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A PRAYER OF FAITH IN THE
TIME OF TROUBLE
~Psalm 25:1-10~
In-person service at
Second Baptist Church
2412 Griffith Ave.
Los Angeles
William S. Epps, Senior Pastor
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Sunday, February 18, 2024 | |
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1Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 2O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. 3Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. 4Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. 5Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. 6Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been ever of old. 7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord. 8Good and upright is the Lord: therefore, will he teach sinners in the way. 9The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. 10All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. Psalm 25:1-10
Introduction
This the first Sunday in the Lenten Season of the Christian Calendar Year which began on Ash Wednesday, February 14. The liturgical calendar gives us a way of ordering our lives cyclically with an awareness of practicing our faith consistently. Jesus’ record of being tempted in the wilderness for 40 days reminds us of the temptations we all experience. Jesus was tempted in His appetite, ambition and allegiance as we are. This season provides an opportunity for us to decide what we live by (our appetite), what we decide to do (our ambition) and to whom we give our allegiance. Lent is a time to realign our appetites, reconsider our ambition and reorder our allegiances.
February is a time when we can focus more intently on the legacy we have been bequeathed as we reflect on the rich history and heritage of our ancestors while we bask in the aura of their continuing inspiration. I am reminded of the passage of scripture in John 4:38 where it says, “Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Life is an interlocking mutual network of dependencies. We drink every day from wells we did not dig and fountains we did not build. We warm by fires we have not kindled; and live by liberties we have not won. We reap where others have sown and enjoy the results of their labors. We all stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before. We build our lives on the foundation that has been laid by those who have preceded us.
We pick up where the laborers whose work benefits us, ends. The labor is always unfinished and calls for us to continue and to start where we begin. The effort of
Dr. Carter G. Woodson began the peeling away of the layers of unfavorable biases about African American history and spawned a new era in which scholarly research began to debunk myths which disparage, demonize and denigrate African Americans. We have a story, a rich history and a marvelous legacy to pass on to succeeding generations. We must continue to tell our story. If we do not tell it, then we leave it to those who would tell it the way they want to perpetuate how we are viewed and understood by others as well as how we see and understand ourselves. Let us tell our story this month and every month so that the world will know that we know who we are, from whence we have come, and where we are going.
Consider what it means that we live on the commitments,
labors and sacrifices of those who have preceded us.
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Monday, February 19, 2024 | |
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We are a people of promise who come from a land of promise who have been brought to a place of promise with a book of promise. We’ve come this far by faith leading on the Lord.
We’ve Come This Far By Faith,
Leaning On The Lord. / Trusting In His Holy Word.
He’s Never Failed Us Yet. / Oh, Oh- Oh- Can’t Turn Around,
We’ve Come This Far By Faith.
Let us continue on in faith embracing the book of promise that has inspired us to fulfill our potential with a life of promise. God blesses those who believe and trust in the Lord. “Without faith it is impossible to please the Lord, for whoever comes to the Lord must believe that the Lord is and that the Lord is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
We believe with the Psalmist in 124:1, “if the Lord had not been on our side” we would not have made it through the atrocities of the middle passage, slavery, reconstruction, deconstruction, segregation, civil rights era. We believe that we would not be able to cope and the present crisis of lunacy fomented by conspiracy theories, manufactured falsehoods with misinformation, disinformation and untruths that are embraced without proofs to substantiate factually false claims that continue to mislead people to believing lies.
Consider what it means that we are people of promise, who came from
a land of promise, were brought to a place of promise, with a book of promise.
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Tuesday, February 20, 2024 | |
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The passage today shares a prayer of faith in times of trouble.
Psalm 25 is attributed to David. We are not given the historical background for this Psalm. We can assume that it was written during a time of serious trouble in David’s life from what requests are made in it. Throughout David’s life he had many periods of trials or struggles in his life from his time being hunted by Saul to the loss of a son. Based on his reference to the sins of his youth, we can also assume that it was written later in his life. David had a challenging life where he did some good, and some wrong. He experiences the consequences of both, the good, the bad, the right and the wrong. Yet David trusted the Lord in all of the challenges and changing scenes of his life.
Maybe that is why the book of Psalms has more psalms, songs, testimonies from David than any other composer of one of those reflections in the prayer book of the Bible. I remind you that the psalms are the prayer book of the Bible, probing with deep intensity and personal conviction about the reality of the Lord’s presence in all of the circumstances and situations of our life.
The Psalms are an anthology of literature collected in a remote land many, many centuries ago. They are sung and chanted by countless millions of people around the world. They comprise the corporate and individual history of people as they deal with the fundamental issues of life.
The Psalms are often referred to as a hymn book. Fitting I presume, that this hymn book of prayers or this hymnbook of songs is in the center of the Bible, the heart-beat of its life capturing its historical memory with metaphorical narratives and songs, prayers, and laments.
Psalm 25 suggest what we should do in the time or times of trouble in life. We live in a world of trouble just like the one Psalm 2 describes – the enemies of God are all around us. World leaders and ordinary people discard the law of the Lord. The righteous often find themselves surrounded by trouble. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 3Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” (Psalm 2:1-3).
