Creating a Thankful People Through Deliverance

“Why am I not being blessed?”

This is a question we all want to ask when times are hard, and circumstances are not what we expected.

• A spouse says, “I need their words of encouragement and respect, but instead I feel like I give and invest 500 and they give back one…”

• It’s not fair, why am I not being blessed with the marriage that I want?

• Doesn’t God know my responsibilities and what’s going already in our family, why now?

• Other people don’t even want their children, and God gives them that blessing, I want the blessing of a child and God doesn’t give me one.

Now, do you believe that God favor toward us is so great toward us as his people that he can create thanksgiving out of sorrow. God’s deliverance can cause us to be thankful even when there are times of sadness and loss.

Turn to your bibles to Psalm 30, page 404 in the front in the Old Testament in the bible under the chair in front of you.

- before we read the Psalm, I think it will be helpful to give a bit of the background…We do not get a lot of background to this Psalm but Bible students believe that this Psalm of David is making reference to a poor choice he made right at the end of his life…where he numbered the people of Israel…you can read about that in both 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chron 21…

- that was step a king took to assess his military might…and in this case what David did and why he did it was sinful…and through a prophet, God came to him and gave him three choices…7 years of famine, 3 months fleeing from his enemies, or 3 days of pestilence…

- David’s response was… 2 Samuel 24:14 - Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

- so there was a plague of judgement on Israel because of David’s sin and many died from the plague…but David prayed and the Lord stayed His hand of judgment at a threshing floor of a man named Arunah the Jebusite

- now, with that background in mind…please listen carefully to the worship song David wrote because of this experience…

READ PSALM 30

This morning as part of our annual theme of Growing in Gospel Gratitude we will be talking about how the Lord is Creating a Thankful People Through Deliverance.

God wants us to see Three reasons you can be thankful through seasons of sorrow.

Some seasons in life are sadder than others. That cloud of heaviness seems to follow you wherever you go. Even in our church family there are many church families walking through deep valleys.

The loss of loved ones.

Challenging situations for family members.

Serious cancer diagnosis.

(Marc Siebrecht was recently diagnosed with colon cancer, Erisa Funada with her cancer diagnosis).

When sickness or difficult circumstances come, we can still be thankful…

I. Because the Lord can rescue from sickness and circumstances (v.1-3)

Physical sickness can put us in a place so we can no longer depend on ourselves. We are so weak. You feel like you can’t eat, open your eyes, move…

We are helpless. We must look to others who will lift us up and carry us to bed or carry us to the bathroom.

[INSERT VIDEO OF OUR SON BOAZ LIFTING ISAIAH TO BED]

David gives thanks and worships the Lord because says he has found the best helper…

“I will exalt You, Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
Lord my God,
I cried to You for help, and You healed me.

Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;
You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.” (v.1-3)

David describes his affliction like a near death experience. He was helpless so he had to cry out to God for help and God chose to heal him.

David wants us to imagine the thankfulness that comes to your soul if God drops a giant bucket that you can step into and by his power lift you up when you felt like you were about to die in the pit.

David praises God for his physical healing from his near-death experience, like a bucket of water being drawn up from a well, the Lord brought up David and rescued him from the watery realm of the dead, Sheol.

I chose my words carefully. This Psalm reveals that God CAN if he so chooses to deliver us from circumstances and sickness during this life, and when he chooses, we can praise and thank the Lord.

God does not choose to always deliver from the momentary sicknesses and circumstances of this life. For example, even in 2 Samuel 24, we read that 70,000 people died from the plague that God sent on Israel, but David was delivered when he cried to the Lord, even when consequences for David were because of his sin.

So just because God chooses to deliver someone from challenges or sickness in life is not necessarily because that person is better or has more faith than another.

We have seen this type of deliverance in our own church family. Not long ago as a church family we prayed with our sister Becky Arthur and her husband Dave Arthur.

I remember as pastors laying hands and praying at the beginning of her cancer diagnosis.

We have seen God deliver through the sickness and circumstances in all kinds of amazing ways. We welled up with thankfulness as a church family.

