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From Vanity to Hope: Trusting the Lord (Psalm 39:7) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. I want you to picture something
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with me for a second. Imagine building this beautiful,
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massive house out on a frozen lake right in the early days of
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spring. Oh, that sounds like a terrible
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idea already. Right, but you bring your family
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inside you, you know, turn on the heater, arrange all your
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furniture, hang pictures on the wall, and inside everything
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feels incredibly solid. You feel completely safe.
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Sure, because you're insulated from what's actually happening
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outside. Precisely.
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But the entire structure is resting on a surface that is
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well, it's actively melting, so it is only a matter of time
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before the ice cracks under all that strain.
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And when it does, the results are catastrophic.
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Yeah, when that ice shatters, all that careful planning, the
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beautiful architecture, the meticulous interior design, it
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all means absolutely nothing. Because the foundation was an
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illusion. Spot on, and today we are doing
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a deep dive into why humanity constantly insists on building
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our lives on the ice. We're going to examine how one
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specific verse from King David shatters that whole illusion of
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safety. It is a staggering reality to
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look at. Human beings are we are
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incredibly fragile creatures, yet we spend our days trying to
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construct these fortresses out of materials that just cannot
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bear the weight of our fears. We naturally look to create the
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things to give us a sense of stability.
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Don't. We we do, we look to wealth.
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Assuming that you know enough money in a retirement account
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will act as this impenetrable shield against catastrophe.
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Or we look to our physical health, our youth, our social
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influence. Yeah, or just our careful daily
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routines. We try to convince ourselves
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that we are the sovereign masters of our own universe.
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But those created things, they are entirely insufficient to
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hold the weight of an eternal soul.
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Absolutely. And the resources we are
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analyzing today, they consist of two highly rigorous systematic
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theological expositions of a single piercing versus
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Scripture. We are looking at Psalm 39 9
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verse 7. And the textual analysis in
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these documents leaves absolutely zero room for human
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boasting, does it? None at all.
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What we see here is a systematic dismantling of all our false
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confidences. The text forces us to confront
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the brevity of our days. It really exposes the complete
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inadequacy of our worldly pursuits.
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It does, and it leads to a singular theological conclusion
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about where true expectation has to be placed if you're going to
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survive the cracking of the ice. So our mission for you in this
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deep dive is to look at how a few short words from King David
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managed to take a sledgehammer to all of our false earthly
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securities. And then we'll see how those
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same words anchor the human soul to a sovereign.
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But you know, to get to the hope of verse 7, we really have to
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understand the agony that precedes it.
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Yeah, you can't skip the painful part.
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Looking at the opening verses of Psalm 39, we see David trying to
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manage his crisis his own way. He attempts to handle his
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suffering by utilizing pure, raw human willpower.
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Which never works out well. No, it doesn't.
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How does the text describe this initial strategy of his?
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Well, it begins by bringing us into this suffocating
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atmosphere. In verses one through 3, David
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attempts a strategy of total muzzled silence.
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Muzzled is a strong word. It is, and the exposition points
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out two very specific Hebrew words used here.
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First is eshmora, which translates as a strict guarding
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or watching over, and the second is masum which literally means a
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muzzle. Wow, so this wasn't just a
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quiet, meditative silence. Not at all.
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We were not talking about a tranquil monastic retreat here.
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This was a rigorous, self-imposed white knuckled
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restraint. He's basically clamping his
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hands over his own mouth. Precisely.
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David is experiencing severe divine discipline and he's
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surrounded by the wicked, so he makes this calculated decision
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to just shut his mouth completely.
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Because he's terrified that if he speaks out of his intense
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pain, he will sin against God with his tongue, right in front
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of God's enemies, right? He is trying to suffer
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stoically. He resolves to just grit his
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teeth and bear the pain. But our source text is very
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clear that this silence, it did not bring him any holy peace
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whatsoever. It just resulted in agonizing
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suppression. Yeah, he states that he withheld
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his speech even from good. I mean, he refused to speak at
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all, and the result was that his internal turmoil just magnified
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exponentially. The text actually says his fire
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burned. The Holy Spirit was actively
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using the Word of God to force the absolute truth of His frail
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condition up to the surface. It is a fascinating theological
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reality, any human effort to suppress the reality of God's
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Providence or to ignore the pain of divine discipline through
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sheer stoicism, it always ends in total failure.
