Latest / Reformed Thinking / Divine Promise in Human Affliction: Hope and Comfort (Psalm 119:49–50)

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Divine Promise in Human Affliction: Hope and Comfort (Psalm 119:49–50) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. When the floor drops out from
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under your life, maybe a medical diagnosis is confirmed, or your
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financial safety net vanishes overnight, or sudden unspeakable
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sorrow strikes your household, what is the very first thing
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your mind reaches for? That is the big question, isn't
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it? It really exposes the bedrock of
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our theology. Yeah, it does.
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And that is why we are initiating a deep dive today
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into a really striking intersection of human suffering
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and divine speech. Because if you have been walking
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the Christian life for any length of time, you know that
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affliction has a unique way of exposing where your confidence
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actually rests. Right when your physical health
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declines, or when opposition rises against you in your
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workplace, the insufficiency of earthly comforts becomes
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painfully obvious. I mean a comfortable bank
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account or a supportive social circle.
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They just cannot hold you together when the furnace of
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affliction is turned up to maximum heat.
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No, they really can't. They just burn up in the fire.
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So today our mission is to unpack Psalm 119, specifically
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focusing our attention on verses 49 and 50.
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We have gathered a stack of rigorous theological and
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pastoral commentaries on these two verses.
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And our goal is to investigate where a believers confidence
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actually rests during a severe trial.
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We are looking at the gritty, realistic cries of a servant of
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God who is intimately acquainted with suffering, yet he refuses
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to surrender to despair. What stands out to me
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immediately in these commentaries is the sheer
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necessity of approaching this text with the correct
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theological framework. Absolutely.
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The modern evangelical landscape presents an overwhelming
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temptation to reach for therapeutic quick fixes.
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We see this prevalent seeker sensitive ideology that tries to
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scrub the Christian life clean of all friction.
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Yeah, marketing a version of faith that guarantees a smooth,
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uninterrupted progression of personal fulfillment, right.
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And we're still the prosperity gospel, which falsely guarantees
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physical health and circumstantial rescue.
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It's suggest that a lack of healing indicates a deficiency
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of faith. We are rejecting those
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frameworks entirely today. Good, because they just don't
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hold up. They don't.
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Instead, our focus is on the objective, written Word of God
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as the sole anchor in the furnace.
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We will view this text specifically through the lens of
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the Westminster Confession, identifying how the sovereign
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grace of God operates. And it operates not by removing
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the believer from the fire, but by sustaining the believer
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inside of it. Yes, the commentaries we are
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examining insist the true stability is found in the
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faithfulness of the God who has spoken.
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That rules out any reliance on mystical inward feelings,
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subjective emotional states, or passing worldly distractions.
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That distinction between the objective text and mystical
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feelings is crucial, especially when we look at the reality of
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the author of Psalm 119 was facing.
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Before we get to his specific plea to God, we have to
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establish His setting. Setting the stage is vital here.
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Psalm 119 is the longest in the Psalter.
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It is a massive acrostic poem, meaning each section begins with
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a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, versus 49 and
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50 sit inside the Zayn stanza. Right, and the sources point out
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that the author is writing from a state of real hostility.
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He is He is dealing with the mocking of the proud and facing
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significant social or physical distress.
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He is not sitting in a comfortable armchair doing an
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academic exercise. No, he is under act of assault.
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The tension is palpable. He is writing from the Crucible.
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And the historical reality of a situation requires A theology
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that actually works when the blood is on the floor, not just
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when everything is peaceful. The literary and historical
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setting of the Zane stanza is essential for understanding the
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weight of the psalmist words. The commentary suggests we're
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looking at a historical reality where the faithful remnant was
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marginalized. Maybe facing the bitter
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aftermath of the Babylonian exile?
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Yes, or periods of intense religious upheaval in Israel.
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The proud or arrogant mentioned in the surrounding verses are
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not just passive critics. They are actively opposing him,
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likely threatening his life and mocking his reliance on Yahweh.
