THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

LXXV. Trusting God’s Timing

(Psalm 75:1-10)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

God at times lets problems turn into crises that go far beyond what we can handle before He addresses them:

(1) It occurs with our government: Due to multiple federal indictments of Donald Trump and congressional hearings on President Biden’s involvement in his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings, “Americans now find themselves in a dire situation in which the presidential candidate who doesn’t end up in the White House likely will end up in front of a jury.” (“Setting a disastrous precedent,” Republican-American, August 4, 2023, p. 8)

(2) It occurs with our economy: The “(s)tatement from the Fitch credit-ratings agency, which downgraded the U. S. credit rating, Aug. 1” claimed, “‘(T)here has been a steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years, including on fiscal and debt matters.’” (“Quotable,” Ibid., August 3, 2023, p. 8A) Indeed, “the national debt” is “at $32.6 trillion, the Federal Reserve” is “raising interest rates to a 22-year high as inflation remains above pre-pandemic levels and the Biden administration” is “pushing a [costly] radical agenda, thanks in part to the excessive size and scope of the government.” (David Ditch, “House GOP should cut deeper,” Ibid.; brackets ours)

(3) It occurs in the battle between public schools and parents over their children’s oversight: “(P)arental responsibility” has often “fallen out of favor as children increasingly are born outside marriage and grow up without fathers,” so our state “Education Department sees no serious concerns about the civil rights of parents” in “their child’s gender dysphoria” even if it involves their taking “puberty-inhibiting drugs” and undergoing “irreversible surgery.” (Chris Powell, “Should schools deceive parents about gender dysphoria?” Ibid., July 18, 2023, p. 8A)

(4) It occurs with the crisis of homelessness: “‘72,700 people in families with children were experiencing homelessness in 20 of the largest cities in the nation as of January, a 37.6% jump from a year before’” reports a “July 13 Bloomberg News Article.” (“Foolish policies reign,” Ibid., July 18, 2023, p. 8A) “(H)omelessness is” mainly “an outcome of “government” policy decisions over “decades,” including the “closure of hospitals where mentally ill people . . . were housed,” the “welfare state, which taught generations of Americans that work no longer was . . . necessary . . . (t)olerance, leading to legalization, of psychoactive drugs that disabled millions . . . negligent management of American’s southern border, allowing fentanyl and other drugs to pour into the” U. S. and the “possible impact of rising minimum wages” that leads the “marginally employed . . . to lose their jobs,” Ibid.

(5) It occurs with the harmful effects of the “climate change” hype we face: “‘(A)ccording to a World Health Organization report last year, the very ‘awareness of climate change and extreme weather events and their impacts’ may lead to a host of ills, including strained social relationships, anxiety, depression, intimate-partner violence, helplessness, suicidal behavior and alcohol and substance abuse.’” (“Quotable,” Ibid., August 4, 2023, p. 8A, citing Allysia Finley, July 30 Wall Street Journal column, “Climate Change Obsession Is a Real Mental Disorder”)

Need: So, we ask, “What should we do if God lets problems we face turn into greater crises than we can handle?”

I. Psalm 75:1-10 was composed to address Israel’s anxiety over facing arrogant, destructive enemies but where God had not yet confronted those foes. (H. C. Leupold, Exposition of the Psalms, 1974, p. 544)

II. Thus, the psalmist led his fellow Hebrew countrymen to thank God because believers in Israel had always declared His wondrous works for them since His “Name” was “near,” and we explain, Psa. 75:1:

A. God’s name represented “the power, strength, courage, and presence of God Himself,” the “sum total” of His “pattern of behavior,” Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, volume Four, p. 363.

B. The Hebrew word for “near” KJV is qarov (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1040), an infinitive absolute of qarav, “come near, approach,” the infinitive absolute intensifying the verbal idea to make it suggest that God is a “helper, ally,” B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 897-898; H. A. W., T. W. O. T., 1980, v. II, p. 811-812.

C. Thus, the psalmist thanked God for His record of proving to be His people’s Helper and Ally in times of need.

III. However, the psalmist noted that God’s timing in addressing Israel’s needs often clashed with her view:

A. God asserted in verses 2-3 that He chooses the “appointed time” (mo’ed, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 417-418), that He (“I Myself” emphatic pronoun; Ibid., Kittel) makes upright judgment, that when the earth and its people are figuratively “dissolved” (KJV) – better, “melt” (mug, Ibid., H. A. W., v. I, p. 493) – in “helpless, disorganized terror” (Ibid.) at the unsettling power of Israel’s foes, it was God (“I Myself” emphatic; Ibid., Kittel, p. 1041) Who held firm the subterranean pillars that were thought to uphold the land’s surface, Job 9:6.

