Worship in
WORD
6 When I felt secure, I said,
“I will never be
shaken.”
7 O Lord,
when you favored me,
you made my mountain stand
firm;
but when you hid your
face,
I was dismayed.
8 To you, O Lord, I called;
to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 “What gain is there in my destruction,d
in my going down into the
pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your
faithfulness?
10 Hear, O Lord,
and be merciful to me;
O Lord, be my help.”
NIV
|
6 When
I was prosperous, I said,
“Nothing
can stop me now!”
7 Your
favor, O Lord, made me as secure
as a mountain.
Then
you turned away from me, and I was shattered.
8 I
cried out to you, O Lord.
I
begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
9 “What
will you gain if I die,
if I
sink into the grave?
Can
my dust praise you?
Can
it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear
me, Lord, and have mercy on me.
Help
me, O Lord .”
New
Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved_
|
6 And
in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
7
LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst
hide thy face, and I was troubled.
8 I
cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.
9
What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust
praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
KJV |
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.
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!”
ESV
|
II. Personal Praise: vs. 1- 3
III. Public Exhortation & Encouragement: vs. 4 - 5
IV. Personal Plea: vs. 6 - 10
V. Personal/Public Praise: vs. 11 – 12
I have included verses 6-7 under roman numeral four of my
outline as part of David’s personal plea. I have included it with verses 8-10
because it gives context for his petition. It is the preamble to
the plea proper that is found in the verses that follow.
Let us look at verse eight today.
To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:
(NIV)
To you, O Lord, I cry, and to
the Lord I plead for mercy: (ESV)
Notice the words “called” or “cry”
and “cried” or “plead.” David has used this word combo before, and he will use
it again. Not always with the same Hebrew words, but still conveying the same
or similar message in all of them.
Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
Ps 4:1 NIV
Hear my voice when I call, O Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
Ps 27:7 NIV
In my alarm I said,
“I am cut off from your
sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
when I called to you for help.
Ps 31:22 NIV
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
Ps 86:3 NIV
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O
Lord;
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
Ps 130:1-2 NIV
I could take a side road here
and discuss the different Hebrew words used in each passage, but are translated
into English as “call” or “cry” or “cry for mercy.” I could discuss various
nuances conveyed by each. However, that would just be a distraction and an
unnecessary one at that. Instead, let me point out that verse 8 – 10 is a
return to and gives details to what transpired in verse 2 that led to the
testimony in verse 3.
2 O LORD my God, I called to you for helpand you healed me.3 O LORD, you brought me up from the grave;you spared me from going down into the pit.
**********************************************
8 To you, O LORD, I called;to the Lord I cried for mercy:9 "What gain is there in my destruction,in my going down into the pit?Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
I do not want to get ahead of
myself here. I am trying to deal with verse 8 in this study, but you can see where
verse 8 -10 corresponds to verse 2, that leads to David’s deliverance, as seen
in verse 3. I have highlighted the word “called” in both passages to illustrate
what I mean by using the same word in English for two different words in
Hebrew. I have included “for help” with “called” in verse 2. The one Hebrew
word here can be translated “called for help.” The phrase “to you” is a
separate word in the original. The NIV smooths out the translation: “called to
you for help.”
Having said all this, the point
I want to make is that when David faced challenges in his life, he did not sulk
in a corner. He did not give up or turn away from the Lord. He could have, as
some professing believers have. As I
have pointed out, David is on the receiving end of God’s discipline for his
prideful attitude. Yet there was no temper tantrum here of a spoiled brat
complaining that he didn’t deserve the punishment he had received. Instead, He
sought the Lord’s mercy, not for his self-preservation so much as it was to
give glory and praise to God (“Will the dust praise you?” v. 9).
And this last point is the key.
When troubles come my way, and I cry out for help. When I face trials, and I
call upon my God. When I experience the Lord’s loving discipline, however dark
the night may become for a time, and I plead for His mercy. Amid the fire or
the flood. Amid the blazing mid-day sun or when the dead of night has begun. In
the midst of it all, and especially when it is over – is it my desire to praise
Him because I know it is all done for His glory? His glory, which seeks my
good!
More Than
a Cliché
Pain, pain, go away
Is that my only longing, when I
pray?
