From His Heart

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Today on from his heart, learn how to go from problems to praise. Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

Psalm 31 is a Psalm of David, and it is one of the key psalms in the Book of Psalms. Because it's quoted a lot, we don't know exactly when this took place in David's life, but we do know this: David, the writer of Psalm 31, is in trouble.

And we can learn so much because you have trouble, I have trouble. We have trouble. We can learn so much from David in this song.

Speaker 1

Life is filled with ups and downs. Everyone loves the ups and dreads the downs. But God teaches us significant lessons when we go through the tough times in life.

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. And today he begins a new month and a new week in a timely series called Life is Hard. But God is Good. Today's message, From Problems to Praise, outlines key lessons from the Book of Psalms to help us remember that although life can be very hard at times, God is always good and worthy to be trusted.

Now, we're gonna be in this series all month long, so don't miss any. But if you do, be sure to go to fromhisheart.org and click the Listen link if you can.

Now open your Bible to the Book of Psalms and turn to chapter 31 as Pastor Jeff Shreve begins describing the best path to take that'll help you move from problems to praise.

Speaker 2

We're beginning a new series of messages today on the Book of Psalms. The Book of Psalms is a very important book. It covers about a thousand years from the time of Moses, who wrote Psalm 90, until the time of Ezra, the prophet and priest who probably put all of it together. David is one of the principal writers in the Book of Psalms, having written almost half of it. We know for sure that he wrote 73 or 74 Psalms, so almost half of them. Solomon also wrote some, as did the sons of Korah and Asaph. The Psalms are lyrical poems set to music; the Book of Psalms is essentially the Hebrew hymnal. They would sing out of the Psalms, which express worship amidst the struggles of the soul.

I've entitled this series "Life is Hard." Can anyone say Amen to that? Life is hard, but God is good. That’s kind of the summation of the Book of Psalms: the psalmist, whoever is writing, doesn’t sugarcoat it. Life is hard, but God is still good. To kick off the series, we want to look at Psalm 31. Psalm 31 is a Psalm of David and is one of the key psalms in the book because it is quoted a lot. David wrote Psalm 31, and Psalm 71 repeats the first three verses of it. While Psalm 71 doesn’t tell us who wrote it, it is probably David who repeats himself in those verses.

Jonah, when he was in the belly of the fish thinking he was going to die, quoted from Psalm 31:6, saying, "I hate those who regard vain idols, but I trust in the Lord." Jeremiah quotes from Psalm 31 six times in the book of Jeremiah and one time in the book of Lamentations, verse 13: "For I have heard the slander of many; terrors on every side. While they took counsel together against me, they schemed to take away my life." Most importantly, the last words from the lips of Jesus before he died upon the cross were from Psalm 31:5: "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." Such an important psalm, and it is a psalm about trouble—serious trouble, terrible, horrible trouble.

David is in trouble, and we don’t know exactly when this took place in his life. It was probably not at the beginning of his life, but rather toward the middle or the end. Some people say this is talking about a time when Absalom, his son, came into Jerusalem to take over the kingdom and kill his father. I would say that’s pretty big trouble—when your son is coming to kill you and you have to flee for your life. It could be that situation, but we don’t know for certain. Here’s the thing about David: he had problems all over the place, so it’s hard to pinpoint unless he tells you exactly when this happened. But we do know this: David, the writer of Psalm 31, is in trouble.

We can learn so much from David in this psalm because you have trouble, I have trouble; we all have trouble. I’ll begin reading in verse 9: "Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress. My eye is wasted away from grief; my soul and my body also." Lord, I have cried my eyes out, for my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing. My strength has failed me because of my iniquity, and my body has wasted away because of all my adversaries. I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances. Those who see me in the street flee from me. I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind. I am like a broken vessel. I have heard the slander of many; the whispers, terror is on every side. While they took counsel together against me, they schemed to take away my life.

Now, David has sorrow on steroids. He has trouble like you and I have never experienced. Probably no one in this room, maybe no one under the sound of my voice, has ever had people conspiring together to kill you. Maybe some, but probably not. David had that a lot. Saul tried to kill him, and then Absalom was trying to kill him. His enemies tried to kill him; Goliath tried to kill him. He had people coming against him for a long time in his life, and things were hard at this particular time. He teaches us what to do when the sorrows and troubles come in like a flood and begin to engulf your life.

This psalm is so great because it is so true to life, and it ends on such a positive note. David goes from problems to praise, from trouble to triumph, and he shows us how to do it too. I want to share with you three encouragements because you may be here today and say, "Hey, that’s me. The troubles have come in like a flood, and I don’t know what to do. I am getting ready to go under."

**Encouragement number one:** Remind yourself that troubles and sorrows are part of life. The book of Job, which is a book of troubles and sorrows in spades for poor Job, teaches us in Job 5:7, "Man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward." Job 14:1 tells us that "man who is born of woman is short-lived and full of trouble, full of turmoil, full of problems." And people with problems say Amen! I can relate to that. That’s just the way it is.

