like to help people he does no we pray like David meet my need because meeting my need will show the world what kind of God you are that you are gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding rich in steadfast love that you never abandon your children that you own everything in the universe and you will spend your infinite riches to care for us that you have the power and authority to heal any illness and to mend any relationship no matter how helpless it seems.

17:40 You can do it. how glorious will you look, oh God, if you do this? God, glorify your name through my need. this prayer for God to glorify his name among all the nations it serves at least two great purposes for us though in trouble first it grounds our hope that he might actually do something he loves to glorify his name and he glorifies his name by loving us he'll care for us because that's how he reveals his glory to the world but second a prayer like this glorify your name it widens our eyes beyond our immediate need or heartache to remember who God is and what he's doing in the world.

18:35 The nations you have made shall come and worship before you. That's going to happen, no question. You're doing that, oh God, right now. it's going to happen no matter what happens in my little circumstances here in my trouble and when that happens when all the nations bow and glorify you all my little or big circumstances they're going to be made right fully right forever praying glorify your name it gets us out of the rut of only praying about our needs you've probably been here i know i've been our prayer lives can become almost all about the job the job the job the spouse the spouse the spouse the child the child the child the injury or sickness or weakness or conflict praying like david prays here it lifts us out of our need to see a bigger picture god is glorifying his name all over the world and one day soon all the nations are going to see him and worship him Lord, hallowed be your name.

20:03 Your kingdom come, your will be done. Then give us this day your daily bread. It doesn't mean that we don't pray meet my needs prayers. David's doing that here. I'm encouraging you to do that with your specifics. But it does put our meet my needs prayers into a wider, fuller, more glorious perspective. God, meet my need for your glory. Those aren't the only two prayers in this psalm, though. When trouble comes to David, he prays, meet my need, glorify your name, and then third, verse 11, teach me your way. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. Let this trouble, this trial, let it be an opportunity for you to make me more holy.

21:07 to refine away more of the remaining sin in my life. More than peace or relief from the trouble, I want that. But more than peace and relief from the trouble, I want greater godliness. I want to be more like you, oh God.

21:28 Notice he says, verse 2, when he prays, he says, preserve my life from these men, for I am godly. I take that to mean he doesn't think that God is mainly confronting him with this trouble we see that in other psalms but here he says answer my prayer for I am godly I'm trying to do the right thing in this awful circumstance he doesn't think that God's using this trouble to confront him but even though he believes that he's doing the right things in this case even though he believes he's right he wants to be even more like God that's his hunger with this prayer God use this trouble to sanctify me teach me your way oh God this is James 1 count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds trials come count it joy not just good but joy why for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing trial comes lord teach me your way give me what i need to be more like you perfect and complete lacking in nothing and don't just teach me to do certain things and to avoid others no this prayer is much bolder than that i wonder if you caught it again verse 11 teach me your way oh lord that i may walk in your truth unite my heart to fear your name Thank you.

23:22 I don't want you to just help me do the right things and not the bad things. I want you to change me somewhere deeper than my doing. I want you to change me in here. I want you to unite my heart toward you. I feel how distracted and divided my heart can be, and I want my whole heart to be united and aligned and hungry for you. That's what I want, God. Unite my heart to fear your name, and I know that you often change me for the better in here through something hard out there. Do you think that way when trouble comes? you get bad news of some kind, you feel hostility and opposition of some kind, do you think, oh, God's about to make me more like him?

24:31 I know I don't always think that way. I think, I don't like this. God, why this? Why now? Why for this long? That's how I often respond. I've talked before about a bad leak that we had in our kitchen late last summer. Well, I'm still talking about it.

24:58 That trial isn't over yet. It's more than nine months later. I won't get into all of it, but it's been a real trial. I call it a small T trial because we are praying for some of you who are bearing going through far worse, far, far worse. But it's been a trial. And in my low moments, I have not had a Psalm 86 heart about it. I've had a can't this just be over attitude about it. We have wrestled with God. Reading these verses again, though, these last couple of weeks, as this back and forth with the contractor took another bad turn, reading these verses was so good for my soul. Oh, Lord, this is getting worse again. You must be about to make me more like you.

