Sermon Series: A SUMMER IN THE PSALMS
"WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR FAITH IS ALMOST GONE"

"Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth.
Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, "How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?"
Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; They increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long, I have been plagued, and chastened every morning.
If I had said, "I will speak thus," behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me—until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.
Surely, You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors, as a dream when one awakes, so Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.
Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works."

Message: The great value of the Book of the Psalms is that in it we have godly men stating their experience, and giving us an account of things that have happened to them in their spiritual life and warfare. Throughout history, the Book of Psalms has, therefore been a book of great value for God's people.
It is right to regard the experiences of these people as being exactly parallel with our own. The fact that they lived in the Old dispensation makes no difference...they were men and women just like us. History and times change, but man does not!
The thing I want to mention especially is the very remarkable honesty with which these men do not hesitate to tell the truth about themselves. We have a great classic

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Two)

example of that here in the seventy-third Psalm. This man admits very freely that as for him his feet were almost gone, his steps had well-nigh slipped. And he goes on to say that he was like a beast before God, so foolish and so ignorant. What honesty! I know of nothing in the spiritual life more discouraging than to meet the kind of person who seems to give the impression that he or she is always walking on the mountain top. This is certainly not true in the Bible! The Bible tells us that these men knew what it was to be cast down, and to be in sore and grievous trouble. Many a saint in his pilgrimage has thanked God for the honesty of the writers of the Psalms. To know that others have had similar experiences as mine, yet lived through those experiences and came out triumphantly...this helps me in my journey!

BUT NOTICE SOMETHING VERY INTERESTING ABOUT THE WAY THIS PSALM BEGINS. He starts off with a great triumphant note, "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart," as if to say, "Now I am going to tell you a story; I am going to tell you what has happened to me; but the thing I want to leave with you is just this—THE GOODNESS OF GOD! This great Psalm is the story of a bitter and despairing search, which has now been rewarded beyond all expectation. It recalls the kind of questions that distracted Job and Jeremiah; but at the end they no longer seem unanswerable, and the psalmist has a confession and a supreme discovery to share.
Most of the Psalms start with a burst of praise and of thanks giving...and there is something else to notice, THE PSALMS GENERALLY START WITH A CONCLUSION, then the remainder of the passage proves that conclusion.
What the writer tells us in this Psalm is that he started from the proposition that God truly is a good God, then he went astray and departed from that premise, then he came back again. We all know something about the same kind of experience in our lives. We start in the right place; then something goes wrong, and we seem somehow to be losing everything. The problem is how to get back again. What this man does is to show us how to arrive back at the place where the soul finds her true poise.
TRULY GOD IS GOOD! The goodness of God means that God is the final standard of good, and that all that God is and does is worthy of approval. Question! THE APPROVAL OF WHO? that is the question! In one sense, we can say that anything that is truly good should be worthy of approval BY US! But in a more ultimate sense, we are not free to decide by ourselves what is worthy of approval and what is not. Ultimately, therefore, God's being and actions are perfectly worthy of HIS OWN APPROVAL. He is therefore that final standard of good.
The Psalms frequently affirm that "the Lord is good" (Psalm 100:5), or exclaim, "0 give thanks to the Lord, for He is good" (Psalm 106:7; 107:1). David encourages us, "0 taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Psalm 34:8)
Scripture tells us that God is the source of all good in the world. "Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17)
And in the same context in which Paul assures us that "in everything God works for good with those who love Him" (Rom. 8:32) Much more than an earthly father, our heavenly Father will "give good things to those who ask Him" (Matt. 7:11)

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Three)