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Wow, so this setting dismantles the modern error that faithful
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believers are somehow exempt from pain.
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Completely suffering is a normal, expected, and ordained
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part of the Christian life. The Westminster Confession of
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Faith in chapter 5 concerning Providence, states clearly that
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God's most holy, wise, and powerful Providence extends to
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all things. The Confession explains that God
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often leaves His children for a season to manifold temptations
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and the corruption of their own hearts.
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It sounds harsh to some people. It does, but the reasoning is
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brilliant. God does this to chastise them
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for past sins, to discover unto them the hidden strength of
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corruption, and to humble them. It drives them to a closer, more
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absolute dependence upon Him. Because prosperity often masks
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our idols when we are healthy and wealthy, we might assume we
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love God, but we might just love His gifts.
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That is spot on. Affliction strips the gifts
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away, revealing our true affections.
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The psalmist is living out the reality of Westminster
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Confession Chapter 5. The distress is not a sign of
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God's absence. No, it is the very theater of
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God's sovereign Providence. I want to look closely at that
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idea of the theater of Providence, because it shatters
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how most people in the West view Christianity.
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It really does. We often treat faith like an
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umbrella. We assume an umbrella will keep
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us entirely dry when the storm hits.
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We expect that if we just hold the umbrella correctly, if we
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pray enough, read our Bibles enough, attend church enough,
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the rain of suffering will bounce right off us.
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Leaving our clothes perfectly dry and our lives untouched.
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Yeah, but the psalmist treats faith far more realistically.
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He treats faith like a life vest.
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When you are wearing a life vest, you are still plunged into
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the freezing water. The waves are still crashing
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over your. Head exactly, you still feel the
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biting pole of the circumstances in your bones and your lungs are
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burning for air. The life vest does not eliminate
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the ocean, it sustains you within it.
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That is a highly accurate analogy.
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When we look at modern seeker sensitive movements, they
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constantly try to sell the umbrella.
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They market a version of Christianity that promises to
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keep you dry, but when the inevitable storm hits, the
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umbrella collapses under the wind and the person is left
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completely disillusioned with God.
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Yes, because they were sold a false premise.
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If we read this text as a cry from the freezing water, we
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validate the pain of the suffering believer today.
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Right. We give them permission to hurt
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while giving them a mechanism to survive.
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Validating the pain is a necessary pastoral step.
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The Zen stanza, which covers verses 49 through 56, carries
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distinctly experiential and pastoral tone.
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The original audience would have understood the force of these
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words not as a psychological pick me up, but as a survival
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mechanism. Because they were dealing with
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enemies who had forsaken the Torah.
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Right. They needed to know how to
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survive when the righteous are oppressed and the wicked seem to
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prosper. If we fail to read this as a cry
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from the furnace, we run the risk of turning the Bible into a
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book of abstract philosophical musings.
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Which it is not. No, it teaches the congregation
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that the right response to severe trial is not to question
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God's character, but to lean heavily upon his revealed truth.
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The psalmist is relying on something outside of himself to
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keep his head above the waves. That reality of the freezing
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water sets up the specific words the psalmist uses.
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Establishing that he is in actual danger leads directly to
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examining the bold legal demand he makes to God.
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Yes, let's look at that demand. Verse 49 begins with a
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staggering phrase. Remember your word to your
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servant. Now the sources note that the
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Hebrew word for a remember here is zakhar, and this is parsed as
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a qual imperative. Which is massive.
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Yeah, for anyone familiar with Hebrew grammar, an imperative is
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a direct command. Furthermore, the text uses the
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word dabbar to refer to the objective, spoken and recorded
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revelation of God. He does not ask for a new sign.
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No, he does not ask for a vision.
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He points to the dabbar. He commands the Almighty to
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remember. The shock of a human giving a
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command of the Creator cannot be overstated.
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To understand this, we have to view this through the lens of
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ancient Near Eastern covenantal structures.
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Unpack that for us. Well, in those ancient suzerain
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vassal treaties, a great king, the suzerain, would make a
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binding agreement with a lesser king or nation.
