Hard Times

God has a particular message for you this evening from his Word if you are in any one of three spiritual situations.

It may be that you are a believer and your life is comfortable, and you are somewhat complacent about the future. If so, then there is an uncomfortable reminder here that your complacency is misplaced. The years that lie ahead might well not be as cosy as you hope, if you are going to be all out for Christ.

It may be that you are a believer who is anything but complacent at the moment, because you've run into some pretty bumpy spiritual weather. You're finding that being faithful to Christ is causing you big problems. If so, then there is a bracing but ultimately deeply comforting message for you here.

It may be that you aren't a believer at all. In fact you're so far from being a believer that in your heart you know that the only reason you're here this evening is silently to scoff and to gather ammunition that you can use later against Christians who you've got it in for.

I doubt, in fact, that there's anyone like that here this evening. And if you are, then it's not very likely that you'll pay any attention to the severe warning from warning from God that's in this Psalm. The truth is, though, that you ignore this warning at your peril. So please do eavesdrop as God talks to his people through the Bible, and ask yourself what God is saying to you.

Do turn, then, all of you, to that Psalm that we heard as our first reading – Psalm 120, which is on p 622. That's what we're going to be looking at together. What we have here is like a window on to the mind and heart of a believer who is finding that being a believer is hard going. We're not told who wrote this Psalm, but we know he's a believer who knows God personally as his Lord and as his Saviour. How do we know that? Because he talks to God in those terms. Look at verses 1and 2:

I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.Save me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

So this is almost like an entry from the spiritual journal of a committed believer. There's a bit of self-revealing meditation, some prayer, and some words addressed to his tormentors more for his own benefit than from any confidence that they'll ever even see what he says, much less take any notice.

My headings are on the outline at the back of the service sheet. They sum up the key lessons. They are these. First, believers get attacked. Secondly, attacks cause suffering. Thirdly, suffering prompts prayer. And fourthly, prayer gets answered. Where do I get those from? Let's take a look.


First, BELIEVERS GET ATTACKED

Let me just read through the Psalm – it's only short – and as I do, try and figure out what you can about this believer's situation. It begins with personal meditation, as we've already seen:

I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.

[Now here comes the prayer:]

Save me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

[Then there are his words addressed as it were to the people who are causing him grief:]

What will he [God] do to you, and what more besides, O deceitful tongue?He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree.

[And now it's back to his personal meditation again:]

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

These are the heartfelt outpourings of a believer living among hostile unbelievers. 'Meshech' represents people totally alien to this believer and all he stands for. 'Kedar' represents near neighbours who are deeply hostile. In our terms, he is a Christian living in a non-Christian society that has no sympathy for the faith that the believer knows to be the truth. And the weapons that this society uses against him are lies, deceit, hatred and even violence. 'Lying lips and deceitful tongues' have pinned him down in such a way he can see no way out unless God rescues him. He wants to live in peace, but they won't let him.

God's people have always been under attack from lies that ultimately lead on to violence and even murder. That shouldn't be a surprise, because behind all opposition to the truth of God's gospel is Satan. Jesus said about him:

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8.44)

So take the experience of the apostle Paul as an example. He was the victim of lies again and again. This is from Acts 14:

At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers… The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to ill-treat them and stone them. But they found out about it…

Lies lead ultimately to violent persecution. That was supremely the case for Jesus, of course. Matthew 26.59:

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.

And the New Testament consistently teaches that all believers should expect to be on the receiving end of lying opposition. Jesus said:

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. (Matthew 5.11)

And Paul echoes that. When he and Barnabas returned to Iconium he 'encouraged' the believers with these bracing words:

We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God…' (Acts 14.22)

And, writing about what happened to him there to his team-mate Timothy he says:

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

So we shouldn't be taken by surprise when the biblical gospel and its messengers are opposed with lies. It may be blatant and backed by violence, as it is in all too many parts of the world today, where our brothers and sisters have to be ready for a life of insecurity and danger if they seek to commend Christ to their neighbours. In the 'liberal' West we have an easier time, though the lies are just as ferocious and corrosive.

So anticipate unscrupulous opposition when you live all out for Christ. The challenge is to meet it with love not hatred. Romans 14:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…

Believers get attacked, and we have to face that fact.


Secondly, ATTACKS CAUSE SUFFERING

How does our believer who is writing this Psalm cope with all the lies and the attacks against him? Do they painlessly slide off him like water off a duck's back? Clearly this man is a deeply committed disciple. In new covenant, Christian, terms we'd say he is full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. So does that mean these barbed lies just bounce off him, while he laughs at his enemies' attempts to hurt him?

The simple answer to those questions is 'No'. Attacks hurt believers. They certainly hurt this believer. That's why he's pouring out what's in his heart.

