Empowered and Essential

May 31, 2020                NOTES NOT EDITED
Empowered and Essential

Acts 2, esp 1-4

SIS—The most powerful and essential institution in the world is the Holy Spirit filled Church of Jesus Christ.

What a crazy time it has been these last three months.  This Crazy Covid Crisis has been hard, especially on marriages, with couples nearly joined at the hip for three months.  One particular couple, Bob and Mildred, had an especially difficult time.  For 63 years they had enjoyed wedded “bliss,” with more than a few “wedding blisters.”  This time Bob missed their anniversary Mildred was madder than usual.  Bob humbly beseeched her to forgive him.  He said, “I’ll do anything if you just forgive me one more time.”  Mildred shrugged her shoulders and made him a deal.  “I’ll forgive you if tomorrow morning I find a gift in the driveway that will go from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds or less.  Obviously, Mildred had been eyeing a fancy race-car at the local sports car dealer.  She warned Bob, “Tomorrow morning, it better be there.  0 to 200 in 6 seconds or less!”  Tomorrow came.  Mildred pulled the curtains back and there it was in the driveway, a package beautifully gift-wrapped.  It was too small to be something that could go from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds. Maybe it was the keys and owners manual.  Curious, Mildred went outside to get the box and opened it in her living room.  Inside the box was a bathroom scale—0 to 200 in less than 6 seconds.  Bob has not been seen since.

This Crazy Covid Crisis has been a strain on everybody, especially Bob.

There has been a lot of talk about what businesses or what workers are “essential,” and what businesses are “non-essential.”  There is no objective criteria even suggested for either designation.  The only basis is the “edict of an elected executive.”  We used to call this practice, “tyranny,” or Rex Lex, meaning the “King is Law.”  Our nation fought a bloody war to instill Lex Rex, meaning the “Law is King.”  We called that form of government a Constitutional Republic.

Now, we are a nation of petty tyrants in my humble opinion.  For example, being a barber has been deemed, “non-essential.”  I guess if you are a child of a barber, eating can be suspended until the Mayors and Governors feel “safe.” As you might have noticed, I am no big fan of big government or tiny tyrants with “big heads.”
In this arbitrary discussion of what is an essential or a non-essential institution, many governors, in fact most, declared church, “non-essential.”  I could go on and on for a long time showing both from the Bible and from the writings of our Founding Fathers that no institution is MORE ESSENTIAL than the Holy Spirit Filled Church of Jesus Christ.  But, if you don’t know from experience that the Holy Spirit Filled Church is essential, not even the most erudite exposition from logic or reason is going to convince you.

Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday.  It is called, the “Birthday of the Church.”  I want to show you today from God’s Word not, “IF the Church is essential” but “WHY the Church is both empowered and essential to an eternal degree.”

❶ First, let me clear some debris from our path that has been strewn about on our path during this Crazy Covid Crisis.  One, the overwhelming emphasis in conversations is about “dying.”  The whole issue with social distancing, hand-washing, masks and “shelter in place” practices is to keep from dying of Covid 19.  This is a terrible, misguided way to look at life.  The question foremost in people’s minds should not be “How am I going to die.”  In fact, the discussion should focus on three other important questions.  One important question to ask is: “Who” died for me, not how am I going to die?”  Another question concerning death is, “Why” did Jesus die for me?  Finally, instead of asking, “How am I going to die,” my biggest concern should be, “Where am I going to spend Eternity.”  I am working on a sermon on these three questions titled, “Confucious and the Covid Virus.”

❷ Second, we must as Christians address Biblically the whole notion of social distancing.  I am not so much concerned about the “public health arguments” in regard to social distancing.  I have two problems with it.  First, when social distancing leads to the cancelling of church services, it is in direct violation of the commands of God’s Word.  The very word for church means, “gathered TOGETHER.”  The idea of “gathered apart” is non-sensical and non-biblical.  Second, I am shocked at how “good churches are at social distancing!”  In fact, it seems as if we have been avoiding people for decades . . . because, we have in fact been neglecting to regularly and enthusiastically share the gospel in the marketplace.  We have been evangelistically distancing ourselves for years.  I have a sermon brewing on that also—the Social Distancing Samaritan. 

