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A Plea and a Promise · Fifteen Minutes With Fritz - Where Scripture Meets the Sidewalk

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning, everyone.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: This is Fifteen Minutes with Fritz, a weekly podcast seeking to discover where scripture meets the sidewalk.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: We are looking for inspiration in the Psalms, discovering God's promises and finding encouragement to overcome the great daily grind of life.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: We just finished Psalm one, where we learned the three Cow to avoid compromise through making a commitment to drink in the nourishment of God's word each day, and by doing so we can discern the contrast between a life blessed by God and the life that is not, hopefully guiding us to choose to follow God's path and enjoy His promised blessings.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now before we move on to our next psalm, I want to share the story of a man you've probably never heard of.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: His name was Joseph Scriven.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: In eighteen forty three, the night before his wedding in Ireland, Joseph's fiancee accidentally fell from her horse and drowned in a river right before his eyes.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Heartbroken he immigrated to Canada to start over.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: He fell in love again years later, but his second fiancee tragically contracted tuberculosis and died before they could be married.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Scriven spent the rest of his life in deep poverty, cutting wood and performing free manual labor for widows and the sick.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: When he learned his mother was gravely ill back in Ireland and he lacked the money to go visit her, he wrote a poem to comfort her.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: It was never intended for the public, but a friend discovered the text by his bedside shortly before Scrivan died.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to the words of Joseph Scriven's poem What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Have we trials and temptations is there trouble anywhere?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: We should never be discouraged.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Take it to the Lord in prayer.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Are we weak and heavy laden cumbered with a load of care?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Precious Savior still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Can we find a friend so faithful who, with all our sorrows share?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus knows our every weakness.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Take it to the Lord in prayer.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: You may recognize these words from the familiar hymn title titled What a Friend We Have in Jesus, written by a man whose life was filled with pain and disappointment.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And yet Christians around the world have found encouragement in dark times through the poem he wrote in the midst of his own pain and disappointment.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: A story like Joseph Scrivens repeats itself in many of the hymns we sing on Sunday morning.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Personal tragedy that led someone to write words and melodies that captured the deep ache they felt in their hearts.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: But those same songs encourage us to turn to Jesus in spite of our circumstances.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now I tell this story because it is also true of the Psalms, the one hundred and fifty songs God has given us in his word.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: The next psalm we want to look at falls neatly into this category.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: King David was facing a difficult battle and his words are more or less a confession of the deep pain and discouragement he felt.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: But thankfully he didn't stop there.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: He also confessed his deep appreciation for God's encouragement in the midst of his challenges.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: So let's jump ahead a few pages in our Bibles to Psalm five, and let's prepare ourselves to be blessed.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're going through a bit of a rough patch right now, or if you find yourself trudging through a lengthy, deep, dark valley, this psalm can help.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to King David's words of encouragement.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to my cry for help, my king and my God, for to you I pray.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: In the morning, O Lord you hear my voice, in the morning I lay my request before you and wait in expectation.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: You are not a god who takes pleasure in evil, with you the wicked cannot dwell.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: The arrogant cannot stand in your presence, you hate all who do wrong.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: You destroy those who tell lies, bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I by your great mercy will come into your house.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: In reverence I will bow down toward your holy temple.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Lead me, O Lord in your righteousness because of my enemies, make straight your way before me.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Not a word from their mouth can be trusted, their heart is filled with destruction, their throat is an open grave, with their tongue they speak deceit.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Declare them guilty, O God, let their intrigues be their downfall, banish them for their many sins for they have rebelled against you.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: But let all who take refuge in you be glad, let them ever sing for joy.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Spread your protection over them that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous, you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like most psalms this one is another example of well organized thoughts.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Begins with a plea in verses one to three and ends with a promise in verse twelve.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: And in the middle David shares his deepest feelings about God, himself, his enemies, and the righteous.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: First let's look at the plea.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: He starts the psalm like this Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to my cry for help, my king and my God, for to you I pray.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: In the morning I lay my request before you and wait in expectation.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Notice there are three parts to David's plea.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: First he makes it clear that he prays in the morning.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice, in the morning I lay my requests before you.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now I don't think we should interpret this as a command to only pray in the morning, then leave things to slide until we open our eyes the following morning.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think David prays in the morning because the challenges he is facing from his enemies is the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up in the morning.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so he brings his concerns to God right away in the morning.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: I find this to be true in the challenges of my own life.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes they're the last thing I think about before falling asleep, and they're the first thing that comes to mind when my alarm goes off in the morning.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: I might even dwell on them if I wake up in the middle of the night.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like David, I bring them up to God in the morning when I pray.