THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

CXIX. The Vast Value Of God’s Word

K. Handling Long, Tiring Trials

(Psalm 119:81-88 [Caph])

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

The political cartoon on the editorial page in the January 3, 2025 Republican-American, p. 6A, pictured Uncle Sam tearfully praying for divine help in the New Year over having read a newspaper story titled, “New Years Terrorists Attacks.” The artist captured the sense of fatigue the nation feels over the long, tiring trial of repeat acts of terrorism that now afflicts not only other nations, but our own country. Such fatigue occurs with other issues also:

(1) The fatigue over climate alarmism afflicts us: “President Joe Biden reiterated before Christmas that climate change is an existential threat even as climate alarmism reached new levels of urgency. But the premise that the world is becoming less livable because of climate change is simply incorrect,” and “claims that global warming will have catastrophic effects on human health are not supported by scientific evidence” wrote Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy at The Heritage Foundation. (“Be not afraid of the climate,” Ibid., January 1, 2025, p. 7A)

(2) The fatigue over legacy media bias afflicts us: (a) The Media Research Center’s Best Notable Quotables that chronicles the worst reporting in 2024 noted that longtime Newsweek writer Jonathan Alter on NBC’s Morning News NOW on July 22^nd said, “‘He (Joe Biden) will be remembered as a great president. He will be mentioned in the same sentence as George Washington.’” (“Chronicles of Bias XXXVII,” Ibid., January 2, 2025, p. 6A) (b) Then, speaking of now President-elect Donald Trump, Washington Post columnist Max Boot on Washington Post Live on October 18, said, “‘Trump is very close to winning the presidency again . . . it is . . . to me a terrible commentary on America and a very dismaying . . . augury of our future, that so many Americans seem OK with this. I mean . . . (h)ow can we have tens of millions of our fellow citizens think it’s OK to elect this delusional maniac as president of the United States? I . . . I just don’t get it.’” (Ibid.)

(3) The fatigue over fiscal mismanagement by the government afflicts us: (a) In its opening year editorial to its readers, the editorial board of the Republican-American gave “A message to readers” about “thoughts on the coming year,” and it named its “first issue at hand” as the need in the “federal government” of “setting a budget and finding the funds to reduce the deficit while funding ongoing federal operations. This is the elephant in the room that neither political party has been able to address for more than a year or two at a time.” (b) Veronique de Rugy’s piece, “Thinking big as Trump, Congress tackle taxes” (Ibid., January 3, 2025, p. 6A) added that the “U. S. tax system” needs overhauling since it . . . creates a tax bias against saving and investment. Decades of trying to correct these flaws have set the tax code on a path to extreme complexity . . . all while lots of double taxation, which undermines both efficiency and fairness, stayed in place.”

(4) The fatigue over facing ongoing spiritual problems afflicts us: (a) In recent years, a number of us here at Nepaug Church have attended funerals in other churches that teach a false gospel of faith plus works, and the sense of spiritual shallowness and hopelessness that marks such events has proven to be very burdensome to us! (b) Spiritual decline or stagnation in even professing Christians seems to surface regularly, too. I regularly hear believers express dismay over the decline or stagnation in spiritual vitality, insight or righteousness that they witness in other believers!

Need: So, we ask, “How does God direct that we handle long, tiring trials?”

I. The psalmist in Psalm 119:81-84 described his experience of a prolonged trial that left him exhausted:

A. Both the verbs “fainteth” (v. 81 KJV) and “fail” (v. 82 KJV) are translated from the same Hebrew verb kalah, and it means to “fail, waste away, exhaust” (B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 477-478).

B. Thus, the psalmist expressed his exhaustion in waiting for God’s deliverance from a long trial he faced as he was hoping in the promise of God’s Word for that deliverance, Psalm 119:81.

C. However, the psalmist’s hope was strained as he wondered when God would deliver and comfort him, v. 82.

D. Though he felt forgotten by the Lord due to the prolonged trial, the psalmist did not forget God’s Word, v. 83:

1. The psalmist’s likening himself to a wineskin in the smoke refers to the hanging of unused wineskins in a room near the rafters for storage where in time they would become “shriveled and browned with smoke.”

2. Thus, the psalmist expressed how forgotten he felt by God like a long-hung wineskin in the rafters though he did not forget the promised rescue in God’s Word (H. C. Leupold, Expos. of the Psalms, 1974, p. 841).