❸ Third, this Crazy Covid Crisis and the “Stay At Home, Social Distancing, Shelter in Place mentality forces us to ask a very, very important question:  “Who is my Master?  That is, Who am I going to take my directions from in regard to how I live my life?  Is it going to be Gavin the Governor (for those in California) or God?  Gavin, or God?  That’s the question.

God says “gather” but Gavin says “shelter.”
God says “sing” but Gavin says “be silent.”

Who is your “Master?”  You can’t say, “Well, both.”  In important matters of faith, like attending church and being the People of God, we cannot take our cues from anybody but, Yahweh.  Elijah said it like this, and I’ll paraphrase a bit for contexualization:  “If Yahweh is God, follow Him.  If Gavin is your god, follow him.”  I’ll paraphrase a bit from the Lord Himself:  “You cannot serve two masters.  You cannot serve God and Governors.”

Now with that debris cleared off our path, let’s get to the heart of Pentecost Sunday.  Pentecost means basically, “Fiftieth.” It is one of three major, religious festivals Yahweh commanded the Israelites to observe.  It takes place fifty days after Passover, another major festival of the Jews.  Acts, chapter 2, describes the “Birth of the Church,” on the first Pentecost Sunday after the death and resurrection of Jesus.  A very, very significant event takes place.  The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, falls upon a small group of 120 disciples praying and waiting for the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus when He ascended in to heaven about 10 days before.  Here’s what the Word says about that special event Acts 2:

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

HALELUJAH! THAT’S SOME GOOD STUFF!  THAT’S ENOUGH TO MAKE A BAPTIST “DANCE” AND A CATHOLIC DROP HIS CRACKER!

The Holy Spirit came down and the Church rose up.  The Church burst onto the scene of history with the brilliance and power of a solar flare.  The Indwelling Presence of God, the Holy Spirit, in the life of His Church both EMPOWERS the Church and makes the Church absolutely ESSENTIAL.  Let’s look at two distinctive characteristics of the “Birth of the Church” to show why the Church is EMPOWERED AND ESSSENTIAL.

The Holy Spirit is the POWER PLANT for God’s Church. 

I grew up in West Virginia on the banks of the Mighty Ohio River.  This was “Coal Country.”  Coal provided a large amount of the power for our nation at that time.  Huge river barges loaded with coal would travel up and down the Ohio River depositing their huge loads at coal-fired power plants that dotted both sides of the Ohio River.  The Ohio River, and these power plants kept our nation moving through the Industrial Road to Prosperity.

Coal fell out of favor as a power source.  Environmental regulations made it almost impossible, and certainly unfeasible to continue operating these power plants.  Each of these power plants had huge smokestacks rising like modern Towers of Babel hundreds of feet into sky.  One such plant near my home was the Mitchell Power Plant.  Mitchell Power Plant in Moundsville, West Virginia.  It has a 1204 feet tall chimney, which was built in 1971. This smokestack was once the tallest in the world for a short period of time. It is currently the fifth tallest. The Mitchell Plant is still hanging on, but it seems her days are numbered.  Just up the Ohio River a few miles, a similar plant, the Kammer Plant, was erased from the economic map.  Huge explosions reduced the towering smokestacks to a pile of rubble in a matter of seconds.

These “Power Plants” became obsolete.  They have outlived their usefulness.  As someone has said, “These power plants have become the victims of better technology that produces power more efficiently.” 

The Holy Spirit is the Church’s Power Plant.  He is God.  He does not become outdated and obsolete.  The Holy Spirit does give way to “newer and better strategies and technology.”  What the Church needs now is not “better ways to Live Stream, but more of the life of the Holy Spirit streaming through the people in the pews!  When we consider the activity of the Holy Spirit in a church—our church, any church—we see TWO IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS. One, He is the ❶ Presence of God In Us.  Two, He is the ❷ Power of God Through Us.

❶ The Holy Spirit is the PRESENCE of God IN us.

As those 120 disciples were praying in an upper room that day, SOMEBODY ELSE JOINED THEM FOR WORSHIP!  GOD ENTERED THE ROOM!  GOD ENTERED INTO THEM!  Look at verses 2-4—I can hardly stand still as I read this--

² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

Glory to God when He enters a room “stuff starts happening.”  A mighty hurricane force wind, tongues of fire dancing over each disciple, and a new ability to speak languages they had never heard before!