Now, Peter, in 1 Peter 4, echoes that same sentiment when he was telling the people he wrote to—people who were going through persecution under Emperor Nero. He said, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you." Trouble is not a strange thing. We kind of look at it like that. I still remember when a particular person I know well was having back trouble. He and I were talking one day in his bedroom, and he got up from his chair, took a couple of steps, and his back spasmed. He fell to the ground and took God's name in vain, saying, "Why is this happening to me?"

I remember looking at him and, not trying to be rude, I just said, "Well, why shouldn’t it happen to you? Why not you? Should it happen to everybody else but not you?" Troubles, trials, problems, pains, and difficulties are part of life. They do hit. We don’t like it, but it’s just the way it is. Jesus said, "In the world, you have tribulation; you’re going to have distress, you’re going to have problems, but be of good courage. I have overcome the world."

Remember this: God’s choicest servants often experience severe heartache, pain, troubles, and trials. That’s just true in Scripture. You read in the Bible that the ones God uses the most seem to have the most problems. Joseph, in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis, had the dream that his brothers would bow down to him. He was the one who got the coat of many colors for Christmas while nobody else got anything. His brothers hated him, sold him into slavery, and Potiphar’s wife lied about him. He ended up in prison, rotting there. Life was hard for Joseph.

Job had so much sorrow. David had a life of sorrow. David was anointed king when he was about 12. We don’t know for sure, but somewhere around there, he was so young that his dad, Jesse, didn’t even bring him to the feast when Samuel was going to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the next king. He didn’t even invite the youngest because he wouldn’t pick him. So, he comes at 12 or so, gets anointed, and then in 1 Samuel 17, he whips Goliath. In 1 Samuel 18, he’s in Saul’s army, and then the trouble begins because the women sing the songs: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." King Saul became jealous of David and sought to get rid of him. David was on the run for years, living in caves, and he said in one of the Psalms, "There is literally not a step between me and death."

It was difficult for him. It was difficult for Daniel, who was about 15 years old when he was kidnapped by Nebuchadnezzar. He was taken from Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, about a thousand miles away. He was put in Babylonian graduate school and became a wise man of Babylon. Some commentators have said that his teacher was a eunuch, and Daniel was probably made a eunuch as well. Can you imagine being 15 years old, kidnapped, and then castrated? That was Daniel’s life.

Paul had it rough too. When Paul got saved, he was Saul of Tarsus. He had an encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus and was blinded. God told Ananias to go to a street called Straight to meet Saul of Tarsus and pray for him. Ananias said, "Lord, Saul of Tarsus doesn’t like you, and he doesn’t like me because I follow you." The Lord said, "Go, for he’s a chosen instrument of mine, for I must show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake." The greatest Christian, in my opinion, who ever lived was the apostle Paul, and he suffered for the Lord’s name’s sake.

If God is going to use you greatly, He has to wound you greatly. Why? Because He is a refiner of silver. Malachi 3 says, "The Lord sits as a refiner of silver." A refiner puts the silver in and heats it up to scrape off the dross. God puts us in the furnace of affliction to scrape off the dross so that out will come a vessel, as the Bible says, for the smith. Out will come something pure, as Job said, "When He has tried me, then I will come forth as gold."

I love this poem I ran across some years ago. It says this: "When God wants to drill a man and thrill a man and skill a man, when God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part, when God yearns with all His heart to create so great and bold a man that all the world shall be amazed, then watch His methods, watch His ways, how He ruthlessly perfects whom He royally elects, how He hammers him and hurts him, and with mighty blows converts him into trial shapes of clay which only God understands. While man’s tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands, how God bends but never breaks. When man’s good, He undertakes. How God uses whom He chooses and with every purpose fuses him by every act, induces him to try His splendor out. God knows what He’s about."

It’s not a crazy thing. Don’t be surprised as if some weird thing has happened to you if you encounter sorrow and difficulties and problems on steroids. That’s part of the deal, especially for a Christian—especially for a Christian that God wants to use in a powerful way. So that’s the first encouragement: remind yourself that troubles and sorrows are part of life.

**Second encouragement:** Get alone with God and share your heart with Him. David is such a model for us to follow because he did that. David would get alone with God and share his heart with Him. He wrote in Psalm 62:8, "Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us." He’s a safe place for us. You can share your secrets with God; you can pour out your heart to God, and that will unburden your soul.

When you share with God, when you pour out your heart to the Lord, don’t sugarcoat your pain. Don’t tell God what you think He wants to hear. Tell Him what’s really going on. Be honest with God. David was honest with God. I like what it says in the Good News Bible, verses 9 and 10: "Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in trouble. My eyes are tired from so much crying. I am completely worn out. I am exhausted by sorrow, and weeping has shortened my life." David, the great warrior, is weeping and crying because of sorrow and the difficulty that has hit him.