25:53 Lord, deliver me from these bad actors, for we are godly. We're doing all that we can to deal with this in a way that honors you. But we're not content to just be delivered. We want to be sanctified. we want the fire of this trial to burn off more of our sin and to prove and fortify whatever in us pleases you that's what we want teach us your way oh lord and at least in this psalm we want you to make us more like you in one particular way this brings us to the fourth and final prayer. This one's the most surprising to me. Visceral ways that I respond to trouble in my life. This is the least natural way to respond to trial, to trouble in our lives. I really want you to see this fourth prayer. We'll start again in verse three. If you see it, say got it. Did I do that right? Verse three. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Here's the prayer. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

27:17 do you pray like this when trouble comes not just god get me through this i'm trusting you get me through this but god make me happier in you even now even here gladden my heart in the midst of this darkness in the midst of this valley give me reasons to rejoice in you reasons that are bigger than all the pain and uncertainty that I'm experiencing right now gladden the heart of your servant I want to have faith like David's it was so dark in his life at this moment that he can't see around the corner he's not sure if he's going to even survive that corner and yet he can see enough to enjoy God this reminds me of the Christians in first Peter one who were being grieved by various trials their faith was being tested by fire Peter says and yet Peter writes verses eight and nine He says of them, though you have not seen Jesus, you love him.

28:38 Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. all David can see is hostility and deceit and loneliness and yet his joy doesn't rest on what he can see it rests on what he can't see because he knows that the most important things the most precious things are realities that cannot be seen not yet his treasure is in heaven his citizenship is in heaven. His hope is in heaven. And so his valleys, even his darkest valleys, valleys like Psalm 86, even his darkest valleys, they hold a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. The world cannot explain this kind of joy in David, and they can't explain it in you.

29:44 and it's here that we remember that David is not only teaching us to pray here in Psalm 86 he's teaching us to sing from one of the darkest moments of his life he's teaching us to sing the Psalms were not really written merely to be read and recited no they were written and memorized to be sung so we walk through some especially dark psalms here this summer it's good to be reminded that these are songs they are worship they're meant to be praise lifted up to God and is there anything more Christian about us than singing through suffering God is teaching us to bear what we have to bear by lifting our voices in song.

30:45 We always have a reason to sing about who God is for us and what he has done for us, how he has delivered us. And that brings us to this metal tank here in front of me and to the glories of baptism. them. As we prepare to baptize two people here in the next few minutes, they're coming to declare that God has delivered them. He hasn't delivered them from pain, from all of their pain and suffering yet. In fact, they may experience more trouble for making the decision that they're making today. Many do experience more trouble in this life for following Jesus. Some of you may have experience more trouble in your families, your neighborhoods, your workplaces. Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Matthew 16, 24. These two, they haven't been delivered from all trouble, but they have been saved from the worst trouble. David prays that way right here in Psalm 86 verse 12. I give thanks to you, O Lord, my God, with my whole heart. I love this. He prays verse 11. Lord, unite my heart to fear your name.

32:11 And God's answering the prayer by verse 12. I give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. You're doing it, God. I asked you to do something inside of me and you're doing it even as I pray. you're doing it. I will give thanks with my whole heart and I will glorify your name forever for great is your steadfast love toward me. You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. You have delivered. I'm praying deliver me and I'm praying you have delivered me already. I might die at the hands of these insolent men but I'm not really gonna die because you have already delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol, from that awful prison called death. David's praying, I'm still suffering for now, but you have already delivered me. How much more boldly can we sing this now in Christ? God, you have delivered me.

33:12 This is Hebrews 2. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil and deliver all those who through the fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery in Christ God has delivered our souls from death already and how did he destroy the one who has the power of death and deliver those who were enslaved to the fear of death He did it by dying at the hands of insolent men. and he didn't bear it with groaning but with gladness. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

34:08 In other words, when insolent men came to arrest him, abuse him, and crucify him, the father gladdened the heart of his servant. He took the cross for you with joy. and if he could bear that trouble with that kind of joy in the father surely I can bear my small t trials with greater joy in him let me pray heavenly father i'm saying amen to prayers that jody prayed before we began there are needs around this room precious needs babies in the womb sicknesses being battled marriages and families needing mending there are needs there is trouble all around this room and we're asking oh god for the sake of your glory deliver us.

35:14 Glorify your name by working in our specifics, by meeting our needs. teach us your way make us more like you through the trials that we're bearing right now as a church and we can pray with boldness gladden our hearts in the valley and we can pray that way expecting you to meet our needs and to refine us to sanctify us and even to give us joy in our suffering because you have already delivered us in Christ. And so we thank you, oh God, for sending your son to die for us, to renew us, to deliver us, and to give us fullness of joy now and forever. We rejoice in the salvations of these two souls coming to be baptized.

36:11 Their story is our story. And so it's a chance for us to say again, thank you, thank you, thank you, God, for glorifying yourself by showing mercy to sinners like us. We pray this in Jesus' name.