Summer of Psalms - Part 8

Psalm 63 - A Longing That Leads to Confidence

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

I've been learning recently more and more about parenting, which is just, I think the de facto state of mind that I have as she grows up, I'm learning more and more. But one thing I'm learning is I really want her to know, I have one daughter by the way if you don't know, she's five years old, I want her to know how capable she is. I think some kids are out there and they just are more confident than others and so maybe parents are saying more like, "Hey, they're trying to bring them back, rein them in a little bit, those kids are fearless and they just go with it and they're just, it's fun for them." Our kids a little different, she's a little more timid and I find myself often saying like, "You can do it, you go ahead, like try it out, and and she has to be given that confidence. And so I'm sure you can remember a time where you you did more than you initially thought you could, and the kind of accomplishment that you feel, and the surprise that you might have felt like, "Oh my goodness, I did do that. That's great. I was capable. I didn't know." Sometimes that happens in fun situations. Lauren, Pastor Lauren and I have had the privilege this summer to take the youth students on a couple outings where we students or leaders are finding out that we're capable of doing more. So we did high ropes course a couple weeks ago or last month up in Tahoe and you're 60 or 70 feet up in a tree walking across a wire you're harnessed in. Don't worry we didn't is all safe and everyone came back alive and uninjured. But it was terrifying and students are learning on the fly in that tree I can do this and they don't think they can but then they once one step at time and they're able to. This past Monday we went to Six Flags as a youth and I learned, this was my lesson, that I can do roller coasters. I do not like roller coasters. I've never liked roller coasters. Becky will attest that I am the one that says I'll stay I'll stay back with Kinsley. You guys go and do that fun stuff. I'll stay on the ground with two feet. But high school students are different and there's a pressure that they put on you and I feel like I couldn't say no and so I found out that I was able to and it was fun. There I won't go back and do them all ever again. There's maybe one I'll do again. But it was a great time, but I found out that I was more capable than I initially thought. And so sometimes, again, we learn that we're capable in fun scenarios. Other times, we learn that we're able to do more in difficult situations. Sometimes in the midst of pain and suffering and loss, on the onset of that tragedy or that sorrow, we think we can't do this. I can't go on, I'm not gonna be able to make it. I don't wanna go through this situation. And yet, we do. Those feelings are very real, the thoughts of I can't do it, I can't make it. But by God's grace and by his provision and through the Holy Spirit sustaining us, we're able to do more than we initially thought we could. And through the power and mercy of God, we're able to move forward, to get through a moment after moment after moment, day after day, turns into weeks after weeks, months after months, and God has helped us get through so much of life in the midst of challenges or after something happens.

And as that, as God does that and as God sustains us, it builds a confidence that we can have. That out of something so challenging and so hard, out of lament, God can help and can make us stronger, can make something beautiful happen or can help us learn something beautiful. But that initial moment seems hopeless and we're left wondering, can I do this? I know we've all gone through a situation like that, some of us more recent than others, maybe some of us are in that right now. We're gonna talk today about what to do moments like these and why our soul should pray and yearn for God in these experiences. We're in a Summer of Psalms series and again the purpose of Psalms is this massive invitation to pray and commune with God in any situation that you're going through. The book of Psalms served as the prayer book for Israel and many Christians even today still pray through a Psalm a day. The scholars over at Bible Project, they say this, it says, "Hoping for the Messianic Kingdom, as the book teaches us to do, will create a lot of tension as we look at the tragic state of our world and our own lives. The Psalms teach us to neither ignore pain nor to let it determine the meaning of our lives. Biblical faith and prayer is always forward-looking, anticipating the day when God will fulfill his promises and praising him for this ahead of time. The Torah and Messiah lament and praise faith and hope this is what the book of Psalms is all about. So one of our focuses this summer as we go through Psalms is to develop healthy biblical God-honoring rhythms in our lives to help us in these moments of tension that we face. And today we're going to focus on a rhythm of longing for God in the good times and the bad. Because when we have this rhythm of longing for God present in our lives, we can do more than we think we can. David, the author of our Psalm today, learned this firsthand and from a few experiences. He writes about it on multiple occasions and there are several Psalms where he is longing for God out of desperation.

So David teaches us how to have a rhythm of longing for God that leads to a confidence in God. Before we get to reading our psalm, we're gonna be in Psalm 63 today. I want to explain what David is going through as he writes this because it's a lot. This could, this, it's not found in Psalm 63. So if you're trying to read, it's not there. It's somewhere else in the Bible and I'm gonna tell you all about it. But it could be a movie, this what David's going through, and it would not be rated PG. It would be an epic. It'd be worth watching because it's from the Bible. But it would, there's a lot of, a lot of tension in here. So, buckle up for this. All right, David is king at this time and he's king over Israel. We know that David isn't perfect, which is why we love him, right? He's relatable. He's king and he's the man with the heart after God, but he also messes up and his messy life is comforting to us because our lives are messy. So David is king and he has three sons at this time. Amnon, Kiliab, and Absalom, as well as a daughter Tamar. And at some point in life, Kiliab dies. And so he's left with his oldest Amnon, the youngest Absalom, and Tamar the sister. Now, Amnon, the oldest, commits an awful atrocity against his own sister, and it leaves the family very divided, and King David knows, the brothers, and everyone knows, and it's awful, and Absalom takes in Tamar after that tragedy, and says, "You can stay with me," and never speaks to Amnon again. He's just so mad and fed up with what happened. He's like, "I'm done with you." Two years go by and this is festering in Absalom. He's getting, he's still angry, hasn't talked to his brother, and ends up killing his brother Amnon over this issue. After he kills him, he flees. He's like, "I don't want to face the consequences of my actions." So I, he leaves. Absalom leaves and he's gone for three years. It's a long time. And during this time, we know that David is longing to see his son. David, we have to reckon, there's so much happening in his eyes. His own, in his own family, his oldest brother did something wrong to his daughter, or yeah, the oldest son did something wrong to the daughter, and then his other son killed his son, and now he's just left with Absalom, who is fled out of the country, and a daughter who's been hurt. So David has got, he still wants, I mean, he's mad, but he also doesn't want his son to be gone. So he's processing all these emotions and finally he says to his most trusted man Joab, Joab can you go get my son back, bring him back. So Joab brings Absalom back to the royal residence, the palace, and he's there for Absalom, he's back for two years, but he doesn't see David. So he's back, I don't, again this is a lot of tension here in this family, so he's back in the house but they're not talking and they're not seeing each other. And it's like that for two years.

So he's gone for three years, fled, comes back. He's living in the same palace as David, but has not seen his father or the king for two years. And finally, Absalom wants to do something about it. And so he goes to Joab, who David's most trusted man, says, "Joab, can you arrange where I could see the king/my father?" Absalom sent a messenger. He didn't do this himself, he's kind of above that royalty life. And Joab doesn't respond. So Absalom sends another messenger, says, "Hey, I would like a meeting with my father/the king." And Joab doesn't respond. So then Absalom does what anyone would do. He lights Joab's field on fire. And he says, "Will you answer me now?" And Joab comes out of his house, and he's like, "Why'd you do that?" And Absalom says, "You weren't texting me back. You didn't say anything." I needed to know if I wanted to go see my dad. And so Joab arranges it, and so after five years of Absalom and David not talking to each other, not seeing each other, they meet. And Absalom bows before David, and David embraces him. But soon after that, it was not a happy ending. That was not the end of the story. During this time, while Absalom is away, while he's fled and then while he's in the palace, not seeing his dad, something has stirred within him and has grown inside of him and it's the desire for him to be king. And so soon after he's welcomed back, Absalom begins to incite rebellion among the people and turn people's hearts from honoring and seeing David as king to, wouldn't it be nice if I was the king, people? Wouldn't it be better if I was king? And if you're noticing, this sounds familiar, This is a common thread of sin throughout the Bible of, that's what God wants, but wouldn't this be better if I had it my way? And also, if you're getting tones of prodigal son, the first half of the story, it's very much it where Absalom the son says, I want my inheritance. He was gonna be king after David, but he wants it now. And he's thinking, it doesn't matter if it means treating my father like he's dead. I want what I want and I want it now. So rather than quelling the rebellion and killing his own son, King David leaves the royal city, and he heads into the wilderness. And he brings his entourage, his royal, his faithful men, and he keeps to make some arrangements to keep up to date. And he's like, "I'm heading out, but you messenger, just keep me up with what's going on with Absalom, what he's doing.”

And And David leaves. And he's gone through something similar before, having fled Saul and heading into the wilderness, having been said that you are going to be king, you're not king yet, back when he was doing this with Saul. And so this is a familiar thing for David, to be heading out into the wilderness, to trust God, saying this is getting pretty crazy, and I'm gonna go out here, and I'm gonna have to depend on you and wait on you as you figure this out, God, because I don't wanna have to do what may have to be done. I don't wanna have to kill my son. I don't wanna have to go through this whole rebellion, so I'm gonna come out here into the wilderness and I'm gonna rely on you. Absalom makes this royal procession through the city now that his father's left and he says, I'm king. It's me now, guys. And he assumes his father's throne. He does some other terrible things to convey that he is king. Again, it would not be rated PG. But meanwhile, in the desert, Yahweh ensures that the needs of David and his entourage are met, so God is sustaining David, and this is the point where Psalm 63 is written. David's out in the wilderness with his men, Absalom is king, and nothing has gone well. Now I'm gonna finish the story just so we know how it ends, but our Psalm is just in this moment.

But in case you don't know the story, Absalom realizes that to seize full control over king, he will have to kill his father David. And so they go to battle and God gives David the victory. And in that battle, Absalom dies. And David comes back to Israel with every emotion that you can think of. It's not that he didn't want to be king. I'm sure there was joy in the fact that he gets to be king again or recognized as king. But he also lost his children. He lost his sons. So there's so much tension and and grief and emotion in David's life. And I wanna come back to that quote from Bible Project where it says that Psalms teach us to neither ignore pain nor to let it determine the meaning of our lives. But in that tension, to find God, to be with God. And so we wanna talk about having that rhythm of turning to God. And again, we'll see in David's longing in the wilderness, he develops a confidence in Yahweh. So now, with all that in mind, let's go ahead and read Psalm 63. You guys can follow along as I read aloud. It says, "You, God, are my God. "Earnestly I seek You, I thirst for You. "My whole being longs for You "in a dry and parched land where there is no water. "I have seen You in the sanctuary "and beheld Your power and Your glory. "Your love is better than life. "my lips will glorify you. "I will praise you as long as I live, "and in your name I will lift up my hands. "I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods. "With singing lips, my mouth will praise you. "On my bed I remember you. "I think of you through the watches of the night. "Because you are my help, "I sing in the shadow of your wings. "I cling to you. "Your right hand upholds me. "Those who want to kill me will be destroyed. "They will go down to the depths of the earth. "They will be given over to the sword "and become food for jackals. "But the king will rejoice in God. "All who swear by God will glory in him "while the mouths of liars will be silenced." David went through a lot.

I think sometimes when we read a psalm and we know that there's categories of praise psalms and lament psalms, and we just think it's just lament or it's just praise, and sometimes that's the case, but there's other psalms that it's got a little bit of everything. There's some praise, there's some lament. And I think this is one of those where there's a lot of emotion here. And now understanding the story of what David is going through, we understand where there is joy in Yahweh, there's also mourning over what's happening around him. So I wanna go line by line and see David's longing for God and how it leads to confidence in God. Verse one says, "You, God, are my God." David begins by affirming his relationship in God. With all that's going, I'm sure, I'm projecting a little bit, but I'm sure David has his own frustrations, being back out in the desert. God already did this one time with Saul. Now I'm back here again. I am the king, why am I not on my throne? Why is this happening to my family? Why can't my son be like those other good Israelite sons? Why is he trying to kill me? Thankful to not have that thought. He says, earnestly I seek you. "I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you "in a dry and parched land where there is no water." I mean, you can imagine him out in the wilderness. He's using the physical setting around him to say, "This is what I know what it's like to thirst, God. "I'm living it right now, and that's how I feel about you." Have you ever been in a hot, dry place with no water for a long time? Longed for your thirst to be quenched? I not like David. This story is not at all like David, but it's just small.

I was thirsty one time. Okay, I was in Boy Scouts long ago and we went to, it was advertised, my Boy Scout troop, we're going on a five mile hike. It was a great five mile, we all packed for a five mile hike. Well, around mile 10, we're wondering, we're not bad. It's supposed to be a loop. We're farther away than we've ever been, and it doesn't look like we're going back. And we all ran out of water. And I don't remember where we were, somewhere here in the foothills. But we're far away. We started at Folsom Lake. We were far away from the lake. And so there is no water out here. It's hot. It's a summer day. And all of us, we've all shared water. And we're just out of water. And we were all so thirsty. And it must have been like 10, 11 years old. And I remember heading back, we finally, someone figured out, one of our troop leaders figured out where we're supposed to be going. We saw civilization again because we started being behind people's houses. And we saw, we're on the fence line, just heading back to a parking lot. And we're Boy Scouts, so we're, you know, very honor, Scout's honor, we're great. But all of us had never been more tempted to just jump someone's fence, grab a hose, and just like guzzle down as much water as we could. And they had all the fences where you can see through. It's just like the bars like that out there. And we're just like, there's a hose. There's a hose. There's a hose. That sprinkler's on. And we're just like, we're thirsting for water. And so that's like, we got water, and we were fine. Nothing happened. No one had to go to the hospital.

So I don't even have an experience of being dehydrated to the point of hurting. But I see David's words here, I thirst for you. And it brings me back to that point of like, that was one of the thirstiest times I've ever been. And he's saying that physical feeling of thirst, that's what he has inside for God. David is longing to be in God's presence. Because we have to remember that God's presence was tied with the temple back in the city. David's palace was in the city, and in the same city was the temple, the tabernacle. God's presence was, and so he's far, he's out in the wilderness now, and he's like, I'm no longer near you, God. I wanna be near you again. Verse two says, "I've seen you in the sanctuary "and beheld your power and your glory." David's writing from, he's like, "I know what you're like, God. "I've been near your presence." And he knows that nothing is of greater worth. And so the message to us today is, if you are in the good times now, then take note. Be present, remember what this is like. Take to heart what being in a good place in life, in a good stage of life with God is like. So that you have a foundational memory so that you can be when you're in the wilderness, when you're going through something hard, you can, these words will be true for you too. God, I know what it's like to be near you in the good times. I know what you're like when life is good, when you've blessed me. I witness and experience your presence, your power, your provision, and I've beheld your glory, God. We want that to be our prayer. So take inventory, take mental note. Remember what it's like to be in God's presence.

Verse three says, "Because your love is better than life, "my lips will glorify you." Because your love is better than life. This word that David uses for love is the Hebrew word hesed. It means steadfast love, faithfulness, loyalty. It's a love that is merciful and kind, yet covenantally attached to people. It's an essential part of God's character. It's the word that God uses in describing himself to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. It says, "Moses, I am," and he uses the word hesed. It's a covenantal love. God remaining faithful to Israel despite everything that Israel does to rebel against him. It also speaks to God's mercy. When Moses appealed to God to pardon the sins of the people, he appeals to God's hesed. When Israel confesses their sins to Nehemiah, they remember that God did not forsake the people in the desert because God abounds in hesed. John Berry, a theologian, points out that hesed is a characteristic that God desires of his people. It's something that in Hosea he desires over sacrifice. He desires us to have hesed. Zechariah instructs the people to show hesed to one another. Micah explains that God requires justice, hesed, and humility. The psalmist shows that God takes pleasure in those who trust in his hesed, his covenantal love. Proverbs often encourages hesed along with wisdom. God's hesed, his covenantal love, is so important, so vital, so primary to who God is. And David understands that God's hesed is better than life itself.

David shows confidence in God by trusting in God's hesed and it leads David to praise. says in verse four, "I will praise you as long as I live, "and in your name I will lift my hands." David's confidence in God's steadfast love leads him to worship, and not just for a moment. Not just, hey, I had this moment in the wilderness and it looked really beautiful and I thought of you, and I'm just gonna praise you right now, God. I mean, he's out there for a long time, and through it all, he is praising God. Our praise and worship of God shouldn't be temporary or momentary, but it should be ever-present in our lives, no matter what's happening. And really, if we think about it, as believers, we're going to be praising God for the rest of our lives into eternity with Him in heaven. And that holy perspective is beautiful, and it should bring hope and courage to whatever situation you're going through. that the praises that you're singing in the hardest of times will be the same praises that you're gonna say when you're with God in his presence in heaven. And that perspective is only possible having been loved by God and received his mercy and grace. And once you have received, once you've felt God's love and you've received his mercy and grace, there is no other response than to praise him, to give him your worship. We wanna be able to look at the present, however difficult, and also look forward and realize that God is worth praising now and in the future. We wanna have a posture and a rhythm of praising God during all times, just as David did.

