All right, if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn with me to Psalm 124. I'm going to continue our summer in the Psalms this morning looking at Psalm 124. I believe that's on page 656. If you can use one of the big blue bibles that we have underneath the chair in front of you, fair warning, my little clock that tells me how long I've been preaching is broken. So we'll see what happens here. Children, if you are keeping track of a word of the day, you can watch for the word help. Here now, God's holy, true, and life-giving word from Psalm 124. If it had not been for the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when the people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive when their anger was kindled against us. And the flood would have swept us away. The torrent would have gone over us. Then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you. We praise you. We worship you. And we bless your name because you have revealed yourself to us in your word by your spirit and most of all in the person and work of your son, our Savior, our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we pray now that you would speak to us through your word, which is both timely and timeless, we pray now that you would strengthen us for the challenges of life. We pray now that you would unify us with our eyes on Christ and we pray that our time in the word this morning that you would fulfill your purposes as we know that you will. And so for that we are grateful and we thank you in Jesus' name, Amen. There's a show on TV that about 25 million people watch regularly in America, 25 million people watch regularly. And that is the show, I'm sure you guessed it, Fixer Upper on HGTV. It's a very, very well watched show. In fact, often when Hannah and I get to stay in a hotel for whatever reason, people wonder why we stay in the hotel room so long, it's because we're watching Fixer Upper. It is amazing. We love that show. And if you think about why people watch that show, it's very interesting. They watch that show because Chip and Joanna Gaines are amazing at taking a house that is beat up, it's run down, it's outdated, perhaps maybe not even livable. They take some house that's pretty messed up and then they flip it, that's what they do. The show is about them flipping these houses. They fix them up, they restore them, they make them better than new, they make them wonderful and beautiful. So they take this run down house and they flip it and make it into a wonderful home. And when people are watching Fixer Upper, they're not watching to see if they'll be able to flip this house. Like nobody's sitting on the edge of their seat going, I don't think they're going to be able to do this one. Rather, they know that they're going to make this house look beautiful. They know that they're going to clean up this mess. They know that they're going to fix up this Fixer Upper. So when people are watching that show, they're not watching to see if Chip and Joanna can make this into something beautiful, they're watching to see how we are watching to see how I'm one of the 25 million. Now, Jesus promised us a lot of things, one of the things he said is that we will have trouble in this life. And He promised us that He's overcome the world so we can take heart, but He did promise us that we're going to face difficult things. And what if we were able to look at our troubles and our problems and our trials, believing that God is going to do something, the way that people watch to see Chip and Joanna do what they're going to do? What if we were so sure that in some way, at some time, God's going to help? How would that impact the way we face the trials of life? How would that change our hearts and our dispositions when we're facing challenging things? You might imagine that it would generate a lot of peace, a lot of hope, and a lot of strength to face those trials. If we looked at all of our trials and believe deeply, God is going to help me through this. I don't know when, but I know He is going to, and I don't know how, but I know He is going to, how might that change the way we go about facing these trials? And as we continue our fourth summer in the Psalms this morning, we're looking at Psalm 124, which is really a testimony to God's faithfulness to help His people in their time of need. And so it invites us to imagine the type of peace and strength and hope that we can have, believing that God will help us because He does help His people. And the sweet truth is that in Christ, we find the hope and peace and strength that we need to face trials. And that's what we're going to look at in this Psalm this morning, that in Christ, we find the peace and the hope and the strength we need to face trials. And we're going to talk about that by looking at three things that we see happening in this Psalm. So first, we're going to look at how, if we want to have hope, peace, and strength for our trials, we need to realize something. David does something here in the Psalm that I think should help us realize something. Second, we want to recognize something. And third, we want to remember something. So if you're making an outline of those three things, realize something, recognize something, remember something. Also that we can look to Christ and have the hope and peace and strength that we need to face our trials. First look at verses one through five and first we'll see what we want to realize. What is it that this Psalm teaches us to realize? And that is we want to realize that God has helped us far more than we know. In every situation, in every trial that you have already faced, God has helped you. Probably far more than you know. And we want to realize that. Look at verses one through five. He says, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when the people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive when their anger was candled against us. Then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us, then over us would have gone the raging waters. Notice what David is doing here. David is talking about some non-specific challenges that the people of Israel faced, intentionally non-specific so that we can apply it to our specific situations even today. But notice what he's saying. He's acknowledging that the Lord has helped, but the way that he's acknowledging it is by saying things could have been substantially worse. And he uses these two metaphors. One fire, what he's saying there would have swallowed us up, he's using the metaphor of fire, the way fire just totally