Pray Without Ceasing
Narrative Praise & Prayer
Psalm 136
This
message can be used to inform prayer for you as an individual, for families and
larger groups, especially churches--every once in a while.
Last
week we looked at Descriptive Praise. That is praise that extols one or more
attributes or characteristics of God and his work. We looked at one mainly. It
was the Lord as our shepherd personally and corporately. We used John 10:1-16
to inform ourselves of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ in this time of
the New Covenant. Then we went through the phrases of Psalm 23 for ideas about
appropriating that wonder-filled metaphor for our own lives.
David,
a shepherd in youth, himself, knew something of the vocation. He used Yahweh or
if you prefer the Old English, Jehovah, to define aspects of the perfect
shepherd. But, there are dozens and dozens of other metaphors and word pictures
that are worthy to think about, write out some ideas, and then pray along those
lives. That type of praying can take some
time the first time you use a particular metaphor. But, if you keep your notes,
it is easy to go back to them and remember what the LORD is to all of his sheep
and then pray. Other word pictures could be love, grace, walking with God,
being made a part of God's household, being found in the book of life, and all
sorts of other descriptive realities found in the Bible. Maybe even when
reading or thinking some day, something will strike you. Remember what it is
and when you have a few minutes, do some work to find a few items that can
inform your prayers. Even as few as two or three things that go together can be
meaningful for your life of meditation and prayer. Meditation is basically
preaching to yourself what you have learned from the means of grace--even from
parts of sermons. Get the information, think about it and then pray.
Remember,
it is not to learn to pray each and every second of each and every day, but to
be more regular and more spiritually focused in our praying. It is to pray
without ceasing or to pray continually, not continuously. God knows we have
other responsibilities in life. Yet, remember, there are some things we do
throughout the day that allows us to pray at the same time. Be cautious and
judicious. Sometimes, our pray can be so directed that it only take a few
seconds out of our day. Like praying for those in an ambulance or when we see a
car that is similar to someone we know or some other way you are training
yourself to remember to pray.
A
narrative is something in story form. Using the Scriptures, the narrative comes
from the history of God's dealings with his people, his enemies or the world.
Narratives
can also be put together from our own experiences. I hope to have us pray this
way during the prayer meeting this afternoon. You can put together narratives
about God's dealings with you, with your spouse, with your family, with the
church, and other historical elements of life.
Narratives
and characteristics of God go very well together. They are mixed here in this
Psalm.
This
Psalm also has a refrain, or as some call it, it is a call and response style
or to use the formal word, it is antiphonal.
Let's
read the whole Psalm, look at its structure and see how it can be used to
either inform our praying or used as the content of our prayer life.
The
text:
1.
Thankful Descriptions of God
1
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
2
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever.
3
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever:
2. Why Give Thanks? Creation
4
To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever;
5
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, For His mercy endures forever;
6
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters, For His mercy endures forever;
7
To Him who made great lights, For His mercy endures forever--
8
The sun to rule by day, For His mercy endures forever;
9
The moon and stars to rule by night, For His mercy endures forever.
3. Why Give Thanks? His Works--The
Exodus
10
To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, For His mercy endures forever;
11
And brought out Israel from among them, For His mercy endures forever;
12
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, For His mercy endures
forever;
13
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two, For His mercy endures forever;
14
And made Israel pass through the midst of it, For His mercy endures forever;
15
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His mercy endures
forever;
4. Why Give Thanks? The Promised
Land Taken
16
To Him who led His people through the wilderness, For His mercy endures
forever;
17
To Him who struck down great kings, For His mercy endures forever;
18
And slew famous kings, For His mercy endures forever--
19
Sihon king of the Amorites, For His mercy endures forever;
20
And Og king of Bashan, For His mercy endures forever--
21
And gave their land as a heritage, For His mercy endures forever;
22
A heritage to Israel His servant, For His mercy endures forever.
5. Why Give Thanks? The Providence
of God
23
Who remembered us in our lowly state, For His mercy endures forever;
24
And rescued us from our enemies, For His mercy endures forever;
25
Who gives food to all flesh, For His mercy endures forever.