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That failure is actually a structural necessity in the
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Christian life. Well, think about the doctrine
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of Providence as we understand it from the Westminster
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Confession. It teaches us that God governs
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all his creatures and all their actions.
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Right, Chapter 5. Exactly.
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I mean spot on. When God ordains affliction for
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a believer, He intends for it to accomplish a specific
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sanctifying work. So David's attempt to remain
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completely silent was, in a functional sense, an attempt to
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bypass the intended effect of that discipline.
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Yes, he tried to manage the pain using his own natural strength,
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but the pressure of God's heavy hand made that impossible.
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The inward burning he describes is just the inevitable
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consequence of a finite creature trying to resist the clarifying,
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humbling work of the infinite Creator.
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I think a helpful way to visualize this inward burning
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for you listening is to imagine holding a fully inflated beach
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ball underwater. Oh.
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That's a great analogy. You use all your upper body
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strength to force that beach ball down below the surface, but
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the hydrostatic pressure is constantly fighting back against
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you. You can only hold it for so
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long. Right, and the harder you push
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it down, the more violently it will eventually erupt to the
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surface, splashing water everywhere.
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David was trying to hold his agony underwater and it finally
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erupted. It had to but.
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Let me play devil's advocate here for a second.
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If God is the one sovereignly applying this agonizing
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pressure, this heavy hand of discipline, isn't David's
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silence actually a valid form of spiritual survival?
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That is a common way people think about it.
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I mean, why is it considered a failure to just grit your teeth
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and endure what God is doing to you?
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Why shouldn't we just take our lumps quietly?
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Because taking your lumps quietly in this specific context
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is a form of pride. Pride.
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Really. Yes.
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We do it because we idolize our own competence.
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We prefer the illusion that we can handle our circumstances
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independently. To speak honestly to God about
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our complete inability to manage our lives requires an admission
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of total weakness, and our sinful flesh fiercely resists
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that. So gritting our teeth is just
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another way of saying I do not need a mediator, I can absorb
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this blow myself. Spot on, but that internal
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pressure in David eventually breaks his resolve and it leads
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him to speak. And when he does speak, he
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bypasses the wicked men around him entirely and directs his
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words vertically to God. And when that explosion happens,
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the text moves into an utterly devastating anatomy of human
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frailty. We see this in verses 4 through
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6. The assessment in those verses
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leaves zero room for human pride.
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None. David cries out to God, asking
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to know his end and the measure of his days.
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And the exposition we are studying is very careful to
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define the Hebrew terms here, right?
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Yes, it is. David uses the word cats for end
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and midda for measure. Now, just to be clear for the
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listener, he is not asking God for a calendar date of his
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death. No, he's not asking for a morbid
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countdown clock to see how many years he has left to optimize
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his retirement portfolio. He is asking for a theological
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perspective on the quality of his existence and wants to
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comprehend how frail he truly is.
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And the Hebrew word for frail here is chattel, which signifies
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something fleeting, lacking, or completely rejected.
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This specific plea functions as what Reformed theologians
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identify as the first use of the law.
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Correct. That is correct.
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The first use of the law acts as a mirror.
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Its primary function is to strip away every illusion of human
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autonomy and expose the reality of our total depravity.
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So by asking God to reveal his chattel, his extreme frailty,
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David is willingly submitting to this mirror.
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Yes, He is allowing the divine standard to expose his absolute
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dependence on the Creator. He realizes that he is not a
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self-sustaining entity. His physical breath is entirely
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borrowed. Every single heartbeat is a lone
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commodity from the sovereign. The vocabulary David uses to
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describe this vanity is striking.
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The sources focus heavily on the Hebrew word hebel.
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Which translates as vanity vapor or a mere breath.
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It is the exact same word that dominates the book of
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Ecclesiastes, isn't it? It is, but David amplifies it
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here. He uses the phrase call Habel
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call Adam Nitsab. And that translates to
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altogether vanity is every man at his best state.
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Let us unpack the word nitsab for a moment because it is
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crucial. Yeah, what does that specific
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word imply? This word paints a picture of a
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man who is standing firm. He is planted successful at the
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peak of his physical health. His bank accounts are comletely
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full. His career is flourishing and
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his reputation is spotless. So the text is making a radical
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claim here. Even in that absolute pinnacle
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of human achievement, that man is still just a breath.