wipes out a whole area, decimates everything in its path. He uses another metaphor of the flood or a flash flood, probably what he's talking about, that out and nowhere suddenly this huge, gush of water comes and wipes out everything in its path. And what he's saying is, here's how we know God was on our side when we face these challenges. We weren't utterly destroyed. He's saying things could have been far, far worse. And what that does is it invites us, the people of God today, to look at all the different trials we've faced and start imagining how much worse things actually could have been. And then to realize that it was God that was on our side, to prevent things from being as bad as they possibly could. This Psalm invites us to look at the worst things we've faced and realize they could actually have been a lot worse if the Lord had not been on our side. I was reading about this very interesting situation that took place back in 2008. On March 14, 2008, a tornado hit the city of Atlanta, which is pretty rare, tornadoes are usually hit in rural areas, but on March 14, 2008, at about 9.40 pm, a tornado hit Metro Atlanta. It did about $100 million worth of damage to the city, $1.8 million dollars alone to the Georgia dome. Now here's what's remarkable about that tornado. Only one person died, one. Which is tragic, of course, but normally if a tornado hits a densely populated area, we're looking at mass casualties, but only one person died. Now here's something else that's interesting. That same night was the quarter finals of the NCAA tournament, March Madness. So Alabama and Mississippi State were duking it out to see who would move on from the quarter finals. The game was very intense, and Alabama and Mississippi State were neck and neck the whole time, and the game actually came down to the last seconds. At the last few seconds of the game, Alabama was down by three, and they were going to have the ball. And now if they can make a three pointer, then they'll go into overtime. But if they don't, then they're going to lose, the Mississippi State will go on. So the last seconds are ticking down, the ball is passed to Michael Riley, who's a forward on Alabama. He drops back behind the arc, takes that shot, it's sailing through the air. Everybody's on pins and eagles. If he makes this thing, then they're going to overtime. But if he misses it, the game is over and Mississippi State wins, and that ball goes and goes, and swish. He nails it, right? So now they're going into overtime. Great, everybody, all the Alabama fans take a sigh of relief, and the Mississippi State fans are frustrated, but at least they're still overtime. Overtime begins, and just a few minutes into overtime, the whole Georgia dome starts to shake. And things start to fall from the sailing. It's the tornado passing over the Georgia dome. They postponed the rest of the game, since the sailing was falling, and they played it later. But in the days following, something very, very sobering was realized. If Michael Riley had missed that shot, and the game had not gone into overtime, thousands and thousands of basketball fans would have been in the parking lot getting into their cars to go home. When a tornado that did $100 million worth of damage to a city passed over that place. And the realization of just how much worse things could have been tremendously sobering. And you can get two options. You can say, well, what a coincidence. Or you can say, if had not been the Lord who was on our side. Now, I've never met an Alabama fan who didn't think God was on their side. But if you and I struggle to know or believe, whether the God of the universe is on our side, one of the things that we're invited to do here is realize that if he wasn't, then everything would be substantially worse. And it's a discipline that we need in our families and our community groups to realize how much worse things might have been if it had not been the Lord who was on our side. And the ultimate understanding, or the ultimate lens we look through for this is, of course, the cross. Because the worst case scenario for any human being is eternity in hell paying for our sins. But God has sent his son to pay for our sins for us, to redeem us, from the curse of the law, to be our substitute. So no matter what, God has prevented things from being as bad as they could be. Because through faith in him, instead of spending eternity in hell, we will spend eternity in the new heavens and in the new earth with our God, with our Redeemer. Because the church, as a people, we want to discipline ourselves to realize that the fact that things are not as bad as they possibly could be is the proof that our God is on our side and that we can in Christ then have hope and peace and strength for our battles. So we want to realize God has helped us far more than we know. Secondly, we want to recognize something. Look at verses 6 and 7, we want to recognize something. Here's what we want to recognize. We want to recognize that our God can intervene at any moment. Our God can completely change the situation at any millisecond of any day ever in our life. Recognize that our God can intervene at any moment. Look at what David says here in verse 6, blessed be the Lord, praised be the Lord. You literally can translate that worship the Lord. Why? He has not given us as pray to their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the followers, the snare is broken, we have escaped. Let me unpack this a little bit. He's using two more metaphors from nature to describe the situation and what didn't happen. And one is he's giving in the imagery of God intervening before things got completely hopeless. If you can imagine yourself being a little animal running from a wolf. And those teeth are coming, those teeth are coming, but you get away at the last second. You were saved from those teeth. Well maybe in that situation, if you're that animal, you're freaking out, but then things work out. So things were changed, God intervened before things got too bad. But also he gives this illustration of the bird and the snare to teach us that God can intervene after things have become apparently hopeless. It's very interesting that I was studying this passage and what the commentators say about this. You and I probably don't know a fowler. Is your uncle Jimmy a bird trapper? No? Okay. We probably don't know any followers. Well, Israelites would know fowlers, people who trap and sell birds for a living. And another thing that they would know is that a fowler's snare does not break.
