Wednesday Night Bible Study 27 January 2021
/SORROW’S SWEET SONG
We’re going to look at Psalm 61:1-8, over the next couple of lessons. Our focus this week will be on verse 3.
61:1 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.
5 For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.
6 Thou wilt prolong the king's life: and his years as many generations.
7 He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.
8 So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.
This Psalm speaks to life and it’s sorrows and hurts.
When we have sorrow in life we must be prepared and equipped to handle.
We can all relate to times of sorrow.
We defined - Sorrow - a feeling of deep distress caused by loss, disappointment, or other misfortune suffered by oneself or others.
The title of this Psalm indicates that it was written by David.
Absalom had done his best to take his father’s throne and his father’s life. As a result of Absalom’s actions, David had been exiled from his home and his family. David had been hunted by soldiers loyal to his own son. Absalom had done everything in his power to destroy his own father. The only reason David survived Absalom’s revolt was the grace of God.
When this Psalm was written, the rebellion is over, Absalom His son is dead, and David is headed home. He is going back with sorrow in his heart because the son he loved more than life itself is gone. He is going back to reclaim his rightful place on the throne of Israel. He is going home to help restore a nation torn apart by a brutal civil war. David is going home, but he is going home with a heart filled with sorrow.
This week will study SORROW’s REALIZATION.
V. 3 SORROW’S REALIZATION
The first stanza of Sorrow’s Sweet Song has to do with what sorrow requests from God. The second stanza has to do with what sorrow realizes. We are talking about sorrow, but the sorrow we are talking about today is sorrow that is influenced and informed by faith. This kind of sorrow is different from the sorrow the world feels. This kind of sorrow hurts, but it hurts with hope. This kind of sorrow knows that there å a sovereign God Who controls all the paths of life. As the sorrow that is influenced by faith deals with the heartache and heartbreak it faces, the sorrow that is influenced by faith stops to consider that its present needs rest on God’s past performance. What He has done for the saints in the past reminds us that He can do it now, regardless of the present circumstances.
What can poverty say to us as children of God, can’t we remember, we’ve lived with little, my brother was drafted to fight in Vietnam, we’ve endured sickness, lost loved ones. I’ve experienced living in a drafty home. Before stimulus checks were thought about, I’ve wrapped pennies, rode around on fumes in the gas tank, I remember the days of lay- a- way. We need to get to the place where we speak to our sorrow. Sorrow needs to realize some things.
A. A Realization Of God’s Provisions - David says, “thou hast need a shelter for me.” a “shelter” is a place of “refuge, of safety, of protection from storms, from danger, and from error.” David looks back over his life and he remembers the times when sorrows and troubles stalked him. He remembers God giving him victory as a boy over a lion and a bear. He remembers God giving him the victory over a giant. He remembers God sheltering from the murderous rage of king Saul. He remembers how God delivered him from the wrath of his own son. David remembers that in every trial he ever faced, God provided him a place of safety and protection. AND Based on God’s past performance, David is certain that God will not fail him now!
B. A Realization Of God’s Protections - God has also been “a strong tower from the enemy.” The word “tower” carries the idea of “a high citadel; a place above the fight and the fray.” It can also refer to “a raised bed.” David’s point is that through all the attacks, battles and sorrows of his life, God was with him and God provided him with a place of protection. God provided him with a place to which he could flee. God gave him a place that was beyond the reach of the enemies he faced in life. There is a sense in which God gave David a “raised bed,” a place of peace in the day of battles.
What I am trying to say is that sorrow that is influenced by faith looks back. It realizes that the way God has worked in the past is an indication of how He will work today. Faith informed sorrow knows that God never changes, Mal. 3:6; 6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Heb. 13:8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever .God has always worked in powerful ways in the lives of His people. From how God saved us by His grace to the way He has supplied our needs day by day, teach us that He has the power, the ability, and the will to help us through the sorrows we will face every day we live. (Ill. The truth of Phil. 4:19. 19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.)
We make request, but we must realize, that same Jesus that brought us out of 2020, will carry us through 2021. “That’s my Sweet Song of Sorrow.”