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The vassal the suzerain promised absolute protection, and the
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vassal promised absolute loyalty.
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And these treaties were serious business.
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Very serious. They were ratified with blood
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and severe oaths. In that legal and historical
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context, the word Zakhar remembering was never about a
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cognitive act of recalling a forgotten fact.
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So he isn't accusing God of having amnesia.
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Not at all. To say remember in a covenantal
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context is a formal mobilization to fulfill a sworn oath.
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It is a legal summons. The vassal is sending a
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messenger to the suzerain presenting the treaty and saying
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the conditions for your promised intervention have been met.
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We are under attack now. Act upon yourself imposed
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obligations. Yes, by focusing on the dabbar,
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the objective written promise, the psalmist avoids the trap of
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mysticism entirely. He is not waiting for a
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subjective feeling, a shiver down his spine, or a still small
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voice in the night. He points to the documented
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speech of the Almighty. Right.
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This aligns seamlessly with Westminster Confession Chapter
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1, which establishes Holy Scripture as the supreme judge
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in all controversies of religion and the final authority by which
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all spirits are to be examined. I look at this qual imperative
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and I have to admit, presenting a legal document to God feels
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clinical to modern sensibilities.
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It does feel very rigid to us today.
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Yeah, when I am suffering, I want a father, not a bank
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manager. I want an embrace, not a
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courtroom proceeding. Commanding God feels arrogant to
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modern ears. We are taught to be meek.
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Walking into the throne room and laying down a legal demand seems
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out of bounds. I could see why people feel that
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way. But let me propose an analogy
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based on what you just explained about the Covenantal Treaty.
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Think about going to a bank. If you go to a bank to ask for a
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business loan, you are asking for a favor.
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Right, you are hoping the loan officer looks kindly on your
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application. Exactly.
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You hope he evaluates your character and decides to grant
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you grace. You have no legal right to the
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money, but if you go to a bank to withdraw your own money from
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your own account, you aren't begging for a favor.
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No, you are presenting a signed contract.
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Yes, you are presenting your account number and demanding the
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funds that legally belong to you based on the bank's own written
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agreement. The psalmist is essentially
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bringing God's own signed contract back to him.
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He is initiating A withdrawal based on a legal right granted
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by the bank itself. The beauty of covenant theology
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is that the courtroom proceeding guarantees the embrace.
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You cannot separate God's legal fidelity from His fatherly love.
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That is a great way to put it. Presenting the contract is the
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very essence of covenantal prayer.
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The Puritan writers commenting on this text frequently noted
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that we must put God in mind if His promises, not to inform Him,
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but to exercise our own faith in His decree.
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So the boldness is not rooted in human merit.
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No, it is rooted entirely in divine faithfulness.
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Notice the psalmist calls himself your servant.
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This self designation provides the legal standing for the plea.
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He is not an independent contractor demanding A payout
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from a stranger. He is a member of the Covenant
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Household. Right.
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He belongs to the suzerain. This legal standing is entirely
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gifted by the suzerain. This addresses how easily the
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modern church slips into looking for mystical signs during
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seasons of suffering. All the time.
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When tragedy strikes, many Christians look for a fleeting
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feeling of peace. Or they wait for a
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circumstantial open door rather than opening their Bibles,
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placing their finger on a specific verse, and pleading the
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written text. The psalmist models a rigorous,
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objective spirituality. He takes the dabar, the written
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contract, to use the bank analogy, and places it before
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the throne with absolute confidence.
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And that confidence is what we need to unpack next, because if
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the psalmist is presenting a contract, we have to ask where
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he got the psychological and spiritual stamina to walk into
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the throne room in the first place.
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You don't just boldly walk into the presence of the King of the
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Universe without absolute certainty, especially when your
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life is falling apart. No, you don't.
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That leads us directly to the second-half of verse 49, which
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contains an astounding theological statement.
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The verse concludes in which you have made me hope.
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Let's look at the Hebrew here. The verb for hope is yacal.
