From His Heart

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Today on From His Heart, we Get Raw and Real about the dark times in life. Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

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We're going to look at the psalms for this series because psalms are so true to life. You know, David wrote lots of the psalms, and in the Psalms, he just lets it all hang out. He tells you what's going on inside. He kind of peels back the layers and just says, this is how I'm feeling.

I had a friend of mine, he said one time, he said, you know, you can sum up the book of Psalms this way: it's hard, but God is good. If you're not prone to reading the psalms, I want to encourage you to do that. It's raw and it's real, and it teaches us so much about the Lord and how to face the ups and downs of life.

Speaker 1

All this month on From His Heart, we've been talking about truth, the real truth that God has given us to guide, provide, and protect us in our sin sick world, even when the ups and downs, the good times and the tough times surround us, and they do surround us all. In the midst of all of that, God is good and faithful and true, especially through the dark times.

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today as we navigate the roller coaster of life and learn to face the ups and downs that come today. We'll be in the 13th chapter of the book of Psalms. Turn there now, if you can.

Now, today's first message in this series called Roller Coaster is actually a heartwarming tale called Dark Times that will specifically teach us to rejoice and rest in the hope of the Lord even in the darkest of situations. Here's Pastor Jeff to help us understand and trust in how God works in the dark times.

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How many in this room have ever ridden on a roller coaster? Can I see your hand? How many in here would say, "I'm never again going to ride on a roller coaster?" Okay, a lot of hands go up. How many in here can remember the first time they went on a roller coaster? Anybody remember the first time? My first time was when I was in seventh grade; we went to Astroworld, which is now Six Flags. It was the first time I was on a roller coaster, and it was fairly mild compared to the roller coasters of today. But, you know, roller coasters are just a few minutes long, and they are thrilling, exciting, and frightening all at the same time, all kind of rolled up into one.

You know, life is a lot like that roller coaster. It has ups and downs, twists and turns, thrills and chills, and then you even go through some dark times. We're going to look at the Psalms, and one of the reasons we want to look at the Psalms for this series is because Psalms are so true to life. David wrote lots of the Psalms, and in the Psalms, he just lets it all hang out. He tells you what's going on inside. He kind of peels back the layers and just says, "This is how I'm feeling." I had a friend of mine who said one time, "You can sum up the book of Psalms this way: Life is hard, but God is good." Life is hard, but God is good.

So if you're not prone to reading the Psalms, I want to encourage you to do that. You know, if you read five Psalms a day, you can read through the book of Psalms in a month. I try to read five Psalms every day. It's a little tough when you hit Psalm 119 because it has so many verses. But if you read five Psalms a day in the book of Psalms, you can read through the whole book, and you learn so much. There are so many prayers and so much strength that you get from looking at the psalmist, especially David, to see what was going on in this person's heart. It's raw and real, and it teaches us so much about the Lord and how to face the ups and downs of life.

Well, today we want to look at a message I've entitled "Dark Times." We go through pitch-black times in life. We go through dark times when it seems like the bottom has dropped out, and God seems like He's a million miles away. David had a time like that. We don't know exactly what was going on in Psalm 13, but we do know about the life of David: he was anointed king, the king of Israel, when he was just a kid, 12, 13, or 14 years old. But he didn't become king for many, many years after that. When he got to be a man, he was in King Saul's army, and he was the leader of the army. The people gravitated toward David because God's hand was on David. God had taken His hand off King Saul and put it on King David.

King Saul was very jealous of David because he heard the people singing, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David has slain his ten thousands." Saul said, "What is that song? I hate that song." And they attached it to the son of Jesse. David's dad is Jesse. To the son of Jesse, ten thousands, but me only a thousand. So he started to get very suspicious of David, and he began to come after David. David spent years of his life on the run from King Saul, who was hunting him like a dog to try and kill him. David told Jonathan, Saul's son, who happened to be David's best friend, "Jonathan, there is literally not a step between me and death."