26
Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever
The commentators have a lot of
interesting things to write about how this Psalm was used. It was a sort of
call to worship at the start of prayer in the temple. It reminded the
worshippers of how the God they were about to worship had been with them,
delivering and saving them. They would have been reminded of the Lord's
faithfulness, despite their own lack of faith in following their LORD.
The priests on one side may have
read the statement and those on the other side may have responded with
"For his mercy endure forever!"
Or, the priests would recite the
phrase and the people would respond. The priests would have had access to
writings to remind them what to say making it easy for the people to listen and
reply with just one phrase.
Some commentators add a silent
responsibility to those responding. As they recite their part, they were to
think about how the LORD showed mercy in the event stated. Even back then in
1,000BC or so, the scriptures were used creatively.
Let's look at the content of these
mercies after a few words about the meaning of this mercy that endures forever.
Mercy happens when a need is
perceived, a person is moved deep within so that they act to help meet the
need, if only by prayer for the need. The Mercy of the Lord is that regular
love and compassion that he has for his creatures, especially those who are
part of his household or family. This is true under both of the great Covenants
of the Old and New.
This mercy, is revealed in a number
of ways. That is why there are 26 verses. There could be many more--and there
are in the Psalms and beyond--especially finding a fullness under and in the
New Covenant. This attribute of God is
never-ending. It ways, His mercy endures forever. His mercy was given a long,
long, time ago and endured until 1,000BC and continued in the coming of Christ
c. 2,000 years ago and is as alive and fresh today as much as it was when it
was first given. Psalm 25:6 finds a prayer being offered to the Lord with these
words: "Remember, O LORD, your tender mercies and your lovingkindness, for
they are from of old."
That is a poetic way of saying, from
the most ancient of times. The mercies that are the tender operations of a
gracious God are as old as anything else, even the throne of God. Psalm 93:2
reads, "Your throne is established from of old You are from everlasting."
Then in Psalm 74:12 we find the phrase applied to the saving work of God--For
God is my king from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. The
LORD has been working out his covenant of redemption since the foundations of
the earth were laid. Everlasting means just what it says--it is never ending.
There has not been, is not now, nor will there ever be a time when God's mercy
is not known somewhere. Wherever He rules, his mercies are known. His rule is
over all. I'll let you draw the conclusion. His mercies are vast--unmeasured,
boundless, and complete.
Back to our text with the refrain
removed to give us a little more focus about what the people of God were to
think about and give thanks to God for his mercy:
1. Thankful Descriptions of God
1
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
2
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!.
3
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
2. Why Give Thanks? Creation
4
To Him who alone does great wonders,
5
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
6
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
7
To Him who made great lights,
8
The sun to rule by day,
9
The moon and stars to rule by night,
3. Why Give Thanks? His Works--The
Exodus
FAMILY HISTORY:
10
To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
11
And brought out Israel from among them,
12
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm,
13
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
14
And made Israel pass through the midst of it,
15
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
4. Why Give Thanks? The Promised
Land Taken
Forty Years in SHORTHAND: 16 To Him who led His people through the wilderness,
17
To Him who struck down great kings,
18
And slew famous kings,
19
Sihon king of the Amorites,
20
And Og king of Bashan,
21
And gave their land as a heritage,
22
A heritage to Israel His servant,
5. Why Give Thanks? The Providence
of God
23
Who remembered us in our lowly state,
24
And rescued us from our enemies,
25
Who gives food to all flesh,
SIMILAR TO THE BEGINNING: 26 Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven!
FOR ALL OF THESE WONDERS AND SO MUCH
MORE--
For His mercy endures forever. THAT
IS WHY WE HAVE SO LARGE A BOOK CALLED THE BIBLE--it records his mercies. And,
even then, it doesn't contain them all.
If we were to only consider Jesus
and all of the mercies he did while on the earth, this is part of what John
said, John 20:30-31 30
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which
are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may
have life in His name.
And,
John 21:25 25
And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written
one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books
that would be written. Amen
If
we were able to go back to the creation and quantify them all, we would be
counting as long as everlasting will last. The mercy of God cannot be numbered.