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Yes, and the commentaries highlight that this verb is
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parsed in the peel stem. The grammar of sovereign grace
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is on full display in that peel stem.
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In Hebrew syntax, the peel stem is intensive and causative.
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The psalmist is explicitly attributing the very existence
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of his hope to the sovereign action of God himself.
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He is saying You caused me to hope.
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Hope, in the biblical sense is not a product of natural human
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optimism. It is not generated by our own
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willpower. And it is certainly not a
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product of a sunny disposition or resilient personality type.
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God himself causes the hope. This specifically and decisively
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refutes the theological errors of Arminianism and Pelagianism.
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Let's talk about those errors for a second.
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Well, Pelagianism suggests that human nature is essentially
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uncorrupted by the Fall, possessing the natural ability
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to choose God without divine intervention.
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Arminianism, while acknowledging the Fall, suggests that human
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free will retains the inherent ability to cooperate with grace
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or reject it. Making the human will the
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decisive factor in salvation and faith.
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Right. Both systems place the burden of
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generating faith and hope squarely on the individual, but
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the peel stem of Yakal shatters this entirely.
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God is the active agent causing the hope.
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And referencing Westminster Confession Chapter 11 on
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justification, we understand that faith receiving and resting
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on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument of
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justification. Yet it is not alone in the
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person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other
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saving graces. And that faith is the gifts of
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God. The psalmist recognizes that
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even his ability to present the contract at the bank was granted
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to him by the bank manager. That's the reality of.
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It because the terror of being responsible for your own hope is
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a heavy burden. If hope is a spiritual muscle I
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have to flex, and my spiritual muscles are completely atrophied
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by grief, I am doomed. You would be utterly without
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options. Contrast secular hope with
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biblical hope for a moment. Secular hope is a fragile wish.
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It sounds like. I hope the economy improves, or
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I hope the biopsy comes back clear.
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It is a desire directed at an uncertain an outcome.
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You cross your fingers and wait. But biblical hope, as defined by
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the peel stem of yokel, is a divinely instilled certainty
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based on God's character. It is an expectation of a
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guaranteed future planted in the soul by the Holy Spirit.
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I want to address the listener whose tank is completely empty
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right now. For the listener who feels
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completely devoid of hope, someone who is listening to this
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and thinking I have no hope left.
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I cannot muster up a single positive thought about tomorrow.
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Knowing that God is the cause of hope brings massive relief to
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that person. It takes the pressure off us to
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manufacture positive thoughts out of thin air.
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We don't have to fake a smile or pretend the pain isn't real.
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It relieves the believer of an impossible, crushing burden.
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If hope depended on our ability to muster up positive emotions
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during a crisis, we would all be condemned.
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When you're staring at a devastating medical report or
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standing at a graveside watching a casket being lured into the
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ground, the human mind cannot manufacture genuine hope.
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The sheer weight of the affliction crushes natural
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optimism. The physiological and
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psychological toll of severe suffering strips away every
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natural defense mechanism we possess.
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But when you realize that hope is an objective gift
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administered by the Holy Spirit through the Word, you stop
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looking inward for a spark. You stop taking your spiritual
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pulse. You look outward to the text.
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Yes, you pray Lord, I have no hope in myself.
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My natural reserves are gone, but your word says you cause
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your servants to hope. Grant me the grace of expecting
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your faithfulness. It removes the psychological
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pressure of performance. You do not have to generate the
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feeling, you simply have to rest upon the objective promise.
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The text teaches that God's promises do not simply offer
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static information to the mind, they actively awaken expectation
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in the heart. And because this hope is
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guaranteed by God, it produces a very specific, tangible result
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in the believer's life. We are not just talking about
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abstract theology here. No, we're talking about
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survival. This result is confessed in the
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very next breath. We move from the bold plea in
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verse 49 to the direct confession in verse 50.