I call on the Lord in my distress…

This man is in distress. He is in pain. Far from shrugging off these poisonous arrows that are raining down on him, he's reached the end of his tether and he knows that his only hope is if God rescues him. So that's what he's asking for: 'Save me, O Lord…' 'Woe to me…' he cries out. 'Too long have I lived…' in this situation. It's as if he feels he can't take much more of it. God's got to do something pretty special if he's going to make it through. Otherwise, he feels, these poisonous lies will kill his spirit.

Do you sometimes feel like that? Does that drip, drip, drip of hostility to your faith bring you so low spiritually that you know that only God can keep you going? If so, as you see, you're in good company. And it's not just this Psalm writer.

Again, that was the apostle Paul's experience. When he was attacked, he suffered. In 2 Timothy 3.11 he says to Timothy:

You… know all about my… persecutions, sufferings – what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

He wants Timothy to know that when Timothy reaches the end of his resources and his only hope is God, God won't let him down. That's been Paul's experience. But the suffering was real, and it needed to be endured.

This is an apostle we're talking about - and he's not an iron men. He's flesh and blood. When he faces hostile lies and opposition, he finds it very difficult to handle. Indeed, he cannot cope without God's help.

Attacks cause suffering. So don't be thrown by the reality of suffering in the Christian life. 'We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God…' and those hardships are real. We should have no secret shame that we don't find it easy. Nor should we be taken by surprise. We should expect to go through these spiritual storms.

Believers get attacked. Attacks cause suffering.


Thirdly, SUFFERING PROMPTS PRAYER

I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.Save me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

This believer's distress has driven him to his knees. And maybe that's part of the reason the Lord allows us to get to the end of our tether before he steps in and lifts us up: because the greatest of all blessings that we can experience is to grow in our knowledge of God, and distress drives us into the arms of God.

We know for certain in such situations that we can't do without God. We know we need him. We should always know that, of course. But pride comes so naturally to us that as soon as things start to go well and get comfortable in our lives, we start to think it's down to us and God's an optional extra. So he reminds us of the truth: we can't get by without him.

We learn that again and we call on the Lord in our distress. And that's what he wants us to do. That's what he's waiting for. Then, when he steps in, we are drawn ever closer to him in dependence and love.

Paul knew this experience. 2 Thessalonians 3.2:

… pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.

And how did Jesus himself respond to the depths of his own suffering for the sins of the world? By prayer. On the night before the crucifixion, Satan and all the weight of the world's sin was bearing down upon him. What did he do? Luke 21.44 tells us:

And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 'Why are you sleeping?' he asked them. 'Get up and pray…'

When we're exhausted from sorrow and suffering as a result of being under attack, we must make sure we pray. Allow your distress to drive you to your knees. Direct your distress towards God in prayer. That's the third point. And the best news of all comes last.


Fourthly, PRAYER GETS ANSWERED

It is confidence that God answers prayer that underlies the words in verses 3 and 4 here that this believer addresses to his attackers, even though they'll probably never listen to him:

What more will he [God] do to you, and what more besides, O deceitful tongue? He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree.

Why the broom tree? Just that its wood made good coal, and burning coals are a picture of God's judgement. And why will this judgement come 'with a warrior's sharp arrows'? Because that's a picture of the attacks of the enemies of God's people being turned back upon them. Psalm 64 develops the image. It says that evildoers…

sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows.They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear.

But King David sees the outcome of such attacks when God steps in. He goes on:

But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin…

Lies rebound on the head of the liar in the end.

God answers prayer. There will be an end to distress, and in its place will be joy. There will be an end to lies, and in their place will be truth. There will be end to the liar Satan and all his minions, and in their place will be justice and righteousness. There will be an end to war, and in its place: peace. There will be an end to the homesickness of living in alien territory, and in its place will be rest.

So when we pray in our suffering under the onslaught of lies against Jesus and against our faith, we need to know that prayer gets answered. And we should be confident that God will do what needs to be done. He will rescue us. He will put things right.

So what do take from this powerful little Psalm?

Don't hesitate to be all out for Christ. Compromised faith might make for some comfort, but only in the short term. Believers do get attacked, so anticipate unscrupulous opposition.

But avoiding surprise is not the same as avoiding deep distress – it just makes it easier to bear. So don't be thrown when the reality of suffering hits you.

Instead, direct your distress towards God in prayer – like this psalm writer, and the apostle Paul, and Jesus himself before you.

And then know that your prayer will be answered. Be confident in God's promise of deliverance and vindication, and rejoice in your fellowship with Jesus and his people.

Remember what Jesus says to his disciples:

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven…