Psalm 94

       The other day, Michael said, “Dad, Sunday morning is kind of your ‘main sermon’, isn’t it?”  I said, “Yeah, it really is; I think it is the most important thing I do each week.”  He said, “So Sunday night is kind of like a ‘side sermon’?”  I laughed, because to me it sounded like a “side salad” or something!   But there is some truth in what he said.  The Sunday morning messages are for a wider audience, and in our evening messages I usually try to address more of a Christian audience, with some word that might help us to live for the Lord in the coming week.  I hope that tonight’s message will do that.  It is found in Psalm 94, and I’ve entitled it, “God’s Help In Wicked Days.” 

     Psalm 94 is a cry to God from a righteous person who is oppressed, in the midst of an ungodly world.  It would be like the cry of a righteous Lot, whom the Bible says found his soul oppressed in Sodom.  It is like the cry of many of God’s people today, who find themselves increasingly surrounded by wickedness and difficult times!

     But despite the decadence of the world that the Psalm talks about (:3 “how long shall the wicked exult … :5, “they crush Your people” … :7 “they have said, ‘The Lord does not see’”, etc.  there is still an optimistic ring to the Psalm, a strain of faith & hope in God and what He will do.  The whole Psalm is a prayer to God for help – and he is confident that he WILL get help; he is confident that God WILL do something. 

     As we face difficult days in our world, it is good for us to be reminded of some of these things.  Let’s read the whole Psalm together, and then look at some ways that God will help us in the midst of wicked days.   

I.  God’s Discipline Helps the Righteous during wicked days. 

     :12 “blessed is the man whom You discipline, O LORD, and whom You teach out of Your law”

      It may sound odd, but in evil days, one source of help for us as the people of God is His discipline!  “Blessed is the man whom You discipline, O Lord”!  Our first thought is that in times of wickedness, that God should judge the wicked – and He will, as we shall see.  But He also disciplines His own people during those times. 

     A true child of God will never be without discipline from God.  Hebrews says: “those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines …”. 

     One of my favorite stories about that happened to a friend of ours years ago, when we were all in college.  She came home from her commute to the college where several of us attended, and she had been stopped by a patrolman and given a speeding ticket on the way home.  She was complaining about it to her mother, who was a very wise and godly woman.  She told her mom: a lot of people went faster than me, but I got stopped; I just don’t understand that?!  Her mom said: “But you belong to the Lord, and He is not going to let you get away with it!” 

     There is a lot of truth in that.  God makes sure to discipline those who belong to Him.   A lost person may sin and “seem” to get away with it, for now. (They won’t get away with it, as we shall see; they will be judged!)  But a genuine Christian cannot sin and win.  God’s Spirit will convict them; He will not leave them alone in it.  He will convict, and if they do not respond to conviction, He will bring pressure on them, and chastise them, and do whatever He needs to, to turn them from that sin and back to His ways.  Indeed, it really should be a source of comfort to you, that God convicts you of sin, and does not leave you alone in it – it is a sign of genuine conversion.  That’s why it says here: “BLESSED is the man whom You chasten, O Lord” – if you are chastened by the Lord, you are truly blessed – for you can know that you are truly HIS!  If you can go on sinning, and feel no conviction about it, and you receive no chastisement for it – you seriously need to examine your salvation.  For “those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines”!

     And so one of the things that God does in evil days is to discipline His own people.  Scripture says, “Judgment will begin with the household of God.”  One of the things that God will do in those days is to purify His people, so that there is a clear distinction between the righteous and the wicked.  God does not want His people to suffer along with the wicked, so He steers us away from sin, that we may avoid its punishment.  This is the point of a passage like Psalm 37:8-9. which says “Fret not, it leads only to evildoing – for evildoers will be cut off …”.  God warns us there about taking things into our own hands – He says, don’t do what they do; because when you do, then YOU are going to fall into the same condemnation that the evildoers are going to suffer.  So God disciplines us, to keep us away from the sin – and the punishment that is coming.  

     And the most preferable way that God would discipline us is found in the second part of this verse: “And whom You teach out of Your Law.”  This tells us that the way God first speaks to us about our sin is through His word.  How will you know what your sin is?  God will show you in His word.  As II Tim. 3:16 says, it is “profitable for doctrine, REPROOF, CORRECTION, and instruction in righteousness.”  He reproves and corrects us in His word.  This is one of the reasons why we need to be in His word every day – so that we are in a position for God to speak to us about the sin in our lives; so that we can confess it, and turn from it back to His ways.  Now, if you DON’T put yourself in a position to listen to what He has to say in His word, He may have to speak to you in another, more harsh way!  But reprove you He will; He loves you, and He will discipline you!  His discipline helps the righteous in evil days.

II.  God’s Judgment Helps the Righteous in Evil Days

     In times of depravity, it is easy to despair, and think that the evil are winning, and that there is no help for the righteous.  In :16 the Psalmist asks: “Who will stand up for me against evildoers?”  In other words, where is our help going to come from?  :17 answers that question: the Lord will be his help – and so throughout the Psalm.  He asks God to judge the wicked in the world, and we see that God WILL do that very thing.  He will judge the wicked.    

     In :7 the wicked are portrayed as saying, “The Lord does not see” – but :9 responds, “He who planted the ear, does he not hear?  He who formed the eye, does He not see?”  The Bible says, God is not “missing” what is going on here on earth; it is not escaping His notice.  He DOES hear; He does see, and He is going to judge.  :23 says “He has brought back their wickedness upon them, and will destroy them in their evil; the Lord our God will destroy them.” 

