How to Overcome Trials in Life
Sermon Notes
“How To Overcome Trials In Life?”
Hey my name’s Louis I’m the lead pastor here at City Awakening. Welcome to those of you here onsite and welcome to those of you watching online. We’re glad you’re joining us online. At this time let’s dismiss the children to children’s church. If you didn’t get a chance to check your child in, please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back, and they can assist you with that...Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Psalms, and it’s a series that can give us melodies of encouragement for everyday life. The psalm we’re studying today, is about trials. It’s about how to overcome, persistent trials in life? We all know what it’s like to face trials in life. Both skeptics and believers face trials in life, because we live in a world that’s full of trials. In fact Jesus preps us for this when he says in John 16:33, “In the world you’ll have tribulation...” He’s prepping us to expect times in life when we’ll face trials. So the question isn’t will we face trials, it’s how can we overcome our trials? We know we’ll face trials, but we don’t always know how to overcome our trials, especially our persistent trials.
Now I used the word persistent intentionally, because it’s the lingering trials that always beat us down the most. I mean we can handle a bad day, even a bad couple of days. But it’s when those bad days turn into a bad several days, weeks, months, even years that always beat us down the most. It’s when the marital issues, family issues, financial issues, school issues, work issues, physical and mental health issues keep coming week after week. It’s those persistent trials, those lingering trials, that always beat us down the most and threaten to break us. They can also cause us to start questioning God saying “Why are you letting this happen to me?...I thought you were a loving, caring, gracious God, yet here I am facing trials that never seem to end! Why are you letting this happen to me, and why aren’t you answering my prayers?...How long do I have to face these trials Lord, because it feels like I’m ready to break?...” If you’ve ever felt like that before or if you’re feeling like that now, you’re not alone...You’re not alone in those feelings, because the psalm we’re studying today expresses those same feelings. So let’s turn to Psalm 13 and get into it. You’ll find Psalms in the middle of the bible, and we’ll be in Psalm 13:1-6. Title of today’s message is How to overcome persistent trials in life? The big idea of the message is persistent trials, requires persistent prayer...Persistent trials, requires persistent prayer...
Context:
Here’s your context. The book of Psalms is an Old Testament biblical hymnbook, that contains various songs and prayers to encourage us. They’re written by Old Testament historical leaders who are expressing their real, raw honest emotions we can all relate with. Psalm 13 is considered a lament psalm written by King David, during a time when he’s facing trials in life. As we study this psalm we’ll see David respond to his trials by admitting, asking, and accepting. He responds by 1st admitting his frustrations to God, 2nd asking for God’s help, 3rd accepting God’s response. He responds to his persistent trials, with persistent prayer. Let’s check it out.
Psalm 13:1-6 states, “How long Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy dominate me?” Can you sense David’s struggling?... Can you sense his pain?...He says there’s agony in his mind!...He says he’s been dealing with this agony every day, meaning it’s a persistent agony, it’s a persistent trial...He says he’s in so much agony it feels like the Lord’s forgotten him, and so he cries out four times asking how long Lord? It’s a question we can all relate with; we want to know how long our trials will last? One of the hardest things to deal with when you’re facing trials is the uncertainty of how long it’ll last...I mean you can push through a lot of trials and pains in life, if you know how long it’ll last. You can push through the pains of the treadmill or Peloton, if you know there’s only 30 seconds left...You can push through the pains of a hard day at school or a hard day at work, if you know the next day you’re headed for vacation...You can push through a lot of trials in life, if you know how long it'll last. But that treadmill, that Peloton, that hard day at school or work, that trial, is much harder to push through when there’s no clock and you can’t see the end in sight...What makes persistent trials so hard, is we can’t see the end in sight. Will it end in 30 seconds, 30 days, 30 weeks? How long Lord?...David’s expressing his frustrations over not knowing how long his trials will last. So the 1st thing we’re learning about overcoming persistent trials is...
