Psalm 120 | Song of Distress

Psalm 120 | Song of Distress from CrossPointe Coast on Vimeo.

Preacher: Jeremiah Fyffe
Passage: Psalm 120

1. REDEMPTION IS A STORY OF MOVEMENT
2. THE REALITY OF DISTRESS
3. THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE
4. WHAT SHALL BE GIVEN?
5. WOE TO ME
6. I AM FOR PEACE

Deep River
My home is over Jordon
Deep River
Lord I wanna cross over into campground
Oh don't you want to go
To that gospel feast
That promised land
Where all is peace
Walk into heaven
and take my seat
and cast my crown
at Jesus feet
Deep River
My home is over Jordon
Deep River
Lord I wanna cross over into campground

James K. A. Smith
Imagine a refugee spirituality, an understanding of human longing and estrangement that not only honors those experiences of not-at-homeness but also affirms the hope of finding a home …. The immigrant is migrating toward a home she’s never been to before. She will arrive in a strange land and, in ways that surprise her, come to say, “I’m at home here,” not least because someone is there to greet her and say, “Welcome home.” The goal isn’t returning home but being welcomed home in a place you weren’t born, arriving in a strange land and being told, “You belong here.”

Jeremiah 4:31
For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”

Calvin
Men, it is true, have need of God’s help every moment; but there is not a more suitable season for seeking him than when some great danger is immediately menacing us. It is therefore worthy of notice, that he was heard when, constrained and shut up by tribulation, he betook himself to the protection of God.

John 1:9–11
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

CG QUESTIONS:

1. When you think of home, what do you think of? How does that relate to this quote from James K. A. Smith “The goal isn’t returning home but being welcomed home in a place you weren’t born, arriving in a strange land and being told, ‘You belong here.’“? What do “home” and “belonging” have to do with each other?

2. As we think about the Psalms of Ascent, Songs for the Road, there are a few words that describe who we are as people journeying toward home - Pilgrim, Sojourner, Exile, Refugee. How are these biblical descriptions of the believer? How have you experienced this reality?

3. In the first 2 verses of Psalm 120 the psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance. What have you cried out to God for recently? How has he delivered you or are you still currently crying out for deliverance? Take some time and praise God for his deliverance and pray with those who are currently crying out to God.

4. The psalmist has experienced being different from those around him and this caused him anxiety. How do we as a body of believers experience the peace of the gospel in the midst of circumstances that cause anxiety?