E. Accordingly, the psalmist cried out to God for help, fearing death due to the ongoing trial he faced, v. 84.

II. The pathway to a solution is offered in Psalm 119:85-86:

A. Unlike his proud enemies, the psalmist was a humble man, Psalm 119:85a.

B. Unlike his foes who did not obey Scripture, the psalmist obeyed God’s Word, Psalm 119:85b with 81b, 83b.

C. Unlike his enemies who persecuted him without cause, the psalmist had just cause for his actions, v. 86.

D. Based on these realities, the suffering psalmist confidently called unto the Lord for deliverance, v. 86b.

III. God eventually delivered the psalmist, Psalm 119:87-88:

A. Even in the face of the destruction he faced in the trial, the psalmist still did not forsake his belief in God’s Word because he knew that God’s Word was “reliable, dependable” (‘emunah, Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1083; H. A. W., Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1980, vol. I, p. 52; Ibid., Leupold, p. 840), Psalm 119:85-86.

B. Consequently, he anticipated God’s loyal love for him and His faithfulness to uphold His promise in Scripture to preserve him would lead to his deliverance, so he still kept God’s Word from His mouth, Psalm 119:88.

Lesson: The psalmist handled a long trial with its wasting effects by humbly relying on God’s reliable promises for every move he made and for every work he performed, what left him with ongoing confidence amid the long trial.

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) To handle long trials, may we (a) humbly rely on (b) God’s reliable Word (c) for every move we make, (d) what will give us ongoing confidence in God’s coming deliverance.

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

In facing the prolonged trials we mentioned in our introduction, we need humbly to rely on God’s reliable Word for every move we make and every work we perform in regard to those trials (as follows):

(1) On fatigue over ongoing terrorist attacks, (a) though we have often noted that Revelation 3:21 with 7:17 predicted a mini-Great Tribulation for our era of Church History, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-14 predicts that the Tribulation Period predicted in Revelation 6:1-19:21 will not occur until after the Lord takes us true Christians to heaven in the pre-tribulation Rapture. (b) Thus, like Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17, God expects us to stand fast in the truth of the pre-tribulation rapture, and to continue to be comforted in every good word and work in our earthly Christian lives. That means that God will limit the terrorism we face so we can afford to function in ministry.

(2) On fatigue over ongoing climate alarmism, (a) not only do we have God’s Genesis 8:22 promise to keep the climate habitable for man for the duration of the earth, (b) God’s promise there to keep “day and night” going along with the cycles of hot and cold is repeated in the new covenant of Jeremiah 33:19-26 where God ties the ongoing existence of the Davidic and Levitical lines with His ongoing covenant of “day and night.” The ongoing existence of the Hebrew people with the ongoing cycle of day and night encourages us to counter climate alarmism!

(3) On fatigue over legacy media bias, (a) not only do we have God’s 2 Timothy 3:13-17 promise that we can combat the escalating deception that is predicted to occur in history with the sufficiency of written Scripture, but (b) we have the Daniel 12:4b promise that even in the Great Tribulation with the enormous Satanic deception that will occur then (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:9), believers will be deeply involved in Bible study, going back and forth in their Bibles, with their knowledge of God’s truth increasing! If God will increase the knowledge of His truth through Bible study in the Great Tribulation with the great deceptions that will then occur, He can guide us by Scripture truth now!

(4) On fatigue over fiscal mismanagement in government, (a) not only do we have the Matthew 6:26-30 promise that God will meet our livelihood needs as we focus on serving His interests, (b) we also have Proverbs 6:6-11 that calls us to consider how the lowly ant that can do so little at a given moment, and that cannot work in winter months due to its lack of warm body temperature, yet achieves great stores of food by consistent, tireless actions of gathering its food in summer. If we consistently earn, budget, save, invest, etc., we can achieve a workable livelihood amid our own limitations, not to mention the hapless financial mismanagement of the government!

(5) On fatigue over facing ongoing spiritual problems, (a) Matthew 13:18-23 indicates that only a minority of people exposed to Scripture will even respond to it long-term, and that in varying degrees. (b) Thus, Matthew 13:51-52 summarizes the Matthew 13 parables on the kingdom of heaven to direct those who disciple to be fully devoted to expounding Scripture, for the value of those who respond to God’s Word even in small ways is so great in God’s estimation that the reward for such discipling will be very great and eternal, cf. Matthew 13:43 with Daniel 12:3.

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we handle prolonged trials by humbly relying on God’s reliably true Word for every move we make for the confidence we need to stay faithful to God in the trials until He solves them for us.