0805-25P XXX

NEVER WASTE A SLEEPLESS NIGHT

(Psalm 17)

TEXT:

SUBJECT:

F.C.F:

PROPOSITION:

APPLICATION:

A. Someone has said that there are three kinds of people in the world, those who can count, and those who can’t. While we are dividing the race up into categories, we might as well mention the most important distinction of all. There are two kinds of people in the world, unbelievers and believers. The Bible calls unbelievers children of wrath, enemies of God, haters of God, and the children of their father, the devil. Their final end is one of unspeakable horror, everlasting misery, pain, regret, and hatred for God in the torments of hell. In fact, unbelievers are already experiencing hell to a milder degree in this life. This is the “misery” referred to in the Heidelberg Catechism, already begun in this life, and infinitely worse in the judgment to come. The Apostle Paul warns of this in Romans 1:18: “For the wrath of God is revealed (present tense) from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

Believers, on the other hand, are the beloved of God the Father, accepted in Christ, adopted for his sake into God’s everlasting family, a part of his kingdom in which almighty God provides, protects, and presides over his cherished people, both in this life and even more so in the life to come. The eventual ends of these two groups could not be more different. In the words of C.S. Lewis, the believer in glory will become “a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship,” while an unbeliever will eventually degenerate into “a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.” (Weight of Glory, 39)

B. And yet in this life, believers and unbelievers still share something in common, something that you may be feeling quite keenly right now, and if not now, soon. I’m talking about afflictions, those painful, anguishing problems, troubles, woes, heartaches, burdens, and sorrows that grip us and hold us and eventually grind us down. In this sense there are also two kinds of people in the world, those who are experiencing afflictions, and those who will experience afflictions.

In Psalm 17, King David cries out in his affliction, and it would be wise to listen to his counsel.

I. WE MUST ANTICIPATE AFFLICTIONS.

A. King David calls out to God in his affliction: “Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit! 2 From your presence let my vindication come! Let your eyes behold the right!” David is being hard pressed by some enemy. There is not enough detailed information in this psalm to settle on a specific occasion. It may be that the enemy is Saul in the days before David was king. Or it may be some unspecified conspiracy as David was consolidating the kingdom. It may be a reference to the rebellion and revolution of his son, Absolom. We cannot be sure.

B. But we can be sure that David was a believer, God’s man, and that he was suffering sore affliction. And this is very encouraging. Contrary to many TV preachers today who teach that true Christians should always be prosperous, happy, healthy, and wealthy, the Bible clearly teaches that God’s people suffer at God’s direction. He brings afflictions into our lives to accomplish his greater purposes. In fact, the New Testament gives us four reasons why Christians may suffer affliction in this life. There may be more reasons God has not told us of, hidden from our perspective as we find in Job’s case, for example, but these four reasons are clearly delineated in God’s Word.

1. One reason believers may suffer affliction is so that we may DEMONSTRATE TRUE FAITH. Peter writes of this testing in his first letter (1 Peter 1:6-7): “6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” When God brings afflictions into the lives of his dear sons and daughters, one reason is to demonstrate that our faith is for real. We do not cave in and collapse under the strain, but God bears us up and we persevere in the faith.

2. A similar reason is to DEVELOP A MORE STEADFAST FAITH. James makes this clear in the first chapter of his letter: (James 1:2-4) “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We learn endurance and perseverance, patience and steadfastness through these afflictions.

3. Yet a third reason why God brings afflictions into the lives of his people is to lead us to a greater DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST. Paul writes of his own experience. After receiving a surpassingly glorious vision, a rare privilege, God also gave Paul an affliction which he called a “thorn in the flesh.” He describes it in 2 Corinthians 12: “7 So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” God sends these afflictions in tender mercy to show us our weakness and to teach us to draw close and stay close to the Lord Jesus.

4. And the fourth announced reason why God sends afflictions to believers is his DISCIPLINE FOR OUR SIN. And in this subject, we must be careful. We must always distinguish between God’s discipline or chastening or painful correction of his erring, beloved children and his judicial wrath against wicked unbelievers. God punishes unbelievers as an act of justice. But he disciplines those whom he loves, as a correction, to teach us the right path. We must consider the possibility that the afflictions we face as God’s children are his chastening, his discipline for our sinful attitudes and actions. Hebrews 12:6-7a reminds us: “6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons.”

So God’s man, David, was experiencing affliction. God’s people often face such hardships for God’s good purposes. Which means….

II. WE MUST ACCEPT AFFLICTIONS.

A. God is doing his work in and through us through the means of these afflictions, and so we must let God do his work. As an act of faith, we must accept these afflictions, trusting that God knows what he’s doing. We would never choose such things for ourselves. We would not be wise enough to do so. We pray for safety, for prosperity, for God’s favor and blessing, as we are taught to do. But God knows best, and we must accept all this too from his fatherly hand.