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It completely levels the playing field of humanity.
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A king on a throne and a beggar in the street share the exact
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same ontological fragility. That is a staggering thought,
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and David continues by describing man as walking in a
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vain show. The Hebrew word there is selim,
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meaning a shadow or a phantom. So men are moving around,
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conducting massive business deals, fighting wars, building
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empires, but it is all a phantom existence if it is not anchored
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to God. The text actually says they are
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disquieted in vain. The word used is yehemayan.
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Which evokes the image of a roaring sea, right?
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Or a chaotic, noisy crowd. Yes, there is massive activity,
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endless rushing around, a constant churning of human
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effort, but it possesses 0 eternal substance.
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Furthermore, the text notes that man gathers riches, the Hebrew
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word yitzor, without having any idea who will eventually possess
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them. It is a holy disillusionment.
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And what is so compelling about our source material is how it
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actively applies these ancient concepts to modern frameworks.
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The exposition points out how this text completely dismantle
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secular humanism and evolutionary theory.
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Because those modern frameworks assume an inherent human
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permanence. Right.
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They teach that humanity is constantly progressing, moving
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toward a greater self-directed future strength and salvation
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within the human species itself. But this exposition shows that
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Psalm 39 exposes that assumption as a blatant falsehood.
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If man at his absolute best state is a vapor, then the
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humanist pursuit of building a utopia on Earth is literally
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grasping at wind. You cannot build a permanent
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Kingdom out of phantoms. The Tauruses also note how this
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text addresses the pragmatism found in the modern seeker
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sensitive movement within many contemporary churches.
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Yeah, that specific movement often focuses heavily on
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enhancing the natural man's best state.
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It offers life strategies, moral advice, and psychological boosts
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to help a person become a better, more successful version
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of themselves. But if that best state is
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fundamentally Hebel, a passing vapor, then trying to improve
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the natural man without addressing his spiritual death
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is an exercise in futility. The text demands that we preach
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the absolute necessity of being born again because a natural
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man's highest peak of moral or financial success is still
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categorized by God as total vanity.
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This logic creates a massive existential crisis for David.
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I mean, he has entirely exhausted the vocabulary of
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earthly futility. He really has.
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He has looked at the shadow of man, the noise, the vapor, the
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meaningless accumulation of wealth, and he realizes there is
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absolutely nothing there to support his weight.
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The realization that he's a mere shadow necessitates A radical
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shift. The collapse of his earthly
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confidence forces a vertical reorientation, and this brings
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us to the hinge of the entire Psalm in verse 7.
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It is the great exegetical pivot.
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How does that transition work in the original language?
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The transition relies on a specific discourse marker.
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In the Hebrew text. We got that this translates to
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and now. The exposition stresses that
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this is a dramatic adversative conjunction, right?
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Yes, it is not just a lazy transition to a new topic, like
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moving from chapter 1 to chapter 2 in a textbook.
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It is a massive logical breakthrough.
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David is drawing a definitive inference.
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He is saying since life is entirely fleeting, since my best
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state is a vapor, and since my riches will go to strangers,
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what remains? Let us bring our theological
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framework into this, because this raises A crucial question
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regarding human agency and sin. It certainly does.
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If the natural man is, as the Westminster Confession of Faith
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Chapter 9 estates all together, indisposed, disabled and made
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opposite to all good, then how on earth does David manage to
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make this pivot? That is the big question.
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If his will is bound by sin, he cannot just wake up 1 morning
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and decide to muster up this incredible vertical hope.
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No, he cannot. The source material uses this
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exact text to refute Armenian theology, does it not?
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Let me push back for clarity here and on many it might look
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at verse 7 and say look, David says what?
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Wait I for that? Sounds like he is reaching into
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his own reservoir of free will to make a choice.
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How does the exposition handle that?
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Yeah, how does? It the exposition answers that
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methodological question by pointing out that this pivot is
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decidedly not a sudden burst of independent free will.
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Right. It is the direct outworking of
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God's Providence, which is outlined in Westminster
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Confession chapter 5, and the application of irresistible
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grace. So God is the active agent
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behind the scenes. Yes, God deliberately uses the
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secondary causes of David's affliction, his physical
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sickness and his agonizing realization of death to
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completely crush his self-reliance.