It
is always out there ready to be out in place for those who believe--that is for
those who find themselves under the influence of the Holy Spirit in bring
conviction of our sin. God's answer to his own work is to pour out his mercy so
men and women, boys and girls come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. IN the
OT, they looked back to the promises and abundant mercies of God. It made them
look forward to the ultimate day of deliverance that was yet to come for them.
It has come in its fullness. Jesus lived and died for the sins of his people.
He calls them to be his brothers and sisters. He calls us so God will be our
father as much as he is the father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This narrative of the Psalmist is instructive.
We can see what it represents in God's character and his works and own these
realities and thank God just like the Psalmist.
The
Lord is gracious, and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.
Psalm 145:8. Will you continue to provoke his anger by not believing? Be
thankful he is slow to arrive at the height of his anger. But, don't be
presumptuous, either. You don't know how much longer you have in this life. In
this year, I have had friends die in a few days after unexpected things came
there way and another in a few months after news of two malignant tumors in his
brain. We don't know when our end will come, but it will. Keep short accounts
with the God of tender mercies. Pray to him. Admit the frailty of your own
spiritual life and that you do not believe like we find faith defined in His
Word. Call out to him, no, plead with him to save you for his own sake.
Pray
like the Psalmist in Psalm 25:16--Turn yourself to me, and have mercy on me,
for I am desolate and afflicted.
Do
either of those words or both of them describe what is going on in your soul?
Are you desolate--have you been left to yourself due to your sin against God?
DO you lack the sort of Joy and peace that is a part of believing and the
indwelling of the Spirit. It is not how you wish you were, but how are you in
reality. What would God say about your state?
Jesus
is the only way to peace with God. His terms are repentance and faith. He
commands everyone in every place to turn from their sins and to believe the
gospel. Repentance stars with an admission of your sin, a crying out to God to
forgive you and to make you stop doing what offends him and slowly, but surely,
stores up his wrath. The other side of the coin is to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ as the only one God Himself sent to take care of our greatest problem
and meet our greatest need. Repentance of Faith are such wonderful things given
to us by the mercy of God.
God
looks down upon us and pities us. We can't save ourselves even if we could.
Naturally, we seek out other things to put as idols in the place of God.
Indulge
me for a few moments. Have you ever considered the greatness of your sin? This
is impossible to do fully because we are sinners by nature and everything we
have ever done in this life has been tainted by sin to some degree. But, for
the sake of argument, let's say the sins we actually commit are the ones for
which we will be held accountable--this is for sake of illustration. Please
don't bring me up on heresy charges because of this illustration. I say that
because we have had some among us that think this way.
What
if we only sinned by choice ten times a day. Wouldn't that be great? Ten times
a day would be seventy times a week. With 52 weeks in a year, that amounts to 3,640
sins a year. Or only 36,400 sins over the course of ten years. Before your body
acts like an adult body, you have already accumulated a vast amount of debt due
to sin. And, that is starting at 10 sins a day. I don't think that is a
realistic figure. So, let's make it 100 a day. That would give us a debt of sin
owed to a holy God that amounted to 364,000+ for those ten years. At twenty you
would owe a debt for 728,000 and at thirty years it would be over a million
sins and for each sin a death is required. Rom 3:20 For the wages of sin is
death. I am about twice that age. Speaking like a fool, in purely natural
terms, I would owe 2 million lives. I only have one of those. And, I think 100
is too low a number knowing my own heart and life. And, it is too low because I
do not know all of the sins I commit in any given day. I am a sinner because my
nature is to sin--even though I have been bought back with the price of the
infinite value of the life and death of Jesus. I will continue to sin until Jesus
comes for me or he calls me to heaven where I will then be glorified. What a
day that will be!
We
thank the Lord for he is good! And we realize how great and profound his
undeserved mercy and grace really are. We think we know it. But, we
underestimate for our good because we don't know the depth to which we were
fallen. But, we also don't realize the grace that has been given. Jesus has
forgiven all of our sin and will continue to forgive as he lavishes his mercy
upon us Eph 1.
This
is the mercy experienced by all the saints throughout all of time and the mercy
we continue to have poured out on us for Christ's sake. It is staggering and
always undeserved. But, such is the salvation God freely gives. What a blessing
it is!
This
is the Jesus in whom you ought to trust for your soul's salvation. Pray to him
for mercy and grace. AMEN!!
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