B. Does that mean that we should not pray that God would remove our afflictions, or that we should not work to overcome them? Not at all. The bulk of our Psalm 17 is a prayer that God would take away the threat. We find this especially in verses 6-9: “6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. 7 Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. 8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, 9 from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me.” You can hear David pleading with God to answer him favorably by protecting him, hiding him, keeping him safe from the threat as God’s precious possession, the apple of God’s eye.

C. We’ve already seen that the Apostle Paul also asked God to deliver him from his affliction, his “thorn in the flesh,” whatever it was. In fact, Paul said that “three times” he “pleaded with the Lord that it should leave” him. What’s interesting is that in David’s case, God said “yes” and removed the affliction. David prayed with confidence in verse 15: “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.” But when it came to Paul, God allowed the affliction to remain, perhaps the rest of his life. And Paul gloried in that weakness, because through it Christ was made strong in him.

So we must anticipate these afflictions, and we must accept them in God’s wisdom and from his fatherly hand. And…

III. WE MUST APPLY THESE AFFLICTIONS.

A. We must let the afflictions God sends do their work, for he sends them with good purpose. We must allow the Master Surgeon to cut deeply that we may be strong and healthy.

1. If God sends afflictions as a testing of our faith, then we must endure and press on and pass the test. We must apply ourselves to studying God’s Word, to prayer and enlisting the prayers of others, and to the godly counsel of others, that we might persevere and pass the test of faith.

2. If God sends afflictions to help us develop a more steadfast faith, then we must take this as his summons to step up and step forward into a bolder and more courageous faith. It seems paradoxical, but few people claim that they have grown the most in times of ease, in times that were free from affliction. Rather, the consistent testimony of the godly is that they grew most through their trials. We must apply these afflictions and let God do his work.

3. And if God has sent afflictions to teach you your weakness and his all sufficient strength, then by all means learn the full extent of your inability, that you might lean more fully on God’s almighty power. The word for this is “humbling.” God goes to war against your pride, exposing it as sheer folly, so that you will draw close to him and stay close to him. A little child who falls on the playground does not cry, “I shouldn’t have fallen; I’m more coordinated than this.” He simply cries for his mother or father. And so should we when we stumble into hard times.

B. But it is on the last one that I want to look at more closely. When we encounter hardships and troubles and setbacks and afflictions, we should stop to consider whether or not this is God’s discipline or correction or chastening for some sin. What struck me most about this Psalm 17 is the rather audacious claim David makes in the opening verses. “3You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. 4 With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. 5 My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped.”

To me this is astonishing! David is praying to God who is holy, holy, holy; utterly pure, so pure that he cannot look upon sin. And yet David protests his own righteousness. In verse one he prays, “Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!” Would you dare to say that your lips are always free of deceit?

David, of course, here is not claiming sinless perfection. Elsewhere in Psalm 51, for example, David confesses: “5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” David knows he is a sinner.

Rather, what he is saying is that in this present matter, he knows he has not wronged his adversary. This affliction is not God’s chastening for sin, and it is in this confidence that he asks God to rescue him. How does David know that he is innocent in this matter? It is because the Lord “visited (him) by night” and tested him. In other words, he spent a sleepless night wrestling with this very matter. “3 You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.”

Hence the title of this message: “NEVER WASTE A SLEEPLESS NIGHT.” One of the unwelcome accessories that often comes along with serious affliction is the sleepless night. As one who’s known my share of them, I want to urge you not to waste them. Let God test you through that sleepless night. Apply that affliction to yourself. One of the reasons why believers suffer is as God’s chastening for our sin. And so we must ask ourselves in those sleepless hours of the night whether or not this present affliction may be God’s discipline for our sin.

I’m talking about the biblical practice of self-examination: searching our hearts, our motives, our actions to see if there is some willful, rebellious, unsubmitted corner of our life where God is now requiring our repentance, surrender, and obedience. In another Psalm (139) David writes of this searching: “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

C. How do you go about this self-examination?

1. First of all, we need to be ruthless with ourselves. We need to assume the role of a prosecutor, questioning, challenging, cross-examining our own motives, purposes, reasoning, and actions. We need to assume the same perspective we would take if we were questioning our bitterest foe.

2. The reason we must be so self-critical is because of our sinful tendency toward self-justification. We tend to rationalize away our sins while we condemn others for the same. We tend to portray ourselves in the best possible light, and place others in the worst, suspecting their motives and doubting their sincerity. We need to turn the same biting scrutiny upon ourselves.