Says in verse five, "I will be fully satisfied "as with the richest of foods, "with singing lips, my mouth will praise you." This now contrasts with his current situation. He's in the desert with limited food and resources, but he's saying, "I'm gonna praise you "as if I had all the food and the best food "like I did when I was king back at the palace." Also, good food and singing, this sounds like a party, right? These are key elements of a great party. And David's saying, by the way, God loves parties. There's a lot of parties and celebrations in the Bible. It's also why we have rhythms of family meals and morning blends, 'cause we wanna have that too. It's good times with each other, celebrating what God is doing. And so he's saying, this is, I'm in the desert right now, but I still have reason, still have reason to praise you. Just like I do when we have these big celebrations. David is recognizing a truth that we might say, but given his circumstances, he is living it. And that is that God is all he needs. We say that sometimes, like God is all I need. But then, you know, you go on a 10 mile hike, you're like, I also really need water right now, along with God. But he's saying out in the wilderness, God is truly all that I need. Because God will provide for any of my physical needs, my spiritual needs, my emotional needs, God will provide for everything. Even when we don't necessarily have it right before us, in front of us, we can trust that God will provide.

Verses six through seven read, on my bed I remember you, I think of you through the watches of the night, because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. Again, this is just reflecting a situation. His entourage are on the run, so they have night shifts, making sure that no one's coming after them. And he's saying, even in those moments, full of stress, moments of anxiety, God, I'm praising you, and I can sing about you. He's comforted by remembering God's faithful protection.

Verse eight, it says, "I cling to you, "your right hand upholds me." And this is speaking to God's power and authority. This is speaking to God's power as creator and the savior. David knows that the only one who can save him is God. And being at the right hand always speaks to the power of the leader, it symbolizes power. And so you think of another passage in the Bible that talks about the right hand of God is in the New Testament when the disciples are arguing, hey, who's gonna be at your right hand, Jesus? We wanna be at your right hand. And so we just know that being at the right hand or God's using of his right hand with you means you're in a good place. You are experiencing his power and his authority.

Verses nine through 10 read, "Those who want to kill me will be destroyed. "They will go down to the depths of the earth. "They will be given over to the sword "and become food for jackals." If we didn't know the background of the story, we may think, yeah, David's enemies, you're gonna die. Terrible, and we're just like, we're so Team David when we read Psalms. Like, yeah, David's mad at someone, we're all so mad at them. But this is David's son. He's writing this about his own son. And I, honestly, I can't begin to fathom the tension that David's writing this with. That he's recognizing that God, God is the one who's gonna exercise his justice. He's confident that God will deliver him and destroy his enemies. And he writes, "Those who are eager to the sword," His own son. And I think, he thinks back to his time with Saul, who's also in this mindset of being power hungry and selfish and no longer walking with God. And he knows, he knows from Saul, he's like, "Son, if you are gonna continue down this path, "it will lead to your death." That mix of emotion, the tension in this verse, the heart of David. Confidence in God and yet sorrow and mourning for what it may mean for his own kin. And maybe you've experienced something similar with a friend or a loved one where they are going down a path that will lead to their destruction. And you have confidence in God's truth and the fact that God will have judgment and will uphold the consequences of their sin. And yet at the same time, your heart is breaking for that person. It's more complex than that, but we recognize that God is still God in the worst situations, even with people that we love. And even when it means that, yeah, they're going into something that may lead to their death. God is still God. He ends in verse 11 by writing, "But the king will rejoice in God. "who swear by God will glory in him "while the mouths of liars will be silenced." David is saying, "I'm the king, and I will rejoice in God." By destroying the wicked, God protects his people and his anointed. Remember the context of Absalom lying to the nation saying that he's king. So David's saying, "The liars are gonna be silenced." But David recognizes that God will do the silencing. He doesn't have to do anything. This is in God's hands. God will take care of it. I think that tells us that we don't have to worry about the judgment coming for those who are doing wrong against us or against God. God will take care of that. He is more than capable. He has the authority and the right to handle those situations. And in the midst of that we can rejoice and praise God.

So at the end of our Psalm, Psalm 63, we see David in his longing to be with God, to be in God's presence. He's also led to a confidence in God in what God can do and what God will do. And again, it's a psalm that comes from deep inner turmoil, psalm of David that was a personal journey of reaching for God, expressing deep, deep longing, and David exercising a necessary rhythm of longing for God that lands him in a place of confidence in his Savior. And so as we end our time this morning, I want us to consider our own rhythms, Especially the rhythms that we have once we enter into seasons of struggle, of being in the wilderness, of pain and sorrow. And it wants to contemplate how can our own rhythms be improved. So number one, first thing, encouragement to us all. First rhythm is to long for God daily. Do not wait for the bad times to come, to start longing for God. It's important to have a daily rhythm of longing for God. If you think of it like a muscle, right? If we expect to just, or sometimes we find ourselves in the wilderness, but we haven't been longing for God, and so how to do that is foreign to us. You haven't used that muscle in a while. If we stay consistent with longing for God, when the bad times come, we'll know exactly what to do. We know how to long for Him. We need to be in a regular place and have a posture where we are desperately in need of Him. and we need to know what it means to truly depend on him. One of the best ways to do this, you're not gonna like it, is to fast. Yeah, I know, it's tough. I struggle with it, I don't like fasting. We did a community group on fasting recently, and it is annoying at times to go without food and to do that regularly, but it is so good to be in a regular position of struggle and to have to rely on him. even if just for a few hours of a day where you're really hungry, if your attention is turned to Him in that moment, you build up this reaction of as soon as something causes tension in your life, you turn right to God. God, I need you right now. I need you to get me through this. I need you to sustain me. And so from that spiritual practice of fasting, that rhythm in our lives, we'll be more ready to long for God in the worst seasons of life because we have exercised that spiritual muscle. So long for God daily. I would encourage you to think about fasting for him regularly. Not every day, if you don't want to, maybe just once a week. If you want to talk more about fasting, come see me afterwards. We can talk about maybe doing it together, because I'm struggling with it right now.

Number two, waiting on God, another rhythm that we should have. David shows incredible patience and trust in God by going out to the wilderness and saying, "God, I need you to help me with this." He could have taken things into his own hands, killed his own son and said, "I don't want to deal with this anymore. I'll take care of it." We need to have a rhythm of waiting for God. So often we're quick to take matters into our own hands, to take control, to trust in our own strength. We have to be more like David, where we need to wait on God to see if God will affect the situation, change people's hearts, convict others, and transform other people. But waiting is difficult. Ask any kid. Waiting is tough. It's really, we don't like to do it. As an adult, maybe we have more patience, maybe, but also we're just more capable of, you know, fixing whatever the situation was. I'm hungry, I can get my own snack. And so as adults, yeah, maybe we're more patient or maybe we just, we just take control. Waiting can be uncomfortable because it means you might be desperate at some point. We don't like being desperate. But here's what's great about being desperate with God. When we are desperate, it's when we are so aware of our limitations and the consequences of our limited strength or capacity. And in desperation, when we wait on God, we better appreciate God's provision, which He gives in His perfect timing. The Bible is full of people who have had to wait on God and who have been desperate for God to intervene.

Matthew Henry says this about people in hard situations. "As the sweetest of Paul's epistles "were those that bore, date out of prison, "so some of the sweetest of David's Psalms "were those that were penned as this one," Psalm 63, "was in the wilderness." In moments of desperation, God can bear such great fruit, can make something beautiful. So don't doubt that God might be doing something incredible in your waiting in difficult season. So have a regular rhythm of longing for God, of waiting on God, and lastly, desire God, not status. David, while on many levels, wanted to be king again. He's out in the desert, he's away from his palace, he probably wants like some nice food and all the things that come along with being king, But that's not what he seeks most. He didn't write a psalm of, "God, make my life better. God, restore me to where I should be and have everyone look at me again." No. He's desiring God and not his own status. What does it look like to long for God's presence without making personal demands alongside God's saving power? "God, can you make my life better by doing this and making me seem like this in people's eyes. I wanna make sure that people see me in a certain way. God, I've been in a rut. Bring me back to this level, whatever this was in your mind where God's doing great things. David's prayer isn't about being king again. His desire is for God. And this is hard for us because the world values status over God. Our work, whatever you are employed, probably values your status more than it does your relationship with God. We may value our status more than we worship, than we value God at times. And so it's tough when we're in a season where our status is compromised. It can be easy to want to get that status back. That can become the biggest need in our minds, but what we really need is to desire God first and foremost to long for his presence. And if we do this, we'll be in a place of confidence because our confidence is in the one, the only one who can save. So start these rhythms now, whether in a good season or in the midst of the toughest season you've ever been through, like David, long for him, wait on him, and desire him.

Let's go ahead and pray together. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for stories like this with David that teach us how to have a rhythm of longing for you. And I know that for everyone in this room, we can all relate to having moments in life that are so tough, where we don't think that we are capable of moving forward, of making it, of getting through whatever situation. But God, then we look to you, and it's not by our own strength, but it's by the strength that you give us, by the love that you provide, by the mercy and grace that we are able to continue. So we praise you for that. We recognize that we can't do it without you. God, I think of those in our church family who are going through very difficult situations, and we pray that you would sustain them in their season of wilderness right now. Your presence would be with them, that you would comfort them, bring them peace. And God, for those of us who are in the good times right now, I pray that that would bring us joy and that we would be able to encourage others. That we would lock this memory away and say, "I know what it's like to be in God's presence. I know what it's like to have a life that is good because of Him. God, we give you all the praise and all the glory. We pray this in your name. Amen.

Summer of Psalms - Part 7

Psalm 133 - Church Unity in Christ

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Thanks for being here today. We are in our Summer of Psalms series. We're on week seven. We already had seven weeks of Psalms. And we have a handful more, but we are just really enjoying diving into these different Psalms. And the Psalms are ordered very intentionally in the Bible, but I kind of like that we're just jumping around and we get to, keeps us on our toes a little bit, but we get to explore these different topics and these different characteristics of God through prayer and poem and lament. And it's just a beautiful picture of the Bible and of the gospel. And so I'm really, I've been enjoying it and I hope you guys have too. Today, we are gonna be in Psalm 133. Super long guys, it's a whole three verses, okay? But actually what I would love for us to do to start us off is if we could all just stand, if you're able and read this Psalm together. Pastor Chris mentioned this is a psalm of ascent. This is something that was sung by the people. So stand with us, it'll be on the screens. You can look at it in your Bible if you would like, but it'll be on the screens. “How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew, ermine were falling on Mount Zion, for there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. Amen.”

You may have a seat. Now, if you're like me, you might say, oh, hey, that first verse, that was really good. I like that one. What is going on with the rest of this chapter? We need some context, all right? So we'll get there. But I promise this chapter is actually really, really rich when we dig into it and just so hang in there, stick with me here. But just kind of as a little aside, if you are in your own Bible study and you're reading something like this, and you're like, what are they talking about? It's okay. Dig a little deeper, take some time. I had to Google a lot, all right? I had to look at commentaries and dig further than what was just on the service. The Lord is good and the Holy Spirit can speak to you with just a Bible. I believe that it is alive and it is active. But if you do come across something that you hear, just like, I don't know, take some time, read some commentaries, look at some credible sources, look at maybe the original meaning, 'cause sometimes things get lost in translation as we get to English. But take some time. Studying the Bible is not reserved for pastors and Bible scholars. We do not have the market on this. You guys have so many resources. I just really encourage you to take that time. And even as you hear us talk on a scripture, go home that week and dig in for yourself. We want you to own your faith and your Bible study. So I encourage you to do that as you come across things that maybe aren't as clear or you're struggling with. The Lord is so good. And if you ask Him, He will respond. He will speak to you and meet you where you're at. So for a little context of our chapter today, this is, as mentioned, a song of ascent. there's 15 Psalm of Ascent or Song of Ascent in the Book of Psalms. And these were meant as pilgrim songs or praise songs that the Jews sang as they went into Jerusalem for the festivals throughout the year. And Jerusalem is actually on a hill. So they were literally ascending to Jerusalem. And some traditions even say that the priests would sing them as they ascended the steps into the temple as well. But this idea was that they were praising on their way to praise God. They were worshiping even before they got to the temple and as they were ascending up to Jerusalem. So there's a variety of authors of these. They weren't all necessarily written together or at the same time or even by the same people, but they have been compiled in the book of Psalms together. It's Psalms 120 through 134. Those are the Psalms of ascent. So we're gonna look at a little bit closer here at these, at Psalm 133.

So let's just look at the first verse. How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. Some other translations say how delightfully good when brothers and sisters live in harmony. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It's good. It is a good thing when God's people live in harmony and unity with one another. We live in a world and a culture where people make money off of divisiveness. between headlines and clickbait, they thrive on dividing us. But we are called to unity. Now, this doesn't mean we're going to agree on everything. Right? The church is made up of unique individuals, different personalities, preferences. And I would argue that actually lends to the beauty of the body of God and to our unity. So that's not a problem to have differences. but it can create some friction at times. The Bible says that iron sharpens iron, meaning we make each other sharper and better. But what happens when you sharpen iron, you get some sparks sometimes, right? So sometimes there might be some sparks in the body of Christ, but we still are called to unity. And it is good. It says it right here. It is good and pleasant. Now verse two and three need a little bit more context. We need to dive in a little bit deeper what David is talking about here.

All right, so let's look at two. It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down on the collar of his robe. The purpose of oil in ancient times was often to welcome people into your home or into just to be welcoming. It was also meant to refresh or revive. It was a very dry climate, And so the oil literally helped to make you not so dried out. It was a welcoming act to anoint someone. And here, this particular verse is talking about Aaron, who was the first priest of the nation of Israel. He was the high priest. So when it's referring to the oil on Aaron, this was a special kind of oil. This was anointing oil. It represented holiness. It was used in atonement and sacrifices and to be put on the priest. And it was not to be replicated. It was unique, it was special. It was set aside or made holy for the purpose of the priest. So it is rare. And David here is comparing unity to this oil. Unity is precious and holy. The unity of the body of Christ is precious and holy. Theologian Charles Spurgeon said, "What a sacred thing must brotherly love be "when it can be likened to an oil "which must never be poured on any man "but on the Lord's high priest alone." That's how special it is. That's how important it is. It's different. It's set apart. It's holy. It's more than just getting along or putting up with each other. It's being unified in Christ. We also see here that unity is certainly good and pleasant.

We talked about that with verse one, but here David talks about the oil running down. And he says it three times, running down, running down and down. And the number three in the Bible is usually pretty significant. It gets your attention. It represents along with the number seven, perfection. And it wants you to know the importance or the certainty. It will happen. It is certain. And so this statement, it's validating, him repeating this is validating the claim that unity is good and pleasant. Certainly, for certain, unity of believers is good and pleasant. The oil is also really abundant. So we see that unity is an abundance from God. It talks about how the oil runs down from his head to his beard, to his collar. That's a lot of oil. (laughs) Right? And when we're talking about Aaron specifically, and the atoning oil and how special and rare it was, that would be a lot to use up of this really significant oil. But it is abundant, and it represents that it's a gift from God. So unity, it's an abundant gift from God. Lastly, unity is a sweet aroma. Have you all ever smelled essential oils, like pure essential oils? They're strong, right? They put off a strong scent. So imagine a drop of oil versus a covering of oil, literally dripping down. They would have smelled air and come in from miles away. Right? A couple of years ago, I think our scent, Oaks, is probably about two. I found, or I realized one of our essential oil bottles was missing. It's like finding a Sharpie without a cap on. It's a little nerve-wracking, you just never know what's happening. And so I'm like, "Okay, got to find this bottle of oils, we don't have oils, what's going on?" So I'm looking around the house, and I walk by one of the kids' rooms, and I smell it. And I'm like, "It's in there." So I go in, and I'm literally just sniffing, following my nose, trying to find this bottle of essential oil. And thankfully, I found it, and it wasn't a huge mess, and the Lord provided. we were able to find it, but I had to rely on this scent in order to find it. Unity of the body of Christ is a sweet aroma. When we are unified in Christ, we put off a scent to the rest of the world. It's an aroma to God as an offering to Him, but it also lets the world around us know that we are different. Now the inverse can be true. If we are divisive, if we are causing problems, if we are creating division, we are going to be a stench to the world. But if we live in Christian unity, if we follow the biblical way of living with each other, It can be a sweet aroma to those around us. It'll get people's attention. It'll be inviting, it'll be welcoming. And hopefully, ideally, it'll point people to Jesus. Now, just to be sure that we know that unity is beautiful and good, David gives us one more analogy.

Verse three, it says, "It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion, "for there the Lord bestows His blessing, and even life forevermore. Had to Google Mount Hermon and Mount Zion, it's fine. You know, it's okay. But what I found is Mount Hermon was actually really known for its dew. It produced a lot of dew to the point where they would wake up with wet tents in the morning. So it was a lot of dew, lush greenery. But Mount Zion and a lot of Israel in general, it's just dry. And so David is likening the dew of Mount Hermon of Mount Hermon to the unity, as if it were coming down and refreshing the rest of Israel. Dew is meant to refresh and revive. It's meant to encourage growth and life and vegetation. And David is saying that's the same as the unity of believers. The dew of Mount Hermon didn't literally come down and water Israel or water Mount Zion. But it's this metaphor of the abundant-ness, of the impact of surrounding areas that our unity as believers can have in our own lives, in our families, in our communities. It goes far and wide. And if the church isn't unified, we will bring chaos. We will bring discord. And I would argue we will bring spiritual death to the world around us. But our unity can bring life and refreshment to ourselves, to our own souls, and to those we encounter. The end of verse three says, "For there the Lord bestows his blessing, "even life forevermore." This word bestows also can mean commands or a point. So it's not a recommendation. It's not a suggestion. The blessing of unity is a command. There are many reasons that we have to live in community. Some more obvious than others, but he lays one out here, life forevermore, eternity. We are going to be unified in eternity forevermore. So why not start now? If the church is a picture of heaven, then we should be practicing unity now. We should be unified in Jesus right now. It's just a taste of what's to come, and it's gonna be so much better, but it can be good now too. So how do we practice Christian community, or Christian unity? We know that it's good. The Bible says it is. It's good, it's pleasant, it's commanded, it's desirable, we should want it. but how do we actually practice it? Well, I came up with a few ways. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but you're gonna want lunch.

