Sister Sue Sunday School 12/29/13

Sister Sue Sunday School 12/29/13

Psa 77:1  To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

Psa 77:2  In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

Psa 77:3  I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

Psa 77:4  Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

Psa 77:5  I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

Psa 77:6  I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

Psa 77:7  Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

Psa 77:8  Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

Psa 77:9  Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

Psa 77:10  And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

Psa 77:11  I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

Psa 77:12  I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

Psa 77:13  Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

Psa 77:14  Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

Psa 77:15  Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

Psa 77:16  The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

Psa 77:17  The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

Psa 77:18  The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

Psa 77:19  Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

Psa 77:20  Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

The call to God for help is the title of this Psalm.  My lesson is about the one this Psalm was written by, Asaph.  I did a history study on him and it was really interesting.

Have you ever been disillusioned with people?  Sometimes we just don’t know where to go, what to do, what to say.  Life has not always worked out just how we wanted it to.  Sometimes we wonder why the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.  Sometimes we wonder why things happen.  Asaph did too.

He was recognized as David’s chief music director.  He wrote much of the music for the Psalms of David and wrote 12 of the psalms that we so much love.  He wrote more of the Bible than Peter, James, Jonah, Micah, Joel and several others.  He lived from David’s reign through Solomon’s reign to the reign of Solomon’s son.  He lived for over 100 years.

He worked as a director of music in David’s tabernacle and in Solomon’s temple.  He was a young priest of the Tribe of Levi.  His father was appointed doorkeeper.  Because of Asaph’s talent David appointed him as music director.  At this time the main tabernacle and most of the priests were at Gibeon.  Asaph was in Jerusalem where the ark was.  And He kept his position for forty years.

He served all of David’s reign, wrote most of the music for David’s psalms and was very close to David.  He saw the temple built and then saw the dedication of the temple.  After this he saw the golden age turn to something that was not good.

He saw Solomon’s wisdom turn to something other than God.  He saw Solomon become a wicked man and his pursuits turn to other things.  He saw him put wicked men in positions of power.

Asaph and Zechariah, also a priest, would not keep silence at the wickedness they saw.   Zechariah was killed because of this.  He and his family were mostly doorkeepers and musicians.  They stayed true to God through all this and were murdered and persecuted because of it. 

Asaph saw the eternal kingdom of God, instead of Solomon’s kingdom, was to be looked to.

He was at least 100 years old when he wrote some of these psalms.

Psa 77:1  To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

Psa 77:2  In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

It doesn’t say what Asaph’s problems were but he took them to God.  What do we do with our problems?  We need to learn how to take them to God.

Asaph didn’t mince words.  We might not know how to say things, or the right way to say it, but God knows how to take whatever we say.  It is easy for people to misunderstand us but with God there is no misunderstanding.  He knows our heart.  I love that about prayer.  He took his pain to the only one that could intervene.

Mat 6:8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

The important thing is to pray to God.  He wants to hear from us and wants our words.  He wants to hear what we are burdened about.

Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Effectual doesn’t mean perfect or saying all the right words.  Effectual means getting to God and living right before God.  To have an effectual prayer we must be holy; we must be right with God.

Asaph was praying in the night and it seemed that God was far away.  Those nighttime burdens: when we are praying in the night it seems sometimes, “Will God answer this?” 

Don’t give up.  Keep praying, God is there.  Even when it seems he is far away don’t give up.  Asaph kept praying and kept going back to God.  He did not give up.  Joy comes in the morning.

Num 6:23  Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,

Num 6:24  The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

Num 6:25  The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

Num 6:26  The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Num 6:27  And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

What a blessing it is when His face shines upon us.  We love it to be this way.

Psa 77:3  I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

Psa 77:4  Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

Asaph was sleepless and speechless.  We are this way sometimes.  We have prayed ourselves out.  Grief in any form mostly doesn’t have words.  It is in our heart and we don’t know how to say it.  We are not alone.   

We have all spent some times in grief. 

We have spent sleepless nights and dark nights with pain.  God is faithful and the Bible is full of promises.  “Where is your mercy, your answers?  This pain is unbearable and I cannot sleep.”  Asaph did not stay in that place. 

We are all in this place sometimes but the important thing is that we don’t stay there.  Asaph did not stay in that doubting, anguish place.  Nothing physically changed but he moved from the sorrow to a song of praise. 

We also need to choose to move from the dark place to the place of song.  “I will remember.”  Those three words moved him from the deep despair to the song in the night.

Psa 77:10  And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

Psa 77:11  I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

Remember means to call to mind.  In those sleepless speechless nights start remembering what God has done.  It doesn’t come natural sometimes.  We must choose and make it a point to call to mind what God has already done.

Asaph’s mind was going down a road that was leading him lower and lower.  Then he saw another path.  Should he continue downwards or flip the switch?  His train of thought, “I will remember,” flipped the switch. 

A few things to remember

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

We were without hope, gentiles without hope.  We are a child of Go and a child of the king.  We have hope because of Jesus.

Remember in Exodus, He took them out of bondage.  Remember how much bondage you were in, in sin?  He took us out of that bondage.

We are serving the holy God.

Psa 111:3  His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.

Psa 111:4  He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.

Psa 111:5  He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.

His wondrous works to be remembered:  Look at the mountains.

Ps 78 remember the compassion

Ps 137 sometimes we forget to remember

Remember each other.  It will give you hope to remember what God has done for others.  If He did it for someone else then He can do it for me. 

Remember that we don’t have to sin anymore.  God has given us a way to live holy.