Sovereign Grace Church Toronto

You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. Psalm 40:5

Try to imagine a super genius Phd. scientist, trying to explain Quantum Physics to a 5 year old. Try to imagine them “wanting” to do this. God is a million times more intelligent and the gap between us and him is infinitely greater. How could it possibly benefit him to have anything to do with us?! He has multiplied thoughts toward us! What?! As the apostles in Acts, we can only respond to such love by saying—“we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)

Pastor Tim Kerr

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:2-3

A song in the heart is one of the surest evidences of a heart set free. Note the sequence of events here. Hopelessness and destruction. Sudden miraculous deliverance! Joy at being delivered!! Others noticing the joy and becoming aware of God’s greatness and trusting in God. The best hope of seeing someone converted is another person who has been converted. Why do you think joy is so critical in drawing others to Christ?

Pastor Tim Kerr

O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. Psalm 38:9

“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. Job 23:8-10

Here we find a revelation about hiddenness. First, in Ps 38:9 we discover that the deep desires and disappointments of our life do not go unnoticed by God. He sees it all and takes it in hand. We are fully known and understood by God!

But our knowledge of God does not work the same way (Job 23:8-10). He is not an open book to us. We cannot trace his movements, and often his presence is mysterious. Yet he knows the way we take. Do you notice how God’s hiddenness is working for our benefit? Perhaps his “perceived absence” is part of the trial he is putting us through, but the trial is certainly not purposeless. The gold at the end tells us that. This requires faith. We do not see all but we know One who sees all…and works everything for his good purposes.

Pastor Tim Kerr

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand. Psalm 37:23-24

Ps 37:14 uses the same word translated “fall” here. There it is translated “bring down” and the cause is an enemy aiming his deadly arrows at the Psalmist (Eph 6:16). It appears this “fall” is an evil interruption into the life of a devoted follower of the Lord. Sometimes devout believers can fall badly. The great king David is a prime example of this. Yet the delight of God is seen in this—they get up again and continue following, even if with a limp. Falls are not the end of the story. Never the end when God is involved!

“The righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” Prov 24:16

Pastor Tim Kerr

“Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!” Psalm 35:27

Here we find a heart delighting to help, and with the strength to do what the heart delights in! Goodness and Greatness! What delights the heart of God? Amazingly…our welfare! How else can we explain the cross?! This is the God we worship and serve! Why are we so slow to believe this?

Pastor Tim Kerr

“O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him?” Psalm 35:10

The poor lack basic resources. Feeling your lack these days? Feeling the strength of enemies like the deceitful sin of your own heart? Being out-classed and out-muscled is no cause for surrender or despair. There is one who specializes in delivering those in hopeless situations. There is no one like him! Why would we go anywhere else?

Pastor Tim Kerr

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:18-19

There are many things that can break our hearts. When we suffer loss of those things we love and consider precious, our hearts break. This is especially true when these losses are not recoverable. It is interesting that John chooses this section and applies it to Christ’s sufferings (John 19:36 from Ps 34:20). The Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit by being broken and crushed on the cross that He might draw near. The nearness of our God to us came at a terrible cost.

He was crushed that he might comfort. He was broken that he might bless. And that blessing does not guarantee the absence of afflictions, for we are promised MANY afflictions. Rather the blessing is that the afflictions are not the last word. God’s action on our behalf is always the last word! (Isa 43:2)

Pastor Tim Kerr

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. Psalm 34:4-5

The deepest recesses of many hearts are governed by fear. Many fears. Fear is a debilitating captivity. Anxious thoughts torment the soul. They rob us of sleep. Fears lie underneath many actions and reactions of the mind, mouth, and life. Fear motivates more of what we do, and don’t do, than we think. It’s like a rudder for the ship of the soul.

We seem to be unable to address this area of our lives. It lies too deep and secretly in the heart (Jer 17:9-10). We need saving from the outside.

This profound mercy is available to each of us if we pray about it! Christ is the great fear-crusher (Heb 2:14-15). Have you told Him about your fears? If not, why not? Why not “look to him” for deliverance? “ALL my fears”—Wonderful to contemplate isn’t it!

Pastor Tim Kerr

Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city. Psalm 31:19-21

It is disconcerting to know that there are some who spend their time planning the misfortune of others. They “plot” the downfall of believers. They speak evil against them with “the strife of tongues”. They seek to “besiege” them so that they are living on the defensive, unable to carry on with their lives. These people live for others—but in the wrong way. Not to love but to hurt them. They are the human captives and instruments of evil spirit beings.   (Eph 6:12).

But there is good news in this war. While the war is raging, God is protecting and giving out his ample supplies of goodness and steadfast love. While the enemy is hating us, God is loving us. And just as light always overcomes darkness, so love always triumphs over hatred! (Rom 12:21)

Pastor Tim Kerr