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Second, notice the sort of increase in tension as David makes his requests.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: It starts with a kind of wish that God would give ear to my words.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: He then moves on asking God to consider my sighing, and he ends with almost a demand for God to listen to my cry for help.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: This is a technique used in poetry called synonymous parallelism, where the same basic idea is repeated while building intensity.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: We can almost feel David's frustration growing as he makes his requests driven by his personal discouragement.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Give ear, consider, listen.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: The third part to David's plea demonstrates his faith.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: David expected God to answer his prayers.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure I can make that claim.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: When I finish my prayers in the morning, I don't know that I walk away expecting God to answer them.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that he does.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: I want him to, but expecting him to answer, that seems a bit presumptuous on my part.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: But the depth of David's faith allowed him to trust God to answer him, something I really need to work on.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Notice that David didn't presume a timeline for God's answer.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: His request didn't include an expectation for when God would answer.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: He simply offered up his requests, then waited for God to answer in God's perfect timing.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: This is another area I need to work on.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an impatient prayer, often superimposing my timeline over his.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: I need to learn to be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is especially true when we're in the middle of life's challenges.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, God, I recognize that I'm going through this because you are teaching me something.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I'd really like this to be over by next Tuesday.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Can you do that?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: This approach really doesn't model David's approach to prayer, does it?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that was David's plea.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: What we can take away from this is that we don't have to hold back when we lay our requests before God.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: He knows our hearts, therefore he knows our frustrations and our concerns, and we can bear our souls when we pray to him, and we can wait expectantly for his answer.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: It will come.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Let's move on to God's promise.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Actually it's promises.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: The psalm ends with a high note leaving us to feel good in spite of our circumstances.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous, you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: I see two distinct promises in this verse.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: The first promise is that God will bless the righteous.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is a sort of continuation from what we learned in Psalm one.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: The one who is blessed by God is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever he does prospers.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's the picture God wants us to have in our minds when we think about how He blesses us.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: We are strong, we are nourished, we can provide fruit to others, and we will prosper.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: And all this happens regardless of our circumstances.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: If we're sitting on top of the world, God can bless us.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: If we're trudging through the daily grind of life, God can bless us.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if we find ourselves in the depths of despair questioning why we are where we are, God can bless us.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: But I really like the second promise.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: God will surround us with his favor as with a shield.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: That first promise was rather general, God will bless the righteous.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: But this promise points of paints a vivid picture of the lengths God will go to make sure we are protected.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: He surrounds us.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: This is a military term that describes how an army slowly and deliberately encircles its foes.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: He surrounds us as with a shield.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: This is another military term describing a large shield that protected the soldier completely from head to toe.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: But the best part of this promise is that God will protect us with his favor.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Let's expand on that a little bit.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing we have God's favor leaves us feeling content, doesn't it?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: It means we have his approval, his support.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: It just makes us feel good.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's that feeling we get when our spouse looks us looks at us and says, I love you for no apparent reason.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And knowing we have God's favor gives us confidence to face whatever life might throw at us.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so let me encourage you to bring everything to God in prayer.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Tell him exactly what you want and what you need.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: He knows it all anyway.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then wait for his answer.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: You've probably heard the saying that God answers every prayer.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes the answer is no, and sometimes the answer is not now.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: But he does answer every prayer.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Then we can rest in the promise of verse twelve.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous, you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget to keep your Bible in a prominent place, and I encourage you to read this Psalm, Psalm five, from beginning to end each day.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Father, although our sins are laid open before you, you freely grant us your grace and mercy each morning.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: And in spite of our weaknesses, in spite of our shortcomings, in spite of how we let our circumstances drag us down, you promise to protect us and keep us and look upon us with your favor.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Have we trials and temptations?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Is there trouble anywhere?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: O Lord, we should never be discouraged.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: We should take them all to you in prayer.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' precious name we pray.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask for or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is the end of our podcast, but it's not the end of our story.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.