Moreover, when we realize that God is the definition and source of all good, we will realize that God Himself is the ultimate good that we seek.
God's goodness is closely related to several other characteristics of His nature, among them love, mercy, patience and grace. Sometimes these are considered separate attributes and are treated as various aspects of God's goodness.
Thus, God's mercy is His goodness toward those in distress, His grace is His goodness toward those who deserve only punishment, and His patience is His goodness toward those who continue to sin over and over again.
GOD IS GOOD TO ISRAEL, TO SUCH AS ARE PURE IN HEART.
The phrase PURE IN HEART is more significant than it may seem, for the psalm will show the relative unimportance of circumstances in comparison with attitudes, which may be either soured by self-interest or set free by love. PURE means more than clean-minded, though it certainly includes it. PURE is basically being totally committed to God!
After stating this triumphant truth, he opens his heart and discusses a time when that truth had almost vanished from his heart.
This man tells us all about a particular experience that he had passed through and He tells us that he was very badly shaken, nearly fell and was tempted to quit. WHAT WAS THE CAUSE OF HIS TROUBLE? Simply that he did not quite understand the ways of God with respect to him. He had become aware of a very painful fact. Here he was living a godly life, he was cleansing his heart, he tells us, and washing his hands in innocence. In other words, he was practicing the godly life...he was avoiding sin...he was meditating upon the things of God; he was spending his time in prayer to God; he was in the habit of examining his life, and whenever he found sin he confessed it to God with sorrow, and he sought forgiveness and renewal. Yet, although he was doing all this, he was having a great deal of trouble, "all the day long have I been plagued." IN FACT, EVERYTHING SEEMED TO BE GOING WRONG AND NOTHING SEEMED TO BE GOING RIGHT. His faith was on the brink of collapsing! If he was trying to be good for God, why was God not giving him a good life?
Now that was bad enough in itself, but that was not the thing that really troubled and distressed him. The real trouble was that when he looked at the ungodly——He saw them prospering and increasing in riches and their life seemed to be filled with everything they could wish for. His problem was how to reconcile all this with what was happening to himself, and still more, what was happening to the ungodly.
The perplexity in and of itself is not sinful, for our minds are not only finite, they are also weakened by sin. We do not see things clearly; we do not know what is best for us; we cannot take the long view; so it is very natural that we should be perplexed with certain situations that happen in our lives and in the matters around us.
Now although that is not sinful as far as it goes, we must hurry on to say that to be perplexed always opens the door to temptation. And that temptation is to doubt God! This temptation can be so powerful that not only does it shake the greatest saints; it does indeed, get him down. "As for me," says the man of God, "as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped."

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Four)

There is something else to note about this matter of temptation and it concerns its blinding effect. There is nothing more strange about temptation than the way in which, under its influence and power, we are made to do things and say things that in our normal condition would be quite unthinkable. After he has walked through his valley of despair and doubt, he had to seek God's forgiveness for the things he said and the way he acted!
Notice how this blinding effect caused the man in our Psalm to react to the wicked. FOR I WAS ENVIOUS OF THE BOASTFUL, WHEN I SAW THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED. (v.3)
"For there are no pangs in their death; but their strength is firm." The Psalmist had observed that the careless person becomes case-hardened; and continue presumptuously secure, even to the last. Some are startled at the approach of death and judgment, but many more have received a strong delusion to believe a lie. What with surgeon's drugs and their own infidelity, or false peace, the glide into eternity without a struggle. THEIR STRENGTH IS FIRM. What care they for death? Frequently they are brazen and insolent, and can vent defiant blasphemies even on their deathbed!
Altamont, the infidel, cried out his last words: My principles have poisoned my friend, my extravagance has beggared my boy; my unkindness has murdered my wife. And is there another hell? Oh, thou blasphemed, yet most indulgent Lord God! Hell is a refuge if it hides me from thy frown."
In his blindness, the man in our Psalm missed the picture of how wicked men die!
The psalmist, lost in the fog of doubt and despair, makes another false assumption...THEY ARE NOT IN TROUBLE AS OTHER MEN. The prosperous wicked escape the killing toils which afflict the mass of mankind; their bread comes to them without care, their wine without stint. They have no need to inquire, "Whence shall we get bread for our children, or raiment for our little ones? Ordinary domestic and personal troubles do not appear to molest them. "Neither are they plagued like other men." It seems like fierce trials do not arise to assail them; they smart not under the divine rod. While many saints are both poor and afflicted, the prosperous sinner is neither! It seems that his prosperity protects him from the strains and tensions of life.
As a result..."THEREFORE PRIDE COMPASSETH THEM ABOUT AS A CHAIN." In their boastful arrogance they array themselves. As soon as you see them, you perceive that room must be made for them, for, regardless of the feelings of others, they intend to have their way, and achieve their ends. They brag, bully, bluster and browbeat, as if they had taken out a license to ride roughshod over all mankind!
THEY SET THEIR MOUTH AGAINST THE HEAVENS. Against God Himself they aim their blasphemies. They defy the divine! There is no fear of God in them.
THEREFORE HIS PEOPLE RETURN HITHER. God's people are driven to seek refuge at His throne. The saints come again, and again, to their Lord, laden with complaints on account of the persecutions which they endure from these proud and graceless men. For the sinner, there is no respect for righteousness and the righteous.
AND WATER OF A FULL CUP ARE WRUNG OUT OF THEM. Though beloved of God, they have to drain the bitter cup; their sorrows are as full as the wicked man's prosperity!