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Verse 50 begins. This is my comfort in my
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affliction. Let's zero in on the words being
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used there. The Hebrew word for comfort is
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nikama. The sources defined this not as
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a soft, cozy feeling, but as a strengthening of the soul to
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withstand it. And crucially, the text says
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this comfort happens in the affliction.
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It does not say this is my comfort after my affliction has
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ended. The preposition is everything.
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That preposition strikes a fatal blow to the prosperity gospel.
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The biblical definition of comfort nakama is robust and
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muscular. In our modern therapeutic age,
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comfort usually means the removal of distress.
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It implies a soft sentimental easing of conditions.
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We want the temperature of the furnace lowered.
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We want the conflict resolved, the sickness cured and the bank
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account filled. But here, nakama means being
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fortified to withstand the heat. While the temperature remains
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precisely the same, the affliction remains entirely
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unchanged. The enemies are still mocking,
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the body is still aching, the circumstances are still dire.
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Yet comfort is present. The prosperity gospel falsely
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insist that a lack of physical healing or a lack of
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circumstantial rescue indicates a deficiency of faith.
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Psalm 119 dismantles that entirely.
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The psalmist has massive God-given faith.
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He is pleading the covenant contract Florida State, yet he
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remains in the state of affliction.
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God's ordinary way is not always to remove trials immediately,
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but to preserve his people through them.
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I think we see the absolute failure of the secular approach
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to comfort when we look at modern statistics on clinical
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anxiety and depression. The world offers endless secular
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remedies, mindfulness apps, luxury retreats,
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pharmaceuticals, streaming entertainment.
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Yet despair is at an all time high.
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The secular philosophy fails fundamentally because it cannot
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reach the soul. It tries to change the external
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circumstances or numb the internal receptors, but it
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cannot fortify the spirit. It operates just like a
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painkiller. Let's detail that painkiller
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analogy because it is so fitting.
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Imagine you were on a grueling hike up a steep mountain and you
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severely twist your ankle. The pain is blinding.
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If you take a strong painkiller, the drug shuts down your nervous
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system's warning signals. It tricks your brain into not
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feeling the damage. Right.
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You feel nothing, but your joint is still tearing with every
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step. The painkiller doesn't give you
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any extra energy. In fact, it makes you lethargic.
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You might wander off the trail because your mind is clouded.
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That is what secular entertainment and distraction do
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to a suffering person. An adrenaline shot, however,
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operates differently. An adrenaline shot courses
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through the blood. It dilates the eyes.
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It increases the heart rate. It provides a massive surge of
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stamina to finish the hike despite severe injury.
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The injury is still there, the mountain is still steep, but you
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have an infusion of raw stamina from the outside.
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The psalmist is describing an adrenaline shot to the soul, not
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a painkiller. The contrast between a
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painkiller and an adrenaline shot clarifies the essence of
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the comma. The world offers painkillers
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that induce spiritual lethargy. God offers life giving stamina
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that produces perseverance. And we must be clear that the
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source of the stamina is entirely external to the
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believer. Right, the verse says.
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This is my comfort. The demonstrative pronoun this
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point specifically back to the word mentioned in verse 49 and
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forward to the promise mentioned in the second-half of verse 50.
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His comfort is objective before it becomes subjective.
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He is not searching vaguely for relief.
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He knows precisely what his comfort is.
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His stability does not rest upon the fluctuating condition of his
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own emotions. His comfort rests in the Word of
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God, which remains sure even when his internal compass feels
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shattered by grief. This explains why reading the
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Bible during a crisis is not a distraction technique.
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It is not a religious coping mechanism to pass the time, it
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is the administration of the very stamina required to
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survive. So how specifically does this
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comfort act like that adrenaline shot?
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What is the precise mechanism that keeps the soul alive when
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everything else is failing and the pain is blinding?
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That brings us to the second-half of verse 50.
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The psalmist says that your promise gives me life.
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The sources point out a very subtle but massive shift in the
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vocabulary. Here in verse 49 he used the
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word dubar for the general word of God.
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But here in verse 50 the text shifts to IMRA.