Mercy, mercy, come my way
Relief, my only yearning in the
fray?
Praise, Praise from this jar of
clay
My life and lips, Your majesty
display
Glory, glory, more than a cliché
Be my desire, for You today!
Worship
in Witness:
My heart is breaking for this
country—first, a pandemic which has led to poverty for many. And now we have
protests that have led to pilfering, violence, injury, and even murder. All
these things have rocked this country to the core. Injustice has been met with
injustice.
Our money says, “In God we
trust.” Our Pledge says, “One nation under God.” There is no comma in that
phrase, though it is often recited as if there was. We are not “one nation” and
“under God.” Our very oneness depends on our submission to God Himself. There
was a phrase that was popular in my teen years, “United We Stand, Divided We
Fall.” It is a truism, but it can be easily misdirected. The builders of Babel
could have easily chanted it as they built their edifice to the sky. They were
united, but in the end, they fell and became divided. Why? Because they were
united by pride rather than the praise of God. They had failed to learn the
lesson of the flood. They were proceeding down the path of destruction that had
led to the deluge in the first place. Perhaps they thought the city and tower were
their ark to preserve “a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the
face of the whole earth (Gen. 11: 4b NIV).”
They certainly would not have
named the city Babel if they had succeeded. Perhaps they might have called it
“Adam” (Hebrew word for man or human) in honor of themselves, or “‘Echad” (Hebrew word for one) to symbolize their unity or oneness. If they had spoken Latin,
perhaps they might have named it “E Pluribus Unum” – “out of the many, one.”
They were turning their backs on the Creator of the universe to create
something for themselves. The irony here is that the materials they used to
make brick and mortar came from the very One who had created them.
If they only had gathered
together to honor God and glorify Him instead of themselves, what a difference
that would have made. What a difference it would make today, but I don’t suffer
under the delusion that it ever has or ever will apart from the sovereign hand
of God. But what can I do then? Just sit back while “Rome burns?” Will I let
the unease I am feeling overwhelm me? I hope not. Instead, let me live as one
who loves God, the true God, as He reveals Himself in the Bible. The God who
tells me also to love my neighbor as myself (Lev.
19:18; Mt.
22:39). And let me combine this with prayer, to form a most potent
weapon against the pride and destructiveness of this fallen world. Prayer, that
practice to which we give abundant lip service to, but is the most
underutilized weapon by Christians today. We see it as impractical, unhelpful,
and as a trite answer to our problems. Yet when fully utilized, it will change
nations and hearts, and it will change you and me!
One final thought. “Make
America Great!” It is the motto of many today for this country. The problem is
that we are divided over what it will take to accomplish that. In any event,
taken at face value, any attempt to make America great apart from the Lord, is just
the spirit of Babel raising its ugly head again. In fact, for Christians, our
goal is not first and foremost to make a nation great. Our aim should be: that
with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will magnify the grace, goodness, and
glory of God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Above all else, let us pray for
this help. Amen!
You’re picking up toys on the living room floor
For the fifteenth time today
Matching up socks
Sweeping up lost cheerios that got away
You put a baby on your hip
Color on your lips and head out the door
While I may not know you,
I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes, does it matter at all?
Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
As you do everything you do
To the glory of the One who made you,
‘Cause He made you,
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do
Maybe your that guy with the suit and tie
Maybe your shirt says your name
You may be hooking up mergers
Cooking up burgers
But at the end of the day
Little stuff
Big stuff
In between stuff
God sees it all the same
And while I may not know you
I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes, does it matter at all?
Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
As you do everything you do
To the glory of the One who made you,
‘Cause He made you
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every thing you do
Maybe your sitting in math class
Or maybe on a mission in the Congo
Or maybe your working at the office
Singing along with the radio
Maybe your dining at a five star
Or feeding orphans in the ???,
Anywhere and everywhere that you are
Whatever you do
It all matters
So do what you do
Don’t ever forget
To do everything you do
To the glory of the One who made you,
‘Cause He made you
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace
As you do everything you do
To the glory of the One who made you,
‘Cause He made you
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do
In every little thing you do
In every little thing you do
Writer/s: Steven Curtis Chapman
Publisher: BMG Rights Management
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Video: https://youtu.be/d3YLJCOKOzM
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