So we're gonna try to keep it to just a minimum here. But these are what I feel like are pretty foundational, that in order to have unity within the body of Christ, we need these. We need to have these things in order for us to practice Christian unity. The first one is we have to abide in Christ. We have to abide in Christ. And I mean that more on an individual basis. Obviously, communally, we can do that, but if we are individually, in our own walks with Jesus, abiding in Him, that is going to lend itself to Christian unity. In John 17, Jesus has a very extensive prayer where He is lifting up His disciples, And then he prays for all Christians, all those that are coming in the future. And in verse 20, starting in verse 20, he says, "My prayer is not for them," meaning the disciples, "alone. "I pray also for those who will believe in me "through their message," that's us, "that all of them may be one, Father, "just as you are in me and I am in you. "May they also be in us so that the world may believe "that you have sent me. "I have given them the glory that you gave me, "that they may be one as we are one, "I in them and you in me, "so that they may be brought to complete unity. "Then the world will know that you sent me "and have loved them even as you have loved me." The Bible says they will know us by our love and that involves unity. The Trinity is one. And just like that, we are to model, the church is to model that we are to be in Christ, abiding in Him. And through that, we are one, just as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one. A few, or a couple of chapters earlier in John 15, he talks about being the vine. Starting in verse five, it says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit apart from me, you can do nothing. He goes on to say in verse nine, "As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love just as I have kept my father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this, love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. When we are abiding in Christ, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit. Because we are one with Him, He can work in our lives to move and transform and to produce really good fruit. When we are producing or experiencing the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control all laid out in Galatians. When we are producing that fruit, unity is not only possible, but I think it's actually even easier. When we abide in Christ, we make ourselves available for the Holy Spirit to produce that fruit in our lives. And when we are loving, when we are peaceful, when we are patient and self-controlled, we get to be unified with other believers.

The second way that I think is really foundational to this is to be an active and humble part of the body. Romans 12, Paul talks a lot about this in Romans 12, This idea of being the body of Christ. Verse four through five says, "For just as each of us has one body with many members, "and these members do not all have the same function, "so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, "and each member belongs to all the others." Did you catch the last part? We belong to each other. Body parts have to work together. If you got one leg walking this way and one leg walking that way, you're gonna have problems. We have to work together. We have to be a unified body. Now that doesn't mean, again, we're not all doing the same thing. We can't all lead worship. We can't all be in children's. We can't all run tech. We all have different gifts. But we have to work together. We're gonna have differences. We're gonna have struggles. We're gonna have different disagreements and conflicts. That's expected because we're human in a fallen world. But if we are truly being active and humble in the body of believers, it will create unity. Verse nine and 10 of Romans 12 says, "Love must be sincere, hate what is evil, "clean to what is good, "Be devoted to one another in love. "Honor one another above yourselves." We have to be humble in order to love and honor others. It's really hard to love other people and honor other people when we are not humbling ourselves enough to do so. Paul is encouraging believers here to be devoted. Be devoted to brotherly love. Be devoted to Christian unity. be devoted to friendship within the body. Use your gifts, use the unique gifts and abilities that God has given you, but do so humbly and with the intent of loving your brother and sister in the Lord.

Lastly, I believe we're called to choose peace. As with any family, we're gonna have struggles. we're gonna have conflict. But when we handle these things biblically, when we assume the best in others and trust the Holy Spirit in each other, unity will be maintained. Choosing peace for the purpose of unity requires things of us. It requires that we, like I said, are assuming the best in others. It requires that we have healthy conflict resolution, not that we're just avoiding it or pushing it to the side, so that we're actually addressing it in a healthy and biblical way. We have to take issues directly to the person, not gossiping, not getting everyone on our side, but directly dealing with the problem or with the person that we have a problem with. It's listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes that means he's telling you, calling you to a holy hush. We just gotta shut our mouth sometimes, right? Sometimes we need to say something. And sometimes we need to shut our mouth. Amen? Amen. Okay. But it's listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit on how He wants us to navigate conflict, on how He wants us to be peace bearers in our churches and in our communities and in our homes. It's understanding and knowing that we can disagree and be unified at the same time. They do not have to be, those can co-exist. they are not mutually exclusive. I can still love Jesus and have different preferences than you. I can still love Jesus and have different political views than you. I can still love Jesus and fill in the blank. And same goes for all of us. We're not always going to agree on everything, but if it is not sin and not going against the word of God, we can still be unified within the body. And I think we also, in order to choose peace, we have to be open to accountability, the iron sharpening iron. This can be tough, again, requires humility to be corrected, to be held accountable to what you say you're going to do or not going to do. But that is going to facilitate peace within the body of Christ.

Again, back to Romans 12. Paul has a lot to say about this. Verse 18 says, "If it is possible, "as far as it depends on you, "live at peace with everyone. "Do not take revenge, my dear friends, "but leave room for God's wrath, "for it is written, it is mine to avenge. "I will repay," says the Lord. "On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. "If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. "In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. As far as it depends on us, live at peace with everyone. You can't control anybody else. You can control yourself. You can choose to live at peace, to choose peace in a situation, not avoiding conflict, that is not what I'm saying, but doing so biblically will promote peace in your own heart, in your own life, in your relationships, and in the body. It's our responsibility to be peace bearers. That when we enter a room, a space, a group of people, that we are bringing the peace of Christ. Again, there's going to be conflict. There's going to be disagreements. There is going to be struggles. Well, we're in an election year, and we all saw what happened yesterday. There is evil in the world. There is differing opinions. But if people are on the outside looking in, which they are, we have to be unified, because people are looking for something. They are looking for acceptance and love and an answer and a savior, I promise you there is not a presidential candidate on the face of this earth that is our savior. They are looking for people to accept them and to love them and to show them the way, to show them what peace looks like, what true peace that passes understanding looks like. And if they look at the body of Christ and they see discord and division, You're not gonna come looking for Jesus. So we have an obligation, we have a responsibility to choose peace, to choose unity, to choose healthy, biblical, conflict resolution because it is good and it's pleasant. It is abundant. It is so beautiful. This chapter may have only been three verses, but we learned that it is an abundant gift from God. It really certainly is good and pleasant. It's a sweet aroma to the world around us. It refreshes ourselves and our spirits. It glorifies God. And it's a picture of heaven and what's to come in eternity. So let's practice unity together, friends. Amen? Amen, pray with me.

Jesus, we thank you for this truth, for this command to be unified in you. God, I pray over the church, both Spring Valley and the church globally, that you will unify us. God, that we will choose unity in Christ over division, over personal preference, over affiliation with certain groups or peoples. God, you have created us uniquely with different gifts and different abilities, and we praise you for that, and we honor you with those things, God. But may we choose unity over our individual personal preferences. May we seek you. May we seek your peace. God, you are the king. You are the prince of peace. You are on the throne. Through you, unity is possible. And Lord, as people struggle with the world around them or with mental health or feelings that they don't belong, God, I just pray that as they seek answers, that they will see a unified body of believers who are doing their best to bring glory to you and point people to Jesus. God, we thank you for this body of believers, for this Spring Valley family. We are so grateful that you have given us these people to worship you with, to do life with, to sharpen ourselves with. God, I just pray for unity in our church and in the church globally. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Summer of Psalms - Part 6

Psalm 139 - The Art of Living Well

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Well good morning, my name is Phil Stevenson, I'm friends of the pastors here and every and then they give me a very wonderful, gracious opportunity to come and share with you. So it's a privilege to do that. We're in Psalms, there would be doing a series of Psalms and we'll be in Psalms 139, and we'll be there in a moment, but there's one thing I wanna make sure I point out to all of us this morning that I know for a fact, everyone here this morning is living. Now, you may not feel like you are, but you are. I know it's warm outside, we're all alive. So that's beyond dispute. What could be disputed, however, is how we live the life that we have. And sometimes, of course, when we live our lives, there's things that encroach upon us. There's frustrations, there's challenges, there's surprises in life. There's all kinds of things that we may not have planned on, but we, instead, have to kind of navigate our way through that. But when we look at Psalm 139, and of course it was written by David, as most of the Psalms were, And he helps us understand in the first 12 verses of this passage of scripture of how he lived his life. The life that he lived, that he had to navigate, all kinds of things, it went through all threads of his life. His life was not always the way that maybe he had laid it out. To be honest with you, he started his life, obviously, as a shepherd. He was challenged to become king. He hadn't planned to become king. I don't think he did. Scripture doesn't seem to indicate that. So he's a shepherd guy, and that's what he probably expected he would do, how he would contribute to his family over his lifespan. And he knew how to live with the Lord as a shepherd. He also went through a season of his life where he was a fugitive. King Saul, who was the king before him, wanted David dead. And the reason is, is he knew that David was the next anointed king of Israel, And so even though his son, Jonathan, was the best friend of David, he wanted David dead. And then of course we know he became king and he was kind of experienced as probably one of the greatest kings, if not the greatest kings in the history of Israel. So as a shepherd, as a fugitive, as a king, David learned what life was about as he lived it with the Lord.

And I want us to take a look at this passage of scripture, Psalm 139 verses one through 12. If you have a Bible with you, turn there. If you use your phone like I do or your iPad for scripture, turn there. And we're gonna take a look, kind of walk through this passage of scripture and look about how we can live our life fully with the Lord, no matter what our situations. Because again, David had to navigate his life as a shepherd, a fugitive, and also as a king. The first thing I want us to see, we're gonna go five things that we how we can learn to live well the art of living well and Really life frankly is more of an art than is a science People may try to give us formulas for certain things for the most part life is an art because we have to respond Navigate come across and deal with things that we have maybe never planned that doesn't mean we shouldn't plan our lives out it just means that we'll have surprises as I've already mentioned along our life as as we go after things. This month, I should say this year, December, I'm gonna turn 70 years old. I know you're probably thinking, you don't look a day over 68. Okay, but anyway. And I've learned in my 70 fact, it's funny, with my granddaughter who's seven, and she's, they call me Pappy. She's a Pappy, how old are you gonna be on your next birthday? I said, well, Brielle, I'm gonna be 70 years old. And she looked at me like she couldn't even fathom that number. And I said, "You know about this whole thing of being 70, Brielle, is that not everybody gets to be 70." And that's true. And so even in my 70, almost 70 years, I'm learning things all the time. Understanding new things about God and trying to navigate what the challenges of my life at 70 have been and probably will be over time. We never know. But But David gives us some good guidelines. And the first one is this, the art of living well. The first thing is this, live in the acceptance of God. If you wanna live your life well, live in the acceptance of God.

Psalm 139 verses one through four says this, "Oh Lord, You've examined my heart. "You know everything about me. "You know when I sit down or stand up. "You know my thoughts, even when I'm far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home, catch this, you know everything I do. That's not very exciting, is it? Or is it? Verse four, you know what I'm going to say even before I say it, Lord. Wouldn't that be good if even we knew what we're gonna say sometimes before we're gonna say it? Have you ever had that situation? Oh baby, I should not have said that. And you probably have had this experience that I've had and simply said, "It's not so much what you said, "it's how you said it." And so we know that we have to live in the acceptance of God. And you probably have had this situation. Have you ever found out something about somebody, maybe just unexpectedly found it out, you weren't looking for anything, but you found out something about somebody and boy, it kind of changed your perception of them 'cause you never saw them that way. or maybe you are like most people who have some things in your life that you're not overly proud about. Maybe something you did as a younger individual. And if at all way possible, if you could steer conversation on that kind of thing, you'd be more than happy to do that. But yet God knows all that stuff and He still accepts us. We have to live in the acceptance of God. There's something freeing about knowing somebody knows all about you, I mean all about you, and they accept you anyway, warts and all.

Tommy Walker, who is a worship leader and an evangelist and a songwriter and a singer, all these things, he's been on staff at a church down the LA area, I think it's Assembly is God Church, down the LA area for about 30 years. And he told the story about when he went on a missions trip, and he was out there on this missions trip, and this kid ran up to him. And he said, "Hi, my name is Jimmy." And Tommy Walker said, "Hi, Jimmy, my name is Tommy." The little kid smiled and ran away. That was the end of that interaction. Later in that same day, the same little kid came up to Tommy and said to him, "Do you know my name?" He says, "Well, yes, you're Jimmy." And he just beamed that Tommy had remembered his name. Turns out, Tommy found out that this little boy had been orphaned at a very young age. He didn't have much of a family around him. Very few people really knew his name. And so when Tommy remembered his name, It struck him as so exhilarating for him. In fact, it impacted him so much, Tommy Walker wrote a song. It's an older song. I've not heard it in a long, I know it. I mean, I've heard it, but not in a long time. I don't think it's hit the list, the hit list for the 2000s here. But it's a song, it's called "You Know My Name." And the chorus goes, I won't even try to sing the tune because I won't get it right, but if you've never heard it, You might think that bad tune is the tune, but it's not. But it goes, he knows my name. He knows my every thought. He knows every tear I cry. He hears me when I call. The power of having acceptance, the power of someone knowing your name, and the art of living well begins right there. Our ability to live our life well has to be foundational in that we are willing to live in the acceptance of God, that God accepts us. Exodus chapter 33 verse 17 says this, "The Lord replied to Moses," the Lord and the Moses were having a conversation, "and the Lord says to Moses, "I will indeed do what you have asked, "for I look favorably on you, "and I know your name." Wow. God knows our name. There's a statement, I think it'll be on the screen, maybe not, but I don't know who said it, it's just powerful. It says this, "Satan knows your name, "but calls you by your sin." "God knows your sin, but he calls you by your name." Wow, that's powerful. And when you grab ahold of that, then you begin to live in the acceptance of God.

The next thing that we need to do to live, to develop the art of living is to live in the blessing of God. To live in the blessing of God. Verses five and six, you go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand. You see the laying on of hands is a sign of blessing. It's a sign of support. It's actually a sign of sending. I'm sure you've done that here before where you just lay your hand on someone, maybe a missionary couple, or maybe just someone that needs some encouragement and strength and you lay hands on them and you pray for them because that laying on of hands is a sign of blessing, a sign of support, a sign of sending. And if we can just picture that, that God blesses us, that we can just imagine the hand of God laid upon us, blessing us, encouraging us, sending us. God blesses us. And then he goes and he stays with us. I have here this morning an actual $20 bill. Now it's not crisp, but it's pretty good. Bob wants the $20 bill. OK, maybe later we can talk. And the thing about this $20 bill, is you know what this is worth? It's not a rhetorical question. You know what this is worth? $20. Absolutely worth $20. Now, if I put this on the ground, it's not too dirty. Whoever cleans up here is scrubbing around a little bit like this, and then finally pick it up. You know how much this is worth? You're screwing the illustration up. Okay, it's worth $20. Now, if you're like I am, and sometimes you take your bills and you fold them up, maybe in half, sometimes maybe in thirds, and you keep them in your pocket, and it gets to get creases in it after a while, pretty soon you have to kinda unfold it, have some creases, but still, you know what, it's worth $20. And then, however, if you got, try to crumple up like a little piece of paper, just kinda crumple a little bit like this, and you undo it here a little bit. Let's see if I can get this uncrumple here. crumpled, crumpled, whatever. This crumpled, somewhat dirty, crinkly little, it's worth $20, still worth $20. It'll spend like $20. And that's what I want us to see when we talk about the blessings of God. No matter how dirty sometimes you may feel or how creased you may feel in your life or crumpled up that you may feel in your life, You are still valued by God. He values you. Our mistakes do not take away the value God places on us as his people. When we live in the blessings of God, we live in the value that God has placed on us. Not the value someone else has placed on us. Not even sometimes the value that we ourselves kind of place on ourselves because we've gone through a difficult, challenging, feeling like a faithless time. God still values you and me. We are still worthwhile in His eyes and we need to live in that blessing.

