Our Summer in the Psalms series is the series I look forward to the most every year. This will be the fifth year we have devoted our summer series to studying through the Psalms and I am anticipating it to be one of the richest times yet!
As you may know, the Psalms are some of the rawest and most human passages of scripture in the entire Bible because the Psalmists do not shrink back from expressing their deepest emotions with oftentimes shocking honesty.
But the Psalms are not only some of the most human passages in all the Bible, they are also some of the most God exalting passages you will ever read because the Psalmists are never content with merely wallowing in their feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, or loneliness.
In the Psalms, we see very real people allowing their very real and very painful human experiences to turn them towards the sufficiency and the majesty of a very real, very sovereign, very loving, very gracious, very merciful, and very just, Father in heaven.
I was thinking about all of this while I was in the gym this last week. I do not know how many of you frequent the gym, but I am sure that you can imagine how difficult some of those days at the gym can be. Most of us frequent the gym to get healthier, to lose some weight, and to get stronger. There are some days when I feel like I am getting healthier, lighter, and stronger. But there are other days where I see the faces that I make in the mirror while working out and those faces are not pretty at all!
There are also some days when I feel like I can barely walk out of the gym to my truck to get back home because the workout was so intense. There are some days, when I get home and I feel sick to my stomach, I feel like my energy is absolutely crushed, and I feel absolutely defeated – like I can barely lift me head up let alone an arm or a leg.
Have you ever experienced those days – not just days after a hard workout – I am talking about days where you feel absolutely sick to your stomach because someone betrayed you? Absolutely crushed by the weight of a close friend who turned out to be your worst enemy. Completely defeated because you figured out that the person you trusted with your life – someone you were the most vulnerable and transparent with – proved that he or she had been deceiving you all along.
This is where I imagine our Psalmist is at today. He feels sick to his stomach, crushed by the weight of betrayal, and defeated by the deception of a close friend who turned out to be his enemy. I imagine that the look on the Psalmist’s face is like the look on someone’s face when they have reached their breaking point in the gym and they cannot take another step. The psalmist has been weakened by the sickness he feels, weakened by the crushing weight he has been carrying, and weakened by the defeat that he can no longer bear. Where does the Psalmist turn for strength in his weakened state?
Where do you and I turn for strength when that sick feeling overwhelms us, when the weight has absolutely crushed us, when the energy to fight is completely gone? Sometimes, I admit, that I just look for some kind of momentary escape from the pain; some way to medicate the hurt. But our Psalmist shows us how to cope when our weaknesses feel like they are too much to bear alone as he looks to the God of the sick, the God of the crushed, and the God of the defeated – he literally turns his eyes upwards to the God of the weak. Look at the text with me…
1Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; 2the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. 3The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. 4As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!” 5My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die, and his name perish?” 6And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad. 7All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. 8They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.” 9Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. 10But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them! 11By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. 12But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. 13Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.
#1: THE GOD OF THE WEAK (VV. 1 – 4)
Notice how our Psalmist describes the God of the weak in verses 1 – 4. In verse 1 he describes the God of the weak as the God who not only notices the weak (or the poor in the ESV) but he also delivers him; on the worst day of his life, the Psalmist knows that he serves the God who loves to deliver his people in the midst of their weaknesses. When was the last time that you longed to be rescued or delivered from something because you felt too weak to get free?
That is what the Psalmist is feeling. He is feeling too weak to get free from the sickness he feels deep in the pit of his stomach. So, he reminds himself that God is the God of the weak who loves to rescue and deliver his people. And not only that, but according to verse 2, the God of the weak is the one who provides perfect protection from anything or anyone that would seek to take the life of his children; the God of the weak is the best shelter, the best suit of armor, the best fortress we could run to when we are too weak to protect ourselves from our enemies.
That sickness you feel in the pit of your stomach when someone you trusted turns out to be someone you never thought they would be – that kind of sickness can leave you curled up in a fetal position on your bed for a very long time. You know what this is like, right? The Psalmist knows and in verse 3, the Psalmist says that the God of the weak is the one who not only sustains him (helps him endure the pain) but he also restores “him to full health” (he literally helps the weak endure the sickness as he simultaneously rebuilds his strength). The God of the weak is like the best protein energy drink you could ever consume when you are feeling too weak to get out of bed!
As the Psalmist preaches this sermon to himself about the God of the weak, he remembers just how weak the human race really is when it comes to our own struggles with sin. Betrayal from a friend on the outside is one thing but the Psalmist remembers that he – and you and I too – wrestle with an enemy on the inside of us that is insidiously bent on our destruction. This little thing called “sin within” is something we often overlook when we are dealing with someone else’s sin against us.
This is why in verse 4, the Psalmist says, “As for me, I said, ‘O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you”. At the end of the day – even our worst and most troublesome days when facing the bewilderment of betrayal – we still need to come to our Father in a posture of repentance and need of his grace in the face of our own sinfulness. Our sinful responses to other people’s sin against us is still sin that needs to be repented of. Nothing will weaken us more than our own sin.
We are not responsible for the sins of those around us or against us, but we are responsible for the sin that lives within. And if you and I are to find strength in our weaknesses then we will only find it in the gracious presence of the God of the weak as we repent of our own sin and turn to him in faith.
Have you ever experienced a day – or maybe multiple days – where you just felt weak because of the sickness that you felt in your stomach because someone close to you turned out to be a fraud? What do you do on that “day of trouble” (v.1)?
When the Psalmist was feeling weak and sick to his stomach because he experienced a horrifying day that was filled with betrayal and deceit, he rested his weak and weary heart in this truth, that the God of the weak sees, delivers, protects, blesses, sustains, and restores those who call out for his grace amidst their weakness. God is the God of the weak!
