Sunday, August 10, 2025 PM

God Is the Answer to a Bitter Heart

Christ our beloved Lord in whom we have salvation and Father we ask that as we read your word that we would worship in our hearts and look unto you and it's in Christ's name we pray amen. So the main theme I'd like us to draw from this psalm tonight is God is the answer to a bitter heart.

The psalmist looks out unto the world and he sees the wicked prospering. The wicked who lives a horrible depraved life who speak even against God and instead of getting justice it seems like they get prosperity.

They grow in wealth and there's no there's no consequence to what they do. There's no consequence to their own personal sin and the psalmist looking at that internally starts to become envious of the wicked.

Starts to doubt why have I washed my hands in innocence? Why have I lived trying to live with a pure heart? Why have I tried to live this life when all I get is chastisement and hardship? And the wicked they do whatever they want and it seems like they increase in wealth and have a good life.

So his heart begins to grow bitter and angry and twisted up on the inside. Yet in all of that God is good to direct the psalmist to turn to him and turning to God here he's reminded of the goodness of God.

He's reminded of a heavenly perspective to see the wicked from heaven's point of view to see their ultimate end and to see the ultimate end of the righteous as well those who follow after the Lord and he's reminded of the heavenly presence of God with him through all of his days.

So with that in mind let's read through the psalm together starting in verse 1. Thus says the Lord surely God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart but as for me my feet had almost stumbled my steps had almost slipped for I was envious of the boastful.

I saw the peace of the wicked for there are no pangs in their death and their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men and they are not stricken along with the rest of mankind. Therefore lofty pride is their necklace.

The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness the delusions of their hearts overflow. They scoff and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue goes through the earth.

Verse 10. Therefore his people return here to his place and waters of fullness are drunk by them. They say how does God know and is their knowledge with the most high. Behold these are the wicked and always at ease.

They have increased in wealth. Surely in vain. I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. For I have been stricken all day long and reproved every morning. If I had said I will recount.

Thus behold I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I gave thought to know this it was trouble in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their end. Surely you set them in slippery places.

You cause them to fall to destruction. How they become desolate in a moment they are completely swept away by terrors. Like a dream when one awakes Oh Lord when aroused you will despise their form. When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within then I was senseless and ignorant.

I was like an animal before you. Nevertheless I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand. With your counsel you will lead me and afterward take me in glory. Verse 25. Whom have I in heaven.

But you and besides you I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart fail. But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever. For behold those who are far from you will perish. You have destroyed everyone who is unfaithful to you.

But as for me the nearness of God is my good. I have set Lord Yahweh as my refuge that I may recount all your works. Thanks be to God for the reading of his word. The psalmist begins with the goodness of God.

He begins with this foundational truth that is an anchor for the troubled soul that is a heavenly joy for the heart. We speak of the goodness of God. What do we mean. We mean that he is never unkind never unfaithful never untrue.

Always there to provide always there to guide. He never fails. He's always kind and he never neglects his people even at one point in their life. Never not one single time has God been unfaithful to his people to you or to me.

He is the God who sees you and he is the God who hears us. He is the good father who provides for his children. He is the good husband who leads and cares for us as he knows we should be. He is the good sovereign the good King who is mindful of his servants and knows what they need.

The text in verse one says. Surely God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart. We're not Israel and we're certainly not pure in heart. But God is good to those who are in Jesus Christ who is the true and better Israel who is the true son of God who is the true vine.

And all those who are united to Jesus Christ united to the Sun become sons of God to those who place their trust and faith. And the one who is truly pure in heart God is good to the people of Jesus Christ.

He's good to us today. Our souls can doubt his goodness. Sometimes a believer can go through the hardness of life and begin to doubt why. Lord if you're so good why would you let this happen. Why would this occur.

If God is so good where is he. Oftentimes we can find ourselves in Job's shoes and wonder where is the Lord where is his goodness now. Job never got an answer of why but he did get an answer who God revealed to Job his glory and his majestic care a character and this side of heaven.

Job never got a why an answer to the wise but he did get to know God better and in the end he was blessed for it. How is God good. In what ways God is good and that he has sent Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners like you and like me.