     It so often seems like the wicked are just “getting away” with their wickedness on earth – but they are not.  Sometimes we get a glimpse of that, even in this earthly realm, when we see those who have been seemingly secure in their wickedness fall from their perch of power. 

     We have seen an example of that recently in Libya.  Moammar Gadhafi ruled in Libya for 42 years as a dictator, living in luxury, oppressing many of his citizens, and engaging in terrorism around the world.  It seemed like he would live out his days in luxury and prosperity – but he did not.  In a flash, Gadhafi’s government came down, and he was found, hiding like a rat in a drainage pipe.  To see a picture of him: one day, decked out in his quasi-military outfit, bedecked with medals, a scepter of power in his hand – and then just a few short days later, no longer bedecked but bedraggled, unkempt, wounded, bleeding, to be found and killed like a rat.  In a flash, his reign – and his life – was over.

     What we need to remember is that it will be so for all who reject God.  We do not always get to see the justice of God for the wicked, but it is coming.  The Bible says that God will indeed “destroy them in their evil.”  Those times when we do get to see a glimpse of that judgment on earth should serve to remind us that it will always be that way for the wicked – and that an even worse judgment than we can see now, awaits them before God.  We may not be able to see it now – but it is coming!  It is our challenge to believe, by faith, that things will be different after this life – that the righteous will be rewarded, and the wicked will be punished – no matter how unlikely that seems right now.  We can trust that God will judge the wicked. 

     This is, by the way, why WE are not to try to take vengeance upon the wicked: God says that HE is going to do it.  He says, “Vengeance is MINE, I will repay, says the Lord.”  We are not to try to take our own revenge on those whom we think are wicked.  Our responsibility is to be the people of God, and to love and be kind even to the wicked – and leave the judgment to Him.  He will certainly do it.  “The judge of all the earth will do justly.”  He will judge the wicked.  We can take comfort in that during evil days. 

III.  God’s Comfort Helps the Righteous in Evil Days

     But until that day of justice and judgment comes, our hearts get weary and discouraged at the evil we see all around us.  As :19 says, our “anxious thoughts multiply within (us).”  There are so many things to worry and distress us in this world – where can we find help for that?   The answer is, again, we find it from the Lord!  Verse 19 says: “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations cheer my soul.”  The Bible tells us here that God will be the One who will comfort our souls in evil days. 

     We can find “consolation” in Him, :19 says.  The Hebrew word for “consolation” is NAHAM; its root means to “breathe deeply” – in expressing feelings, sorrow, or as in this case, comfort.  This word was well-known among the people of Israel: some of its most famous citizens had names which came from this word: “Nahum” the prophet, “Menechem” – and “Nehemiah” the wall-builder.  Nehemiah was what we would call a “breath of fresh air”; a “comfort” to the oppressed people of Israel; this is what this word means; it is a comfort!

     And of course here it is referring to the comfort that God has to give His people. 

— It is the comfort that David says that the Lord our Shepherd has to give us as His sheep, in Psalm 23: “Thy rod and Thy staff, they COMFORT me” – that is NAHAM.

— They tell us that every Jew in captivity knew the famous opening words of Isaiah 40:1, “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.”  God breathes comfort, NAHAM to His people, Isaiah says.    

     We have had the privilege to be up at the hospital 3 times this last week, to see new babies that have been born into our church family.  It is a precious thing to hold those little ones.  It is not hard to think, when you are holding them – even if they are at that moment peaceful, which each of these were this week – that there will be times when those babies will cry in pain, or hunger, or distress.  But what will happen they do?  Their mother will pick them up, and place them on her chest – and they will be enveloped in the warmth, and feel the breath, and hear the consoling voice of their mother who loves them, and they will be comforted. 

     The Bible says that is what God will do for us.  When we are in distress, He will comfort His people.  He will pick us up; He will carry us, as Isaiah 40 says.  He will breathe His words of comfort, and breathe His Spirit of consolation into us – and we will be comforted – even in difficult days. 

     And notice the effect that God’s comfort can have: it says His consolations “DELIGHT” my soul.  Even in desperate days, when evil abounds, God can so comfort our souls that we can actually have a “delight” in Him!  That is quite a promise!  As Thomas Horton wrote: it is not just that God’s comforts pacify our hearts in those times; it is not just that He quiets our minds, not only that He satisfies our souls – but He goes beyond that, and DELIGHTS our souls with His consolations.  It is reminiscent of Psalm 16, which tells us “in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand, there are pleasures forever.”  There is not only a lack of anxiety to be found in God’s presence; there is the positive experience of joy and pleasure that are available from Him.  The Bible says here that we can actually find “delight” – even in evil days – if we will seek the consolation that can be found in our God!    

     But of course, it is incumbent upon us to SEEK those consolations from God.  Too often we do not.  We are seemingly content either to just wallow in our misery, or to watch our anxious thoughts multiply, or to seek comfort through food, or entertainment, or whatever worldly pleasures we can – instead of really turning to God to be our comfort. 

     God told His people in Isaiah 55:2-3, ““Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to ME.”  He’s saying the same thing to us today.  In evil days; in times of distress – whether they come upon us all – or in your own personal time of distress – turn to God.  Because you are His child, HE will pick you up; HE will breath His consolations on you; HE will be your comfort in evil days – IF you will turn to Him!