#1 Admit your frustrations to God = We’re learning it’s okay to admit your frustrations to God like David. Sometimes we’re persistent in talking about our trials with others like friends and family, but we aren’t persistent in talking about our trials with God. Talking with others is certainly helpful, but it’s always limited, because people are limited in their time and the type of help they can provide. But the Lord’s never limited in his time or the type of help he can provide. So when your knees are ready to break in trials, you can always bend your knees to him in prayer. You can always talk to the Lord about your trials like David. We don’t know David’s specific trials, but you know your trials, and it doesn’t matter how heavy or light yours are compared to his. If the trials you’re facing are heavy to you, then they’re heavy trials. They’re heavy trials to you, and it’s okay to admit your frustrations, to pour your heart out to God like David saying “How long Lord?...How long do I have to struggle with being single, struggle with not being able to have kids, struggle with my marriage and family?...How long do I have to struggle with school, my career, the daily grind of life?...How long do I have to struggle with medical issues, anxiety, depression beating me down?...How long Lord?...” We don’t know David’s specific trials, but you know your trials, and suppressing your frustrations doesn’t make them go way it makes them build. Are you suppressing your frustrations?...Are you not talking about your trials, because you don’t want people seeing you weak and vulnerable?...Are you tired of talking about your trials, so instead of having to explain it to people you’re avoiding people?...More importantly, are you talking about your trials with God?...The good news is when you don’t want to be weak and vulnerable with others, you can always be weak and vulnerable with God. When you don’t want to fall apart in front of others, you can always fall apart in front of God. When you don’t want to talk about your trials with others, you can always talk about your trials with God. David’s talking about his trials with God. He’s admitting his frustrations to God.
Again vs. 1, “How long Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy dominate me? 3 Consider me and answer, Lord my God. Restore brightness to my eyes; otherwise I’ll sleep in death. 4 My enemy will say, ‘I have triumphed over him,’ and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.” What David’s doing here is he's asking for God’s help. So the 2nd thing we’re learning about overcoming persistent trials is...
#2 Ask for God’s help = Admit your frustrations, but also ask for God’s help like David. In vs 3-4 David asks for two things, he asks for God’s attention and restoration. When he says consider me and answer, he’s asking for the Lord’s attention like a child asks for their parent’s attention. Last week my family and I watched a few videos from when our kids were little, and there’s a clip where I’m talking to one of my kids while another one of my kids is trying to get my attention. They go from “Dad, Dad, Dad,” to “Look at me Louis!” Their verbiage and tone escalated because they wanted to get my attention. My mom used to do the same thing when she wanted to get my attention. She’d go from “Honey...Louie...” to “Louis Tamburro III!” I always knew I was in trouble when she added the full name with the III...In vs 3 David’s verbiage and tone is escalating because he’s wanting to get the Lord’s attention. He says “Consider me and answer, Lord my God!” He feels the Lord’s been forgetting him, ignoring him, not listening to him, and so he’s asking for the Lord’s attention. But he’s also asking for the Lord’s restoration. He says restore brightness to my eyes, meaning he’s asking the Lord to wipe away the tears from his trials so his eyes can sparkle with joy again. The point is when you’re facing persistent trials admit your frustrations to God, but also ask for God’s help. He won’t always give you what you want when you want it, but it’s okay to ask for what you want when you want it. David admits how he feels, but he also asks for what he wants. He asks for the Lord’s attention and restoration.
Again vs. 3, “Consider me and answer, Lord my God. Restore brightness to my eyes; otherwise I’ll sleep in death. 4 My enemy will say, ‘I have triumphed over him,’ and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance. 6 I’ll sing to the Lord, because he’s treated me generously.”Notice David’s heart is shifting. There’s a progression in his prayer from admitting and asking, to trusting and accepting. So the 3rd thing we’re learning when it comes to overcoming persistent trials is...
#3 Accept God’s response = Admit your frustrations, ask for God’s help, accept God’s response like David. In vs 5 David says he trusted the Lord. He says he specifically trusted in the Lord’s faithful love. This is what helps him trust the Lord’s response. It’s that he trusts the Lord loves him, and because the Lord loves him it means the Lord will always do what’s best for him. He says in vs 6 the Lord’s treated him generously, but that doesn’t mean it’s because the Lord answered his prayers. David never says his prayers were answered and his trials are finally over. He just says his heart’s shifted to trusting the Lord’s loving and generous response to his trials. It’s because he trusts the Lord loves him and will always do what’s best for him. He accepts the Lord’s response, because he trusts the Lord’s faithful love. He’s so confident in the Lord’s love, that his heart shifts to rejoicing and singing as if deliverance has already happened. We don’t know how long it took his heart to shift from his feelings in vs 1-2 to vs 5-6, we just know his heart shifts. It’s a shift that happened in his heart over time, as he kept praying and talking to the Lord about his trials. Tim Keller states, “This psalm reminds us that believing in God’s presence in suffering takes time. It grows slowly, through stages, in prayer. So I’ll pray, until my heart rejoices in God.” David’s heart shifts slowly with time in prayer. He makes progress in his trials, as he prays about his trails. He goes from trusting his feelings, to trusting facts about God’s love.