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The source sites John Calvin's observation on this dynamic,
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doesn't it? It does.
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Calvin noted that God frequently permits the elect to be tossed
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by violent waves of despair for a highly specific reason.
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And what is that reason? So that they are forced to grasp
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the anchor of His mercy. David did not choose this pivot
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in a vacuum. He was sovereignly driven to it
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by the crushing weight of the vanity God laid upon his
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conscience. The Armenian view fails to
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account for the divine pressure that produces the human
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response. Spawn on.
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That is a staggering reality to consider.
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God orchestrates the crushing of our idols so that we have no
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choice but to look to Him. And notice exactly who David
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looks to. He specifically addresses the
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Lord using the Hebrew title Adonai.
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He is acknowledging God as the Sovereign Master.
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The exposition unpacks this by looking at the ancient Near
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Eastern context. In that specific culture, a
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servant or a slave had 0 autonomy.
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Their entire existence, their daily provision, their physical
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protection, it was all out of their hands.
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Right, their only expectation for the future was tied
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exclusively to the character and the resources of their master.
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So by crying out to Adonai, David is publicly renouncing the
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false autonomy of the vain show. He is taking his rightful place
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as a dependent creature. He is saying I have no rights, I
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have no strength, I belong entirely to my master.
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Having abandoned the phantom of self-reliance, the human soul
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desperately needs a solid place to secure its expectation.
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And this leads us directly into the second-half of verse 7.
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What weight I for my hope is in me.
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The text provides A rigorous analysis to the mechanics of
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this waiting. The Hebrew word used for weight
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is Kava. This is one of the most
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fascinating linguistic details in the entire document.
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The primitive root of the word Kava originally means binding
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together or twisting a cord until it is extremely tight.
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It completely redefines how we think about waiting on God.
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It really does. This is not a passive, lethargic
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waiting. It is not sitting in a dentist's
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waiting room, flipping through an old magazine, just killing
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time until your name is called. No, it implies an active high
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tension expectation. Yes.
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Think of a Mountaineer scaling a sheer Cliff face.
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He loses his footing and suddenly he is dangling over
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1000 foot drop. Terrifying situation.
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His survival depends entirely on the safety rope anchored to the
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rock above him. The tension on that rope is
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immense. He is gripping it with
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everything he has suspended in the air.
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And that active, desperate, high tension gripping of the rope
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that is Quava. If there is slack in that rope,
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the climber falls to his death. David is dangling over the abyss
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of his own mortality, and he's twisting his grip tightly around
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the character of God. And what he's waiting for is
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defined by the next specific word to calit, which translates
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to hope. The source exposition offers a
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brilliant contrast here, doesn't it?
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It does an extra biblical ancient Near eastern literature.
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This concept of hope was almost always pragmatic and horizontal.
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Like hoping for a good harvest. Right kings hoped in the
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superiority of their military Chariots, or they hoped for an
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abundant agricultural harvest to sustain their economy.
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It was a hope placed in physical, measurable outcomes.
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But David actively strips away all pragmatic earthly hope.
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He does not hope for a military victory or a sudden return of
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his physical health. He places his toilet exclusively
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in the covenant God. That distinction changes
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everything. The source material connects
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this to the Westminster Confession, Chapter 18, Section
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2. Which explains that biblical
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hope, the assurance of grace, is founded entirely on the
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objective divine truth of God's promises.
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It is an objective reality, not a subjective wish.
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And our expert sources use this to actively refuse specific
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theological errors, starting with Roman Catholicism.
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We need to unpack how this works.
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The source material argues that Roman Catholic theology
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formalized the Council of Trent, grounds a person's hope
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partially, and infused grace and human cooperation with the
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sacraments. Let's break that down.
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In the Roman Catholic system, justification is viewed as a
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process where grace is infused into the soul.
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Enabling the person to perform meritorious works.
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Therefore, your hope for final salvation is contingent on your
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ongoing cooperation with that infused grace.
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Which introduces A fatal slack into the Mountaineers rope
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because it relies partly on the creature.
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But Psalm 79 shows David's hope rests on the sovereign decree
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and character of God alone. It relies 0% on human
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cooperation. David is actively confessing
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that he has no inherent righteousness to offer.
