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Steve Hiller: Some Christians have one simple answer for everything. Doesn't matter what problem you present to them, they've got a one-line answer for everything. They just tell you—and you know what they're going to say before they say it—just pray about it. Just pray about it. That's the answer for everything.

It's not easy to pray when your mind is confused. If you can't think straight, you can't pray straight. Welcome to *Open the Bible* with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, I'm glad we're talking about this today because if you've faced any overwhelming difficulty in life, that answer—just pray about it—it feels so unhelpful, so discouraging to hear that because there have been times in my life where I'm not sure how to pray about this when what I'm facing is so overwhelming.

Colin Smith: And of course, these words can be said as wise counsel. They can also be said as a kind of flippant response. It does sometimes feel like a cop-out. The Bible is such a wonderful book. Here we are in Psalm 73 where we've got a godly man who is really struggling. And he knows that he can't actually pray very well because the whole point of his struggle is that he've got real questions about God.

How do you talk to God when you're in this confusion where you say, "I don't know what's happening"? And Psalm 73, which was written after God brought him through this experience, charts how God turned him around. And it didn't begin with prayer. It ended with prayer, but it didn't begin with prayer. It began somewhere else. We're going to see where it began and how it progressed in the program today.

Steve Hiller: All right, so if you can, join us in Psalm 73, looking at verses 16 to 20 today as we begin the message, "Think!" Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Well, please keep your Bibles open at Psalm 73 as we continue through this marvelous personal story together. It's really the testimony of a man called Asaph, and remember he was a good man. He was a mature believer. In fact, he was in full-time ministry. He was a Levite, and he had been called to minister before the Ark of God.

But as we saw last time, he came to a place in his life where he was facing some major problems. He couldn't make sense of what God was doing in the world. He couldn't make sense of what God was doing in his own life, and therefore he'd come to the conclusion that he could no longer see the point in continuing to pursue a godly life. And looking back on this crisis, he writes this Psalm under the inspiration of the Spirit, and he shares with other believers, with us today, his story.

He's saying to us, "I almost gave up. If I had followed where my mind and my heart was going at that particularly dark time of my life, I have to tell you, I would have let everybody down. I would have betrayed your children." That's what he says, and that's where we got to last time in verse 15.

Now the marvelous thing, as we've seen already, is that God turned this man around. God brought Asaph through this crisis, and He's able to do the same thing for you. We've been saying that Asaph made a five-point turn, and we're coming to the second point of that this morning. Last week we saw, remember, that the turn began for this man when he made a decision.

And that decision was to be loyal to the Lord and His people. "I will not betray your children." That was his decision. And when he stopped dead in his tracks, he would no longer follow where his mind was taking him, he committed himself to loyalty to God and to His people. That's where the change began. And we learned last week that really the first step in turning your life around is not finding an answer to your questions.

God often calls us to live without answers to our questions. The first step is not finding an answer to your questions; the first step is to make a decision. And that's why we pictured our friend Asaph, who we met last time, holding a stop sign, because that word "stop" really summed up in one word the whole of last week's message. Turning your life around begins when you stop; you make a decision: "I will not betray the Lord."

Now today's message is also summed up in one word. I want to keep this nice and easy so we can remember. "Stop" was last week. One word for this week: "Think." Let's look at verse 16 as we move forward together. "When I tried to understand all this," he says—that's all the problem and all the questions that were going on in his mind—"it was oppressive to me."

I looked at these problems in my life, I looked at the problems in the world, and my mind went round and round and round and round. I was awake at night. "Why is this happening?" I was saying to myself. It was oppressive to me. I couldn't break free from it; I just couldn't get out. Oppressive.

Now it's a terrible thing when your mind is confused. It goes round and round and round in circles. And the second step in Asaph's recovery, the second point of his turn, was that God straightened out the confused thinking that reigned in this man's mind. Stop. Think.