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This refers to a specific utterance or a highly specific
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promise. Furthermore, the verb used for
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gives me life is. And once again, the commentators
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highlight that this is parsed in the Peel perfect stem,
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indicating a violent resurrecting action.
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It is not just maintaining a weak pulse.
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The linguistic shift from dabbar to imrah reveals a beautiful
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nuance in how God ministers to his people in the furnace.
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Dabar represents the whole council of God, the entire scope
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of biblical revelation. It includes the.
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Histories, the genealogies, the moral commands, and the
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prophecies. Imrah, on the other hand, is the
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specific targeted promise applied to a specific acute
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wound. When we look at Westminster
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Confession chapter 13 on sanctification, we see that the
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Word of God is the primary means of grace by which the Holy
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Spirit quickens the believer. But notice the theological
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distinction between law and gospel here.
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The law, the general commands of God found within the Dabar,
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exposes our total inability to survive the furnace on our own.
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It commands us to be holy. Yes, in the furnace of
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affliction, the command to be holy or trust perfectly is
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terrifying because we know we are failing.
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It shows us our weakness, but the gospel promise, the Imrah,
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announces the life giving remedy.
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The gospel declares Christ is your holiness, and Christ has
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secured your survival. The peel perfect stem of chaya
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is astounding. It does not imply that the word
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acts like a gentle fan on a dying ember.
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It suggests A resurrecting force that brings life where there was
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only the sentence of death. God's speech is not inert
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information printed on a. Page No.
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It is active, forceful, and capable of raising the dead
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spirit. The shift from Dabar to Imran
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operates precisely like a doctor, moving from a general
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Wellness plan to prescribing a highly specific targeted
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medicine. I love that comparison.
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Let's say you go to the doctor for an annual checkup and he
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gives you a general Wellness plan.
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Eat plenty of vegetables, get 8 hours of sleep, exercise daily
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and drink water. That is the Dabar.
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It is good, true and necessary for overall health.
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You need the DA bar to live a healthy life.
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But then six months later you contract a severe life
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threatening bacterial infection. Your fever is spiking and your
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organs are shutting down. Eating vegetables is not going
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to cure the infection. The general Wellness plan is
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insufficient for the acute crisis.
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Exactly. The doctor has to prescribe a
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highly specific targeted antibiotic designed to attack
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that exact strain of bacteria in your bloodstream.
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That specific prescription is the IMRE.
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When the psalmist is in the furnace of affliction, he
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doesn't just need general facts about the universe, he needs
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specific, targeted promise to resurrect his failing heart.
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He needs the Imrah. The targeted medicine analogy
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accurately captures what the distinction between Dabbar and
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Imrah communicates to the suffering believer.
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In the fires of affliction, the believer needs the specific
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promises of the gospel applied directly to their specific fears
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and doubts. And we must recognize how this
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applies not just individually in private prayer, but to the
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corporate life of the Church. Yes, this explains why the
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elements of corporate worship are structured the way they are
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in the Reformed tradition. When we gather on the Lord's
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Day, we are stepping into a hospital to receive the IMRA.
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We sing the Psalms, which are the IMRA set to meter, allowing
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the promises of God to bypass our intellectual defenses and
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sink into our affections. We hear the preached Word which
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takes the ancient texts and applies the Imrah directly to
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the conscience of the congregation.
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And most visibly, we participate in the Lord's Table.
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The sacraments are the visible word.
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They are the targeted medicine applied to the physical senses
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of the believer, confirming the Covenant promises.
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The physical bread and the wine do not simply symbolize a past
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historical event. They act as means of grace
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through which the resurrecting life of Christ is ministered to
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the weary soul by the Holy Spirit.
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The corporate gathering is the hospital ward where the targeted
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antibiotic of the Gospel is administered to the Fainting St.
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That makes the Sunday gathering so much more vital than just a
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social club or an inspirational seminar.
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You're going to receive the resurrecting Imrah.
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If you skip the gathering because you feel too depressed,
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you are skipping the very administration of the antibiotic
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you need to survive it's. A critical point to make.