See the temptation when we’re facing trials is always to trust our feelings, over trusting facts about God. The temptation is to sit in the frustrated feelings of vs 1-2, and let those feelings drive us to doubt God’s love or even doubt God’s existence. But that isn’t what David’s doing, he isn’t sitting in the frustrated feelings of vs 1-2. He isn’t letting his feelings drive his faith, he’s letting his faith drive his feelings...He isn’t letting his frustrated feelings drive out his faith, he’s letting his faith drive out of his frustrated feelings...Our feelings are great passengers for helping us express our lives, but they aren’t great drivers for helping us guide our lives. It’s because our feelings can sometimes mislead us into thinking, believing, following things that aren’t true or good for our lives. So we should express the feelings of vs 1-2, but also rely on the facts of vs 5-6. We need to rely on what’s true about God, especially what’s true about God’s love for us. We need to remember God loves us, which means he won’t let a single trial come into our lives, if it won’t serve a greater purpose that’ll be good for our lives. Like David we need to remember God will always do what’s best for us, because of his faithful love for us. He’ll give a loving and generous response to our trials, because he’s a loving and generous God. The way to overcome persistent trials is to admit your frustrations, ask for God’s help, accept God’s loving and generous response. The way to make it through persistent trials, is with persistent prayer. We need to be more persistent in praying about our trials, than we are in complaining about our trials...
The big idea is that persistent trials, requires persistent prayer...Persistent trials, requires persistent prayer...I know our trials can sometimes feel like they’re lasting an eternity, but Jesus promises us they won’t last an eternity. Like I said Jesus preps us in John 16 that trials will come, so we should expect to have marital issues, family issues, societal issues, sin issues, days that feel like we’re walking through the valley of the shadow of death. But just like we should expect to face trials, we should also expect a joyful end to our trials. Just like we should cry out how long Lord, we should also cry out the generous response Jesus gave to that question. Jesus answers the how long question in John 16:16, “In a little while, you’ll see me no longer; but then in a little while, you’ll see me again.” He’s telling his disciples in a little while, he’ll face the trial of dying on the cross for our sins, and they won’t see him again. But then in a little while, he’ll rise again on the 3rd day, and they’ll see him again. He then says in vs. 20-33, “You’ll be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy...I’ll see you again, your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy...In the world you’ll have tribulation. But take heart, for I’ve overcome the world!”
Jesus preps us that trials will come, but he also promises us our trials won’t last forever. He promises us they’ll only last for a little while. He promises we’ll overcome the valley of the shadow of death, because he’s already overcome the valley of the shadow of death. He promises to turn our sorrows into joy, our tears into dancing again! So you can try overcoming the trials in your life on your own, but eventually you’ll face trials in your life you can’t overcome. But if you put your faith in Jesus you’ll always overcome, because he's already overcome our greatest trial which is death. If Jesus was able to overcome the trial of death, then he can overcome any trials in your life. Even if your trials feel like they’re lasting an eternity, with Jesus they won’t last an eternity. With Jesus you can cry out how long, but you can also cry out his answer that it’s only for a little while. With Jesus we can cry out how long Lord? It’s only a little while, because though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I’ll fear no evil! For you are with me! How long Lord? It’s only a little while, because I’ve trusted in your faithful love! My heart will rejoice in your deliverance! I’ll sing to the Lord, because he’s treated me generously! How long Lord? It’s only a little while, because Jesus promised I’ll see him again, he’ll turn my sorrow into joy, my tears into dancing, and I’ll overcome because he’s already overcome!...All the answers to our questions about God’s love for us in trials isn’t found in our feelings, it’s found in the love Jesus displayed when he died for our sins on the cross. All the answers to our questions about how to overcome our trials isn’t found in ourselves, it’s found in the resurrecting power of Jesus who’s already overcome. If you trust him with your life, then trust him with your trials. Go tell him about your trials, but then go tell your trials in a little while...I’ll never see you again!...