Now how's that going to happen? How does confused thinking that sometimes reigns in our minds get straightened out? I was helped and intrigued by a comment of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on this. He points out that some Christians have one simple answer for everything. Doesn't matter what problem you present to them, they've got a one-line answer for everything.

They just tell you—and you know what they're going to say before they say it—just pray about it. Just pray about it. Just pray about it as the answer for everything. Lloyd-Jones points out, surely rightly, it's not easy to pray when your mind is confused. If you can't think straight, you can't pray straight.

So frankly, when someone says to you or says to me at a point where we're really confused, "Hey, just pray about it," it's not a lot of help. And you know that, and so do I. Well, Asaph's going to tell us what did turn his thinking around, what did bring him to the place where he could pray meaningfully and clearly.

I've got to tell you, I found this so practical, so helpful in my own life and experience, and my prayer in coming to this today is that God will use this to bring help and encouragement and the straightening out of confused thinking in our minds and in our hearts today.

Look at what Asaph says: "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God." Now Asaph lived at the time of David, and the sanctuary, of course, was the place of worship at that time. Remember the temple was not built until the days of Solomon, and Asaph's before that time.

The sanctuary was where David put the Ark of the Covenant, and the Ark of the Covenant was, of course, a large wooden box that was carried on poles. And by the time of David, it was nearly 500 years old. The significance of the Ark of the Covenant—which of course had been constructed in the time of Moses when the people were in the wilderness—was that this was where God had said He would meet with His people.

So when God's people were traveling in the wilderness now nearly 500 years previously, by the time of Asaph, they carried the Ark with them. When they came into the Promised Land, they carried the Ark with them. They came to meet with God when they were in the Promised Land at the place where David put the Ark, that was in this tent-like structure called the sanctuary in Jerusalem.

Of course, nobody ever saw the Ark. You remember that? It was kept behind a curtain. So Asaph didn't actually see it, even though he was called to minister in front of it. But the point is that when he went into the sanctuary, the sanctuary was the place where the Ark was. He knew it was there; the Ark was behind the curtain.

Actually, that's God teaching us in pictures again, because we draw near to God; we don't see Him, but we know that He's there. And God was teaching His people that they could be sure and confident of His presence even when they couldn't see Him with this imagery of the Ark where His presence was promised, that was hidden behind the curtain.

And of course, that old Ark could tell a few stories from the last 500 years. Constructed in the wilderness, carried onto the field of battle, captured once by God's enemies who were absolutely terrified when they saw what happened when they got hold of it, abandoned on a farm during the lean years of Saul. Now it had been brought back to Jerusalem and placed in the sanctuary.

It was a box, but it contained three things. You know what was in the Ark of the Covenant? The tablets of stone on which God had written the Ten Commandments by His own finger. A golden pot that was filled with manna, a great reminder of how God provided for His people and brought them through the driest and deadest of times in the wilderness.

Aaron's rod that budded, a reminder that God is the God of miracles and the God who's opened a way through the High Priest for us to come to peace with Him. The Ark, in other words, told the story of the promises, the provision, and the presence of God for His people through the centuries in every circumstance of life.

Now there's something very important for us to grasp here. Asaph's confused. He's got all kinds of unanswered questions that are running through his mind. Things are going wrong in his life. His mind needs to be straightened out by the truth. And he's telling us that's what happened when I came into the sanctuary.

Coming to worship is not escaping from your problems; it's coming into an environment where you are faced with God's truth in such a way that you'll be strengthened to face your problems. Coming to worship is not like going to the cinema where you get about two hours' relief by being drawn into a temporary kind of world and then you have to go back to reality again.

No, coming to worship is coming into the place where your thinking is changed in such a way that you can go out to face the world in a way that you couldn't have done so before. Now, of course, there are a lot of folks who have the idea that Christianity's really just about aesthetics, that it's about a kind of emotional crutch. This is why Karl Marx said that religion is the—what?—the opiate of the people.