Consider what it means to know what to do when facing
troubled times which are a part of life.
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Wednesday, February 21, 2024 | |
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Psalm 25 counsels us how to respond when trouble is all around and life seems to be unraveling at its very core without any solution to remedy the impending ruin that seems inevitable.
The first thing David does is pray.
“O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 2O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. 3Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.”
We are to unashamedly lift up our soul to the Lord in trust. We are to acknowledge our concern about the trouble we face (our enemies wanting to triumph over us.) I know you have heard that prayer changes things. Prayer changes the one who prays with a perspective that helps manage the trouble, its consequences and sense of inadequacies. Prayer reminds you of who God is; God is trustworthy; you can depend on the Lord to be present to you and to be with you to see you through whatever you are experiencing.
Look at our history and the awful atrocities of the 400 years from the middle passage to the present. It has been our faith in the book of promise that has buoyed us with hope through our helplessness. We keep believing and trusting in the Lord and marvelous changes were wrought in those who prayed as well as the those who were skeptical about the what faith can do. Faith empowered those who were marginalized and excluded to believe they could overcome. And overcome they did. Look at the advancements of African Americans despite the hindrances and obstacles we've
had to overcome.
Think of some of your heroes of the faith. From our time on these shores it has been our faith that has sustained us with a vision and resolve of the possibilities of what our lives could be that kept us striving to fulfill our potential.
This month we focus on the stellar array of persons from whom we derive inspiration to believe and trust that we can and shall overcome whatever prevents us from achieving our potential.
Consider what it means that prayer changes things -particularly changing
the one praying - tobe able to manage the trouble productively.
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Thursday, February 22, 2024 | |
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Secondly, David does is ask for direction.
4Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. 5Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thy own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge the Lord and the Lord will direct your path. Proverbs 3-5-6
We learned how to determine the cause that needed our assistance and the wrong that needed our resistance with further exacerbating an already pejorative situation.
The Lord leads us in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Jesus expressed righteous indignation about those who were hard hearted without compassion, and at the crass commercialism that sullied the temple. There are many expressions in sacred writ about managing the injustices within the limits of self-imposed restraints that express righteous indignation without retaliating and seeking revenge as a pay pack for what one has done.
It was clear to David that he needed and wanted to the Lord to intervene to show him how to manage and handle his enemies in a Godly manner which prevented them from destroying the fabric of his faith with false and perverse practices of faith that can do whatever is necessary to achieve the desired end. We seek to ethically justify what we do as long as the end is what we want to achieve.
Tit for tat retribution merely perpetuates continuing fighting instead of resolution to make up for the wrong you have done. You seek to justify what you want to do to achieve what you want by any means you need to accomplish your end.
That’s not the way of the Lord. David seemly was aware that we are prone to eye for an eye and the tooth for a tooth way of settling disputes of wrong doing. Maybe that is why he closes with a couple of personal requests that get at his understanding of the character and nature of God in regard to him.
Consider what it means to seek direction for your difficulty in a time of trouble.
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Friday, February 23, 2024 | |
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Thirdly, David makes a couple of personal requests.
6Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been ever of old. 7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.”
Listen to the personal request David makes: “Remember your tender mercies and loving kindness for they have been ever of old.” When you look at the history of humanity in relationship with the Lord, it has been the Lord’s compassion, forgiveness, mercy and love that prevail despite the unfaithfulness of those that the Lord loves.
Remember the Lord is good and that the phrase, "the Lord’s mercy endures forever," appears 26 times in the Bible. The word mercy appears 296 times in the Old Testament and 43 times in the New Testament. Mercy is compassion and forgiveness shown toward someone when it is within one’s power to punish or harm.
Then David makes it real personal by asking the Lord not to remember the wrongs of his youthful, immature actions and decisions that brought harm to others. Remember me for your goodness sake Lord and not the other that was abhorrently hateful.
Isn’t that want we all want the Lord to do in regard to us, remember us for the goodness of the Lord.
Consider what it means to remember the mercies of the Lord
you have experienced, and request that the Lord remember
you for the sake of the Lord’s goodness.
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Saturday, February 24, 2024 | |
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Conclusion
O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 2O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. 3Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. 4Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. 5Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. 6Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.
We’ve Come This Far By Faith, / Leaning On The Lord.
Trusting In His Holy Word. / He’s Never Failed Us Yet.
Oh, Oh- Oh- Can’t Turn Around, / We’ve Come This Far By Faith.
Don’t Be Discouraged With Troubles In Your Life.
He’ll Bear Your Burdens / And Move All Discord And Strife
Oh! We’ve Come This Far By Faith, / Leaning On The Lord.
Trusting In His Holy Word. / He’s Never Failed Us Yet.
Oh, Oh- Oh- Can’t Turn Around,
We’ve Come This Far By Faith.
Just Remember The Good Things He Has Done.
Things That Seemed Impossible.
Oh, Praise Him For The Victories He Has Won.
He Has Won!
Consider what it means to remember with the composer, that we live by faith, face troubled times with faith, and persevere through faith.
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