It was during the time that Saul was hunting him that David really went into a dark, dark place. God seemed a million miles away, and his prayers just didn't seem to get any higher than the ceiling. He felt so forlorn and so forgotten, and he didn't know what to do. Psalm 13 teaches us so much about life and about the dark times. Maybe you're going through a dark time, or maybe you just came out of a dark time. Or you know what? Maybe a dark time is coming up on the horizon. All of us can relate to dark times. So let's learn from Psalm 13 what to do.

We know David was in a dark, dark time in life because he says these words in Psalm 13: "Give me light in the darkness, lest I die." It was so dark for him. So, three insights from Psalm 13 about dark times. Insight number one: In the dark times, we can easily begin to question. We question in the dark times. Look at verses 1 and 2: "How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? Will you hide your face? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?"

Two verses, five questions in the New American Standard Bible. Five questions in two verses. Hey, when you're going through a dark time in life, we just naturally begin to start asking questions. Did you notice that most of the questions have to do with two words? How long? How long? See, we go through the hard times, the dark times. We question the duration of the darkness of the suffering that we're going through. We want to know from God, "How long does this last? Lord, how long?"

You know, we live in a society where we just want things quickly, so, so quickly. We have a microwave society, a fast food society, an instant coffee society. And when we're going through struggles and suffering, man, we want it to be instant relief. "How long, O Lord?" It's a normal, natural question. You know, in the book of Revelation, the Tribulation saints asked the Lord, "How long before you judge the wicked on the earth, Lord?" That's a question that is asked over and over and over. David asked it four times in two verses because he didn't like what he was going through.

Now, we all have heard the phrase, "Time flies when you're having fun," but time drags when you're having none. David wasn't having any fun, and it was hard for him, and he wanted out of that situation. "God, deliver me and deliver me now." I read a story about the great pastor Phillips Brooks, a great pastor in the 1800s. He was known as a man of poise and a man of quiet demeanor. But, you know, he was a human being just like everybody else. He had times where it was difficult for him, and he was going through a dark time. A friend saw him, and Brooks was just kind of pacing around like a caged lion. His friend said to him, "Hey, Phillips, what is the deal? What is going on in your life?"

He said, "Well, let me tell you what's going on in my life. The trouble is that I'm in a hurry, and God isn't." You ever been there where you're saying, "God, you do something," and God seems to be just not in a hurry at all? You know, we live in a microwave society. God doesn't have a microwave; God has a crock pot. And when God is working on you and working on me, it's slow going. We don't like it in the dark times. "Give me light in the darkness, Lord. I don't like this dark time. I don't like that you feel so far away from me, God. I don't like this."

But, you know, it's in the dark room that film is developed. It's in the darkroom that God does His deep and abiding work. You know, God doesn't really do a lot in our lives when we're on the mountaintop; it's when we're going through the low points, when we're going through the valleys. Jane Eggleston wrote a poem that says this:

"Sometimes life seems hard to bear,

Full of sorrow, trouble, and woe.

It's then I have to remember

That it's in the valley I grow.

If I always stayed on the mountaintop

And never experienced pain,

I would never appreciate God's love

And would be living life in vain.

I have so much to learn,

And my growth is very slow.

Sometimes I need the mountaintops,

But it's in the valleys I grow.

Forgive me, Lord, for complaining

When I'm feeling so very low.

Just give me a gentle reminder

That it's in the valleys I grow.

Thank you for the valleys, Lord,

For this one thing I know:

The mountaintops are glorious,

But it's in the valley I grow."

God does His best work in the dark places. You think of the Lord Jesus Christ. They took Him off that cross, His body battered, beaten, whipped, and broken, so to speak, for us. They took Him off that cross and put the aloes and the myrrh upon Him, wrapped Him in those grave clothes, and put Him in a cave, rolling a stone over the cave. It was a dark place. And God did His greatest work in that cave, in that dark place.

Maybe you're in a dark place today, and God is saying, "I want to do a work in that situation in your life." "How long, O Lord?" It's as long as it needs to be for me to teach you some lessons that I can't teach you on the mountaintop. I can only teach you that in the valley.