And frankly, in many cases, he was right. That's how many people use Christianity; they've never really understood what it is. But we do not come to worship for some kind of opiate. We're doing what Asaph does. We come into the sanctuary, we come into the place where we find the presence of God in order to find strength to face the realities of life as our confused thinking gets straightened out by His truth.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to *Open the Bible* with Pastor Colin Smith, and a message called "Think!" It's the second message in our series from Psalm 73 called "I Almost Gave Up," a look at the story of Asaph. And if you ever miss a broadcast in the series, come and listen online at openthebible.org.

This month you've heard us talk about Pastor Colin's book, *Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross*, and the brand new graphic novel based on that story. Did you know we also have a one-hour movie? And it's been translated now into over 20 languages, including Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Farsi, Arabic, and Hindi, to name a few. You can discover more languages and watch this movie for free when you visit our website: openthebible.org/heaven. That's openthebible.org/heaven. Let's get back to the message. Again, we're in Psalm 73. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Coming to worship is coming into the place where your thinking is changed in such a way that you can go out to face the world in a way that you couldn't have done so before. We're doing what Asaph does. We come into the sanctuary, we come into the place where we find the presence of God in order to find strength to face the realities of life as our confused thinking gets straightened out by His truth.

Now let's see how that happened for Asaph. It's a wonderful story. Here's the first thing: as he came into the sanctuary, what he was doing, of course, was remembering God's truth. That is the significance of the Ark. The Ark was the reminder that God had been walking with His people for 500 years and, in fact, more than that before the time of the Ark as well.

Here's Asaph and he's so consumed with these burning questions of what's going on in his own life; he comes into the sanctuary, he sees he's part of something much bigger. God has brought His people through the wilderness. God has kept His people alive in the desert. God brought His people into the land of Canaan and overcame powerful enemies.

He has kept His people, He has protected His people, He has guided His people, He has preserved His people, He has sustained His people from generation to generation. And now Asaph comes near to the same Ark of God, and he takes his place as a worshiper in this great line of succession. And he remembers that this God, *this* God, is now with him. That's life-changing.

I want to read a few lines from one of my very favorite authors, James Denny. He says this: "We need the common faith to sustain our individual faith. We need the consciousness of the children of God in all ages to fortify our wavering belief."

And then he says: "To be at home in the church is to absorb this strength unconsciously. It is to be delivered from the shallows and the miseries of a too narrow experience and to be set afloat on the broad stream of Christian conviction which gathers impetus and volume with every generation the saints survive."

You see, it's not just your faith; there's *our* faith. There's not just your experience; there's *our* experience. There's not just your testimony; there's *our* testimony. And not just our testimony here in this little capsule of time, but our testimony as part of the testimony of the whole Church of Jesus Christ that's now been going for 2,000 years.

You know it's a great blessing to be part of the body of Christ. There is nothing in your life that God's people have not faced before. There are no questions in your mind that have not been asked before. People have lived and died on the promises of God for 2,000 years. "No testing," says the Apostle Paul, "has come to you except that which is common to man."

There's nothing unique about your pain or mine. To be delivered from the shallows and the miseries of too narrow an experience, Denny says, and to be set afloat on the broad stream of Christian conviction. That's what happens when we gather together in worship, when the Church on Earth joins with the Church in Heaven, and I see, coming out of my little world, that I'm actually part of something far bigger that is in the hand of God. Remember God's truth.

Here's the second thing that happened when he came into the sanctuary. What would you expect him to find in the sanctuary? Well, the Ark... and people. Meet with God's people. Remember God's truth, meet with God's people—that'll straighten your thinking out.

The encouragement of God's people is one of the great means that God uses to strengthen us when we feel like giving up. By the way, that is why you should never withdraw from God's people when you're discouraged. You see, when we become discouraged, there is a certain impetus that says, "Hey, I'll just stay home. I'm not going to come to worship. No, I'll just withdraw."

And isolation is your greatest danger when you're discouraged. You need others around you. We all do. And Asaph does the right thing. He not only goes to a sanctuary where he finds the presence of the Ark that speaks to him of God's faithfulness over generations; he comes to the place where he's going to meet with others who share the same faith and are able to encourage and strengthen one another in God.