The third thing that I think David teaches us is we need to live in the presence of God. We live in the acceptance of God, we live in the blessing of God, and then we need to live in the acceptance of God. verses seven and eight, "I can never escape "from your spirit, I never get away from your presence. "If I go up to heaven, you are there. "If I go down to the grave, you are there." We know one of the characteristics of God is that he is omnipresent. So word simply just means all present, he's everywhere. And we need to live in the understanding that God is present with us. Again, back to Exodus chapter 33, where Moses is getting ready to leave the children of Israel and he's concerned about his ability to do this. And in verse 14, excuse me, verse 15, he says this, "Then Moses said to God, "If you don't personally go with us, "don't make us leave this place. "I want your presence, God." That's what Moses is saying. I know what you called me to do, but if you don't go with me, I just shouldn't stay here. I need your presence. God, as I go to my workplace and navigate the challenge that are there, if you don't go with me, I want your presence to go with me, then I just assume not to go to work. If I have to navigate the challenges of my family, then you're not present. I would assume not to navigate those challenges. If I have to find only encouragement in myself in times of discouragement, I need you to be present with me and God is present with you. I don't know your situations or your issues, but I know this, God is present. I don't know your fears or concerns, but God is present. I don't know where you are, where you're going, or how you plan to get there, but God is present. A good friend of mine named Ron McClung wrote these words. He says, "We can't change the past." Now, it doesn't mean we wish we couldn't change the past, but we can't. He said, "We can't change the past. "We can only address the present "and move toward the future." And that's what we're talking about here. Try not to worry about changing your past, you can't. Oh boy, you can start right here in your present. And know that God is present and move toward your future.

The fourth thing I think David teaches us about the art of living well is this, live in the opportunities of God. verses 9 and 10. "I ride the wings of the morning if I dwell by the furthest oceans even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me." Dawn is always, and that's what we were talking about, the wings of the morning. The psalmist David is talking about dawn. And dawn is typically a metaphor for for what? A new day. I was sharing with some of the folks here that we finally, and our family, kids and grandkids, we've been planning to go on a family cruise since 2020. We had it all set up and ready to go and I don't know if you can remember 2020 most of us would choose to forget it, something called COVID hit. So the cruise lines felt it wasn't a good idea to continue on so that guy shut down. That's okay, we were resilient, we came back and then this 2023, we decide we're gonna do it again in November. We're gonna go on a cruise, a family cruise November of 2023. All set to go, excited, literally one week before we're supposed to leave. The ship had propulsion issues, shut it down any cruise on that ship was shut down for the rest of 2024 into two times 2023 and into 2024 and we finally the week of the 22nd through the 28th 29th got to go on our cruise and the first morning out I sat on our our little balcony and I watched the sunrise our side of the ship was pointing east At least the sun came up there, so I'm assuming it was east. We're pointing east and the sun was coming and it had some clouds around it. It was beautiful. Knew a new day was coming. Didn't know all that was gonna be a part of that new day, but we knew a new day was coming and that's what the psalmist is saying right here.

It's a new day. It's new opportunities. We need to live in the opportunities of God. See, we can't get so caught up in making a living that we neglect and miss the living that we make. See, we get so caught up in just simply getting by and making a living instead of saying, well, let's not neglect how we can make the living that we have. With each dawn, by that I mean with each opportunity, we can choose to rise on those wings of those opportunities. Each dawn brings the potential of new opportunities, opportunities to encourage others, opportunities to fully embrace your circumstances. You say, "I don't like my circumstances." Embrace them anyway, because you know what? They're your circumstances. Opportunities to be renewed in your spirit, opportunities to encounter God, opportunities to the possibilities of God. That's what it means to live in the opportunities of God. A new day, a new dawn, God provides for us. And every day we should look at it from that perspective. On most mornings, and I gotta be honest, not every morning, I will pray this prayer. Father, help me to live this day to the full, being true to you in every way. Jesus, help me to give myself away to others, being kind to everyone I meet. Spirit, help me to love the lost, proclaiming Christ in all I do and say. And for me, that helps me encounter and go into the day anew and afresh and looking for these things that are out there. Am I living in a way that expresses my relationship with God? Am I serving others? I have that opportunity. Am I being kind? I gotta tell you, I don't know how you are, sometimes it's hard to be kind. So I'll be in a line someplace and they'll be thinking the person just, Pam, and move. And then the Lord says, be kind to everyone you meet. I'm thinking, well, I don't know if I want to meet that person, much less be kind to that person. Now you probably don't do that, but that's just some of the things that I have to hang out there with. But the idea being that we need to live and the opportunities of God.

And then number five, live in the encouragement of God. Verses 11 and 12, I could ask the darkness to hide me in the light around me to become night. Kind of discouraging, huh? But even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. We need to live in the encouragement of God because whether we want to kind of pull the darkness around us, we kind of want to hide from situations that are happening to us, God is still there and he wants to encourage us. Makes no difference to him if it's dark or light, he wants to encourage us in those situations. And our encouragement from God is simply engulfed And the fact that we talked about His presence is always with us. Romans chapter eight, verses 38 through 39. Here's what it says. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love, no power in the sky above us or in the earth below. Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. But what about nothing? Yeah, but except have this one, nothing. Well, let me tell you about this one, nothing. Let me talk about this choice that I made that nothing. Nothing can separate you and me from the love of God. Nothing, nada, zero, zilch. And when you start to come back with some kind of a reason or excuse why you cannot be under the love of God, I want you to be reminded again of this passage, nothing. Some may say to you, but you look at what you are and how, nothing, nothing. I messed up again, I blew it. Nothing, nothing can separate you from the love of God. In fact, if you leave here later on this morning and you say, what did you learn from what the message was? I learned nothing perfect. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.

And undergirding those principles that King David lived and that he shared with us in Psalm 139, there are two promises I want us to see before we wrap up here. They're in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. And the first one is this, we have the promise of newness. Revelation 21 five says this, And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making everything new." And then he said to me, "Write this down, "for what I tell you is trustworthy and true." We have the promise that God is gonna make everything new. That includes you and me because we're part of everything. He's gonna make everything new. And the second promise we have is the promise of grace. Revelation 22, 21 says, "May the grace of the Lord Jesus "be with God's holy people." We have the promise of grace. Now they're a fitness club, Planet Fitness, you've probably seen them around, we got a few here in the Roseville, Rocklin area. And a purple, I don't get the color. But anyway, they call that the no judgment zone. In fact, one of their tag phrases is this, in the judgment zone, excuse me, in the judgment free zone, you always belong. And what they're trying to do from a physical fitness perspective is that if you go in there and you haven't been in a gym in forever, they're saying, there's no judgment about how physically fit you are, how strong you are. Everyone belongs in the judgment-free zone because we're not gonna judge on where you are. Instead, we're gonna help you be where you want to be. And that's what we're talking about when it comes to grace. And God's graciousness in His kindness, in the grace that we hear about, He embraces us where we are. And then he wants to walk alongside of us to take us to what we want to become under his canopy of love and of grace. But see, we tend to, sometimes we approach God with like some of my approach to gym. I'm not gonna go to the gym 'til I get in shape. Well, you idiot. You go to the gym to get in shape. Don't wait, you go. Even if you're just a slog and you gotta get in there. And then you start where you are and you go from there. And that's what God is saying to us. It's where newness and grace reside. You're accepted where you are. And God then provides you the roadmap to where he would like you to be and where you'd like to be.

2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 says, "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ "has become a new person. "The old life is gone, a new life has begun." See, grace remind us that our desperation, that in our desperation, we have deliverance. Grace allows us to discover the wonder of God in our weakness. Grace is the full embrace of God. Grace clears away any misconceptions that we are alone in this. Grace keeps us moving forward in our doubt, discouragement and despair. Grace is a great equalizer. Grace reminds us, this is so important. Grace reminds us that without God, we are a hot mess. And even in our hot mess, He is there with us. Wow, that's what grace is. Ephesians 2 chapter eight through 10 says this, God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this. It's a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. I love that. We are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, "so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." Wow. If you are here today and you have walked into a relationship with Jesus Christ and He has saved you from your sin and your old way of life, I want to remind you, that was by grace. You didn't do that. None of us are any better than any other of us. That's God's grace. And if you put off trying to grapple with the relationship with God and what it means in real life, and you say, "I just can't figure it all out." Well, that's okay, because it's by God's grace that He embraces you and touches your heart and your life. He can't do anything except for, except what? The grace of God. Accept it, live in it. It's a promise that He's given to every single one of us. And I hope that if you've experienced that grace, you are so grateful for that. And if you have not yet experienced that grace, I wanna encourage you to do that. Understanding that you are accepted as you are. Ask Jesus to come into your life and by grace accept Him and allow Him to move you in your life, in your relationship with Him.

Father, I am grateful for how David could share with us throughout all of time principles and living well, things that I think he learned as a shepherd, as a fugitive and as a king. And Father, I thank you for the promise that we have, especially that one of grace. And I would ask God, I would just ask that everyone here today will realize that it's your grace that makes all the difference in our life. And there's nothing, nothing anyone can do. And there's nothing that can be done to us that will separate us from your love. And we ask it in Jesus name, Amen.

Summer of Psalms - Part 5

Psalm 27 - The Goodness of God

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Hi, I'm really excited to be with you guys today. As you know, we're in our Summer of Psalms series, and so we are continuing that through summer. And we're kind of just jumping around to different Psalms. And I like this series a lot because it allows us to dive into scripture and see what the Bible says and talk about that and study it and learn it. But it also allows us to talk about different topics. Because we're looking at different Psalms, we can hit different topics, and we can even dive into characteristics of God, of who God is and really just learn more about his character. And we are gonna focus on that today a lot. We're talking about the goodness of God and a variety of things, but that's really our focus today. Have you ever noticed the confidence level of most children? You know, they are unreasonably confident in a lot of things or in like one thing in particular, They are just so certain that they are the best, that they are so good. And I just wish we could bottle that confidence up, right? Because adults, we kind of lose some of that. We, maybe through experience or something someone says, or even just reality that we know that someone's better at it than us, or we could grow in that. And maybe we're confident in some areas, something we're an expert in or have developed a skill in, but we maybe don't quite have the confidence like a kid. Like when they come up and they're like, "I wanna show you my trick," right? And they are just so confident. And even when it's not executed technically correct, they just, they nailed it in their mind. And they are just so confident in that.

Well, in Psalm 27, we are seeing David in his confidence, but different than kids. His confidence is in God, not in himself. And so my hope today is that we will learn from David in this and develop our own confidence in the Lord. So again, we're gonna be on Psalm 27. This is a Psalm of David. You can go there, it'll be on the screens, but you can look it up, your phone, the Bible's under your seat, whatever works for you. But we are going to just break it down section by section. And we're gonna start with verses one through three. So if you would just read along with me. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besieged me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then I will be confident." David knows that he can have confidence in God. He has this the sureness of who God is and that he can be confident in him. You can even see it in the way he's writing. It says, "The Lord is my light and salvation." The Lord is the stronghold of my life. He doesn't use wishy-washy language, well, sometimes or when this happens, he is, he is. There's no if, ands or buts. David experienced a lot of attack from enemies. He experienced a lot of hard times and darkness. I mean, he was the king of a nation. So you can imagine the difficult times that he experienced, but he also experienced God's faithfulness. He saw God come through again and again, whether it was saving him from bears and lions when he was a shepherd, or it was from King Saul when he was pursuing him, or from a variety of other enemies and nations coming against the nation of Israel. God was faithful. He fulfilled his promises. He did what he said he would, And David's trust and confidence in God grew. So he can say this with authority. He can say, "He is my light and my salvation. He is the stronghold of my life." And we noticed that David is calling God these three things, light, salvation, and stronghold. So I want us to take a little moment to look at that and what that might mean for us.

So what does light do? Well, it dispels darkness, right? when you have a dark room, even just a candle or a flashlight disperses the darkness around you. So David is saying, he, God is my light. He is the one who is dispelling the darkness in my life. The dark that surrounds me, the evil that is around me. Light also can show us a way, it can light our path. And so it is David saying, you light the way, You show me which way to go. You are my light. Then he says, you're my salvation. And I really think that David here is meaning both now and eternity. He's saying, God, you are my salvation in the immediate moment when I am in immediate danger and I need saving. And also you are the one who will save me for eternity. You're the one who's going to make a way for me to be with you in heaven. He is David's salvation. And then he calls him his stronghold. This is a place of safety, a refuge. It offers protection. I imagine almost like a castle or a fortress, something that is built well. It is built probably with some sort of stone or rock. It's fortified, it's got really thick walls and it is allowing this protection of whoever is in there. And David called God his stronghold. And David asked a couple of questions. He says, "Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid?" And these are meant to be rhetorical because he knows that when he has light and a savior and protection, there is nothing to fear. There is no one he needs to be afraid of. the confidence is built again. Once again, he adds to that trust and that confidence in God. He goes on in the second two verses and says, talks about his enemies and the armies that come against him. And it says, "The wicked will fall." Again, that confident factual language, they will fall. Even though they come, my heart will not fail. David can speak like this because he's seen God show up. He knows that his confidence is not in himself, but that it's in God. And we learn from David that we can be confident in the Lord. When maybe, especially when we don't feel that confidence, when we are struggling, when we're unsure, we can lean in to him and what he's done and His protection, His light, His saving grace. The thing is, unlike David, we have the end of the story, right? We have the whole Bible. We know what happens. We know that revelation, we know how it works out.

So how much more confidence should we have than even David did? At the end of verse three, David says, "Even then I will be confident." I will be confident. This kind of struck me. It doesn't say, but it kind of felt a little bit like David was reminding himself of this. He was saying it factually, like I will be confident when this happens. And also I will be confident. I will be confident. I will be confident. He needed that reminder that he can be confident in the Lord. Years ago, my family went bowling. I remember nothing else about this bowling experience except for this one part. And we still, our family still talks about it to this day. We were getting set up. We were just getting our shoes on, getting our bowling balls. And all of a sudden I turn towards the back and I look, and this little boy, probably no more than five years old, is running from a lane back to the shoe counter. And he has this little pair of shoes And he's going, "12, 12, 12, 12, 12." And I just thought it was the cutest thing. And it was so funny to me. And he was just, his mom probably told him to go tell his dad at the shoe counter, "You need a size 12." And he didn't wanna forget. So he just kept repeating it over and over and over again. "12, 12, 12, 12." So whenever my family and I were talking about needing to remember something, we just say, "12, 12, 12." And I imagine this is kind of what David's doing here. I will be confident. I will be confident. I will be confident. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of the truth in God's word. We are a forgetful people. I think we make fun of the Israelites a lot for forgetting God's goodness, but we do too. We forget how he's come through. We forget his faithfulness, the promises he's fulfilled, the prayers that he has answered. We need to be reminded. We need to remember. And sometimes that just means preaching to ourselves and telling ourselves the truth of what the Bible says. So I think this is a reminder for David. And I think it's also a prayer, a recommitment to the Lord. I will be confident in you. He's reminding himself and he's committing to place his confidence in God. Maybe we today need to remind ourselves of that. We need to recommit to being confident in the Lord.

All right, going on to verse four. David, really this next session, he transitions from these statements of declaring, of declaration to more of a contemplative time. So read along with me in verse four through six. It says, "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble, He will keep me safe in His dwelling. He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me. At His sacred tent, I will sacrifice with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord." The one thing He would ask is to be in God's presence. This is a king we're talking about. He could pretty much ask for whatever he wants. And that is what he would ask for. How often is that our response? That if we were asked that question, if there was one thing you could have, what would it be? And we would think, be in the presence of God. I pray that God works on my heart so that that does become my response, but it's usually not. But David knew the value of being in God's presence. He talks in a variety of ways about being in the house of the Lord. He says, the house of the Lord, his temple, his dwelling, sacred tent. He was just describing a variety of words for God's house. You see, in David's time, The tabernacle was literally where God dwelled. God had the Israelites build him a tent. I guess it would be more erect a tent, construct a tent. He knew that the Israelites could do nothing to come to him. There was nothing that they could do. So he had to go to them. And the way he did it was he went to them in the way they existed. They lived in tents. When they were wandering in the desert, they lived in tents. So while his was bigger and grander and more ornate, he still dwelled in a tent with his people. He also had them craft the Ark of the Covenant. And this is essentially just an ornate box that had the tablets with the 10 commandments on it, as well as some other things in there. And the cover is also called the Mercy Seat. And that is where God dwelled in this tent. That is where they could go and encounter Him. He wanted to maintain His holiness while also being with His people. And this was His way of doing that. He had His home built and He invited them into it. See, the Holy Spirit had not been given to believers yet. That people were not in dwelled yet by the Holy Spirit. And so this was God's way of coming down. of stooping to their level, to our level. 'Cause the gospel is clear and David knew this too. Humanity could do nothing to get to God. They couldn't be enough, do enough, make themselves holy enough to get themselves to God. It was only by His goodness and kindness that He came to us.