Speaker 1

In spite of all of the heartache we go through on this earth, we can follow in the footsteps of the psalmist and trust God to see us through. Pastor Jeff returns on From His Heart in just a moment with more in this lesson called Dark Times. It's true, life is like a roller coaster filled with ups and downs and good times and tough times. But in the midst of it all, God is good and faithful.

Pastor Jeff is in his series Roller Coaster this month, covering important truths found in the Book of Psalms, where he takes a transparent and honest look at the struggles we all face on planet Earth and how God is there for us in the toughest of times. The series is called Roller Coaster: Facing the Ups and Downs of Life, and it includes today's lesson, Dark Times. This inspiring eight-message series is available when you go to fromhisheart.org and click the Listen link. It'll be a blessing to you.

Speaking of blessings, at From His Heart, we've been blessed beyond measure to be able to ride the ups and downs of financial support for the last 20 plus years. This support allows us to be here each and every day with messages that impart real truth to our dark and hurting world. Pastor Jeff Shreve is a volunteer for this ministry. When you make a gift, it goes to helping us create and broadcast these lessons on over 850 radio stations across the United States and also around the world on TV and radio.

For your support this month, we'd like to send you Pastor Jeff's Truth series called Nothing but the Truth and his booklet Sticks and What to Do When the Going Gets Tough. Both the series and the booklet are gifts to you to say thanks for your support. Call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253) or go online to fromhisheart.org and make your secure gift. You can get the series on a USB flash drive, an immediate MP3 download, or CDs or DVDs—your choice.

Well, let's get back to the message today and learn the benefits of drawing closer to God, especially in the dark times.

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In the dark times, we can often begin to question how long, O Lord? And then we can question not only the duration, but God's care and concern for us. Lord, don't you care about me in the dark place? Look what he says in verse one. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? I want you to circle that word forget. It's a word that's used many, many times in the Old Testament—105 times to be exact. It's a word that means this: to mislay, to ignore, to be oblivious of, to cease to care. That's the way David felt.

Now you remember this about the Psalms: Psalms are raw and real to life. Psalms let you know what's going on inside. And Psalm 13 has six verses. The first four are David just venting. The last two are words of faith. So now we're just getting his feelings. It feels like God has hidden his face. It feels to David like God has forgotten him, like God ceases to care for him. Now that's not true, but it sure feels like that. It feels like that for David. And we can relate to that because we go through times where it feels like I think God forgot my address. He forgot my phone number. He seems to have put me on a shelf somewhere and closed the door. And he doesn't know what's going on. He knows. He knows.

Here's the truth: Isaiah 49. Israel was saying that the Lord had forgotten them. Judah said, "Lord, you have forgotten us." He says this: "Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I've inscribed you on the palms of my hands." That's the truth. God doesn't forget you. He doesn't cease to care for you, although it can feel like it at times.

So that's the first insight: in the dark times, we begin to question. The second insight is that in the dark times, we can often begin to despair. We go from questioning, "Does God even care about me?" and the longer that you start to run that through your mind, the easier it is to slide into this desperation. Look again. In verse two, he says, "How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day?" Verse 3: "Consider and answer me, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemies say I have overcome him. Lest my adversaries rejoice when I am shaken."

David went from questioning God and God's care and concern for him to being in a place where he's just in sorrow all day long. Being in a place where life just is terrible. And God has forgotten me. And if I don't get some light, I'm going to die. It's not fun being in that place. It's not fun going down, down, down. And when you allow yourself to move from questions into despair and you let the darkness really seep into your soul and you fall into a place of depression, you start to live in sorrow all the day, just like David said.

The word sorrow literally means affliction, grief, anguish. Now, here's David, and he's been promised so much. You're anointed king. You're going to be the king of Israel. Well, when is that going to happen? God doesn't tell him when. You know, the Lord promises us a lot of stuff. He doesn't tell us when those things are coming. He promised Abraham a son. He didn't tell him when the son was coming. You know, Abraham was in his early 70s when God promised him his son Isaac. Isaac wasn't born until Abraham was 100. So the Lord doesn't say, "Hey, I'm gonna give you this." Typically, he doesn't say, "I'm gonna give you this, and I'm gonna give you this tomorrow." He doesn't say that.