To those who are not pure in heart Jesus Christ came and laid down his life for us took upon himself our sin our punishment so that we might become sons of glory that we might receive his righteousness and be made right with God.

This is the supreme way in which God is good to us by giving us his very own son. God is good and that he sanctifies us as we are in Christ. He brings us along and changes us from the inside out day in and day out.

God makes us more and more like Jesus Christ and he uses the hard times as well as the good times to strengthen our faith to strengthen our trust in him and to make us more like Jesus Christ. God is good because he sanctifies us day in and day out moment by moment.

God is good and that he gives us wisdom for every day. Wisdom for every decision. Wisdom for every path that we're faced. We go this way or that way. God is good to lead us with his counsel with every decision and every step.

We're never left alone for God is good to us. God is good and that he provides for us everything we need which often is contrary to what we think we need and when we need it. But God is our good. Heavenly father knows what we need and when we need it and he is good to provide it for us and his good timing.

God is good to give us comfort. He is the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulations. He comforts through his word through his spirit and through his people. I'm reminded of pilgrims progress when Christian is comforted by his friends along the way.

Hopeful comes alongside and they begin to talk on their journey of the faithfulness of their Lord. How he's been good to them individually and together. God is good to send to us the community of the Saints to send his friends when we need it.

The comfort and strengthen us. God is good and that he works all things together for the good of his people. For his glory and for our good the hard things as well as the good things. God is good and that he paints his wonder throughout all of creation.

Every sunrise and every sunset the stars in the sky and every tree and every blade of grass shouts of the glory of God. And God is good to reveal himself to us in nature. I'd like you to think through this with me for a moment.

How has God been good to you this past year. How has God been good to you this past month. How has God been good to you today. Charles Spurgeon once said as we face the doubts of her soul he said this if I cannot understand thee let me never cease to believe in thee.

We might not understand the why but we know the who we know. God is a hundred percent in control and a hundred percent good and all things every day and every moment God is good to us. Can your soul rest in this.

Can your soul speak of the goodness of God or is there an element of bitterness in your heart that keeps you from resting in the goodness of God. For bitterness as we see in the psalm is a very internal thing it turns in of itself.

This almost looks out and he says I saw the peace of the wicked. I see the wicked prospering. Behold these are the wicked. Verse 12. And always at ease they have increased in wealth. Verse 13. Surely in vain.

I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. Verse 14. For I have been stricken all day long and reproved every morning. Bitterness is a very internal thing where the soul turns in on itself.

But being reminded of the goodness of God can deliver us from ourselves and turn us from looking inward to looking outward to God. God is the answer to a bitter heart. May no root of bitterness ever be in our hearts.

But may we remember and meditate on the goodness of God. God is good to us out of the darkness of bitterness he leads us into heavenly joy and light. And the goodness of God can change the fears of the what-ifs in our minds into the restful even ifs oftentimes our fears look ahead to the future.

And I'll confess to you Monday mornings are kind of a fearful time for me. Here's the beginning of a whole new week. And my mind often thinks of what if the worst happens. But remembering the goodness of God remembering how Jesus Christ our Good Shepherd is with us and will lead us every day can change the what-if into even if even if the worst happens.

Jesus Christ is still with me. Even if my eyesight fails even if my ears fail even if I lose the ability to walk even if I lose the ability to work with my hands even if I face the dark night of the soul Jesus Christ is still my Lord.

He is still enough for me. Psalm 46 says. God is our refuge and strength even though the whole world be torn apart and fall down in destruction. Even if our own personal world falls apart God is still our refuge and our strength.

God is still good to us even if the worst happens. And even if the worst happens God has a purpose in it to change us into the image of Christ more and more to work out his glory in this world. And the chief example of that is the cross of Jesus Christ.

The worst event that happened in human history was in fact the greatest event in human history. Slain by death the God of life. He did not stay dead but rose again on the third day leading many sons to glory.

And he's still building his church right now and doing a very good job at it. God is good to us. Let's think for a moment. Verses 2 through 16. The psalmist begins with the goodness of God. He begins with that foundational truth to rest in.