David talks about his physical trouble, his emotional trouble, and his spiritual problems. He says in verse 10, "My strength has failed because of my iniquity." He’s dealing with sin in his life. This would really come to fruition for David if this were talking about the situation with Absalom. That would get the wheels turning in David’s life: "My son has come against me. Why has my son come against me? Oh, because Nathan the prophet said when he came to me, 'You’re the man. You sinned with Bathsheba. You killed Uriah the Hittite. Now the sword is not going to depart from your life and from your family.'"

Here is my son coming to kill me. It would fit because of his sin, and his body was wasting away. He had adversaries and social problems. He said, "When I go out in the street, people flee from me. I am a reproach, a shame, and they run away from me." Can you imagine being like that? That would be horrible. He says in verse 12, "I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind. I am like a broken vessel." David said, "That’s how I feel." He was being honest with God. He wasn’t sugarcoating anything. "God, this is how I feel. I’m totally broken."

I remember years ago we had a Sunday night service, and a very good friend of mine was at the altar during prayer time. He was praying and just crying his eyes out. The girl he loved, the one he thought he was going to marry, was kind of on again, off again. I think he was a lot more interested in her than she was in him, and she kept playing him. Finally, she just said, "No, not going to do it. I got somebody else." He was crushed, just praying, bawling his eyes out. He was hurting and bringing his pain to the Lord.

It’s okay to hurt. We don’t need to show a stiff upper lip and act like this doesn’t bother us. It’s okay to hurt. I used to think that if I was in Christ and in shape, then I would be invincible, but that’s just not true. It wasn’t true for David, and it won’t be true for you, and it’s not true for me. So don’t sugarcoat your pain. Tell God exactly what’s going on, and don’t conceal your fears.

Lots of times we don’t like to admit that we’re afraid. With all that’s going on with COVID, one of the things I’ve noticed with people is that they’re kind of shaking in their boots, hiding under their bed, so to speak. But then they say, "I’m not afraid." You’re not? I haven’t seen you in months and months and months. But you’re not afraid? They don’t want to admit that they’re afraid.

It’s okay to be afraid. It’s okay to say, "I’m afraid." David is the guy who stood up to Goliath when no one else would, but he got afraid. He says in this psalm, "I was afraid and said, 'I am in a place where God can’t see me. I’m in a bad spot. Terror is on every side. They’re whispering over here and whispering over there, and they’re saying they’re going to kill me. I’m dealing, Lord, with fear.'" It’s okay. Fear is okay as long as your faith is greater than your fear.

If we feel like we can’t share that with anybody, then we’re afraid, and we don’t share it with God, we just hold onto it. You’re not trusting in Him at all times. While people pour out your heart before Him, let it all out. Cast your cares on the Lord; cast your worries and fears on the Lord, and He will sustain you. But if you hold onto them, they’re going to be yours, and you’re just going to be acting, putting on this face that, "Oh, I’m this person of faith, and nothing bothers me." You’re lying. You’re lying to others, you’re lying to God, you’re lying to yourself. You know you’re hurting, so let the Lord know and get it out. Unburden your soul. Don’t conceal your fears, and tell the Lord how you feel. Let yourself be vulnerable.

Speaker 1

Are you willing to be that transparent with the Lord? He always knows if you're not hiding anything, so let yourself be vulnerable and learn to trust in Him. Pastor Jeff is in his series this month called "Life is Hard But God is Good," and today we're listening to the first part of the message, "From Problems to Praise."

Now, as we learn today, when King David wrote Psalm 31, he was in serious trouble, and we all can relate because we all have trouble in this life—either had trouble, have trouble, or will have trouble. This month, Pastor Jeff wants to be an encouragement to you by offering you the nine-message series "Life is Hard But God is Good" as our thanks for your support this month of any amount. As you know, "From His Heart" exists to change hearts and homes with the love of Christ.

June is our fiscal year-end, and we'd be so thankful if you'd help us close out our books on another year of ministry with a generous fiscal year-end gift this month. Again, when you make that fiscal year-end gift, we'll send you the series "Life is Hard But God is Good," as well as the companion booklet "Strong Faith for Tough Times." It's our gift of thanks to you for your support of any amount to "From His Heart" this month.

You can get your copies of these two resources when you make your gift today by calling 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253) or going online to fromhisheart.org. Request the series in the format of your choice—either on CDs, DVDs, a USB flash drive, or immediate MP3 download.

Thanks for being with us today for part one of the first message in this series. I'm Larry Nobles, inviting you to be here tomorrow for part two of "From Problems to Praise" and the series "Life is Hard But God is Good." That's on Tuesday when we'll again open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope. From His Heart.

Speaker 2

There is tremendous truth, There is love, There is hope that you always dream Love he can heal every scars of truth Real love, Real hope.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out about that when you go to fromisheart.org.