So he anoints David king. And David, let's say he's 12 or 13 years old. You know how old David was when he became king of all Israel? He was 37. 37. So there's like 25 years that have passed from the time he was anointed king to the time he actually took the throne of Israel. He became king in Hebron, and he was king there for seven years. And that was when he was 30. But all Israel, he was 37 years old. So there was a big gap in there.

And so here's David. He can easily just get so frustrated because he's like, "God, I don't understand this. You've promised me so much, but none of this is coming to pass. And there's not a step between me and death." And, Lord, it just... things are just so dark and so black and so bleak. And I don't see it getting any better. And he has sorrow in his heart all the day. He said, "How long shall I take counsel in my soul?" God's not answering. God's hidden his face, according to David. "God, you've hidden your face from me." And so when I pray, it's just like it doesn't get past the ceiling. And it just feels like all I have to do is counsel myself because you're not counseling me. You're not speaking to me, and you're a million miles away right now from me, Lord. And he begins to live in sorrow.

Hey, it makes sense. It's understandable that he was feeling that way. It's normal. It's natural for him to feel that way. But it's not right. It's not right. Yeah, his circumstances are bad, but God doesn't want him to live in sorrow all the day. You know one of the famous psalms, most famous Psalms, Psalm 23, David wrote that. It's the shepherd's psalm. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." And in Psalm 23, he says these words: "Even though..." Verse 4. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, because you are with me."

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I don't live in the valley of the shadow of death. I don't set up shop in the valley of the shadow of death. I don't put down my tent pegs in the dark valley of the shadow of death. No, I'm going through the valley of the shadow of death. He had sorrow in his heart all the day. He was beginning to live there in the place of sorrow. God doesn't want you to live in the place of sorrow. God says, "Listen, sorrow comes to every life. Nobody goes through life unscathed from sorrow and anguish and grief. But where people really get derailed is if they hit those dark times and then they stop and they put down their tent pegs and they begin to live in sorrow and grief and regret."

Oftentimes that happens to couples when they lose a child. It's just like they can't get past it. And God says, "Listen, I don't want you to live here." I mean, it's real life. You're going through this. There are hurts. You get hit on the freeway by an 18-wheeler and you puncture both lungs and break a bunch of bones and you're in intensive care. You don't get out of there in two days; you're gonna be in the hospital a while. We all understand that if your body is broken up, it takes a while to heal.

Well, emotionally, when you go through hard times, when you go through dark times, you don't just snap your fingers and everything's great. It takes time. But here's the thing: you don't put down your tent pegs in the valley of the shadow of death. The God who led you to it wants to lead you through it. And here's David, and he's getting close now. He's just talking about feelings here. This is how he felt. He felt like it's just not getting any better. I have sorrow in my heart all the day.

You know, the Bible speaks of joy for the child of God far more than it speaks of happiness for the child of God. Although the Bible does speak of happiness. When Jesus gave the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the ones who are this way and this way and this way." The word makarios means to be happy. So the Lord is interested in our happiness, but far more interested in us having joy. Someone as well said, "What is joy?" They said, "Joy is the flag that is flown from the castle of the heart when the King is in residence." When you have your life turned over to the Lord, even in the midst of intense suffering and intense sorrow, there can still be joy. Because God is still God.

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Yes, God is still God. But many more would say, "But my pain continues and I need his help. Now. Where is he?"

Pastor Jeff will have the answer to that tomorrow when he completes the message, "Dark Times," from the series "Roller Coaster: Facing the Ups and Downs of Life."

Join us on Wednesday as we open God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from his heart.

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There is truth There is truth There is hope that you always dream love. He can heal every scars of real truth Real love.

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From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more about that when you go to promisheart.org.