When Distress Seems Endless

We are continuing this year our preaching through the Psalter. Since I do not plan to preach through all the psalms (it would take too long) I have to be selective. I find that one of the most difficult issues is choosing which psalms to skip - as all of them can teach us some very important truths about God and ourselves.

After much thinking and praying I decided that this Sunday (January 29, 2012) we will be looking at Psalm 13. The plan is to continue with psalms 14, 15, and 16 - all of them very important for teaching and living.

I am posting here a Teaching Outline from Steve Lawson's Holman Old Testament Commentary on the Psalms. While I probably will not follow it closely in my message, it is useful to visualize the tripartite structure of the psalm (recognized by most commentators).

TEACHING OUTLINE

A. David's Sorrow (1-2)

1. How long will God forget? (1a)

2. How long will God hide? (1b)

3. How long must I be discouraged? (2a)

4. How long must I be defeated? (2b)

B. David's Supplication (3-4)

1. Remember me, God (3a)

2. Rescue me, God (3b-4)

C. David's Singing (5-6)

1. I will rely upon God (5)

2. I will rejoice in God (6)

QUESTIONS for discussion:

1) How does this psalm resonate with you? Have you ever felt this way?

2) How can a believer remain steadfast through difficult times?

3) How do you understand/define the ‘steadfast love’ (ESV)/ ‘mercy’ [Hebrew – chesed] of God in verse 5?

Here is a great quote from Spurgeon:

“Whenever you look into David’s Psalms, you will somewhere or other see yourself. You never get into a corner, but you find David in that corner. I think that I was never so low that I could not find that David was lower; and I never climbed so high that I could not find David was up above me.”

Thank you for your prayers and for your daily living of the Psalter!

Your teaching pastor, Cristian