And now he looks out into the problem observed in the world. And he starts to deal with the inner temptation of the soul. In verse 2 he says. But as for me my feet had almost stumbled my steps had almost slipped for I was envious of the boastful.

I saw the peace of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death and their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men and they are not stricken along with the rest of mankind. Therefore lofty pride is their necklace.

The garments of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. The delusion of their heart overflow. They scoff and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue goes through the earth.

Therefore his people return here to his place. And while the waters of fullness are drunk by them they say how does God know. And is their knowledge with the most high. Behold these are the wicked and always at ease.

They have increased in wealth. So the psalmist sees the wicked prospering. Seems like they're carefree no consequences to what they do. They have excessive wealth as well as excessive wickedness coming out of their heart.

They have evil with no limits. And they speak against God himself. They say God does not see us. God does not know what we're doing. That's their accusation. They speak against heaven itself. Verse 12 sums it up.

Behold these are the wicked and always at ease. They have increased in wealth. This is the problem seen in the world. In beginning of verse 13 we see the inner temptation that the psalmist faces. Surely in vain.

I have kept my heart pure and wash my hands and innocence. For I've been stricken all day long and reproved every morning. If I had said I will recount thus behold I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

When I gave thought to know this it was in trouble in my sight. So the psalmist is thinking to himself. Surely I've lived my life in vain. The wicked prosper. And what do I have. I've been stricken all day long reproved every morning.

And he feels like he really can't speak to anyone about this. And verse 15 he says if I will recount thus I would have betrayed the generation of your children. If we would have talked about what he was experiencing on the inside to the people of Israel around him it would have been a bad situation in his sight.

And so he's internally struggling. He's internally going through all of this bitterness and he's wondering. I can't talk to anyone about this. He feels isolated and alone. But here's the turning points the glorious turning point of the psalm.

Verse 17. Until I came into the sanctuary of God it's here that he gains a heavenly perspective of the whole situation. In the sanctuary was the place to draw near by prayer communion with God to draw near in worship and to view the sacrifice for sins.

With the sacrifice of sins the psalmist is reminded of the cost of sin. He's reminded of the holiness of God. He's reminded that sin does not go unexcused. But since God is a just and good God he punishes sin every single time.

The cost of sin the Lord says is death. The wages of sin is death. And the psalmist goes into the temple and he sees that either the sinner has to die or a substitute for the Lord is holy and just drawing near in prayer communing with the Lord drawing near in worship and seeing the sacrifice for sins he's reminded of the ultimate end of the wicked.

Verse 17 says. Then I understood their end. Surely you set them in slippery places. You cause them to fall to destruction. How they become desolate in a moment they're completely swept away by terrors.

Like a dream when one awakes oh Lord when aroused you will despise their form. The wicked might prosper in this life. But in the next one they will be punished. The destruction that the wicked will face will come upon them swiftly as in a moment.

And just like one awaking from a dream the Lord will come with judgment if they do not repent. If they do not turn away from their sin the Lord will bring judgment and destruction upon them. For the Lord is just and he is good.

We can trust every single situation every single person unto the Lord and know that he will address every situation righteously and justly. Whether at the cross of Jesus Christ or whether at the final judgment day justice will be done for the Lord is good and just.

Verse 21 a psalmist again reflects upon the internal turmoil of his own heart as he struggles with bitterness. When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within then I was senseless and ignorant. I was like an animal before you.

Nevertheless I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand with your counsel you will lead me and afterward take me in glory. Even though he's struggling with bitterness he knows the Lord is with him and he is with the Lord.

See the tender compassion of the Lord. How close God is to his people. Nevertheless I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand with your counsel you will lead me. See how personal the Lord is with his people.

With the Lord's own counsel he personally leads each one of his believers each one of his people all along the life all along this life every single day and afterward take me in glory. The psalmist gets a heavenly perspective of the wicked and he gets a heavenly perspective of the people of God as well.

We're reminded of the parable that Jesus told of Lazarus and the rich man. How in this life Lazarus had a bad situation the rich man had a good one. But in the next life their situations were flipped.