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But everything we have discussed so far, the perfect obedience
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required to present the contract, the perfect hope
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instilled by God, the resurrecting life flowing from
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the promise, all of this points directly to one single
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historical figure who fulfills this text completely.
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We cannot read the Old Testament without arriving at the
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Christological climax. The commentaries are very clear
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that Jesus Christ is the ultimate servant mentioned in
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verse 49. We must be extraordinarily
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careful in how we read the Old Testament here.
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If we read Psalm 119 simply as a moral instruction manual,
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telling us to try harder to trust God, it will crush us
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under the weight of moralism. We all fail to trust God
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perfectly in our trials. Our faith waivers, our
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complaints are many, our patience is remarkably thin, and
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our minds constantly drift towards secular painkillers.
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If the text just demands perfect hope, we are condemned.
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But Christ succeeded entirely where we fail.
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Jesus is the true and obedient servant who entrusted Himself to
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the Father without defect or hesitation.
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Consider his wilderness temptation.
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He faced the adversary and the severe physical affliction of
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fasting for 40 days. He was at the absolute limit of
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human stamina. Yet he did not rely on his own
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divine prerogative to escape the trial.
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He relied on the dabbar constantly declaring it is
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written. He fended off the devil by
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pleading the objective text of Deuteronomy.
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He proved himself to be the ultimate faithful vassal under
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the Suzerain's Treaty, and we see this most vividly and most
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painfully in Gethsemane. Let's contrast Gethsemane for a
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moment, because the difference between human failure and
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Christ's success is staggering. If we read this text as a
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standard to meet, it becomes a heavy burden.
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Right, it induces guilt. I look at this ancient writers
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faith and feel guilty about my own weakness.
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I look at the disciples in the garden and I see myself.
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The disciples are relying on the flesh.
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They are exhausted, overwhelmed by the emotional weight of the
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evening, and they simply fall asleep.
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They collapse under the pressure.
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Their spiritual muscles fail completely.
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Then you have Christ. He is under an affliction so
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severe, carrying the anticipated wrath of God, that the
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physiological stress induces hematidrosis.
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He is literally sweating drops of blood.
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The physiological stress is nearly fatal before the arrest
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even happens. Yet he does not retreat into
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distraction. He does not ask for a
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painkiller. He does not surrender to
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despair. He clings to the Father's will
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and the covenant promise. He embodies the active and
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passive obedience that secures our salvation.
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That active and passive obedience is the bedrock of our
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justification, and it is the only reason the believer can
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find comfort in Psalm 119. Christ's active obedience refers
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to His perfect fulfillment of the law throughout his entire 33
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years of life. He perfectly hoped in the
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Father's Word at all times, never once doubting the dabar.
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His passive obedience refers to his willing submission to the
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penalty of the broken law on the cross, absorbing the wrath we
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deserve for our failure to hope. Because he secured the covenant
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through his blood, He is now our perfect meeting.
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The Westminster Shorter Catechism outlines how he
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operates in three distinct offices, prophet, priest and
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king. As our prophet, he declares the
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Emira, the specific gospel promise to our hearts, cutting
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through our natural blindness. As our priest, he secures that
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promise through his atoning sacrifice, ensuring the contract
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is legally valid before the throne of God.
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And as our King, he applies that promise with sovereign efficacy,
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resurrecting our dead spirits by sending the Holy Spirit.
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The life giving force mentioned in verse 50 finds it's absolute
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historical and theological climax in the resurrection of
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Jesus Christ. The Father, through the Spirit
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raised the Son from the dead according to the Scriptures.
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Christ is not just the recipient of the promise, He is the life
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giver himself. The relief this brings to the
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suffering believer is staggering.
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We are no longer burdened by the demand to suffer perfectly.
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We are hiding in Christ. Perfect record.
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To bring this back to the listener who is sitting in the
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furnace right now, you're right to ask God to remember His Word
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is not based on how strongly you feel your faith today.
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It is not based on whether you cry the right amount of tears or
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read your Bible for an hour this morning.