For my father-in-law, Kevitt. I recall many times where we thought he was going to die from his sickness, and he was weak and then God answered our prayers, and he was delivered to live several more years with his cancer before his death and homegoing to be with Christ.

We were thankful for the momentary healing, but we have even greater thankfulness for the final healing that Kevitt is absent from his cancer ridden body and now present with the Lord.

He awaits the resurrection of his new glorified body and to be with Christ where there is no more death or cancer.

Brothers and sisters, if David is overwhelmed in thankfulness and praise for momentary physical healing, how much more can we be thankful for the ultimate deliverance that God provides for his people.

We know with certainty that because Christ experienced death and was lifted from the realm of the dead, conquering death by his power, that we can be thankful that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will be lifted with Christ in the heavenly places.

For Christians, we can always be thankful for the deliverance that God provides. If he chooses not to provide a momentary deliverance from the sickness or circumstances during this life, we are promised final or ultimate rescue and deliverance from sin and death through Christ.

Church family, who or what do we turn to who we believe is a powerful enough deliverer, who can lift you up from the power of sin and death?

Ultimate rescue is found in no other name than our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Even greater sorrows await you who do not have the Lord as your helper. He is the one that keeps us alive.

John Ryland wrote this poem and described the wise care and providence of God even in sickness and grief…

Times of sickness; times of health;

Times of penury and wealth;

Times of trial and of grief;

Times of triumph and relief;

Plagues and deaths around me fly;

Till he bids, I cannot die;

Not a single shaft can hit,

Till the God of love sees fit.

Even in times of sadness, we can be thankful because the Lord can rescue from sickness and circumstances.

II. Because God’s disposition is favor rather anger toward us (v.4-5)

When we see God’s favor shine upon our lives like when the sun bursts through the dark storm clouds after a summer thunderstorm, we just want to stop and celebrate and share the wonder of God’s care with others.

When God opens a way for the job that you thought was impossible to get.

When God provides the customer that you had been working so hard to get.

When God gives you the breakthrough in the project that was stalled and stuck.

When God works to change a relationship with strained family members.

These moments of God’s kindness, we just want to share and gather others to celebrate these victories.

God’s deliverance moves us to sing with others.

When David considers the personal kindness that the Lord showed him in healing his sickness and delivering him, he wants to sing…

He cannot thank God enough, so he calls his friends and family to praise and thank the Lord with him.

He wants all God’s people to get together praise the Lord.

“Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones,
And praise the mention of His holiness.” (v.4)

Regularly praising the Lord for all the victories and ways we are seeing his favor and kindness toward us as his people is very important.

It strengthens your faith for future trials.

And it also helps you have a right view of God’s character. It’s easy for us to miss all the little moments of favor and God’s goodness toward his people.

Don’t let sickness and circumstances shrink your view of God to the limits of your life.

So when I dwell on an take the time to praise the Lord for how God saved a lady in our counseling ministry last week and praise the mention of his holiness and we do that together.

Then we praise the Lord and thank him for how he provided so many people and resources to serve the Funadas this week.

Then we praise the Lord and thank him for what our children are learning in Sunday school and the servants serving.

And we praise him and thank the Lord for the worship this morning to orient our hearts

And we praise the Lord for the comfy chairs we get to sit in and those faithful servants who set them up.

Not to mention every spiritual resource I have in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

That question, “Why am I not being blessed?” doesn’t hold much water.

I am blessed in all sorts of ways. God is abundantly kind to his people.

• Our church family has a stewardship celebration right before Thanksgiving every year. This year it is Sunday November 20^th, it is a night to remember everything we have, every good and perfect gift is from above, and to worship together and praise God for God’s favor toward our church family as we hear testimonies and worship. It’s good for us not to forget.

• Application to SMP.

• Application to the Local Church and Intro to Faith and Small Groups

God’s disposition is favor toward his people who believe in him. We have the mercy, forgiveness, and righteousness of Christ.

I experience this because Jesus took the complete wrath and anger of God on the cross in my place, so that the favor of God would come to me by faith, it by God’s favor and kindness alone that I am saved!