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His hope is entirely external. The exposition also refutes
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modern mysticism, which is prevalent in many circles today.
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Mysticism relies on subjective feelings, emotional experiences,
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or claims of continual direct revelation.
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But David's hope is not anchored in a transient emotional state.
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I mean, he was in sheer agony. His emotions were a chaotic
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mess. If his hope relied on feeling
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peaceful, he would have been lost.
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His hope is anchored in the objective historical reality of
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the covenant God who has spoken definitively.
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There is also a highly specific dispensational nuance brought
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forward in the source text regarding this concept of hope.
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Walk us through that. Well, while David's covenantal
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hope was tied to the physical promises made to national
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Israel, specifically the possession of the land and the
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establishment of the physical Davidic throne, the exposition
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makes a strict distinction regarding the Church's hope.
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How does that distinction function practically for a
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believer reading this song today?
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The source adheres to a dispensational framework here,
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noting that the Church's eschatological hope is distinct
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from national Israel's. So the believer today anchors
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their hope in the same immutable character of God, but the
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specific expectation is different.
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Yes, the specific expectation is the imminent pre tribulational
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rapture of the Church. The text references Titus
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chapter 2 verse 13. Waiting for our blessed hope,
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which is the appearing of our great God and Savior.
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This distinction maintains the integrity of the different
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covenantal promises given in Scripture, while showing that
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the fundamental posture of twisting the court of hope
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remains identical across redemptive history.
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Now, as believers who hold to a faithful Reformed reading of the
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Old Testament, we know we cannot leave David stranded in the era
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of types and shadows. No, we cannot.
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The sheer desperation, the agonizing weight of sin and
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mortality present in Song 39 absolutely demands a mediator.
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But this raises a critical methodological question.
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Right. How do we see Jesus in this
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specific text without treating the Old Testament like a fable
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or playing fast and loose with the original authorial meaning
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of the passage? We certainly do not want to
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force Jesus into a verse where he does not belong.
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The exposition answers that methodological question by
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demonstrating how the text anticipates Christ through the
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solid theological themes of covenant and office.
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Specifically the offices of prophet, priest and King.
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It avoids artificial allegory by tracing the redemptive
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historical fulfillment of David's cries.
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Let us look at the office of Prophet first.
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David realizes the vanity of life under the sun.
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But Jesus Christ is the true and final prophet who perfectly
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explains and exposes that vanity, calling men out of the
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world and into his eternal Kingdom.
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And As for the office of priest, this is where the connection
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gets incredibly sharp. David was suffering under severe
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divine chastening because of his sin.
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He needed someone to intercede for him.
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If a person faces mortality without a substitute, that
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mortality is not just the end of biological life.
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It is a terrifying summons to a holy judgement.
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Jesus perfectly fulfills the role of the great High Priest.
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He intercedes for the afflicted. And he permanently answers the
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problem of sin by bearing the exact divine judgement and wrath
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that David so rightly feared. Finally, as King, Jesus is the
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one who will conclusively subdue the vain show of this world.
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The frantic, noisy, chaotic rushing of unregenerate humanity
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will be brought into total submission under his sovereign
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reign. The exposition also focuses
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heavily on the concept of conquering mortality.
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David was staring down the brevity of his life, describing
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it as a mere hand breath. But Christ's literal bodily
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resurrection fundamentally breaks the tyranny of death.
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It alters the entire horizon of the believers existence.
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The Christian still faces physical death, of course.
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We still experience the biological decay of our bodies.
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But we no longer view mortality through the lens of utter
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despair. The grave has been declawed.
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What was for David a hope based on a future promise is for the
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Christian, a hope anchored in a finished historical redemptive
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work. The sources draw a stunning
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parallel here regarding the concept of the righteous
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sufferer. David is speaking as a chastened
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believer, entrusting himself to God while actively bearing the
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consequences of his own sin. But this points us to Jesus
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Christ, who perfectly embodied afflicted trust, yet without any
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sin of his own. Christ was the ultimate
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righteous sufferer. In the Garden of Gethsemane,
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sweating drops of blood under the crushing weight of the
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impending cup of wrath, and at Golgotha, bearing the full fury
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of divine justice, Jesus entrusted his spirit into the
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Father's hands. He exercised that high tension
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quava, that act of waiting and absolute perfection on our
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behalf. That theology is massive, but as
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Reformed thinkers, we know that theology meant to stay
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permanently in the ivory tower is essentially useless.