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Five)

AND THEY SAY, HOW DOTH GOD KNOW? The wicked say by their actions..."If there is a God, is He not too much occupied with other matters to know what is going on upon this world."
BEHOLD, THESE ARE THE UNGODLY, WHO PROSPER IN THE WORLD.
Look! See! Consider! Here is the standing enigma! The crux of Providence! Here is the stumbling block of faith. And the man in our Psalm comes to this startling conclusion.
VERILY I HAVE CLEANSED MY HEART IN VAIN. What is the value of holiness when its wages are paid in the coin of affliction. Is it worth trying to serve God when it seems that I do not have much value in His sight? Is truth and honesty always rewarded? Have I washed my hands in innocency in vain? FOR ALL THE DAY LONG HAVE I BEEN PLAGUED AND CHASTENED EVERY MORNING. This was a vivid contrast to the lot of the ungodly. There were crowns for the reprobates and crosses for the elect! Strange that the sinners sing and saints sigh...rest was given to the disturbers, and yet peace was denied to the peace-makers!
The affairs of mankind appeared to him to be in a fearful tangle; how could it be permitted by a just ruler that things should be so turned upside down, and the whole course of justice dislocated?
NOW WE COME TO A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THIS PSALM! The questions begin now to be answered! How did he keep from falling? What was it that steadied him through this valley of despair and doubt when his faith was under fire?
Before we answer that important question, let me make some observations on the experience of DOUBT.
The human mind is ruled by emotions as well as reason, and the emotions are often stronger!
C.S. Lewis wrote: "Unless you teach your moods 'where to get off,' you can never be a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion."
The basic issue of faith is the question of credibility. Is what I believe true? Is the person whom I trust trustworthy? Coming to faith is a question of grappling with the truth of the matter and the trustworthiness of the person. Is there compelling evidence or not?
Our emotions are that part of us most vulnerable to outside influences, and in this sense, they are the most easily manipulated . When we are under pressure our emotions tend to throw in the towel long before our understanding or our will.
Os Guinness writes: "The emotions and the imagination may sometimes be under the control of reason and understanding, but they are seldom tamed for long. Just as often the emotions rise up against reason in their own special kind of "palace coup" within the personality. Then they carry everything before them in a flood of feeling that overwhelms logic and reason. At such times the frailty of rationality is all too apparent. Gossamer thin, feather-light, glass-brittle, reason seems to stand no chance against the elemental power of fear, anger, hatred, jealousy, desire, or whatever is moving us."
The classic biblical example is the deep depression and suicidal longings of Elijah, the ninth-century B.C. prophet in Israel. The Bible says that "He came upon a broom-bush, and sat down under it and prayed for death." "It is enough," he

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Six)

said, "now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers before me." It is not God who had let him down but his emotions that had overpowered his faith and reason, and plunged him into a trough of despair!
However firm our understanding in faith and however strong our wills, there is no absolute guarantee against doubt making inroads into faith through our emotions.
Back to our Psalm! "IF I SAY, I WILL SPEAK THUS: BEHOLD I SHOULD OFFEND AGAINST THE GENERATION OF THY CHILDREN. WHEN I THOUGHT TO KNOW THIS, IT WAS TOO PAINFUL FOR ME."
Here is an extremely important insight into this whole matter of doubt and despair!
It is not always wise to speak one’s thoughts; if they remain within, they will only injure ourselves; but once uttered, their mischief is great. It often shows a fine command of language to say nothing. Smart people speak from experience, smarter people from experience don’t speak! A wise man is one who thinks twice before saying nothing.
James says: "So, then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." (James 1:19)
"He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin." (Proverbs 13:3)
"Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech." ( 1 Pet. 3:lO)
We must watch our speech! When you are uncertain and perplexed, the thing to do is to try to find something of which you are certain, and then take your stand on that. It may not be the central thing; that does not matter. Our speech must always be essentially positive. WE SHOULD NEVER BE TOO READY TO EXPRESS OUR DOUBTS AND TO PROCLAIM OUR UNCERTAINTIES.
We may be deep in internal and mental turmoil about issues we do not understand, but let’s keep those struggles within ourselves...or at least, find a mature person who understands and will not be affected negatively with our doubts and despair. Watch out who you speak with about your spiritual searchings...don’t injure the fragile with your doubts!
WHEN I THOUGHT TO KNOW THIS, IT WAS TOO PAINFUL FOR ME. The thought of scandalizing the family of God, he could not bear, and yet his inward thoughts seethed and fermented, and caused an intolerable anguish within.
BUT NOW, THINGS ARE READY TO CHANGE FOR THE MAN IN OUR PSALM.
"Until I went into the sanctuary of God." His mind entered the eternity where God dwells as in a holy place, he left the things of sense for the things invisible, his heart gazed within the veil, he stood where the thrice holy God stands! Thus, he shifted his point of view, and apparent disorder resolved itself into harmony. What did the Psalmist do? The answer to some will seem perfectly childish. HE WENT TO CHURCH!
I have found over my many years of ministry that often when people are going through difficult times, struggling with their faith and ready to give up...they stay home and away from the House of God! Please don’t do that! It is in the isolation from God’s House and His people that the fire of my faith goes out...and it is in this place of isolation, Satan really pressures us into more unbelief. We stop thinking spiritually and begin to use rational thinking and logic. We revert to a kind of thinking that has nothing to do with Christianity at all! The difference between them is that rational thinking is on ground-level only; spiritual thinking is equally rational, but it takes in a higher level as well