This gives us the proper perspective of challenging circumstances and sickness…when we think about God must be angry at me and that his kindness with me is running out…

We can be thankful…

Because God’s Fatherly discipline is momentary.

Through David’s life God wants to give us perspective.

You and I are tempted to believe that our pain is permanent and God’s disposition is angry toward his people. For God’s people who have faith in him, his disposition is not anger. God says that his anger is like the wink of an eye.

“For His anger is but for a moment, (v. 5a)

Considering eternity, God is not putting his people in a slow cooker of suffering and sorrow.

[Insert a picture of my daughter in slow cooker]

He puts his people in the microwave.

We must have an eternal perspective. Living by faith in God involves us trusting in God who sees our sickness, circumstances, and sin correctly.

Paul says in 2 Cor 4:17: For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

Paul encourages the church to have a Christ-centered perspective…

• Momentary!…but I am tempted to think this is going to last forever.

• Light!…but I am tempted to think this it’s too heavy, its unable to bear.

• Glory! beyond all comparison…but I am tempted to think about the present shame, humiliation and compare this with what I see around me.

• But we must look to not what we see that is temporal, but what we can’t see that is eternal.

The writer of Hebrews describes God’s loving fatherly discipline in similar terms to emphasize the brevity of discipline….

Hebrews 12:11 - ¹¹ For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Or like the Prophet Isaiah mentions how:

“For a brief moment I forsook you,
But with great compassion I will gather you. Isaiah 54:7

We can be thankful during times of loving discipline from the Lord they are momentary…

We can also be thankful…

Because God’s favor is a lifetime

“His favor is for a lifetime;

Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.” (v. 5b)

There is a time for mourning our sin against God, but the Lord wants to remind us of the sure mercies of Christ.

As Ecclesiastes says…

A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.

Mourning can stop in the morning, because God offers us his forgiveness backed by the blood of Jesus Christ, a once for all sufficient sacrifice to cleanse us and cover us.

The image of weeping associated with God’s discipline is temporarily staying for the night. It’s a guest. Momentary.

I give weeping the guestroom in my house but weeping for past sin is not a permanent resident in my house.

For a Christian, yes mourning and weeping is a necessary part of repentance, but it is not forever because we are filled with joy and gratitude for the good news of Jesus Christ.

Our God is a forgiving God. His ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts…he abundantly forgives.

Tomorrow is a new day and God’s mercies are new each morning. God’s lovingkindness is chasing after me as his child.

We might be tempted to wallow in sin and allow our past sins to stay longer and cause you to mourn longer than God intends.

Instead of giving weeping for sin the guest room, you allow mourning for sin to dwell in the master suite of your heart instead of Jesus Christ.

Rather than living your life centered around Christ and his word. You are centered around you and your sin.

Our sin is not greater than Christ’s power, he died once and for all for the sins of the world so that forgiveness is possible. Believe Him.

We can run to Jesus in the night, confessing our sin and in prayer pour out our tears into God’s lap with our sorrows and in the morning at daybreak you can shout with joy like the Psalmist because God provides his answer…

Psalm 103:12 – As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

If you are feeling stuck in sin…maybe you are experiencing some loving discipline from God in your life for sin but you are struggling to know what to do and where to go from here.

• Can I encourage you to reach out to the body of Christ for help?

• Counseling

• Mentoring

• Point man groups

When I read this Psalm about joy coming in the morning…I am reminded of what that first Sunday of the resurrection would have been like.

The joy of that morning. The women went to the tomb of Jesus early in the morning before the sun was about to rise and Mary standing outside weeping over an empty tomb…and Jesus saying why are you weeping? Can you imagine what a joyful day that was compared to the night before.

How horrible is it for us to wake up in the morning still mourning for sin and living like the favor and kindness God makes possible through Jesus never happened.

Living like Christ did not truly die in your place to save you, living like that words that Christ uttered with his dying breath, “It is finished” are not true. Christian you can be certain, it is finished. Deliverance from sin is assured through Christ.