Tell me . . . would you like to be in a Church that has that kind of worship service?!  That ain’t never gonna’ happen online folks.  That’s a “Gathering Thing!”  Notice verse 4 especially.  It says, And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.  

This is the very essence of being saved—God takes up residence in your life.  Your spirit comes alive when it is “plugged into God’s Spirit.”  If a Christian could take a “spiritual DNA test” it would reveal that you are the very sons and daughter of Almighty God through the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Paul declares in Rom 8:9

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But, of course, we cannot take a “spiritual DNA test.”  So how can we know if we are truly saved?  How can we know that the Holy Spirit has filled us with the PRESENCE of God? The Holy Spirit is not only God’s PRESENCE in us, but

❷  God’s POWER through us.

It is God’s Presence that gives us God’s Power.  It is God’s Power that THROUGH us that makes us ESSENTIAL as His Church.  Let me go back about 10 days to what Jesus told the disciples right before He ascended into heaven.  Acts 1:8 records these words of Jesus:

 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  This is what the disciples were praying about and waiting for in the room that day.

Now that word, “power” is a popular, especially among “Greek Scholar Wanna-be’s.  The word in Greek is, “dunamis.”  “Du” in Greek transliterates into English as “dy.”  This word could be spelled in English, “dynamis.”  Of course, that looks a lot like our word “dynamite.” Down through the centuries, the word came to mean “explosiveness,” thus, it became the name of a stick of powerful explosive stuff used to blow up mountains to build railroads and such.

Some “Wanna-be Greek Bible Scholars” will tell you that dunamis means “dynamite” power.  Of course, it could not have meant that when the Bible was written because dynamite had not yet been invented, and would not be invented for almost another 1900 years.

We must be careful not to read back our understanding of words and ideas into the New Testament.  That’s your Greek lesson for the day.  However, even with that note of caution, there is an idea of “mountain moving power” inherent in the word “dunamis.”  It can mean “great strength.”  I think, when you relate it to the “Power of the Holy Spirit,” explosive could also be a way to describe the application of this word.

Certainly, when the Holy Spirit fell upon that small group of praying believers, there was an “explosion” of God’s Presence, not only with those disciples, but into the world.  The gospel spread with such an explosive force in the next few decades.  The 28 chapters of Acts covers about 30 years.  The equivalent of 1990 to our present day.  In that time, the church grew explosively.  I’ve read estimates of 100,000 in those 30 years to as much as 300,000.  I’ve read estimates that by the time of Constantine in the mid-300’s, there may have been 20 to 30 million Christians.  So regardless of the actual number, Christianity went from being persecuted illegal religion at the time of Acts to the official religion of the Empire 300 years later.

The word that is almost always used with the discussion of the growth of the early church is:  explosive.  The key identifying characteristics of a Holy Spirit filled Christian are:  love and witnessing.  Look at v4 again:  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Then, look also verses 14-21.  ¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. ¹⁵ For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. ¹⁶ But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; ¹⁸ even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹ And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; ²⁰ the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. ²¹ And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

When the Holy Spirit fell upon that group of praying disciples, the Power of Almighty God was manifested through Devil-thumping, life-changing, culture transforming preaching.  Notice that Peter applied Joel’s prophesy to what was taking place at that time.  One of the basic principles seen in many prophetic utterances in the Bible is what scholars call “dual-fulfillment.”  There is coming yet another such time when the Holy Spirit will be poured out in a like manner with all kinds of “signs and wonders” and cosmic manifestations.  I believe we are in that day today.  I believe we are seeing the “Rebirth of the Church—a Second Pentecost.” 
Have we seen this kind of HOLY SPIRIT POWER in our church? “Tongues of Fire?”  “Hurricane winds blowing.”  “Signs of blood, fire, and vapors of smoke?”  And most importantly, are we seeing an army of Christian believers prophesying to those in the community?

I sure ain’t seein’ this . . . but I sure want to!  Are we really a Holy Spirit-filled Church, Empowered and Essential, if we cower in fear before the Covid Virus?  One of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual or a church is the “explosive preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ with signs following.”  Oh, how we need that.  We each need that “power!” of God’s Presence.