We see in the Old Testament that He dwelled in the tabernacle on the Ark of the Covenant. And then in the New Testament, We see that he took up residence in the person of Jesus, in a physical body, met us where we were, in our shape and form. And then the Holy Spirit, after the death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit came and in dwell believers, he took up residence in a tabernacle, in the person of Jesus and in believers. David was confident in this. Even before half of that happened, he was confident that the best place to be was in the presence of God. We can have that confidence too. In the Lord's presence is the absolute best place to be. What did David do in the presence of the Lord? Well, he talks about, he said, he would gaze on his beauty and seek him. He would be kept safe in the Lord's shelter and he would worship. So gazing on his beauty. Well, God didn't have a physical body. So what did he mean by this? Well, I believe he was referring to his environment, his home, the tabernacle itself, the ark. I think he was also referring to his holiness. God's holiness and his goodness was beautiful to his people. David wanted to just experience who God was. His beauty, he wanted to be in awe of him. He wanted to seek him and be around him. How do you get to know someone? By spending time with them, right? He wanted to get to know who God was even better. He wanted to just be with him. Just spend time with his creator. He sought shelter and refuge in God's presence. Again, David had a lot of enemies. He had a lot of dark times, and he knew that in God's presence was the safest place to be. When we are in God's presence, when we are in His will, when we are following Him, that is the best place that we can be. Even if it's a little uncertain or scary, or we don't know the next steps, it's still the best place that we can be. And in his presence, David worshiped. The tabernacle of David's time is known as a place of worship. They danced and they sang and they played instruments. They worshiped God in new and creative ways. 'Cause what else are you gonna do when you're in the presence of the Almighty? And we get to do that too. We get to come here and worship and be with other believers and hear the word, but we also get to go out and worship with our lives. Paul talks about worshiping as a living sacrifice. We get to just worship by the way we live and act and move and breathe and interact with other people. That is our worship. This is great too. Like be here, I love that. Be, come and participate here. But we also get to worship in how we live. We get to experience God's beauty through His holiness and His goodness. And because of that, we will worship Him. Being in the Lord's presence is the best place we can be.

David goes on to cry out to the Lord. He moves into this time of really calling out to God and asking Him for help. Verse seven, "Hear my voice when I call, Lord, be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says, if you seek his face, hear face Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Teach me your way, Lord. Lead me in a straight path because of your oppressors. Do not turn or because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations." In these several verses, we see that, although David had a lot of confidence in God, it wasn't all easy. It wasn't all just smooth sailing, roses and daisies. There were times where he struggled. He had difficult seasons and he just cried out to God. I'm sure there's times for us, like for David, that it feels like God is silent. That you're praying and you're asking and you're seeking and it just feels like no one is listening. So in this section, David is actually reminding God of what he told his people. He's saying, "You told me to seek you. You told us, seek my face." He's like, "I'm doing it, I'm here, I'm seeking your face.”

Jeremiah 29:12-13, the Lord is saying, "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your hearts." David is begging God saying, "I am seeking you, please hear me." even kings and giants of the faith wavered in their confidence at times, not because God changed, but because maybe their circumstances changed. Fear got real big in their hearts and it wavered. We know though from other places in the Bible, like in Joshua, it says that he will never leave us or forsake us. And sometimes God's silence can feel like that. I can feel like being abandoned or forgotten, but God will never leave us. So he's asking, he's praying and reminding God of the promises he's given and also asking for more of him. He wants God to lead him and guide him, teach him his ways. He's reminding himself that God did it before, He can do it again. Seeking the Lord reminds us of His faithfulness. Not only do we need reminders of the confidence we have in God, sometimes we just need the reminders of His goodness and His faithfulness. And the way we do that is by getting with Him, by seeking Him, by pursuing Him, by allowing Him to work in our heart and lives. And that takes proximity. That's why we get in His presence. That's why we get in the Word. God is not playing some cosmic game of hide and seek. He wants to be found. Jeremiah says, "You will be found by me." We just have to be willing to show up and pursue that relationship with God, with our heavenly Father, to learn more about Him, about His character, about who He says He is. He's not, David here is not asking for the easy way. It says, later on it says that he asks for the straight path in verse 11. Straight here doesn't necessarily mean easy or without problems. It just means level. It's like a firm foundation that he will be firm. It also refers to uprightness, that he would be on a level ground so he can live in uprightness. And he knows that God is faithful to do that. He knows, David isn't stupid. He knows life won't be easy. He knows there's gonna be trouble, but he also know that God in his goodness can provide a way for him to live upright, live on level ground. So even when our confidence ravers, even when we are facing hard seasons, We can remember that when we seek the Lord, we will find Him and we will be reminded of who He is, of His goodness and His faithfulness.

The last two verses, probably my favorite in this chapter, it is a statement and then it is an encouragement from David. Let's read it together. I remain confident of this. I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. This phrase land of the living can refer to a variety of things, some think David was referring to Jerusalem, that this is where the people of God were, this is where God dwelled. And so this was the land of the living as opposed to the pagan nation surrounding them where people were dead in their sin. It also something it's just David referring to heaven, that in the kingdom to come, that is the land of the living. And we get to be with God forever in that. And we will see His goodness when we get to heaven with Him. The third option is that David is referring to this world, the here and the now, that even in our broken and fallen world, he believes that he will see God's goodness even here. And honestly, it could be all of them, but I really do think that David is talking about this world, the here and the now, and here's why. First of all, the Hebrew word for land here, it literally means earth as opposed to heaven. It's literally talking about our world. He's saying that despite our troubles, despite our struggles, despite the sin in this world, we can still see God's goodness. The Bible is full of faithful people who had hard times. They struggled, they sinned, they fell, but they still experienced God's goodness. But how could he say, I will see the goodness of God?

How can we be so confident in that? Well, we've said it before, it's because he had seen it before. He had seen God's faithfulness and his goodness in his life before. He had seen God come and dwell among the people of Israel. He saw how God made a way for himself to be with his people and for the people to be near him, even despite his holiness, through sacrifices and rituals and atonement, he made a way and he had saved him. He had saved him from previous difficulties and seasons of hardship. He had seen God's goodness before. So how can we be confident? How can we stand with David and say, "I will be confident and I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living." Well, like David, we have seen the goodness of God. I guarantee you that everyone in this room has experienced the goodness of God, whether you've realized it or not. So maybe we need to take a moment and think back, look back, remind ourselves of the goodness that he has brought in our lives. But also unlike David, in the same way, we have the church. We have the body of Christ. And how many of us have experienced the goodness of God through someone else in the body of Christ? Whether it was through prayer or support, just a smile, accountability, reaching out to you, that God uses his people to show his goodness. So we know that we will see the goodness of God in the land of the living because the church in the year of our Lord 2024 is alive and well. We are alive.

Romans 6:11 says, "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Believers are alive, we are alive. We, the church is the literal land of the living. We get to be the land of the living. We get to experience life in Christ and be a light to other people of that truth. So despite the world around us, despite the culture that we are living in, that is full of darkness and celebrates death and calls evil good and good evil, despite all of that, we get to be the land of the living. We will see the goodness of God in the land of the living. I promise you. Now, I am sure that there is someone within this sound of my voice, whether here or online or podcast or whatever, that is thinking, how? I can't. Lauren, you talk about this land of the living, but I'm more in the valley of the shadow of death right now. Maybe it's depression or finances or relationships, you name it, but it feels dark and heavy and nothing like the goodness of God. You will see His goodness. Things may not work out the way we're praying for. They may not work out the way we hope. They may not even work out 'cause we live in a fallen world, but he is still good because his goodness is not determined by our circumstances or by our outcomes in life. He is good regardless. And we have to remember that the phrase, the valley of the shadow of the death is from Psalm 23 and it continues on. It says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me." So even if you are, even if you are walking or maybe you will in the future, maybe you are in that valley. It is dark, it is hard, but He is still with you even then. Even when He feels silent, even when it feels like you've been forsaken, He is with you and that His presence, Him being with you is His goodness. So if you can't believe it right now, hear me and hold on to the words that I'm saying and hold on to the words that God said in His word and ask Him, God, reveal yourself to me. Show me your love, show me your goodness. Walk me through this valley of death so that I can experience your goodness in the land of the living. (silence) We need to seek His face and that will help build our confidence because David goes on to encourage us and it says, "Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Waiting, the word wait here does not mean just sit around and hope something happens. It's an active participation. It means to look for, to hope, to expect. We're not doing nothing. We are actively waiting. We are expectantly hoping and trusting that God is gonna come through. That's through being in the word, coming to church, being a part of the body, participating in the land of the living, writing down all the ways that he has been faithful as just a reminder for yourself, sitting in his presence, just being still or worshiping him, seeking his face and whatever expression that looks like for you. 'Cause what David knew and encourage us to do is that when we wait for the Lord, we will see His goodness. Amen.

Let's pray. God, thank you. Thank you for your presence. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your church. You knew what you were doing when you established the body of Christ. And we are so grateful that we get to see your goodness in the land of the living. God, I pray for those who are in a valley right now where it just feels dark and heavy. God, I just pray that you will make your presence so palpable to them that they will know that they have not been forgotten or forsaken. Build their confidence, build their belief as they walk through this difficult season, God. Remind them that they will see your goodness. You are so good, God, and we are so grateful to you. We love you, Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Summer of Psalms - Part 4

Psalm 15 - Asking the Right Question

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

I just got back from a trip. It took some time this week to go to visit some of my wife's family up in Washington State. It was a great time. I met some family that I hadn't spent a lot of time with on her side, which was really fun. Part of this trip was getting to her cousin, who works at Disney Studios in Vancouver, Canada. So, we got to take a little trip. She has one set of family that lives on the American border, and then the one set right on the other side and so we spent most of our time in Washington but then we took a day trip over to Canada and he gave us this private tour of the Disney animation studio there's only two there's one in LA and there's one in Vancouver and it was really cool I was overwhelmed with how much we had a sign something that says I won't share about what I saw so I can't do that but I will say I mean it was just so cool to walk around and I was just overwhelmed as everyone in their cubicles working on you just saw characters you're like oh "Oh my goodness, that's that character and you're working on that movie and you're working on that movie. This is so cool!" And it was a really quick tour, but all of it just made me... I just had so many questions at the end and we had to kind of go through and there was a couple moments to ask some questions and I didn't even know where to begin. I was talking with my father-in-law along the way and there's just so much. There's so much that I want to ask. There's so much things like, "How does this process work? How long does it take the animators to do one scene where the person throws their hands up in the air?" You know, that could take weeks. We also obviously wanted to ask, what are the new movies coming out? What are the new shows? And can you give us a sneak peek on any of that information? But that part of the trip really reminded me of how important it is to ask good questions, and how a good question can unlock a big answer or a deep answer. And depending on who you are and how you're wired, sometimes asking questions may be easy for you, and sometimes asking questions can be really hard. My daughter at this point finds it easy to ask a lot of questions. She's five years old, and on the hour-long drive from Washington to Vancouver, it was just one question, I'm sure you can guess it, it was, "Are we there yet?" Over and over again. I think on this trip, her two most frequent questions were, "Are we there yet?" and "I'm hungry, do you have a snack?" Which I think those are just her most frequent questions, regardless of being on vacation.

But asking questions is so important, and I think it's probably a learned skill that we develop in life to ask good, important questions, to be able to discern the context and the information that is known and unknown, and then asking a question to make a person think. In conversation, you probably know this, a good question makes someone pause, makes a person reflect for a while, and go deeper than just a surface-level answer. Maybe you've been asked a good question, You know that experience of like, "Oh my goodness, that's great. I don't know. Let me think about that for a second." Or maybe you've been on the receiving side and you've heard that, and you're like, "Oh yes, that was a good question. They had to think about it for a second." For me, someone who constantly asks good questions is my counselor, my pastoral counselor. Whenever I have coffee with him, I get frustrated because he asks questions and I say, "I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. Let me think for a second. I got to process." And oftentimes it means thinking about an experience in a whole new way or discovering some emotions I didn't know I felt about something. And so he just asked really good questions. But we need people in our lives that ask good questions to us, and we also want to be people that ask good questions to others. And not just with the people in our lives, but also in all of our relationships, including the most important relationship, which is with God. If we think about our relationship with God and our conversations with him, our prayers, I want us to do a little bit of a prayer inventory right now. So just in your own heads, you don't have to say anything that's out loud, but I want us to break down what our prayers look like. And so, if you were to give a percentage, maybe you have your pie chart, if you're a visual person, you have a pie chart in your mind, how much of your prayer time is praise to God? Come up with your percentage. Maybe it's 10%. Maybe it is 100, maybe all you do is praise, whatever that percentage is. All right, so you have praise. How much of it is confession and repentance? How much of that pie chart are you asking God for forgiveness? Coming before him and saying, "Hey, I did this wrong. I need... Please forgive me." And then how much of it, of your prayer time, is questions to God? I know for me, that is the largest portion of the pie chart there. And if we were to go further about those questions, How many of them are requests to God? Asking God for things, asking God to do something in my life, asking God whatever it is. How much of those questions that we have to God are more self-interested? And God, I need something. Can you do something for me? What are the quality of the questions that we ask Him? Are they the right questions? Are they self-serving? Do they bring us closer to Him? Or, like I just said, do these questions come from a heart that is more self-serving, self-interested, self-absorbed?

The questions that we ask God are important, and they reveal a lot about what is inside our hearts. You know, there can be this thought that asking questions is a sign of weakness or ignorance with this negative connotation, but I fully disagree with that. I think someone who asks a lot of questions is someone who wants to learn, who understands and has humility that they don't understand at all, and so they are seeking to understand more. We might feel that pressure as Christians to know as much as possible, or to come across as people who know everything about God and everything about the Bible. And while there is good and we should strive to know more, we don't always have to put up that front that we know everything. We often think of the Bible as a book that has a lot of answers, which is true, but do we also think of the Bible that asks a lot of questions? The Hebrew authors wanted readers and listeners to wrestle with the text, to ask more questions about who Yahweh is and what He does. Because they understood that wrestling with the text and asking questions was that invitation to a deeper understanding of God. It's just like in a relationship or a friendship, when you're getting to know someone, you ask a lot of questions. You find out who they are. You find out how they operate and what they do in this situation and how they feel about this. And even though the Bible tells us all those things, we also want to be asking God about who He is.

Many of the questions in the Bible are found in the book of Psalms. And as a reminder for our Psalm series, the first half of the book of Psalms skews more towards lament Psalms over praise Psalms. And today, our Psalm may be somewhere in between lament and praise. I think of it as a reflection Psalm. This psalm informs us of who God wants us to be, but it also holds up a mirror to our hearts to see if we are being the men and women of God that He wants us to be. So we're going to be in Psalm 15, and I'd love to read it for us today. You guys can turn in your Bibles, or you can follow along on the screen. This is a psalm of David, and he writes, "Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart, whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others, who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps an oath even when it hurts and does not change their mind, who lends money to the poor without interest, who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken." So there it is, right at the beginning.

David begins this psalm with a pair of questions, and really one question. "Who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?" And as we'll unpack this, we'll just see that this is such a good question. David was king, and so the temple is not around yet. We think of Israel and we think of the temple, but his son Solomon built the temple. And so for David, he's got the tabernacle. And this tent was with Israel for so long. It was from post-slavery in Egypt when God delivered them, and they brought them out into the wilderness, and God instructed them to have this tent, this dwelling place for him. They call it the tabernacle. And so this is the tent in verse 1. "Lord made, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?" And that now that they are in the Promised Land, that holy tent was on a mountain. And so he's really asking, the root of these two questions is, who can live in the presence of God? Or who can dwell with God in his presence? This is David asking the right question. And Christianity has a unique answer to this question. Other religions may have this similar question of who is worthy to be in the presence of their deity or their God. And oftentimes for other religions, it is all about what the person has done. What acts they have done, what are their actions, are they worthy to be in the presence of that deity? But God goes a step further and he looks at the heart, because he understands that someone could do technically the right thing, but be absolutely rotten inside. And so the Christian faith, God puts the utmost priority on the heart. And the answer to this question speaks to a person's heart and what's inside. Now a little bit more about this tent, this sacred tent. We know that God's presence is very powerful. No one has been in the full presence of God and lived. We know that from Moses on the mountain, and Moses was desperate to be in God's presence. He said, "God, I've been following you, we've got a good relationship, we've got a good thing going on. Can you please reveal yourself to me?" And God said, "You can handle it. If I show myself to you, if I reveal my full self to you, you will die." And so even in the temple, in this tabernacle, sorry, in the tabernacle, there was a section called the Holy of Holies, which is where the presence of God was. And only specific people who had done specific things to get ready could go into that Holy of Holies, and if they didn't, they would die. And this person, this priest, there was only one allowed at a certain time, the Bible tells all about these details, but even they would walk in with a rope around their leg, because if they died, they could pull the body out.

So again, the presence of God is powerful and it is mysterious. And this question that David is asking is a heavy question. Who can withstand, who could live, who could be in the presence of God? It's a loaded question and it's a great question because it's not a self-serving question. "God, can you do this for me? God, can you please give me this? Could you provide?" Whatever it is, those are not always bad prayers. I don't want to say that there's a time and place for that, but we got to be careful in how we approach God. We don't want to treat him like a genie or a vending machine. Just always asking God, I need this, God I need this, and I'm expecting this. David's question of who can dwell in the presence of God is such a great question because it addresses the accounts at the very beginning of our Bibles, the rebellion in the garden, and the rebellious heart of sin in all of humanity. And that rebellious thought is the thought that life can be lived for humanity apart from God. That humans could live a life that they know how to live a better life than what God had intended. It's the sin that Adam and Eve thought. They saw that fruit and they knew that God said don't do it, but they thought, "You know what? I think I know better than God. I'm going to take that fruit. I'm going to eat it. And so through that garden experience though, through the fall, we know clearly who is not worthy to be in the presence of God. And it's those who are marred by sin. Example, Adam and Eve. As soon as that happened, God kicked them out of the garden. So you can't be here anymore. So the question, who can dwell in the presence of God, who can be as close as possible with God, It's huge. And David mentions these two places, the holy tent and the mountain, to bring up certain things in the Israelites' minds. Now, we can't go back to life in Eden before the fall, before sin entered the world, but there are places where we are closer to God, and for Israel, physically closer to God. That's that tent, that holy mountain is exactly where God was. And those two places bring up a couple points. One, those are places where heaven meets earth. God, who is God of the heavens, is there on earth. And so that place is where his presence, where God is perfectly recognized as king, and where his reign is existing as it was meant to. And then secondly, that place is a place that stands in stark contrast to the world around it. You think of the tent and the tabernacle, and you think of that mountain, and you clearly see God's presence there. And then if you visualize with me old Israel, you just look around, and I think you would clearly see the effects of sin in the world, and the corruption and the injustice and the sin that would just run rampant. And so the temple or the tent and this mountain provide such a clear picture of life that God intended and the life that reality of sin around it. And so David, in this moment of clarity, asks a very important question, "Who's worthy to be in the perfect presence of God dwelling with Him?" And thankfully, we get the answer, which is the rest of the Psalm. What is God looking for in a person?