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The doctrines extracted from Psalm 39 demand a concrete
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response from the covenant community today.
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Why does having a sovereign anchor make us live differently?
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Because once you realize that temporal securities, your bank
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account, your fitness, your social status are literally a
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vain show, holding on to them is not just foolish, it is a denial
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of reality. You start hating your sin
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because you realize it is an attempt to build a fortress out
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of vapor. This brings us to the pastoral
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application and specifically the concept of suffering as a severe
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mercy. We mentioned earlier how
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prosperity tends to hide our idols.
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When our bank accounts are full and our health is perfect, we
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can easily mask our reliance on the creature.
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But Affliction shakes the props away.
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A sudden illness, A bitter betrayal or a massive financial
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loss will rapidly uncover hidden dependencies we did not even
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know we had. The exposition points out that
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suffering is the primary training ground for pure hope.
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It strips away the excess so we can see what we are actually
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holding onto. In Reformed theology, applying
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this text to the believers life falls under what?
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The Westminster Confession, Chapter 19.
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The third use of the law. While the first use exposed
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Davidde total depravity, the third use functions as a rule of
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life, guiding the regenerate believer in grateful obedience.
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Because our hope is now anchored in Christ, this text issues a
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mandate to actively hate our sin and to repent of our persistent
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idolatry of temporal security. It is a clear call to mortify
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the flesh, and this warning extends beyond the individual to
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the corporate body. The source material issues a
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stark corporate warning to the church at large.
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A congregation that trusts in its sheer numbers, its cultural
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approval, its slick marketing strategies or the charismatic
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personality of its pastor is building its house on sand.
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If a church relies on the vain show of worldly metrics to
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validate its existence, it will eventually collapse under the
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weight of divine scrutiny. A church that preaches moral
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improvement instead of spiritual resurrection is just decorating
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the phantom. To counteract this, the
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exposition explains how the doctrine of this passage
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intersects directly with the means of grace, specifically the
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sacraments. Which we call visible word.
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Think about believers baptism. When a believer is immersed in
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the water, it is a tangible public testimony to the death of
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the flesh. They're publicly declaring that
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the vain show of the world is dead to them.
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And as they rise out of the water, they signify their new
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life and their eschatological hope in the resurrected Christ.
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The exact same intersection occurs at the Lord's Supper,
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when the covenant community gathers to partake.
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The physical bread and the cup function as tangible guarantees
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of the hope that David anticipated.
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We take those elements into our hands as a physical assurance
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that Christ truly bore our chastisement.
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Absorbing the wrath we deserved so that we might have an
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eternal, unbreakable anchor. Those sacraments are given by
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God to fortify the high tension cord of our hope.
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They pull our eyes away from the fading shadows of this present
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age and fix them squarely on the eternal substance of the Triune
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God. This brings all the threads
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together perfectly. We have seen that human life is
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barely a hand breath. All of our unregenerate human
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striving, no matter how successful it looks on paper, is
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just a noisy phantom. But God's sovereign,
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irresistible grace is the only chord that will not snap under
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the immense weight of eternity. If you are listening to this and
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you've just received a terrifying medical diagnosis or
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your career has just collapsed, hearing that your life is a
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vapor might sound incredibly depressing.
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But here is why this theological dismantling is actually the most
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loving thing God can do for you. It forces you off the melting
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ice and onto solid rock. The exposition of Song 39 9
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verse 7 leaves us with absolute clarity regarding our condition
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and our cure. I want to leave you with a final
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thought to Mull over as you walk through your week.
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If our deepest anxieties and our worst fears are usually attached
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to things that are actively passing away.
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Our reputation, our wealth, our earthly stability.
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What would happen tomorrow if you treated those things as the
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fleeting shadows they truly are? What if you stopped trying to
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muzzle your pain with stoicism? What if you stopped trying to
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build a Kingdom out of vapor and reserved your desperate cord
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twisting expectation solely for the eternal Master?
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Let that radical reorientation dictate how you view every
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single trial and affliction you face this week.
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Thank you for joining us for this deep dive.
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We will see you next time on Reformed Thinking.