First and foremost, a Holy Spirit-filled Church is marked by the Identifiable Presence of Almighty God in their meetings. God’s Presence can be felt as a “weight of glory” on our souls.  Second, a Holy Spirit-filled Church that is Empowered and Essential is marked by a supernatural ministry in which many people are getting saved.   

In days long past, when a person died there was really no way to tell they were dead (unless they died a violent death and important parts were missing).  One way they tested to see if a person was “alive or dead” was to hold a mirror up to their nose.  If the person was alive, their breath (pneuma, spirit, wind) would fog up the mirror.

The Greek word for “spirit” is pneuma.  This is related to “breath or air.”  The only way to tell if a person is truly saved is whether or not they have the “Spirit, or Breath of God” in them.  That is, a person is saved if they have been “filled with the Holy Spirit” just like those disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit that first Pentecost.  A Holy Spirit-filled Church is EMPOWERED AND ESSENTIAL.  The Holy Spirit is what “empowers believers” and makes the Church essential. 

If God were to hold a mirror up to your nose, would you be “spiritual dead, or spiritual alive?”  Does your life reflect the kind of “Holy Spirit Encounter” we read about today?  If that question did not “sting” a little, then I’m pretty sure you aren’t saved.  Because, if we are saved and we are honest, we would have to confess that our church services, and our individual devotion to God looks absolutely nothing like that first Encounter with the Holy Spirit in Acts.

Hundreds of Mayors and nearly all 50 Governors declared the Church to be “Non-essential.”  I was in Hawaii with a broken heart at the time and that broke it even more.  Fact is, I had to confess as a pastor that my Church isn’t even “ESSENTIAL” to many people who actually have their names on the roll!  That is a smack in the face.  This was an epiphany for me.

The Church that is EMPOWERED will be seen as ESSENTIAL. 

Will you pray with me in a minute, and confess to God that we are not ESSENTIAL to our community because we are not truly EMPOWERED by the abiding Presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Let every one of us leave this place today determined and devoted to praying for a “Fresh Falling of the Holy Spirit on our lives and Church.”

The most powerful and essential institution in the world is the Holy Spirit filled Church of Jesus Christ.  Let’s decide now to be THAT kind of church!

Joy Comes in the Morning

April 19, 2020                          NOTES NOT EDITED

Joy Comes in the Morning

Psalm 30, esp. verse 5

SIS—We should never surrender our joy to tough circumstances, as difficult to avoid as that might be.

Life is much like an amusement park.  The centerpiece of most amusement parks is the roller-coaster—the scarier, the better!

Most people live a life like they are on a roller coaster, that with some mixture of fun and frustration, highs and lows, ups and downs, delight and despair. If you ask most people, “are you happy,” many would answer, “yes,” in spite of the mixed circumstances of life. That is what “happiness” is all about: some good times, some bad times, a few ups, a few downs. We are on the COVID rollercoaster right now, and few of us are having much fun.

Happiness is based upon circumstances, or even luck.  Happiness comes from the Old English word, “hap,” meaning “luck or chance.” Happiness is based upon, “the luck of the draw.” Pursuing happiness will likely leave you as exhausted as spending a day riding rollercoasters at an amusement park. The thrill quickly becomes exhaustion. The thrill just doesn’t last, and a person is left to seek even a greater thrill in the elusive quest for happiness. Happiness is like a wave in the ocean:  it comes and goes.  “Joy,” on the other hand, is a gift from God that gives us a deep sense of well-being, regardless of our circumstances. If you have lost your joy, or you never really had it, then it’s time to connect with Jesus, the One Who gives us “joy unspeakable”(1Pet. 1:8)  READING:  Psalm 30

¹ I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.  ² O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. ³ O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;  you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.  ⁴ Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.  ⁵ For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. ⁶ As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” ⁷ By your favor, O Lord,  you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.  ⁸ To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: ⁹ “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? ¹⁰ Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!” ¹¹ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, ¹² that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever! 

1.  Joy is Part of Our Inheritance (v 1, 5, 7)

“Joy” is a tough concept to understand in the O.T.  In English, joy refers to “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” The Hebrew captures this same idea but uses about 21 different words all related to the idea of “pleasure, mirth, singing, a battle cry, and rejoicing” to name a few.  It is often associated with a sound, like singing or shouting, like a battle cry. Joy is an expression. Joy is a deep sense of gladness and well-being that is demonstrated in some outward way. 