Well, verses 2 through 5 give us that. And we know through the teachings of Jesus and the mistake of the Pharisees that we need Jesus to be the person that He lists in 2 through 5. We can't do it on our own effort and our own strength. And so, with that foundation, let's look at what David informs us, what David tells us about who this person is. And so, first, it's a person, a woman, or a man of integrity. Verse 2 says, "Whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous." This is a phrase that is often used in the Old Testament to describe a person who followed God, and often in contrast to the people around them who didn't. So we think of someone like Noah, who at that time the whole world was evil, following sin, "Except for Noah who walked with God and did what is righteous." There's that phrase where we think of Abraham, and as God chose Abraham, it gives the example of the rest of the world who was living in sin, except for Abraham who is blameless, walking with God, doing what is righteous. And so this brings about this phrase here. This is the person whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, someone who is living out their faith in God. And then David writes, "Who speaks the truth from the heart." I love this. This is someone who speaks with conviction, someone who doesn't just say the right thing, but truly believes it. Truly believes it. And I think, I know that this happens within a person who is in the Word of God regularly. When you are reading God's Word, there is power, transforming power in His Word, and it changes us. It changes our hearts. And it has this effect on what we say. There's a prayer by George Herbert, and it's a beautiful prayer that I think we should all pray, and it says this, "Oh, make your word a swift word, passing from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip in conversation, that as the rain returns not empty, so neither may your word, but accomplish that which for what it was given." I love that prayer. In that prayer there's expectation and anticipation that God's word is going to change us. It's going to have an effect on our lives. We are transformed by his truth. Now through the work of the Spirit and through the reading of his word, a new heart is formed within us. And then And from that, we'll have a tongue that utters no slander, who speaks the truth from the heart. So, so far we have this person who is described as someone who's living a life of integrity. And then David writes, "It's a person who does no wrong to a neighbor and casts no slur on others." We might recognize this as part of the greatest commandment, to love God and to love others, to love our neighbor. It's a reminder that how we treat those around us is a reflection of what's inside of our hearts.

Another way of saying this might be a person who doesn't condescend to other people. Because someone who is constantly condescending others thinks of themselves as better. They speak from a place of higher status thinking, and they're literally, the word kind of, you're looking down on everyone around you. "I know better, I am better, let me tell you how you're wrong, how you could be doing it right." That's not the way that God intended us to speak to other people. It's not a way of speaking out of love. That would be evidence of a sinful heart, evidence of pride and of selfishness. David continues describing this person, "As someone who despises a vile person, but honors those who fear the Lord." Now, this isn't telling us to hate people or to judge other people, but to be forthright with our loyalty for God and his people. It's a declaration of where our loyalty and allegiance lie. And again, this is written to Israel, who had this habit, this bad habit, of being enamored and falling in love with the surrounding cultures and their deities and their gods and their ungodly practices. And Israel would just find a way to start incorporating those practices, even though God had given them strict rules. And so David is saying, "Israel, if you keep doing that, don't expect to be dwelling in the house of God. Don't expect to be in His presence." He continues again and he says, "Who keeps an oath even when it hurts." I love this one, because this is so hard. This is a very God-like attribute, to be keeping your word even when it is hurting you. I don't know if you've ever had to do that, but it's hard. It's really hard. And think of God who honors his covenant to Israel, even when they rebel against him, even when they break his heart over and over again. You think of the covenant that God made with Abraham. He said, "I'm going to give you lots of descendants. I'm going to make them into a great nation. I'm going to give you a land." And God, in that time, making that happen, endures all these rebellious acts. And Israel, again, commits time and time again just sin against God. Yet God remains faithful, just like He promised He would. And so David is saying that God honors a person who makes sacrifices in order to love other people. Someone who is faithful and steadfast, just like God is, that's a person who's going to dwell in the presence of God. And then he writes, "Someone who does not change their mind." So another way of saying this is sticking with the hard things. Not just taking the easy road, but sticking with it even when it gets hard, Even when it's painful, it hurts.

I think a great example of this was the youth last week, on Monday, went and did a high ropes course in Lake Tahoe. And I don't know if you've ever been 60, 70 feet high up in a tree, but it is terrifying. Some of the kids, some of the students were just like... I'm getting glared at right now by one of the students who was up there in the tree. Some of the students loved it, and they were just like... looked like they had been born in a tree, and they're just hopping around. They were in full harnesses, by the way, so don't... I don't take the students up and just they were in full harnesses. They were roped up it was all very safe and some of them were flying around just like you're going on skinny planks or things that Are just like on a wire going from tree to tree And again, some of them was amazing and then others including myself but others had a very hard time and they're facing fears of heights and balance and everything and They could have there was an option to get out of that tree if they really wanted to But I'm so proud to say, Lauren and I were so proud of them, that they all pushed through. They stuck with doing the hard thing. They faced their fears. They persevered. And they did it. And it was incredible to see them in that moment not change their mind. Take some time to take some deep breaths. And they just, one step at a time. They did a hard thing. And I think God, that's an example of the Christian life, right? There are some times where we can choose an easy way just to back out, to not be involved, but there God would desire that we not change our mind, that we stick with it, that we remain faithful to Him through difficult circumstances.

God wants that for His people. He doesn't want us to quit living the faithful life of integrity, to change our minds, and to start serving ourselves, start living for ourselves. The last couple are a little bit specific. He says, "Who lends money to the poor without interest?" This is like, "Okay, David, that's very specific, but what is that about?" Well, David is saying, "It speaks to a person who cares more about others and their prosperity than one's own gain." When someone who is in need, it's not saying, "How can I make a buck off of this? I can help them, and I can also help myself in this. God's saying, do we have a care for people purely for the sense of loving them, and giving them what they need in that moment, and not being selfish at all, and just saying, yes, let me be able to attend to your needs, and trust that God will take care of you, and He'll take care of me. It's evidence of a faithful heart, and one who is living in God's will. And then in that same verse, in verse 5, it says, "Who does not accept a bribe against the innocent?" And this is describing corruption that happens on all levels of life. We think of corruption and maybe we think of bigger corporations and businesses and politicians, but we can also, we can also live a life of corruption, of injustice. And God cares deeply about justice. If you were part of our community group this past spring, we went through a book of the Old Testament that spoke to how much God cares about justice and how upset he was with Israel, as Israel had let these practices creep into their everyday life that were unjust. God said, "You're going to face the consequences for that." And if God's own people are lying and cheating and being deceitful, What kind of reflection is that on God's character, on who He is? So this is not a character trait that God wants for His people who will be in His house. The person who dwells in the presence of God is someone who cares about justice, just as God does. So, there we have it. Easy enough, right? If you want to be in the presence of God, verses 2 through 5, go for it. As we said, we can't do this on our own. We do not have the capacity, the ability, without Jesus to live a life like this. As we take a step back and look at this list, we see a person who embodies the heart of God, someone who encapsulates a heart that cares for what God cares about and lives in a way that is pleasing and honoring to God. the way that God meant for humanity to live, and the way that Jesus did live years after this was written. I love that David asks a great question and we get the answer. In 15, the last part of this verse, David writes, "Whoever does these things will never be shaken." The Bible loves to use this analogy to describe someone who is protected by God, in whatever circumstances they go through. So in the New Testament you might think of Jesus' teachings in the parable of building the house upon the rock. Or Paul's teachings in Ephesians, where he's talking about a person who is not thrown around by the waves. Again, it's not saying that you won't go through difficult, challenging, painful experiences, because you will. But when you do, God will protect you, He will hold you fast, and keep you secure. And you will go through whatever it is in the presence of God. It also speaks to a consistency. You will not be shaken, but you will remain with God through it all. I think that's part of the Christian life, that we often start younger in our faith, and we have moments where we feel really close to God, and we have moments where we feel really far away. And hopefully the prayer is over life, that up and down becomes a little bit less and just consistent, and we just have a constant strong relationship with him. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.

David, the author, again, to his credit, was very self-aware of his heart, of his own shortcomings, and he had some pretty big shortcomings. And he prayed often to dwell in the house of God. And I think he realized it's because of the sin that he committed and those moments where he felt so far away from God, it stirred in him that hunger to be, "I want to be as close to God as possible. I want to be in the house of God, in the Holy of Holies. I don't want to be far away. I want to be as close to Him. I want to dwell with Him." We should have a similar heart. I said at the beginning that this psalm informs us of who can dwell in the presence of God, but it also holds up a mirror to our own hearts. And so now it's time to hold up that mirror. I want to ask a few questions of us, just some things that you can think about today and this week. First is, what kind of questions are you asking God? Are they questions that expect God to do something according to your will? Or are they questions that will bring you closer to His will? Just as David did, it might be a good exercise to ask those burning questions of faith that we have about who God is and what He does. We all have questions about that. And maybe it's a good exercise to write that down and try to answer them, and then go to the Bible and try to find those answers. Whatever those questions may be, "God, why am I going through this situation in life? God, why did you do this? God, why do you tend to..." Whatever it is, I don't know, why is there suffering? God, who's going to be with you in heaven? You can ask the biggest of questions, you can ask the smallest of questions, but ask them. Take time to figure out those answers, and I think that process, I know that process can bring you closer to Him. It will make you wrestle with hard truths and tensions in the faith, but it'll be so good. There's a lot that we're meant to wrestle with.

As I said in the beginning, God, the authors wanted us to be...there's just tension in the faith. There just is. My Hebrew professor told me that there are rabbis who study one psalm for their entire life. And so they'll have 50 years of study on one psalm, and they just continually learn. They never think that they have arrived, and they think that they know it all. They are saying, "Oh, in year 48, here's the new thing I learned from this same passage. And so we should have a similar heart. God, there is more to know about you. I need to ask these good questions to find out these answers." And then secondly, lastly, our last question, do we desire to live in God's presence? Are we taking moments in life to ask God, "How can I be in your presence right now?" And I would say, let's be specific. It may mean praying, "God, in my place of work, how do I work in your presence? God, in my family life, how do I be a father, a mother, a husband, a wife, a friend, son, daughter, whatever it is in your presence?" Are we trying to be with God, or are we trying to have God just be with us in what we're doing? And there's a difference. It's important to find out how we're living our lives. We may not have thought about it that way before, but we can, by default, just start to bring God along with us. "God, I'm going this way, please follow, come with me." When really, we need to be asking, "God, where do you want me to go? Where are you leading? Let me follow you." Are you trying to be with God? Are you trying to be this person who can dwell in the house of God, in the presence of God? Is this list of characteristics present in your life? In what areas of your life do you feel the Spirit calling your attention to, to submit and to undergo further transformation by the power of God and his Word? David, like us, didn't always get it right. But in this moment, I'm so thankful that he asked the right question. And so I want to encourage us to be like him and make a habit of asking the right questions to God.

Would you guys pray with me right now? God, we come before you thankful for your word, and the power of your truth to transform our hearts to be made more like you. And that is our desire, that is our prayer, that you would be purifying us, transforming us, taking the sinful habits away, and instantly putting in us godly desires, godly character. So I pray that this week through your Spirit you would help, you would speak to us about areas of our life that need to change, where we are being selfish and self-absorbed. And I pray that you would help us in our prayer life as we converse with you regularly. That I pray that we would take time to pause and think about what we're asking. And while we still may have requests for you, I pray that our hearts would also start to see how we can ask, "God, how can I be in your presence? How can I live a life where I am with you in everything that I do?" Go with us this week. Guide us this week. We trust you and we love you. We pray this in your name. Amen.

Summer of Psalms - Part 3

Psalm 122 - Our Approach to Worshipping God

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

All right, we are continuing in our series in Psalms. I want to start by bringing us back to, I think, a common experience that we've all had. I want you to think back maybe to your childhood at some point, and maybe around Christmas or birthday, and the excitement that you felt about something that you were going to get, that gift, whatever you had in mind, and maybe it's a specific Christmas or birthday for me. I loved Legos growing up, and I only got Legos at Christmas. And every Christmas, there was a new, like, big set, and I was like, oh, this is the best. So, you know, the weeks leading up, I just started getting excited like I know there's a big Lego set that is gonna be underneath that tree And that was my Lego set for the year, but there's a process that as you anticipate something first is this Anticipation right this excitement that's building as the days get closer to that thing happening. You just get more and more excited And then maybe it's Christmas or your birthday But when you actually get that thing whenever you got it just the excitement was at its peak you're like it is here I this is it. I finally I get to enjoy this thing and And then for the next couple days, maybe weeks, the excitement is still up there. You're waking up like, "Oh, I can't wait to play. I have this new thing. This is fantastic." And then weeks or months go by and the excitement starts to dwindle. Maybe the enjoyment is still there. You still love to play with... You used to play with that thing and it was there, but you don't wake up with the excitement anymore. It's just like, "Oh yeah, I have that. I love it. It's great." But the excitement is gone. I say that thinking back to it, kids, but I still have things in my life right now that make me feel that way.

So maybe you do too. It's a feeling that we have, and it is, you know what it's like to have that excitement at one point, and then that initial infatuation or excitement just tapers off. And I think that happens not just with things in our lives, but also in our Christian life. Maybe you've experienced something similar in your walk with Jesus, where if you think back to when you were saved, and there's this initial excitement and just obvious joy that you feel, it's almost tangible. As you come to know and accept Jesus and this initial life change is invigorating, you have new habits, new rhythms that you are just welcoming into your life. And it's almost effortless of like, what else is there? I want to do it all, this is great, being a Christian. And then after a time, maybe it's months or years, the aspects of the Christian life can become routine and maybe not in the best way. You know, reading your Bible, you're attending church, but you're just kind of going through the motions. You're just doing it and it's there, it's good, but you're not excited. You're not excited about it anymore. Why does that happen? If you've experienced that, maybe you can think back to when that is, or maybe you're in the midst of it right now. Why does that happen? Well, I believe it's a heart issue. Initially, our hearts are being reoriented and they're being devoted and we're committed to God. And there's a desire and a commitment to worship God with our everything. But eventually, the heart begins to lean away from God, to stray and to get distracted, begins yearning for other things. Another way of saying this is that our hearts want to worship something else or someone else. It's really a matter of the heart. Our hearts are initially so focused on God, straining towards God, being transformed, but sin is still a reality. It's still present in our lives. It's still present in the world around us. And initially what was so effortless and so easy to be devoted, to be committed to God now takes more effort and more intentionality.

So how do we get that excitement and that joy back as we walk with Jesus? How should we approach a life of following and worshiping God? That's our question for today. You may be encouraged to know that it's not a new issue. This is not something that just the local church in the last couple of hundred years has been experiencing. No, this was a reality for the Israelites in the Old Testament too. Back then, for the Israelites, their life looked different than ours, but they also had spiritual practices of worshiping God, and some of those could become routine. And so David writes this Psalm as a reminder to help paint the picture of the ideal heart, the ideal approach for the Israelites as they come to worship God. We're gonna be in Psalm 122 today, and this is a Psalm of ascent, which means this is a Psalm that was meant to be sung as Israelites made their way to Jerusalem to worship God. Jerusalem was the center of worship. It's where the tabernacle was until they built the temple and then the temple was there. And so this Psalm has a lot of Jerusalem descriptions and language. It's a Psalm that if you can kind of picture this on a day where, you know, maybe some kind of feast where everyone had to go to the temple, you could just see everyone from outside the city to inside the city making their way, getting outside their homes, closing their doors and joining in the streets and walking to the temple. And they're all doing it together. And they could sing this song out loud as a chorus. And it would help them as they approached where God's presence was in the tabernacle, help their hearts get in the right place. So I think it can do the same for us today.

Let's go ahead and read. You guys can follow along on the screen. It says, "I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel. There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, Peace be within you. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity." So this psalm, and I think it helps us, reminds us about our approach and where our hearts should be as we worship together. And that first reminder comes from the first couple verses. And it's that worship comes from joy. It's like that kid on Christmas who's excited about their gift, anticipation about what they're receiving, we should have this similar excitement, anticipation about worshiping God, about going to the place of worship. Now I know in other series we've talked about how worship is a more general term, and it means like all of our lives, Paul writes about this in the New Testament, that all of our lives are worshiped to God. But today I just wanna use that term like David is intending it, the place of worship, the house of worship. So we're talking about the temple or the tabernacle, or today we're talking about church.