The only way to experience this kind of joy that David is talking about is through genuine repentance, believing in Jesus Christ, and forsaking your sin.

Proverbs 28:13 – He who conceals his transgression will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

When we experience seasons of sadness associated with our sin, we can be thankful that God’s disposition toward his people is favor rather than anger.

The final reason we can be thankful is…

III. Because God’s kindness changes your sadness for joy (v.6-12)

This is the part of the song that David laments the problem…

He laments his pride. It’s a warning to…

A. Beware the sorrow of self-sufficiency.

When believe the lie that we are self-made instead of God-made.

Independent of God instead of dependent on God

We should be prepared for the Lord to lovingly humble us and discipline us.

^“Now as for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I will never be moved.”
O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;
You hid Your face, I was dismayed.” (v.6-7)

We can relate to this experience. When great success makes us feel untouchable, fearless, and unwavering.

In verse 7 we are reminded it was God’s kindness that established David and gave him security and blessing.

Now, David provides a warning in verse 7…“You hid Your face, I was dismayed.”

Notice, God removes his kindness and blessing “hides his face temporarily” and David is dismayed. David is now the fearful one compared to earlier in verse 6 that he was boasting as the fearless one.

There is unique joy and thankfulness that we experience as Christians when we are living dependently on the Lord as you see the Lord work through the church, others, and answer prayers.

And there is a unique sorrow that the self-sufficient experience, when they come to realize that there are certain circumstances that they don’t have the power or control to fix with all their effort and money at their disposal, and they try to turn to themselves but see themselves not have what is needed.

Fear, anxiety, worry is tied to what we believe provides us with security. Like David, we might be depending too much on our work performance, our family, our health for stability.

And God disciplines us in love to lead us to depend more on the Lord instead of other sources of strength for stability.

We should be thankful for this because God wants to provide a better foundation for gratitude.

When God removes the false security that David was depending on, David turns to God and sees only the Lord is worthy to trust and depend on.

The Lord is his helper.

B. Be grateful that the Lord hears your prayers and forgives the broken hearted.

To You, O Lord, I called,
And to the Lord I made supplication:
“What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?

“Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me;
O Lord, be my helper.” (v. 8-10)

We can be thankful our God is gracious.

He is a helper to the weak.

He is a God who draws near to the broken hearted.

He is a God who lifts up those crushed in Spirit.

Does your prayer life reflect this view of God?

There is no sin or suffering that you have that is too big for God to handle.

Pray to the Lord, cast your cares on him because he cares for you.

And lastly,

C. Give thanks that you can be clothed with gladness from God.

This song ends with joy and thanksgiving. God completely changed David from sadness to gladness.

Mourning for suffering and sin is exchanged with joy that comes from God because of his grace.

God’s favor toward us can help us get us off the ground from bending our bodies in sorrow to swaying our hips and spinning with joy.

• Story of swaying runs in the family.

^“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
^“That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” (v.11-12)

David also describes God’s deliverance is like changing clothes.

David is clothed with gladness in place of grief because he is a recipient of God’s favor…I love this image of clothes being changed to like what you wear for a festive party

Brothers and sisters, we know that we are all clothed in something better than a tuxedo or ballroom dress, we all experience the joy of being made new and dressed in the righteousness of Christ.

Galatians 3:27 – For all of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.

This kind of gratitude and joy only comes from experiencing the grace of our God.

We have been focusing on Gospel Gratitude this year. David models thankfulness that God brings because of his deliverance.

This is the joy that God promised to his people because of the good news of the coming of the Messiah.

Remember what Isaiah wrote about our Savior…in Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
…. To comfort all who mourn,
To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.

David said ^“That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.”

The Lord’s deliverance did not make David silent toward God even though he experienced loving discipline but caused him to sing to God.

Similarly Jesus promised his disciples that they will weep and lament…but joy is coming…John 16:20-21 - Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy… Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

O Lord my God, we will give thanks to You forever. Even in seasons of sickness, difficult circumstances, and disciple 1) Because you are a God who can rescue, 2) you are disposed toward us with favor, and 3) you change our sadness for joy.

Let’s pray.