The key issue in regard to joy rests upon the “source” of the feeling of gladness, mirth, or good-will.  Look at verse 5a:  For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor [or, joy], a lifetime. 

Joy flows up from a fountain or artesian well of grace springing from deep within one’s soul, much like the geyser, Old Faithful at Yellowstone Park.  Joy is the fruit of grace, which is God’s favor upon men.  We see this in Galatians 5:22:

²² But the fruit of the Spirit  is . . . joy.

In the New Testament, or the Greek Translation of the O.T., the word “joy” is built upon the same root as the word, “grace, or favor.”  Take a quick look at verse 7 to see the importance of making sure our lives are deeply rooted in God’s favor.

⁷ Lord, when You showed Your favor,

You made me stand like a strong mountain;

Happiness comes and goes because it lacks roots.  It’s like a tumbleweed that has shallow roots and is easily blown away when a wind sweeps the prairie.  Joy is more like a mighty oak.  The roots of the oak go deep into the soil and an oak tree stands even in the face of fierce winds.  Joy is our inheritance as Christians because of God’s favor that rests upon our lives.  Joy remains regardless of how circumstances change.  It is like a train ride with level tracks, rather than a roller-coaster with extreme ups and downs.

For over 150 years, mineral rights from my great-grandfather have been in the possession of my family. My Mom inherited them from her Mom who inherited them from my grandparents, and when my Mom and Dad died, I inherited my share of them, as did my siblings. I'm a "Beverly Hillbilly" of sorts. I'm a hillbilly that lives right up the road about an hour from Beverly Hills. Well, I said "of sorts." The point is that all the years and all the circumstances and all the changes in culture over a century, did not keep me from getting my share of an inheritance. Every month or so I get a check [don’t get too excited for me, the last one was $2.51]. This check comes from people I don't know because of a forefather I had never met.

Our text talks about an "eternal inheritance." "Joy" is part of the inheritance that is mine because I am a child of God because I've accepted the free gift of salvation that Jesus provides for us through His death on the cross. Joy is a fruit that grows on the tree of salvation planted by grace in my life when I accepted Him as my Lord.  Jesus died, and now the inheritance is mine, and part of that inheritance is "joy."

2.  Trials and Tribulations Do Not Extinguish Our Joy (5, 1-3)

Verse 5 is the heart of the Psalm:  Weeping may spend the night, 

but there is joy in the morning.  No roller coaster, including life, goes up forever—sooner or later, as the old saying goes, “what goes up must come down.

It takes both “ups and downs” to create a roller coaster.  You can bet that life will bring you ups and downs, twists and turns, moments of great exhilaration and moments of deep despair.  We are in the very grips of a great crisis in the world—like nothing most people under the age of 80 have never seen.  Anxiety can quickly build up and rob you of joy.  You must resist this anxiety. Do not let trials and tribulations steal your joy.  This Psalmist in our text understood this.  Life will have periods of darkness.  Happiness becomes despair.  Luck changes.  Difficult times are not a matter of “if,” but when.  Yet, when life’s difficulties come, you joy does not have to go. 

Someone counted and the word “joy” is used over three hundred (300) times in the Bible.  Some people like counting these things.  The word for “happiness” is found a little over thirty (30) times.  The point, irrespective of the particular numbers, is that the Bible places much more emphasis on “joy,” than happiness.

The reason is pretty easy to establish as we have already seen.  “Joy” is not dependent upon circumstances and “happiness” is dependent upon circumstances.  Joy is not a matter of “luck.”

The Psalmist in our text is well-acquainted with grief and struggle.  Many of you are well-acquainted with grief and struggle. This experience of grief and struggle has been referred to in literature as a “dark night of the soul” (St. John of the Cross).  In darkness, we cannot see anything, even though everything is still there.  This is true of spiritual darkness.  We cannot see God, but He is still there.

Modern man does not cope well with “darkness.” We cope with it best by “sleeping through it.”  I’m sure many of you have had the uncomfortable experience of waking up in the middle of the night with darkness hanging like a black fog all around you. For some, this is almost a time of panic.  