B. In other words, God’s infinite knowledge of what was actually occurring often led Him to wait to act until He knew His intervention would produce the fully desired effect, that even if His own people felt helpless, disorganized and fearful of the advance of humanly overwhelming foes, God Himself was still upholding the very foundations of their world so that when He intervened, He would achieve what would most glorify Him!

IV. The rest of Psalm 75 (v. 4-11) repeatedly uses the Hebrew verb rum “lift up; rise; exalt” (Ibid., B. D. B., p. 926-927) to describe how God addresses the problem of Israel’s threatening Gentile foes (as follows):

A. God told Israel’s enemies to stop boasting, to stop “lifting up” (rum, Ibid.) their figurative horns like proud bulls against Israel or against Israel’s God in heaven, for no one anywhere on earth can himself “exalt” (rum, Ibid.) a man since God makes judgments that brings one down or “exalts” (rum, Ibid.) another, Psalm 75:4-7.

B. The hand of the Lord figuratively holds a cup of foaming wine mixed with spices, and He pours it out and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its dregs, being destroyed in God’s crushing punishment, Psalm 75:8.

C. The psalmist added that he (“I myself” emphatic; Ibid., Kittel) would always praise the Lord, for God would cut off the horns of the proud, destructive wicked, but the horns of the righteous would be “continually greatly lifted up” (teromamenah, imperfect intensive Po’lal stem of rum, Ibid.) in continual, great victory, v. 9-10.

Lesson: If proud foes create fearful disorder and threaten to destroy God’s people, they must realize that He is always in control of all that pertains to them and is to be trusted to help His people when doing so fits His plan.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) If we face problems that turn into crises greater than we can handle, may we recall that God’s timing in delivering us is perfect, that we must then wait for Him to act.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and provide additional guidance . . .)

(1) Regarding each of the issues of concern mentioned in our sermon introduction, we believers in Christ need to rely on God’s timing in dealing with each of those issues, and simply wait for Him to address them.

(2) Meanwhile, Scripture guides us believers on minimizing the negative effects of those issues in our personal lives (as follows): (a) On the issue of the likelihood of the presidential candidate who loses the 2024 election ending up before a jury, as we have often taught, Revelation 3:21 with 7:17 predicted our era of Church History would be marked by a “mini-Great Tribulation” where leaders in the world’s government-business-academic-religious complex who were full of intrigue would oppress their subjects. God would allow this oppression to occur to lead people to stop trusting in such leaders and to search for balm elsewhere and find it in God as taught in Bible teaching churches. Our task as a Church is to apply Scripture personally for balm and to give answers from Scripture to the seekers we meet. (b) On the downgrading of the nation’s credit-rating caused by 20 years of deteriorating standards of governance, Proverbs 10:4b claims that diligent hands produce wealth, and Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 teaches us on investing in business ventures (like stocks) for financial success [aggressively, long-term, with diversification, and constantly adding to our investments] with 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 promising our livelihood needs will be met if we do our own work for a living. (c) On the issue of parents vs. public schools over their children’s oversight, Ephesians 6:4 calls parents to rear their children in the Lord, so parents must trust God to give them the opportunity to do just that. (d) On the issue of homelessness that is fueled by (+) closing mental hospitals, (-) many mental issues are really spiritual ones that are caused by people being controlled by their sin natures, not the Holy Spirit. We must heed Galatians 5:16-23 to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (-) Also, daily reading and applying Scripture protects one from sin and resulting mental issues, Psalm 119:11. (+) On the government’s institution of welfare that has led many to stop working along with laws that raise the minimum wage and job losses of the poor that lead to homelessness, if we work for a living and trust the Lord, we will have all we need, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12; Hebrews 13:5-6. (+) On the drug invasion at the nation’s southern border that fosters homelessness, Ephesians 5:18 calls us to be filled with the Holy Spirit to handle substance abuse! (e) On the steady, harmful “climate change” propaganda that we face, God in Genesis 8:22 promised that mankind will face “seedtime,” and “harvest,” times necessary for man’s survival, “hot” [like the “Medieval Warm Period” when the Vikings grazed livestock on “verdant” meadows in Greenland from 900 to 1300 (Clifford May, “Kerry snubbed in Beijing,” Ibid., Republican-American, July 28, 2023, p. 8A)], and “cold” [like the “Little Ice Age” that followed the “Medieval Warm Period” (Ibid., “Don’t pray to the climate gods,” September 8, 2022, p. 8A)], “summer,” and “winter,” and “day,” and “night” as long as the earth exists. Our part is simply to keep trusting God’s Genesis 8:22 promise whenever we face the mentally harmful climate change hype!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. If we face problems that turn into crises we cannot handle, may we trust God’s timing and wait!