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It is based entirely on the fact that Christ perfectly hoped in
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God and secured the covenant. We plead the promises hidden in
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Christ. When we cry out in weak,
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faltering faith, the Father hears the perfect resonant cry
29:53
of the Son. The comfort we receive an
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affliction is ministered by a Savior who has passed through
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the ultimate suffering and triumphed over it.
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He sympathizes with our weakness, but he ministers to us
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from a position of absolute victory.
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We are invited to rest in the one who kept the law perfectly
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on our behalf. Resting in Christ's perfect
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obedience fundamentally alters how we experience the furnace.
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When we've used Psalm 119 Christologically, we realize
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that Christ perfectly kept the requirements of the text on our
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behalf. If the text is just a moral
30:24
exemplar, then our comfort depends on mimicking the
30:27
psalmist's perfect attitude. But the gospel declares that our
30:30
standing is secure regardless of the fluctuation in our emotional
30:34
resilience. The believer can boldly present
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the covenantal contract to God, not because the believer has
30:40
been exceptionally faithful, but because the surety of the
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covenant, Jesus Christ, has signed the document with his own
30:46
blood. This objective reality provides
30:49
the adrenaline shot to the soul. It pulls our gaze away from our
30:52
own internal wreckage and fixes it upon the finished work of the
30:55
mediator. It really does ground us.
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Grounded in what Christ has done, we turn to how you, the
31:00
listener should walk forward from this deep dive.
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Today, let's succinctly recap the main threads we have pulled
31:06
together. Affliction is a guaranteed
31:09
reality in a fallen world. The umbrella of the Seeker
31:12
sensitive movement will not keep you dry and the prosperity
31:15
gospel will only breed resentment when the rain falls.
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But you possess a massive, unassailable advantage, the
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objective, written and specific promise of God, the Imrah.
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This promise does not offer mild sympathy or act as a secular
31:29
painkiller. It acts as a resurrecting
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adrenaline shot right in the middle of the fire.
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And this entire mechanism is legally guaranteed by the
31:37
finished work of Jesus Christ, the ultimate servant who
31:40
presented the contract, suffered perfectly and rose again to
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administer life to His people. The application here requires A
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deliberate change in your immediate reflexes.
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I challenge you to evaluate your response when the next trial
31:53
hits because the furnace will be heated again.
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When the hostility arises in your workplace, when the sorrow
32:00
presses into your family, when the physical pain becomes
32:03
blinding, will you reach for the empty painkillers of the world?
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Will you scroll endlessly through entertainment, consult
32:10
secular psychology, or rely on your own fluctuating emotions?
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Or will you point a finger directly at the text of
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Scripture, present the covenantal contract secured by
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Christ, and say to the Almighty, remember your word to your
32:22
servant? You must understand that God's
32:24
Word is entirely sufficient for your darkest hour.
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You must act by pleading his specific promises in prayer,
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knowing that the God who spoke the universe into existence is
32:33
the same God who binds himself to you by a covenant oath.
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That is the foundation we stand on.
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I want to leave you with a final unexamined idea to Mull over on
32:42
your own. We have talked extensively about
32:45
how God provides life giving promises inside the furnace of
32:48
affliction. We have talked about the
32:50
adrenaline shot required to survive the steep mountain
32:53
climb. But consider the inverse.
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If God frequently uses the biting sting of affliction to
32:59
drives back to the life, giving oxygen of His Word, could it be
33:03
that the times of our greatest ease and comfort are actually
33:06
the most spiritually dangerous moments of our lives?
33:09
When the sea is calm, the sun is shining and the bank account is
33:12
full, we often forget we are even wearing a life vest.
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We stopped looking at the contract altogether because we
33:17
think we don't need the bank. Let that thought challenge your
33:20
perspective on the easy days just as much as Psalm 119
33:23
anchors you in the hard days. Thank you for joining us for
33:26
this deep dive on reformed thinking.
33:28
Until next time, keep your eyes on the text.