#2: THE ENEMY OF THE WEAK (VV. 5 – 9)
Now that the Psalmist has filled his mind and his heart with the image of the God of the weak, he bares his soul to his God as he describes the enemy of the weak. He does not try to sugar coat just how bad his enemy is, and he does not try to minimize the monster that his friend has now become. His once-upon-a-time close friend has now become a monstrous enemy and he feels absolutely crushed by what he now knows.
In verses 5 – 9 the Psalmist describes his enemy as someone who is full of malice and hatred, his enemy is someone who literally wants him dead, and he wants the Psalmist’s name to be wiped off the face of the earth (v.5). The enemy of the weak comes to visit and his words have no weight, they are meaningless, they are full of deception, and he spreads his lies to anyone who will listen (v.6). It is not enough for the enemy of the weak to just pick a fight with someone who cannot fight back, he gathers anyone who will listen to him – anyone who will take up his cause against you – as they “imagine the worst” for you (v. 7). Now, the one whom you thought was your friend, the one who shared intimate spaces with you at your own table, in your own home, that one, now has an entire team of new friends who hate you, who are dreaming of your death, and who cannot wait to see you fail (vv. 8 – 9). This would be a crushing blow that would weaken the strongest of men and women.
Even if you have not experienced the crushing weight of betrayal from a close friend, you and I both know that we have a very real enemy who loves to approach us as an angel of light. He comes to us with empty promises, and deceptive words as he plots our ultimate death. He seeks our death through persistent deception and sin as he lays plans for our destruction and imprisonment as he constantly betrays his promises to us. The enemy of the weak often leaves God’s children feeling defeated. Where can we find victory when we are feeling weak and defeated?
#3: THE VICTORY OF THE WEAK (VV. 10 – 13)
When the Psalmist is feeling weak and defeated after describing the enemy of the weak, he turns his attention back to the God of the weak but he no longer talks about God in the impersonal language of a theologian; he now talks directly to God in the very personal language of a son who knows that he will experience victory in the presence of a loving and gracious heavenly Father who delights in him!
In verses 10 – 13 the Psalmist shifts his eyes from the theological truths he knows about God from verses 1 – 4 and the immediate pain he feels in his weakness at the hands of his enemy in verses 5 – 9, and he rests his weak and weary soul in the personal, intimate presence of his heavenly Father when he says, “But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them! By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and [you] set me in your presence forever. Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.” The God of the weak takes great pleasure in giving the weak the victory because he delights in him (v. 11)!
Everything in these final verses revolves around the immediate and eternal victory we have in Christ Jesus. Our victory is found in the grace of God who delights in us, who lifts us up out of the pit of death, and who secures us in his presence forever where nothing in all of Creation can separate us from his love! This is the victory of the weak: That God would look upon us in our sin-weakened state, as we lived in open warfare against him, and he would send his Son to a bloody cross in our place, so that he would leave that tomb empty three days later, and graciously leave us with the rock-solid hope in the promise of eternity in Heaven. That is true victory for the weak and it’s found in the shadow of a bloody cross, in the doorway of an empty tomb, in light of the hope of heaven!
CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, Jesus did not come to rescue or give the victory to those who think they got this on their own; he came to rescue and to give the victory to those who know they are weak – those who have been sickened by the sin without and the sin within, those who have been crushed by the enemy, and those who have tasted the rottenness of defeat.
I read a story last week of a father who lined up his three little boys in the yard and shot them execution style. It was a horrifying thing to imagine. More horrific than the betrayal we have imagined in our text today. But is it really more horrific? Or is the horror we feel from that story similar to the horror we feel in other stories?
I know there are many of you – myself included – who have experienced the horror of betrayal at the hands of abusers who masqueraded as friendly caretakers. Many of us can share stories of leaders, pastors, doctors, teachers, family members, friends, and even parents who left the marks of their horrific betrayal on our hearts.
I think every one of us knows that sick feeling, that crushed feeling, that defeated feeling of experiencing or witnessing the weakening effects of betrayal. I am also certain that each of us has our own unhealthy rhythms of coping with this kind of pain and horror – and I bet that some of those coping methods are not so God honoring. The Psalmist challenges us to look to the God of the weak, to honestly deal with the enemy of the weak, and to rest our hearts in the victory of the weak as we draw close to the God who delights in us because of the person and work of his Son, Jesus.
We must remember that in Jesus’ final hours, he too coped with the pain of betrayal at the hands of a man named Judas who was a close friend. Jesus washed his feet along with the other disciples and then he carried his cross up the hill of Golgotha where he gave his life as a sacrificial ransom for enemies who would become a family of saints.
If you have been hurt, wounded, sickened, crushed, defeated, by the blows of an enemy who promised to be family and turned out to be a monster… look to the God of the weak while trusting that because he delights in you – on account of the bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of heaven – that you will experience complete victory and justice over Satan, Sin, and Death (our ultimate enemies) on that Day when Christ returns. On that Day… it will be our enemies – Satan, Sin, and Death and all who follow after them – who will experience the worst day of their eternal existence.
I pray that the truths of this message – that the God of the weak will relieve our sickness and that the enemies of the weak will no longer crush us because the victory of the weak is found in our crucified, risen, and returning Savior – I pray that these truths will give you strength in your weaknesses, healing in your sickness, restoration where you have been crushed, and hope where you feel defeated. I also pray that these truths would enable you to praise the God who delights in you just as the Psalmist did when he cried out in verse 13, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen”. – Amen!?
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).