They would have heard this as David saying, something has happened. A one and a million, maybe a one and a billion thing happened and we got away. In other words, they were in the snare metaphorically. There's no hope for them. There's no way out of a fowler's snare unless it breaks. Which means God must have done something. It's miraculous. It's a one and a million thing and what that tells us is that we know God can intervene before things get too bad or after they've already seemingly become hopeless. When we know that then, while we face a particular trial, we can remain hopeful because we know at any second he can turn this whole thing. We prayed for Pablo, our church planter, who's with Levina, right next door right now, worshiping, and Pablo, this past week, told me a story, blew my mind. He told me that at one point, when he was a lot younger and his family was younger, that he had took a job before he became a pastor. He took a job as a computer salesman. And he was selling pretty expensive computers and it just wasn't going well. He had not sold very many computers and therefore his family was running out of money. They were trying to figure out how they were going to make ends meet. They were going to lose their house. They were going to lose everything that they had. He had no idea how he was going to provide. And as you might imagine, he was totally panicked and he was feeling he was at a point where everything is just lost now. And on December 27th, an acquaintance calls him and says, Pablo, do you still sell computers? And Pablo says sometimes.
And he says, I need to buy a bunch of computers. I work for the government and I don't need them for like months, but I got to pay for them before the end of the year. Can I send you a check for some computers? And Pablo said, yeah, how many do you need? He said, well, I need 100. And in a heartbeat, all the money that Pablo would have made over those months is back. All the savings that they burned through is back. All the problems, all the things connected to that situation is over.
And this is the godly worship who can do things like this. He can turn things in a heartbeat.
This is why when God was talking to Abraham who just did not believe that his wife was going to conceive and neither did she. And God's question in Genesis 1814, is anything too hard for the Lord?
This is why Job, but when it was Job's turn to respond and Job 42 verse 2, he says, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be forwarded. You see our hope in a trial, our peace in any trial or difficult situation is going to be tied to whether or not we think it can be undone immediately. And when we believe that God can turn things at any moment, it enables us to face what we're going through with continued hope. And Christ points us to this in his resurrection, right? Think about the apostles and the moments after the resurrection and the day in between, the three days that they wait. Just think about how they're thinking. Everything is lost. Everything we've been working for is done. Our leader is dead. The movement is over. They're thinking, this is a wash. This is a waste. And then the women run to them with good news. He's risen.
And they live the rest of their lives, abounding in hope, even facing all their suffering with hope because they know not only does the resurrection prove that our sins are really actually forgiven, but it also proves that God can turn everything around in a fraction of a second if he so chooses.
So this Psalm invites us to recognize that. To recognize that God can intervene at any moment and remain hopeful in whatever it is, whatever challenge that God's placed in front of us. Any second he can turn everything around. Third, we want to remember something. So we want to, if we're going to have hope and peace and strength in Christ to face our trials, we want to not, number one, realize that God's helped us way more than we know in the past. We want to recognize that he can intervene at any moment. And third, we want to remember that our God is always in control. That our God is in control. Okay, take a look at verse eight. Here's what David says. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. You know, it's interesting about this verse. Calvin, when John Calvin, when he was in Geneva, he put this into their liturgy. And so the congregation every week would come. And they would say out loud together, verse eight. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Should we go back to Geneva for a second? Let's say this together out loud. Verse eight. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Why did he want them to say that every week? One, because it's true. Two, because it helps us to believe that he is in control, that he is sovereign. God who can make all things out of nothing can do anything at any time. Hebrews 11 verse three reads, by faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. That's the verse from where we get that phrase ex nihilo, that God created all things out of nothing. God didn't arrange stuff that already existed into the planets and the solar system. He created everything that exists by the word of his power. And if God can create all things that did not exist, if he can out of absolutely nothing, if he can create all things, then he is powerful enough to do anything at any time. And not only is God all powerful, he's the creator, but he's also got purposes for everything that's taking place. And he knows everything. God's all powerful, he's also all knowing. And one of the things we have to remember is that God is in control, and therefore, not only has he helped us more than we realize, not only can he intervene at any second, but also if he is not apparently helping us at the moment, it's because he's got a purpose for the trial. It's because he's using the trial in your life to bring about something good, something that helps you understand him and his glory even more, something that prepares you for a future of unencumbered joy in his presence in the New Heavens and New Earth. You know, one pastor said, God gives us exactly what we would ask for if we knew what he knows.