Modern man has come to believe that the best thing to do with “darkness” is to “sleep through it until dawn.”  We consider a “broken night of sleep” to be something unnatural, and something to be avoided.  Not so our ancient, pre light bulb forebears.  A broken night of sleep was common.  In fact, they even had a name for it.  They called it “first sleep and second sleep.”  It was not uncommon for our forefathers and foremothers to awake in the middle of the night to stoke the fire, have a smoke, read a book, and often pray.  There was no sense of panic in the night. Waking in the middle of the night was simply a part of the cycle of life.  Darkness was embraced as a time to reflect upon life. I found this incredible when I first learned of it.

Scientists are learning that this ancient pattern of first and second sleep, with a period of sacred wakefulness in between, is actually a more natural human rhythm of rest than the eight continuous hours of sleep that doctors routinely recommend. A study in the 1990s plunged subjects into 14 hours of darkness every night for a month and the subjects eventually adopted a pattern of four hours of sleep, waking for one or two hours, then resuming with four more hours of sleep. Researchers are beginning to realize that this is really a more natural human sleep pattern that has been disrupted by the advent of artificial light and the post-industrial desire for maximum efficiency that causes us to fall into bed exhausted too late for our own good. When we wake in the middle of the night, we panic. What's really happening, according to researchers, is that our bodies are trying to recapture their normal sleep pattern. We tend to “shun” darkness rather than embrace it as normal in the cycle of life.

Metaphorically speaking, the psalmist is addressing a “panic in the night in this Psalm.”  Verses 1-3 address the darkness of grief and struggle that circumstances bring upon our lives:

I will exalt You, Lord, because You have lifted me up and have not allowed my enemies to triumph over me. ² Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. ³ Lord, You brought me up from Sheol; You spared me from among those going down to the Pit.

These verses describe a “spiritual first sleep.”  The Psalmist finds himself in a period of darkness.  Verse 5 gives us the solution to avoiding panic and losing our joy during times of darkness.

⁵ For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime.

Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.

Notice that in the first part of this verse the darkness in the circumstances of the Psalmist is the result of “God’s anger.”  The Jews attributed everything to God as the Supreme Sovereign of the Universe—both good and bad were under His complete control.  God uses difficult circumstances to correct us and to complete our training in righteousness.

The Psalmist awakes spiritually to find that there is darkness all around him, but he does not panic because he knows—as we all need to know—that Yahweh is the God of the valley as well as the God of the mountain.  This brings us a sense of great “joy.”

Now, this exposes us to an important application of this Psalm as it relates to living a joyful life.  What if we lose our joy?

3.  If we have lost it, we can get it back  (1b, 2; 6-12).

We can live victorious lives characterized by an enduring sense of joy.  We can get our joy back by understanding how we lose it.

We can lose our joy.  It can happen for a number of reasons.  Verse 1 shows us that one way we can lose our joy is by focusing on our circumstances instead of focusing on Our Lord.  We have already seen that circumstances can cause us to lose our joy by causing us to lose our focus on God.  In the last half of verse 1 David mentions “his enemies,” a common theme in the Psalms:

¹ I will exalt You, Lord, because You have lifted me up and have not allowed my enemies to triumph over me.

Certainly, as we go through life we will have to deal with many people who distract us in life, from the person that cuts us off on the freeway to co-workers or bosses that make our life difficult at work.  We sometimes have to deal with neighbors who may be difficult for one reason or another.  And . . . of course, we all have to deal sooner or later with the DMV which certainly taxes our patience and resolve.  Trials and tribulations WILL come.  The Bible calls them, “enemies.”

We will lose our joy if we allow challenging circumstances or difficult people to become our focus, instead of the Lord Who Saved Us.  In this verse the Psalmist uses the very special title for God, Yahweh.  This is referred to as the “covenant name” of God.  It is not the general term for God, but the very name God disclosed to Moses when He called Moses to deliver His people from bondage to the heavy-handed, oppressive Egyptians. 

Joy demands we stay focused upon Yahweh, Our Deliverer.

Another culprit that may cause us to lose our joy is the decline in our health.  David experienced this in his life (he mentions it in other places such as Psalm 51).  David declares here in our text (v2):

² Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.

