This Psalm looks forward to the coming of Christ in Bethlehem. The Psalmist is projecting his vision to the first coming of Jesus, not the second coming, although that is included, I think. The basic outlook is toward the coming of Christ for the first time. It pictures the week of suffering that is called sometimes the Passion Week. (This is found in Psalm 109, too). It pictures the week of suffering from the time that He set His face toward Jerusalem to be crucified, buried and then to rise from the dead. It is pictured as a journey. He was going for the last time. Oh, how he must have suffered as He realized that His days were numbered!
Now what is the "brook in the way" of Christ? This brook is a little stream that runs across the week of suffering in the life of Jesus Christ. Get the picture, very carefully, and you will find a beautiful truth. Here is Jesus in His week of suffering. It is not a time to laugh. There is no enjoyment as far as we can see. Everything is dark and gloomy, the suffering of shame, the suffering of the crown of thorns, the suffering of the agonies of the cross. It is a week we call "a week of passion". Yet trickling across that week of passion, like a brook in the way, something refreshed Him. Something delighted Jesus in that week of suffering, and it is called, "a brook in the way". Like a fresh stream would bring refreshment to a weary traveler, there was something trickling across the path of Jesus, in the darkest week of His life, so that it was like a "brook in the way".
The Bible does not tell us what it was. We do not know exactly what it was, but we do know there was something in the week of suffering of Jesus Christ that was a refreshing to Him as a spring would be to a weary traveler going across a desert. It was a brook in the way. I do not know what it was, and I shall not advance to you what I think it was, but I would like to suggest two thoughts to you.
I. EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD BE A BROOK IN THE WAY
So many times in my life I have met such brooks. Have you in your life been withered down with your load of heartaches and problems? Have you thought life was not worth living? Have you wondered if you could make the day? Then suddenly in a wonderful way, God sent to you a person who was a brook in the way. Maybe a smile when no one else was smiling, maybe a pat on the back when no one else would give it, maybe an encouraging word when no one else could quite give an encouraging word, was to you like a brook in the way. Don't you think it would be a wonderful thing to help the weary traveler, help carry his load with a pat on the back, a smile, or an "I love you," or maybe a helping hand? You and I should be a brook in the way for others.
I was thinking last night of Tommy Ford. He was one of my deacons in the country church in east Texas. He was saved shortly after I became pastor of the little country church. I baptized Tommy shortly after I got there. What a wonderful man! What a sweet wife! WHat a fine family! What a brook in the way! We had some problems there in the church. Some of the people did not think I was old enough to pastor a church. Through many heartaches Tommy and his family were a brook in the way.
When I was pastoring in Garland, one night after we had had a little problem which no one knew much about, Jack Barber (God bless him) came to me and said, "Preacher, come to our house and have refreshments after the service". We did. (He did not know about the problem). The next time we had a problem, again Jack did not know about it, but God had a way of telling him to say "Preacher, come to our house tonight for refreshment." We would. In the six years and eight months that I was Pastor there, we ate in the Barber home only a half dozen times, but every time it was a time we were discouraged and needed help the most. He was a brook in the way.
Everybody is having a difficult time. There ought to be some brooks. There ought to be some people to cheer others on the way. There ought to be some folks who are brooks in the way. Everybody is having a tough time. Everybody is having problems. Nobody needs your insults. Nobody needs your crabby disposition. Nobody needs your slander. everybody is having a tough time; everybody has fear of Communism; everybody is afraid of the atomic bomb; everybody is afraid about heart attacks; and everybody is afraid about cancer; everybody is concerned about Vietnam; everybody has a heat that is heavy and broken. Let's see to it that every one of us is a brook in the way, to encourage people in a time of suffering and sorrow.
II. HAVE A BROOK IN THE WAY
What do you mean, Preacher? I mean this: You should have a brook in the way. I know you are having it rough. I know you have troubles and problems, difficulties and heartaches. I know that, but have a brook in the way.
Now you say, "Preacher, what is the 'brook in the way' for me?" One brook in the way is the church. Every church ought to be a brook in the way. What do I mean by that? I mean that I want the First Baptist Church in Hammond to be the kind of a church that can be a brook in the way to all who attend. When you walk in the doors of this church, I want you to feel refreshed. The church is a brook in the way.
If you would take Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you would find that he is your brook in the way. He is that refreshment in the hour of trial. He is that load carrier in times of a heavy load. He is that burden bearer in times of burdens. He is that comforter in time so sorrow and bereavement. He is a brook in the way.
May I say this morning, be a brook in the way.
May I say this morning, be a brook in the way.
Look all around you,
Find someone in need,
Help somebody today.
Though it be a little,
A neighborly deed,
Help somebody today.
Help somebody today,
Somebody along life's way.
Let sorrow be ended,
The friendless befriended,
Oh, help somebody today!
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