He's got the whole picture. He can see what you can't see. That's why we want to trust him. And he's helped more than we realize that he can change things at any moment. But also, he's the creator. He's the one with the plan. He's in control. That's who our help comes from. And therefore, if he doesn't seem to be doing right, something right now, he's got a plan. Once we're at about a ten-year-old boy who, despite having lost his left arm in a car accident, he wanted to take judo. And he began to take judo lessons from an old Japanese judo master. And after about three months, he'd been working really hard, and he had only really learned one move. And so he said to his master. He said, Sensei, don't you think I should learn another move? And his master said, this is the only move you know, but it's the only move you'll ever need to know. And so the boy decided he's just going to trust his sensei and keep training. Several months later, the Sensei took the boy to his first tournament. And the boy, surprising himself even, he actually first easily won the first two matches. And then the third match came, and it was definitely a little more difficult. There was some close calls, but at the last second, his opponent made a wrong move, and he was able to do his one throw and win that match. And all of a sudden, this boy is in the finals. And this time, his opponent was a lot bigger, a lot stronger and a lot more experienced. And for a while, the boy appeared to be totally outmatched. And so the referee was actually really concerned about this boy getting very hurt, and he was about to stop the match. He called time out and he wanted to stop the match. But the boy's sensei said, no, let him continue.
And soon after the match resumed, the opponent made a critical mistake. He dropped his guard. The boy was able to do his one throw, take him down and win. So suddenly, this boy is the champion. He's won this tournament. And so on the way home, he was talking to his sensei, and they were going through every move and every match and they're trying to figure out how did this happen? He was trying to figure out how did this happen? He finally says to his sensei, sensei, how did I win this tournament? How did this possibly happen? And his sensei turns to him and says, you won for two reasons. First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.
Behold your God. Your God, our God knows so much more than you do, and then I do. Our God sees the entire picture. Our God knows that we wonder about things a lot. But we don't have to wonder whether he cares or whether he knows or whether he's going to do something because he's promised all three in Christ.
And you may not understand the situation, but he does. I mean, just think back to last week, Pastor Matt Eusey's fantastic ceremony, he reminded us of Revelation 154, which is a picture of the future when everything's said and done, and the new heavens and new earth. And we're all praising our God and saying this, who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed. In other words, the curtains pulled back and we get to see the answers to all these questions of why. Why this? Why that? And we'll see that he had this perfect plan all along. He was in control.
You want to know another interesting thing about that tournament and that tornado? Michael Riley, when he was a little boy, the one, the Ford Alabama former Ford who made that shot. When he was a little boy, he wasn't very interested in basketball, but his aunt was tragically shot and killed by a stray bullet when he was a little boy.
And she didn't have any descendants, so all of her money went to his family. And one of the things his family did with that is built a little cement slab in the backyard and put up a basketball goal. And little Michael went out and started to play basketball. And he got pretty good. And he ended up starring at his high school and then he made it onto the team of the University of Alabama. And then he made that shot. That literally saved thousands and thousands of lives. And you better believe people thought why did this happen? Why would God let this happen when his aunt was shot? And then years later, a little boy who wouldn't have otherwise become a basketball star did. Because he knows, God knows.
It's all planned out.
He's always in control. And if you think about the cross, Christ, on route to the cross, says in John 10, 17, and 18, that I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. That means even Christ on the cross, suffering for our sins, he's in control. Felly Lloyd-Jones in her book, The Jesus Storybook Bible, has a great line. She says it was not nails that held Jesus to the cross. It was love.
And so even as he dies for our sins, he's in control. He's showing us the control of God and the way that God with his control uses, even the worst things we go through to bring about the best possible future for us. The hold your God.
So if we want to have hope, maybe you're going through one of the hardest trials of your life. Maybe you're not. If you're not, this is a good time to lock these things in, so you're ready when it happens. But if you are,
take the time to think about the things you've been through and realize if God hadn't been on your side, it would have been a lot worse. Take the time to recognize God can intervene at any second and change the whole landscape. Keep your hope up. And remember God is in control. And he's promised you in Christ that in the end, all things work out way better than just okay.
But for his glory and for our fullness of joy. That's the God we worship. And our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Let's pray. Father. I want to especially pray for those in the congregation who are going through what might be the greatest trial of their life. And would you bring comfort, the Lord is close, to the broken hearted and lift those who are crushed in spirit? Would you bring peace? Would you guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and give them the peace that passes all understanding? Would you give them strength?
They know they can do all things in Christ who strengthen them. Would you give them hope as you are the God of hope, the one who fills people with hope? And most of all, would you help each and every one of us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith? And we pray in his name. Amen.