And so that joy of going to church or going to this house of worship, and it first and foremost comes from recognizing who God is and what He has done. And for the Israelites, they praise God for being their savior, saving them from slavery in Egypt. And they recognize the grace that God had given them as He protected them and sustained them in the desert and helped them get into the promised land. They have all this in the back of their heads as they come to God, they say, "We couldn't have any of this. They were in the promised land with the tabernacle and the temple. We wouldn't be here without God." So many times Israel rebelled against God and yet He remained steadfast and faithful to them. The Israelites who were selfish and prideful, hard-headed, naturally bent towards serving themselves and who often got it wrong, they have been saved. And for a moment when they were at the tabernacle, they were accepted into God's presence. And that moment, as they approached, just thinking of that moment of being in God's presence, brought them so much joy. Now, today, for us, how much more joy do we have, knowing that we don't have to go to the tabernacle or to the temple, that we have the Spirit within us, God with us all the time. And that we, Jesus, gave us salvation and the grace that He gives us daily. He saved us from eternity in hell, gives us everlasting life. And we who are selfish and prideful and hard-headed and often bent towards serving ourselves, we were saved. And God loves us. And the Spirit is with us always. Just that, just that reality is enough for the believer to feel joy. Joy from God for what He has done for us. That reason, that joy comes from the truth. It's an act of redemption that Jesus has done for us so great that we will be rejoicing in heaven for eternity for what he has done. And so we believers, we can walk through anything. We can go through anything in life. A hard day at work, losing a loved one, shattered dreams, and we can stand firm, maybe even with tears in our eyes, and just say, "But I am saved. But I am a child of God loves me and I still feel joy.” We need to be reminded of that because as soon as we grow callous to the grace of God our hearts will begin to wander. Pastor and author Paul David Tripp says, "What a tragedy when we grow used to that grace. What a tragedy when it no longer has value to us. What a tragedy when we we begin to think that we actually deserve acceptance with God. And how important it is to remember that I will never have any other standing with God, but the standing I am given by means of His grace.”

As we approach church, as we approach God at any point, I hope that we feel this sense of joy as we remember what God has done for us. And the fact that we are even believers in the first place is owed to him, we owe him that glory. So we have joy because of God. David begins this Psalm with this all time important reminder that as we approach the place of worship, let us be filled with joy. And this is, all these points are kind of a chain reaction. So first we begin with joy, and then secondly, Our second reminder comes in verses three through four, and it's that we worship out of obedience. The Israelites were given a structure and a routine for them to obey. It says in verse four, "That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, "to praise the name of the Lord "according to the statute given to Israel." This is referring back to in the desert, in Exodus and Deuteronomy, Jesus, or God, sorry, gave them instruction of how to be a nation, And part of that was how to worship Him. Israel had this history of being in Egypt. So they had seen how other nations had done. They'd seen how Egypt had worshiped. They've been in the desert, they've seen shins and how they worship their gods. And God is saying, "I don't want any of that. Do not worship Me in that way. I will tell you how to worship Me. And you will worship Me at this place and in this way." So Israel worships out of duty and out of obedience and responsibility, and it's because it's what is due God's name for what he has done for them. And at the root of this law is the command to love and worship the Lord their God and to keep his commandments. But as God gave this law to Israel about worshiping him, this isn't a new idea for the people of Israel, this idea of worship. Again, Paul David Tripp says, "Worship is your identity before it is ever an activity. You are by very nature a worshiper." See, God created humanity to worship Him. That's what He intended. Adam and Eve, He intended for them to worship Him, but then sin comes in, as we know this story, sin comes into the world and changes everything. And now, humanity can now, starts to worship the creation and start of the, instead of the creator. And whether we think about it or not, we, as worshipers, we are worshiping something or someone. And from that worship, we are drawing our purpose, our identity, and our security.

Those things are meant to come from God. God intended that you find your purpose, your identity, and your security in Him. But people who start to worship other things, that's where they draw their identity from. Oh, I'm really about this and I want you to know that. And so I'm gonna share this all about you. Everything about me revolves around this other thing. And I only feel secure if I'm good at this thing or if that is a success in my life and my purpose is to serve this other thing. That's how the heart naturally works. God intended that he would be that focus, that he would be that for our life and that we would find our purpose, our identity and the security in him. The Bible calls this having other gods, having idols in our lives. And we naturally, we're just good at making idols. You may not have heard that before, but you're good at it. And it's not a good thing to be good at. Pastor said this about John Calvin, theologian, says, "John Calvin saw that the human heart is relentlessly efficient, is a relentlessly," oh my goodness, sorry, let me start over. "John Calvin saw the human heart as a relentlessly efficient factory for producing idols. People want things to work better. They want a life that is more interesting. They want help through difficult times. They want meaning and significance in their ventures. They want a God in a way, but certainly not a jealous God, not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mostly they want it their way. They want to stay in control, but have ancillary divine assistance for the hard parts. I read that and I mean, spirit started convicting right away. We want God, but we have these other idols that we still want to be attached to. These other things in our life that are drawing, we're giving our attention, we're giving ourselves too, but when life gets hard, we want God to intervene. God, now I need your help. I've been doing this other stuff and I kind of got myself into a pickle here. Can you please, can you help me out? We tend to make idols out of things in our lives, sometimes even good things. Idols don't have to be bad. We can make idols out of family, out of providing for our family. We can make idol, whatever it is, we can make an idol out of it. But a great way to avoid that is to be obedient, to remain consistent in our regular worship of God.

And so we do that out of obedience. And it's not a begrudging obedience. I don't like this. we think of obedience as contrasted to something we want to do. We can want to be obedient. We can find something good and just, I don't think there's people out there like, "I don't steal because I'm begrudgingly following the rule that says I can't steal." No, we just don't steal and there's joy in that. It's like, "Yeah, that's not something I should do and I don't want to do that and I'm happy to not do that." And we can obey God in worshiping and have joy as we worship Him. And again, this is a chain reaction. So first there's joy, and out of that joy comes obedience. Thirdly, the next thing, so we have joy, we obey, and then in verses five through seven, we see that worship of God leads to a caring heart. If our hearts are filled with love for God, if our hearts are aligned with God's heart, then we will care about what God cares about, His people, His kingdom, and to see His perfect will carried out here on earth. Israel was meant to be a nation that carried out God's love and truth. And first and foremost, people would see that in how they loved God and also how they loved each other. As that was happening, other people would notice, man, this Israel is different. and this God that they worship is different than any other gods that we have. And it would be a distinct reflection of who Yahweh is. And the church today is meant to have a similar role. As we love each other and care for each other and worship God, people will take notice and be like, this is different. But how do we do that if our hearts are naturally selfish and there's this focus on our own lives, our own success, our own advancement or comfort, our own peace. Well, David says elsewhere in the Psalms, in Psalm 51, he says, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

So we know that it's the work of the Spirit within us. It's the work of Christ within us to lift up our heads from our own lives, from our own circle, to look up and to see others in the way that God sees them. How are we caring for those around us? Do we pray for them? Do you pray for the people in your life, not just your loved ones, which hopefully you're praying for the loved ones, but your neighbor who maybe is a cranky neighbor? Are you praying for your coworkers who you may not enjoy working with all the time? Are you praying just for the people in your life that need God? Do you meet their needs? Do you walk alongside them through whatever hardships they face? Do you pray for their peace and their prosperity that God would bless them? I know for me sometimes I prayed for them, but in a way that benefits me. God, can you help them be nice to me? Can you help them? Like my life is hard, God, so just help other people to make my life better. But that's not the prayers that David's talking about here. saying, "I want them. God, just bless them. Give them peace. Give them what they need to be closer to you." And so as we approach the place of worship, we should be reminded of those in our lives who we need to care for. Or for those as we are literally maybe even driving to church, as those who are passing. Those people need prayer too. Do we care for them? When we think about attending church on a Sunday, do you think about the people you are attending with? Do you kind of lift up your head from your, sometimes what we can do, just go to church by myself, I'm gonna say hi to people and do the small talk, but I'm just gonna go in, gonna worship, gonna listen, I'm gonna leave. We kind of keep our head down the whole time. Or maybe we should lift our heads up and interact with the people and care for them and pray for them and take an interest in their lives and want God to be a part of their lives. So maybe the prayer needs to start with, God, soften my heart towards other people, create in me a desire to care for your children, God. And this care for others also wonderfully fights against the consumer mentality that we have. Again, just slipping into church or these thoughts that are like, I just need to hear the sermon and the worship, just get the necessities and I'm gonna head out, I'm gonna be on my way. Got a busy week, I got a lot of stuff to do, so I know I need to do this, but it's about me. The church, if we're at the center of our church experience, we have a problem.

Part of true worship means seeing others. First we look at God and we recognize God, that's the joy, then we're doing this out of obedience, and then we're looking at others. God's people caring for them. And for the record, I think this church does a great job of that and I say this as encouragement of keep doing this. Let this be a strength of Spring Valley that people who visit would know that we genuinely care about each other. Not just in a, hey, I'm glad to know what's going on, but we are a part of each other's lives. So worship starts with joy. We do it out of obedience and it leads to a care for others. And lastly, worship of God creates community. Hopefully you see these dots connecting here. It says in verses eight through nine, "For the sake of my family and friends, "I will say, 'Peace be within you.' "For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, "I will seek your prosperity." David ends this psalm with the hope Jerusalem will prosper, that his people will prosper, and not for Jerusalem's sake, not for their sake, but for God's glory. And that can be our prayer too. There is unity and commonality found as we share our love for God. We all have this love for God. We are all being obedient to God. And if we all care for each other, we naturally are just, we're together now. We are a family. There's a community that's been formed. For Israel, that was the entire nation, the nation, all the people were heading to the temple. And as they look around, you can just imagine a very crowded space with smiles on their face as they get to be near the presence of God. This is a very unifying experience for them. Again, this is the reminder of what God has done for them from slavery to freedom. God has brought them blessing and fortune. God had given them the blueprint for how to live righteously together as a nation. And today we have the church, we have this family of believers from all different backgrounds, united in our love for God. And there is a deep sense of belonging, of family, of having a place and having a people. Some of you have a great support system outside the church. You have amazing family and friends, and that is truly a blessing.

For others, this church, this room, this is your biggest opportunity for community, for family, for connection. And this is why we love having moments like Morning Blend and Family Meals or the Popcorn Bar, just other opportunities for us to interact. But really, our desire is that it's beyond Sunday. It's beyond Midweek Group. We want you guys, we want all of us to be a family together that's interacting throughout the week, texting each other, grabbing coffees, grabbing meals, inviting people over for houses just to talk, going on walks around the neighborhood together, share life together, be a community together. And I guarantee you, people don't care if your house is messy 'cause of the kids, or if you have a dog that barks at every car that goes by. Welcome them in, bring them in, have people over. Be a community, be a family together. We wanna be a part of each other's life. as we worship God together. And it's not for our sake, it's not for selfish reasons, but it's for God's glory. So as we think about church and the Sundays and belonging to this church family, it's more than just one weekly occurrence. So much more than that. It's about a joy that comes from God's salvation and love for us. about being obedient to the life that God has called us to live. It's about caring for others as God cares for them. It's about living in community as a family.

I wanna paint this scene again. If it's helpful to close your eyes, close your eyes. Just imagine Old Testament Jerusalem and people from outside the city and there's a family waking up early and they're all excited because today they're going to the tabernacle. They get to go be near the presence of God. And as they leave their tent or their house, they see everyone else doing the same thing. And all of a sudden there's just this huge crowd. Every street is filled with people heading to the tabernacle. And there's a buzz around the city. And they start to sing this song. I rejoice with those who said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel. There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. And as they're walking up, they're seeing these people, all of them, together, and they care for each other. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love you be secure. secure him, or there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. For the sake of my family and friends, I will say peace be within you. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity. They can't help but smile because they know that God has saved them, that he loves them, and so it's out of their obedience, not a chore, but just a joyful obedience that they come to the presence of God. And they worship him. And now we today don't have that same scene. We're not walking, if you walk today, that's fantastic, but we don't often walk to church, we're driving, we have a busy life, but it can be similar. And so I wanna paint this scene for you.

Maybe this is helpful. This is simply just an exercise that helps you in your walk with God great. But what if our weekly routine was this, Saturday night, and yes, it's important that church starts the night before, Saturday night, you start to think about the next day and what you're doing and attending church. And that gets you thinking about God and about what He's done for you. And all of a sudden that joy starts to grow within you. And as you're going to bed or waking up in the morning and you're thinking about church, you start to think about the people that you attend church with, the people in this room. You start to wonder, how's this person doing? I remember that person said this, and all of a sudden we just find ourselves praying for them now. We're caring for them. And then we're thinking of people who aren't here. The empty seats, the people who need to be here, who haven't gone to church yet. We start praying for them and we care for them. I pray that my coworker, man, I've been having those conversations about Jesus. I hope that he shows up. I invited him, I hope he's here. God, my neighbor, they need Jesus a lot right now. They're going through a hard time. So we're caring for people together. And then as we're here and out of joyful obedience, we praise God. And these songs that we sing, I mean, this is why we sing these songs, is to praise Him for what He has done for us, for the salvation that He brings. And we can have a deep joy, even if we've had a hard week, I think it's rare to come here and the week has gone just pure good. I mean, life is complicated, it's a mess, it's chaotic. So we can come here just as we are with all of those feelings and emotions, but within we have a joy, of a deep joy that comes from God. That's our prayer. That's what David desired for Israel and that's what God desires of us.

Summer of Psalms - Part 2

Psalm 19 - The Heavens, The Word & the Glory of God

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

I have the pleasure today to continue in our Summer of Psalms series. We kicked it off last week, Pastor Andra did, and we're gonna be in Psalm chapter 19. So if you guys wanna flip, tap, click over to that this morning, we're gonna be in Psalm 19, but I love Psalms. And there's been a couple seasons now, I think we're in our third season of, in a rotation of summers of doing summer in Psalms. And what I love about the summer in Psalms is it's just, this is time to kinda take a little bit of a step back. I know we got a lot of people traveling, we got a lot of graduations, we got people going here and there. And I love about the Psalms is it's still kind of a giant overarching series, but at the same time, we just kind of dive into one chapter at a time and there's 150 of them. So it'll probably take us a couple summers to go through all of them alone. We could do a summer in Psalm 119 by itself if we wanted to one year. But the book of Psalms is so much different than any other book in the Bible. And what I mean by that is there are 150 chapters of Psalms. and divide it up into five different parts, or maybe you could call five different subgroups. And that they are over 40 to a dozen in each of these sub books in the Psalms. And there are so many different authors. That's what I love about this. There's so many different people's perspectives. There's so many different people's hearts and experiences they're having with God Almighty, from Moses to King David, King Solomon, to Asaph, to the sons of Korah, to Ethan, to Herman. And there's actually over 50 Psalms that there is no author attributed as well. And this time of this book actually spans about a thousand years, which when you think about that, you think, man, that's pretty incredible to have a book to cover over a thousand years of life. Big themes of praise, God's power, forgiveness, and it all sums up in a perfect little bow that I just absolutely my type A personality love. In Psalm 150 verse six, last verse in the entire book of Psalms, it says, "Let everything that breathes sing praise to the Lord." Praise the Lord.

That's what it's about. That's what life in itself, if you were to boil down everything that we in our life would just breathe praise to God almighty. That our life, how we live, how we love one another, how we care for each other, how we serve one another, how we go to our job, how we do school, how we go from places, how we grocery shop, how we go to Costco and deal with that parking lot, how we do everything would just bring honor and praise to God. There is this level of raw emotion in the Psalms that I just absolutely, sometimes we think maybe we have to pray a certain way. We're talking to big G God, right? I get asked all the time as a pastor, how do you pray? Teach me how to pray. And I was like, you're having a conversation with me, right? They're like, yeah, teach me how to pray. I was like, have a conversation with God. And they're like, well, you know, if I don't have like, if I don't speak in those right words, if I don't speak in King James, sayeth, loveth, shalleth, Lord blesseth, meeth, pleaseth. Like if we don't talk in King James and God doesn't hear me and I go, no, no, no, no, no, that's not how it is. You're having a conversation with a relational, loving, caring God who deeply knows you in the ways that even your closest confidant doesn't even know you. And we're gonna see that today in the book of Psalm 19, but this raw emotion, sometimes unpolished, sometimes not polite, sometimes not even PC. We see these Psalms in this book and I want us to remember and to be reminded that God's not afraid of our real life. God's not afraid of what we're going through that we can't get real with Him. He's a big God. He can take it. He can take it. And when we might find ourselves in life, and I've been there before when I just wanted to just punch God, 'cause I don't understand why He's doing what He's doing. He's just right there just to wrap you up in the midst that He loves us. And we see that in Psalms and specifically songs of men that we'll get to later in this series, but this honest, true, personal conversation that we get to kind of peek behind the curtain of people's personal relationship with God is such an incredible, incredible guide for our life in how we can have this relationship with God ourselves.