Lazarus entered into glory and the rich man entered into torment and into judgment. And that is the ultimate end for the wicked. But for the people of God. To those who believe in Jesus Christ their ultimate end is glory glory.

And speaking of heaven. Verse 25. Whom have I in heaven. But you. What will heaven be like. To hear the angels and the heavenly hosts praising the Lord singing praises unto the Lord being focused upon him.

To be shoulder to shoulder with the heroes of the faith the people we've read about. But to one day meet them. To one day be reunited with loved ones and with friends and with people that we've heard about.

But we've never met this side of heaven. What wonders and what joy heaven brings. No more tears. No more after battling with the flesh. No more after battling with death. But what's the chief treasure in heaven.

Psalmist says. Whom have I in heaven but you. It's been well said by another believer that heaven would not be heaven without the Lord. The best part about heaven is to see Jesus Christ face to face. To be able to say thank you personally to him for the grace that you've given unto me.

An undeserving sinner who deserves judgment who struggled with a bitter heart and left to his own devices. He would be one of the wicked pouring out wickedness in this life. But for the grace of God Jesus Christ came into this world and did not leave you alone but came to save you.

What's the best part about heaven. Seeing Jesus Christ and being with him forever. And besides you I desire nothing on earth. We look forward to heaven and in this life now what do we desire. It's still Jesus Christ.

We desire to know him better. To grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. To know our Lord and to know how would you have me live today. You're the boss of my life. Call the shot and I will follow through faithfully.

In verse 26 my flesh and my heart fail but God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever. The psalmist acknowledges that his heart was faced with bitterness and with envy. So his heart his inner man failed and that led to his flesh failing.

He was faced with bitterness and he feels like he was pierced within. For the heart and the body are intricately connected body and soul as one made in the image of God. And so when the heart fails the body fails as well.

But the solution God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever. God is the strength the stability of my life the stability of my inner man. Even when my inner man is faced with bitterness and acts like an animal driven to and fro not by faith but by eyesight by feeling.

Even when the inner man is struggling like that God is still the rock of his heart the place of stability of safety of refuge. God is still the strength of the psalmist's heart. When we feel unsteady God is our steadiness.

When we feel confused God is our clarity. When we know the sinfulness that still remains in us though it does not rain. God is there with grace and forgiveness every single time. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins when we confess them.

Blessed are the words of the psalm writer. It's a hard hard life but nothing's harder than the rock I am on verse 20 last part of verse 26. God is my portion forever. The psalmist doesn't look for land.

He doesn't look for wealth in this life. He doesn't look for fame. He doesn't look for any earthly treasure. But he says the Lord is my portion. The Lord is my treasure my delight my inheritance forever in this life into eternity.

Verse 27. For behold those who are far from you will perish. You have destroyed everyone who is unfaithful to you. But as for me the nearness of God is my good. The psalmist knows that in this life full of trouble what is his goodness.

It is to draw near to the Lord. To remember the goodness of God. To gain from the Lord a heavenly perspective. To understand the ultimate end of the wicked. And of those who follow after the Lord to be reminded of the heavenly presence of God with him every single day.

But as for me the nearness of God is my good. I have set Lord Yahweh as my refuge the place of protection of safety. The place where one lives. This is for the believer the Lord that I may recount all of your works as he's faced the twisted world that he lives in as a face.

The twisted heart that he has to deal with. He understands that the Lord Yahweh is his refuge. And the goodness of his heart is being near unto the Lord and having gone through all that. What does he want to do.

He doesn't want to look inward anymore. But he wants to tell of the glory of God. He wants to look heavenward and then looking unto earth. He wants to tell everyone else. Look heavenward. Look what the Lord has done.

See his goodness in this life. And think of his goodness in the life to come. God is the answer to a bitter heart. My flesh and my heart fail. But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever. Let's pray Heavenly Father.

We thank you for tonight Lord. We thank you for your word. We thank you how it addresses our hearts. We thank you how it reminds us of Jesus Christ and turns us heavenward delivers us from this broken world and delivers us from the brokenness within us.

Thank you Lord that you have never left us nor forsaken us. We thank you for helping us tonight Lord. And it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.