Verse 3 points out the seriousness of David’s situation:

³ Lord, You brought me up from Sheol;
You spared me from among those going down  to the Pit.

“Sheol” and “the Pit” here refer to the depths to which the Psalmist’s illness descended.  Sheol and the Pit refer to “death and the grave.”  Many equate Sheol with the Christian idea of final punishment in hell, but it need not refer to anything more than being, “sick and near death.”  It can refer to a soul-crushing trial or test in life.

Sickness, and even death, can cause us to focus on the here and now and our joy will diminish. This present COVID Crisis is a good example of that.  It’s hard NOT to focus on our bodies when they are racked with sickness or injury, or “sheltering in place” from a potentially deadly virus.   Health issues are a key “joy stealer” if we allow it.  All of us will have to deal with declining health sooner or later.  You need to establish the resolve NOW that you will stay focused on the Savior and not on the sickness.  Paul suffered from several health issues, particularly with his eyes.  Here is some solid advice in how to avoid letting sickness steal our joy (2Cor 4:17-17):

 ¹⁶ Therefore we do not give up.  Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person  is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary light affliction  ^d is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.  ¹⁸ So we do not focus on what is seen,  but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Focus on the eternal—always.  This world is “weeping and darkness” but eternity is “joy and dawning.”  

So, difficult circumstances including difficult people can be a “joy stealer.”  Sickness, and our approaching death, can be a “joy stealer.”  

In this Psalm, David focuses on a “joy stealer” that many of us overlook:  “pride.”  In verses 6-7 David confesses:

⁶ When I was secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” ⁷ Lord, when You showed Your favor, You made me stand like a strong mountain; when You hid Your face, I was terrified.

David had become a phenomenal success rising from a lowly shepherd to the King of Israel.  He had it all: fame, fortune, and women.  The Hebrew title for this Psalm tell us it was a “a psalm for the dedication for the house.”  This is probably a reference to the dedication of the threshing floor of Araunah (2Sam. 24:18ff) which would become the glorious temple built and named in David’s honor.  David was a rich, powerful man.  Pride was a constant temptation.

Like many people who rise to prominence, they begin believing their own press and act as if “they did it all on their own.”  Many cannot handle success.  Many take pride in saying, “I am a self-made man.”  In reality, if one is a self-made man, one has been built by a questionable architect upon a flimsy foundation.

David forgot that his prominence was, according to his own words in verse 7, the result of “God’s favor” (v7).  Pride gets us to focus on our selves instead of the Lord, and joy begins to evaporate.

Pride causes us to trust in our own devices and believe in our own power.  The Bible says that “pride goes before a fall” (Prv. 16:18). When we trust in our own devices, designs and decrees as a source for joy, our joy quickly evaporates.  Sooner or later a “house of cards” build by hands of flesh will come crashing down.

One scholar commenting on this psalm pointed out that “[David] had become intoxicated with his own success.”  Like many a drunk, David stumbled into destruction and despair.  When we are intoxicated with pride we cannot focus on the Lord. We lose our joy.

Tough circumstances can steal your joy.  Difficult people can steal your joy.  Declining health can steal your joy.  Pride will steal your joy.  If you have lost your joy, you CAN get it back just like David.

Verse 8 is the key to getting your joy back—or getting it in the first place if you have never had it:

⁸ Lord, I called to You; I sought favor from my Lord:

David cried out to God to get his joy back.  If you want joy in your life, you need to cry out to God and seek His favor, or grace.  Paul echoed David’s plan to find joy unspeakable.  Paul declared:

^{Rom 10:13}  Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And, when you are saved and become a child of the King, joy is part of your inheritance.  It is your inheritance to keep, or your inheritance to get back if you lose it, but joy should be a permanent fixture in the life of every believer.  If it isn’t, something is wrong.  Something else besides the Lord God, Yahweh, has become your focus.  I learned a long time ago when riding my bike not to focus upon obstructions.  I learned that what I focused on . . . I generally ran right into it!  Focus on the Lord—you will run into joy!

Life is, indeed, like a roller coaster full of ups and downs, twists and turns.  It will wear you down if you let it—but you don’t have to let life wear you out.  Never forget what this Psalmist declares:

⁵ weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning (KJV).