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Seven)

as the lower level. It takes in all the facts instead of merely some of them. It focuses our reasoning from God's perspective, and not just man's. When we start thinking spiritually; miracles are no longer a problem, the issues of life fade into insignificance in the light of the eternal. And the truth that GOD IS GOOD is not effected by our circumstances. For instance, when something happens to you that you do not understand, the moment you begin to feel a sense of grudge against God you may be sure that you have already dropped back to that rational level. When you complain that what is happening to you does not seem fair, you are at once bringing God down to your own level of understanding!
Remember Isaiah 55:8! "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord." Ah! In God's House my thoughts and doubts begin to clear.
WHAT A WONDERFUL PLACE GOD'S HOUSE IS! Many a time I have thanked God for the sanctuary...where my soul finds peace amidst all my storms! In His presence there is fullness of joy...at His right hand, there are pleasures for evermore." "One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek; That I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock." (Psalm 27:4-5)
"I love the house where you live, 0 Lord, the place where your glory dwells" (Psalm 26:8).
"Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." (Psalm 84:10)
THE MAN OF OUR PSALM FOUND THAT WHEN HE WENT TO THE HOUSE OF GOD AND BEGAN TO SEE THINGS AS GOD SEES THEM, THEN TRUE UNDERSTANDING FILLED HIS MIND AND HEART!
Oh! To see the wicked through the eyes of God! SURELY THOU DIDST SET THEM IN SLIPPERY PLACES, THOU CASTEDST THEM DOWN INTO DESTRUCTION. Life here is short when compared with eternity!
When the man in our Psalm went to the House of the Lord, he discovered that he had greatly exaggerated the prosperity of the wicked! We constantly tend to think the lot of our neighbor better than our own, especially if we are in trouble. When this psalmist looked with clearer and calmer eyes, his hot fever cooled somewhat, for he saw that his wicked neighbor was not so prosperous as he had supposed!
He saw that though he was still prosperous in things, it was in things only! He had no inner wealth. He was not really joyous and care free, but was "utterly consumed with terrors." "The ungodly are not so, they are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." (Psa. 1:4-6)
SURELY YOU PLACE THEM ON SLIPPERY GROUND: YOU CAST THEM DOWN TO RUIN. "Therefore their path will become slippery, they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished." (Jeremiah 23:12)

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Eight)

The prizes for which we barter our lives slip from our clutching fingers almost as soon as we grasp them. In spite, therefore, of all appearances to the contrary, this world is built upon a basis of righteousness, and the prosperity of evil is at once superficial and fleeting!
Now the man in our Psalm repents!
"Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You." The psalmist reviews his inward struggle and awards himself censure for his folly. His pain had been intense...he said his heart was grieved. It was a decreased sorrow, and one which penetrated his inmost being! He realized that he had let his spirit become embittered...he had judged the ways of God wrongly.
I WAS A BEAST BEFORE THEE. The psalmist is saying that he was a very monster before God...not only a beast, but one of the most brutish of all beasts, one of the most stubborn and intractable of all beasts!
I am always amazed that God allows us to wander off in our human stupidity and make all kinds of accusations against Him...and still does not strike us dead! "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him..." (Psalm 103:11-14)
The light of God’s mercy begins to break in upon the mind and heart of the man in our Psalm. "Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."
Oh! My heart wants to shout in doxology and thanksgiving to my wonderful God! The psalmist sees that his was not a God afar off who had no interest in the struggles, the sorrows, the heart-aches of His children. He was a God at hand...’closer than breathing and nearer than hands and feet.’ He was at his very side...He was always there!
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18)
YOU UPHOLD ME BY MY RIGHT HAND. Not only was God always present, but He was present to help! Spurgeon writes: I have done with choosing my own way, and trying to pick a path amid the jungle of reason."
AND NOW THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF ETERNITY BURST UPON HIS SOUL!
"And afterward receive me to glory." We can cheerfully put up with the present when we foresee the future! What is around us just now is of small consequence, compared with eternity!
The beautiful hymn goes like this...
When all my labors and trials are over, and I am safe on the beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore, will through the ages be glory for me. When by the gift of His infinite grace, I am accorded in heaven a place, Just to be there and to look on His face, will through the ages be glory for me! AND AFTERWARDS! We must keep eternity in view, if we are to endure with victory the journey here below!