God will use His people to bring strength and encouragement to you, and sometimes that will happen in the most unexpected of ways. Let me speak personally. Let me tell you how God blessed me last Sunday. Dick Bender. Dick's one of our senior members. He's been through very extensive surgery. He's a man of extraordinary courage.

Last Sunday we'd just finished the third service, I had my coat on, was about to head out through the main entrance there, head off home. Got to the front door of the church, and Dick was there with his stick, about to leave. I hadn't seen or spoken to him for quite a while. I said how good it was to see him at church after all that he'd been through, and he made some comment about just keeping pressing on.

I held the door for him, said goodbye, and walked across the car park. And here's what I was thinking: if he can do what he's doing after all that he's been through, what in the world do I have to complain about? Actually, I think God was speaking to me through Dick, and he knew nothing about it.

The truth is, I've thought about him four or five times in the last week. I thank God for his testimony and I've drawn encouragement from the example of a man who just keeps struggling on, who wants to be here in worship despite great difficulties. He loves Christ and he just keeps pressing on. Well, I'll tell you, I'm really glad that Dick made the effort to come to church last Sunday. I don't know what it did for him, but I know what he did for me.

Steve Hiller: Really an encouraging word today from Pastor Colin. There's nothing like coming into the presence of God, coming into His sanctuary to get our thinking back on track. Our message is called "Think!" and it's part of a larger series from Psalm 73 called "I Almost Gave Up."

This is a deeply personal Psalm written by a godly man, a worship leader during the time of King David, as he was struggling with his faith. So he was struggling, he looks around him and he sees the wicked prospering, and it causes this crisis of faith for Asaph. And this Psalm is really the story of how God corrected him and Asaph got back on track.

Maybe you can identify with some of that and you'd like to get a copy of this series for yourself. Ask about that when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365 or openthebible.org.

Well, *Open the Bible* is a listener-supported ministry. We're able to do what we do, bringing you Pastor Colin's teaching each day because of your generous financial support. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you three copies of our very first graphic novel. It's inspired by Pastor Colin's book, *Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross*. Plus, we'll send you one copy of the original book. Colin, how does this graphic novel speak to young people today?

Colin Smith: Well, if you're a young person and especially if you have grown up in church, you probably find yourself asking the question, "Am I living a good enough life? Am I living a life that's really going to be pleasing to God?" And you maybe have in your mind the idea that pleasing God's going to be a very, very hard thing to do.

And here's the marvelous good news. You know, entrance into Heaven and peace with God don't depend on you living a good enough Christian life. It's the gift of God's marvelous grace, and that is made wonderfully clear in the story of the thief on the cross. And this graphic novel tells that story in a way that's clear, simple, and compelling, and it communicates the greatest good news ever: that God's marvelous grace comes to us in Jesus Christ.

He's the one who gives us peace with God; He's the one who opens the door of Heaven. There is hope for every person in Jesus Christ, and especially for the person who's saying, "I haven't lived a good enough life, I feel very, very far from God." That's the message, and I hope that it's going to be very encouraging to every young person, to everyone who's a visual learner, and to everyone who needs to understand God's marvelous grace.

Steve Hiller: Well, you can give your gift of support to *Open the Bible* by calling 1-877-OPEN-365 or going online to openthebible.org. Again, our phone number's 1-877-673-6365, and our website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of *Open the Bible*.

Who in your life needs to know the God of the Bible and might be willing to open the Bible with you if you ask them? Most people can think of someone, and many are finding that someone in their life is open to this invitation: "Would you be interested in opening the Bible with me?"

*Fly Through the Bible* is a short, simple, and shareable book that will help you open the Bible with a friend, a neighbor, or a loved one who needs to know Jesus. It's also freely available online. *Fly Through the Bible* has 15 short sections, each with five discussable questions that will open conversations around the Word of God. For more information, visit openthebible.org/fly. That's openthebible.org/fly.