Keith Battle - This Victory is Gonna Hurt - Part 2

My subject today is that this victory is going to hurt. I feel like I’m on a new assignment to talk to somebody who has been crying, and you’ve been crying because you’re hurting. God says you’re going to sow in tears, but you’re going to reap in joy. Yes, the goodness of God is so overwhelming and so consistent. God is so relentlessly good that oftentimes we take His goodness for granted. In fact, I believe that God has been so good to us that many of us are spiritually spoiled. When you really think about how great God has been over the course and balance of your life, there is nobody looking at me or listening to me right now who can’t agree with this statement: your good days outweigh your bad days. Most of us struggle through seasons. Your whole life hasn’t been bad, but when it is bad, we act like it is bad. We get a flat tire and find ourselves in the middle of the street, blaming the devil. We don’t take care of the car; we don’t rotate the tires, and we don’t check in when they are bald. We don’t thank God for the seven years that the tire was running well; we rebuke the devil the day it gets flat. How about thanking God for the seven years the tire was rolling? How about thanking God for the twelve years the washing machine was working? How about thanking God for the years you didn’t have to replace your fridge, dryer, or stove instead of rebuking the devil every time something breaks down? Lord, I thank You for how long it was working; Your grace has been amazing. You have to look back over your life and begin to thank God for what He has done and how good He has been. Our God has been good to us; our praise will never catch up to His goodness. Your praise will always be in the red! You know why your praise is always in the red? Because the Bible says in Philippians 4:19 that our God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now, let me explain that: the word «need» is singular in Philippians 4 in every translation. It really tripped me out because I thought, «If God supplies all our needs, shouldn’t it be plural since we have more than one need?» What God showed me was the reason why it’s not plural is because He’s never late; every time I’ve had a need, He met it. He is always meeting our needs! Every time we have a need, He meets it; every time there’s something we need, He meets that need.

In this Psalm, it is very interesting. You have to understand this Psalm contextually based on when it was written and who is talking in the Psalm. First of all, the person who wrote the Psalm is talking in the first two verses about something historical. The Psalm doesn’t really start in real time until verse 3. Look at verse 1 again: it says, «When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed.» That’s a reflection on something God did in the past. In verse 2, it goes on to say, «Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.» Then it was said among the nations, «The Lord has done great things for us.» That’s talking about the past. It goes into verse 3 and says, «The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.» Now it’s a right-now moment.

So, when you get to the middle of verse 3, the person is talking in real time. They’re reflecting on verses 1 and 2, looking at what God did in the past when He set the captives free. It was like we were dreaming when He did that. The nations started celebrating and saying, «The Lord has done great things for us,» and we agree with the nations—He has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. But this Psalm is a Psalm of problems; it is a Psalm of conflict. They are in a trial right now, and they’re asking God in verse 4 to do something similar to what He had done in verse 1. They say in verse 4, «Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the streams in the Negev.» In other words, Lord, turn our situation around. When he says, «Turn it like the streams in the Negev, ”remember the Negev is a desert. What he’s saying is, „God, turn it around quickly. Turn our desert into an oasis; turn our desert into a stream. Turn our situation around quickly.“

Then God starts speaking. Even though it doesn’t say „God“ in verse 5, that is God speaking. His response to them is this: „They that sow in tears shall reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.“ So, God’s response is, „I’m going to bring you out of this, but you’re going to come out crying. This victory is going to hurt.“ Now, why is that so important? It’s important because that’s not how He brought them out the last time. The last time, He didn’t bring them out crying. The last time, He brought them out quickly. A lot of church people get confused because we think that if God is good, we should never experience bad. But much of the bad we experience is part of our equipping for our assignment, because you can’t help who you have never become.