Last week, Pastor Andre kicked us off with Psalm 29. And he talked about this idea of reminding us to listen for the voice of God. And that we might find ourselves with people in our life that are trying to tell us that they are God and that they know the best for our lives. And they wanna either with hopefully good intentions, maybe not steer us in the right way, but that we know that there's people with bad intentions that try to pull us away, especially it talks about the enemy being one of great disguise, trying to pull us away from the truth of God's voice. In the Psalmist in 29, King David, he says, "Listen for the voice of God." Push in, fight with everything you have to hear that voice from him because only in him can we find the true voice of God, which brings strength and peace. And this kind of peace that we've said before that just is beyond understanding. This peace that we can only have when we rest in the truth of God.

And so today Psalm 19, this is a really unique Psalm. It's unique in the way that it's written in three different parts from three different authors spanning three different time periods. And yet has the same cohesive thought and theological truth drawing us in to the character of God. These three sections in verse one through six talk about creation and how creation speaks and gives praise to God. And then verse seven through 10 talk about this idea of the instruction for life, the speech of God and His word. The original Hebrew word here would be the Torah, the original Hebrew scriptures and how that speaks to God's truth for our lives. And then verses 11, 14, there is the shift that the author itself then becomes the reader servant in finding speech in a prayer to God on our behalf. And what I love about this is this big theme of this entire Psalm is on creation and God being the creator. This first part of the Psalm describes creation in praise to God. And it talks about this idea of joy that comes when we look at the created world around us. And then it pulls us in to the joy that is found in God's word. And then ultimately into the joy that is found in a deep personal relationship with God himself. And it talks about this word of God being our rock, kind of coming full circle of this idea of nature being revealing who God is himself. And we can understand God in so many facets in life. I think sometimes we think of this big dude upstairs, this God of heavens that is disconnected or as far from us, or is so impersonal to who our life is here today.

But the Psalmist here wants to remind us that that's not who God is. That God is not a hidden God, but he is more a revealed God in so many ways, whether it's the created world around us, whether it's his scriptures that he gives us in the Bible to read, and in this deep, honest, personal relationship that we have with him. And that is in this personal relationship that we find communion and relationship and intimacy through prayer. I wanna jump in this first section of Psalms. So you wanna turn Psalm 19, starting in verse one, it says this, it says, "The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they reveal knowledge. Yet they have no speech. They use no words. No sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens, God has pitched a tent for the sun. This first section here is so interesting because it takes us to this place where there's this beautiful duality and back and forth play between artistry and theology. and theological truth. The heavens is being the subject declare or are resounding being a verb, the glory of God who is the object of this entire Psalm. The work of his hands being God's hands, the object proclaim or is declaring verb, the skies, the subject of this. There's this theological balance and these two colas of this opening verse that go back and forth about how God dwells in the heavens and yet the heavens praise God glory. And at the same time, the skies, the created, the lower firmament, as you might know, or the level beneath the heavens, the sky, the moon, the stars, actually in turn praise the work of God's hands. So it's like this beautiful dance back and forth, all resounding on the glory of God. And then in verse two and three, there's the beginning to be this continued statement of repetition day after day, night after night, emphasizing that creation speaks a message about God and passes on this knowledge of God forever and ever and ever and ever, amen. It's only then in verse three that we shift to state that though this message is sent back and forth for all eternity, it cannot be interpreted in the traditional understanding.

What do I mean by that? Well, I mean, it's this fundamental paradox of God's creation actually resounds with a speech, but it is in a way that human beings can neither hear nor understand. There is no speech, there are no words, There is no voice particularly heard. And yet this knowledge of who God is in creation is personified and expressed. But not just any type of knowledge, it's knowledge specifically of the Lord God Almighty. I struggled to understand that at first. I was studying, I was like, how does this all this work? And I was reminded of that feeling you have maybe when you just sit on the beach and you just stare into the waves. To sit there and just to look out into complete total abyss. Or maybe you prefer when you find yourself sitting by the lake and the cool waters lapping on the shore and being surrounded in the shadow of tall, tall trees. There's just something there that speaks to our soul. There's something there that says we're not alone. That there's something else out there that put this together and put this on earth and made it happen in such a unique, intricate, specific, orderly, not a happenstance fashion. And there's just this peace that comes over us. My wife and I had the opportunity to sneak away for a few days, thanks to Papa and Mimi, to watch the kids for us for our 16 year anniversary. And we got to go up to Lake Tahoe. And we were able to be out there for two nights, but I remember the morning of the first day after we'd been up there. And I just got this chance to sit on the little deck outside of our hotel and just to be in the presence of just God in his creation and the cool breeze and the shadow of the trees and just the peace of God was in that space. And yet it spoke words to me and yet there were no words. You could just feel something there. And as the Psalmist said, we'll read a little bit, it refreshed my soul to just sit in that place with a cup of coffee and just talk to God. And honestly, not much was said. It was just a moment that I was able to have in that space that God knew my soul was growing weary and I needed His refreshment in me. And I just found myself sitting in this space without words, without verbal communication, just something that I knew He was there. And this is what the Psalmist is saying, that in space we can find something that is felt, that is experienced, that is heard deep within us. This is actually a little bit in contrast to the culture of the day when the Psalm first section was written because Israel's neighbors actually worshiped the sun, the moon, the stars as divine beings themselves. And the poem here of the Psalter is stressing that the created things that are the sky are not God, but they are merely something, a phenomenon of the creator God Almighty Himself, whose true end is to praise God, the one true God. and this voice and this tongue of nature as it may speak, not in the words that human beings that we can discern, it is something deep down in our soul that connects us to God himself.

The psalm continues in verse five. It is like a bride coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and it makes it circuit all the way to the other. Nothing is deprived of its warmth. The second stanza takes a little bit of a shift, even though still part of the first section brings us a narrow focus to the sun specifically. This idea of rising and going is this measure of the day and the night. In Hebrew culture, it is said that the sun was to have its tent in the heavens, that the sun was to rise and it was the sun was to go down and it was to have its tent in the presence of the heavens of God almighty. This going out and running its course or its circuit and to return home. In the ancient near East, the sun was worse, the God of justice. And the Psalmist here is playing on this cultural idea that a Sumerian hymn calls the sun god a hero, a strong man or a warrior, and that it goes out and it conquers all, and it returns home victorious to his wife. The writer here is playing off of these cultural polytheistic ideas that these gods or the sun being a god himself, but it isn't polytheism that the Psalmist is talking about, but rather reminding us, the reader, that the sun is not a God, but something created by God. And it is God who sets the sun in the heavens, not the sun itself. The sun runs a circuit, not for itself, as the ancient Near East would believe, but runs the circuit that God has appointed to it. And that the sun is said to rejoice as it runs its circuit in the songs of praise directed towards God himself. The son or the created is giving worship to its big C, creator. Verse six says that nothing is deprived from its warmth. I think this word warmth here is a little bit deceiving. It's the original Hebrew is actually talking about this idea of heat or wrath. If you're thinking the terms of the sun and the culture, that the sun god would be this god of justice, one that just tears through everything and it kills and it conquers, it consumes with fire, everything set before it. I felt that this week when the sun, anybody else? The wrath of a hundred degrees is upon us. This idea or imagery of extreme judgment, devouring thirst that nothing, even the ends of the earth as it says, can escape it. But there's a subtle message wrapped here in this stanza. The writer wants to remind us that God being above and over all of creation, including the Son, who the surrounding cultures see as a God, is actually declaring that God is in God's glory. And that God's glory comes to His holiness, sometimes seen as themes in the Old Testament of Hebrew scripture as a fire. We see that in the Israelites when they're first out of Egypt, that God is a pillar of fire by night. that this fire as seen by most cultures as this horrific, terrible thing that wants to kill and destroy you is actually seen as something that is holy, is refining, is a light guiding us darkness. And that sometimes even in the church, it's been misrepresented as the God of fire and brimstone. Repent or go to hell, preachers yelling at you. But there's this duality of this fire that yet, yes, it is burning and hot and consuming, but also at the same time, I think of a warm fire on a cold night that warms, that sustains life, that helps us, that cooks food for us, that sustains us, brings nourishment. And this idea of, yes, God is both judge, judge in his permanent, hard, there's no compromise. But at the same time, he is caring, he is loving, he is guiding, he is life sustaining. And the Psalmist here is playing on as we see a verse and we think, man, that's so harsh. How can God be so hard? I thought God was supposed to be loving. And yet there is judgment. He calls us out on the carpet at times, but it's only because He loves us and He cares for us and He wants the best for our lives. I see this in the fact that the sun doesn't change. God doesn't. Rather we, in our circumstances, our choices, Our decisions, our moments in life change. But God is there day after day after day, always coming back around.

The Psalmist continues, verse 7 through 10, “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The three steps of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. the commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold. They are more than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” This is where we shift into the second section of the Psalm, and the tone here changes, right? We just go from the sun being consuming and harsh, and just burning to this idea of then the scripture, the word of the Lord is refreshing to our soul. Like a drink of cool water on a hot day, just that ah moment. This is the word of God. There's also a change in the original word for God here. It goes from a generic L, meaning God of nature, to this more personal relational God that the Hebrew people did as Yahweh. To go from a God of just nature that is around us to a personal God who loves us. The word of God is said in these first six lines full of synonyms. Did you catch those? It talked about the law, the statute, the precepts, the commands, the fear, the decrees. Each of these in reference to the word of God better knows we had today the Bible and these verses and words and chapters and books are all instructions for us for right living. There is this connection now between the law or the nature of God and his created order into the law of God, His Word, the Torah, the Scriptures for our lives. There's connections here between talking about rejoicing as it circles the earth and at the same time the precepts of the Lord. The Scriptures are right giving joy to our heart. Joy is seen in created order and joy is seen in His Word for lives. The Sun shines over all creation, talking about light, and the commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to our eyes. The light from the Sun continues throughout all a universe. It doesn't just shine past earth and then just fade off, but light continues on through the vast expanse of the universe, and so do the fear of the Lord is pure and during forever. This beautiful imagery of the created order and and particular set emotion details isn't just creation but we find ourselves too in that creation being created in the image of God ourselves and God giving us his word to know who he is not just from a generic knowledge of the created order around us, but a more head knowledge of who God is in his character. Verse 10 closes this section. It says, "They are more precious than gold, much more pure gold. They are sweeter than honey than honey from a honeycomb." This verse continues to echo God's creation in the first six verses, affirming that the word of the Lord is more desired than anything in creation. Playing off of this imagery of the sun becoming both gold and honey, sharing this golden hue of the sun. It's beautiful picture here of this, but speaking more so of gold and honey as status in that day. If you had gold, you You were set. You were wealthy. You were beyond ready to eat on a regular basis. You were first class. You were top of the top. And the Psalmist here is reminding us that even the word of the Lord is greater than the greatest desired of life itself. Not just gold, but absolutely pure gold with no imperfections, which I don't even know if they were able to refine it that pure in that day. But talking about honey being something that does not spoil, does not fade, does not go bad, it lasts almost forever. And to have that to be consumed in sweetness and to have this joy and pleasure in eating that the word of God is even greater than any of all of that. Anything that you would want to pursue as the thing in life, God's word rises and sets above it all.

The Psalmist finished in verses 11 to 14. "By them, your servant is warned, in keeping them there is a great reward. But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins that they may not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” The shift in poetic style as well. And that here the Psalmist himself becomes our servant to the reader in praying for us in his words and in his speech towards God. this beautiful shift and this idea of this coming from abstract speech from nature into the speech of God's word for our lives, into the speech of the scene for us in the way that we live out our life. Verses 11 and 12 there discuss the rewards. What does it say there? It says, "Great reward is found in the instruction of God." This isn't talking about this cause and effect of, "Okay, if I obey everything in the word of God, then there will be great reward for me. I will prosper. I will have everything perfect in my life. Nothing bad will happen to me." No. Talking about the fact of the opposite of that, when we follow the instruction of God, there is great reward in the life of God that is given to our soul. I think sometimes in life, we want God to bless us and then we'll be obedient. But God doesn't work like that. God asks and calls for our obedience and then his intimacy comes on to our life. That's how God works. And the Psalmist here is reminding us and saying this way that protect us in your salvation, God. See, we have on the backside of this, the great reward of knowing the story of God after this, Jesus coming to earth, dying for our sins, rising again, ascending to heaven and sending upon us, those who have accepted him, believe in him, the gift and leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is the greatest thing that we ever asked for. The Psalmist here is praying for something like that, but not knowing what that thing is like. And yet we have that. So for us to see the revelation of God in this unspoken knowledge of God, to then see His word given to us to revealing who He is, God's character, His nature, His son, the Holy Spirit is then infused into our lives how we go about our daily life, living the way that God has called us to in ways that we know we need to make a right decision, talking about the willful choices, the willful wrongdoing, the willful right doing, but also as it says in here, these hidden places, these hidden spots where we might not know the details of God in this moment, we know because of who God has revealed himself in nature, who his scripture is and the truth and the word that he's given us, we know how we are to act and live and fulfill the life and calling that he has for each of us.

This author's prayer, I kind of rewrote it in my own words. And it would be, God, let your word of your truth speak over not just me, but also the reader. Let your holy light illuminate our errors as the sun, both hidden and unknown, willful and known. Let your freedom be found in the almighty God and not our sinful nature, in the desire to be blameless, removed from innocence of any transgression, to be holy God as you are holy, bringing you Father, Lord almighty, into our entire being through our words of our mouth, our souls, our hearts, thoughts, even before they become words. May we all do in our speech, finding revelation in the unspoken speech in your creation and your word become pleasing, something that you God would find full of rejoicing that my life would be a pleasing sacrifice, bringing glory, honor, and praise to you God, acknowledging that you God truly, The one and only is this character and this nature that you Lord are my rock. One where I can find refuge, safety, security, and freedom. And even the greater is the character of God, my Redeemer. The only one by which we are saved from being lost, gone, tossed out without any value. God picks us up, dust us off, even brings us back into value. we are called a child of Him. He is given our name. We have an inheritance in Him. We become a child of His. And when all hope seemed to be lost, God shows again and again and again and rescues us.

That's Psalm 19. In creation, the Creator that was once hidden is seen in plain sight. And in God's word, the Lord Yahweh comes to us in a personal way. We meet God in this gracious and merciful who is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, showing faithfulness to the thousandth generation. The heavens, the Word, the glory of God. So the question for us is what do we do with this newfound knowledge? Will we pursue God as as more precious than the greatest desires of our heart, more than gold, more than honey. God's not a hidden God, as some believe. God is a very revealed God in everything that is around us. We can know God in a vague, impersonal nature connection, but the good news is it doesn't stop there. We can have a personal knowledge of God in deep, deep intimate relationship. That's the God that I want. That's the God that I need. That's the God that I serve. Let's pray.

Jesus, thank you for Psalm 19. God, I'm so grateful for the sermons who wrote this Psalm for us to be reminded today that you, God, are revealed all around us. There isn't a place on this earth that we can go where we do not see or experience or see who you are. But it doesn't just stop there, God. You've given us the knowledge of your word, your scripture, your holy, holy instructions to show us how to live our lives, to show us how to worship you. God, I pray that we would be reminded today of who you are. You're not just the big guy upstairs, you're not some impersonal God looking to strike us down when we first mess up or to just have smash us because you can just for your own pleasure. God, you desire deep relationship with us. God, I pray for those who today might not have made that choice, that they would say yes to you, to say yes to God, come into my life. Forgive me of the things that I've done wrong and that I've messed up. Remove my sin, go in my place, redeem me, make me whole. Have your spirit come upon me, have your new life pour into my heart. and God that I would live in the calling and the purpose that you have for my life today and forevermore. Jesus we thank you for today. God we worship you, we praise you, and give you all the honor and glory that nature does as you being our great creator. We thank you Jesus. Amen.

Summer of Psalms - Part 1

Psalm 29 - Listen for God’s Voice

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Going to introduce a new series. One of the values here at Spring Valley Church is we have this goal of covering the entire Bible over several years. And primarily, we do that on Sunday mornings through covering different books of the Bible and also in our community groups. But we cover-- we want to cover the entire Bible. And one of those rhythms that we have is to cover the Psalms over the summer. And so we'll be doing this for many summers because there's 150 Psalms. So we've done it the past few summers. We're going to keep doing it. but we love this goal of just we want to cover all of God's Word and so summers in Psalm are great it's such a joy to be here in this book as we begin this series I just want to give a general overview again of the book of Psalms and I would encourage you if you want to know more go home YouTube Bible project Psalms and there is a great video it's like seven eight minutes long just summarizing the entire book and they do a far better job than I can do and There's cool animations so you can kind of see what they're talking about. But I'm going to do my best to kind of share what they say.

So Psalms, like I said, 150 ancient Hebrew poems, songs, and prayers that come from all different eras of Israel's history. And there's many different types of poems in these collections, but generally they can be sorted into two categories. Those of lament and those of praise. Poems of lament in psalms are poems that express—or songs or prayers— express pain and confusion and even anger of the poets, of horrible things that are happening to them or horrible things that are happening around them. And they draw attention to what's wrong in the world and ask God to do something about it. And there are a lot of lament poems in the Psalms, which shows, and shows us today, that it's an appropriate response to the evil and the darkness that we see in our world today. An appropriate response is lament, and to take that lament to God. So, lamentation can play an important role in prayer. Now, lament poems make up most of books one through three, which, by the way, in Psalms there are five books. It's kind of separated into five sections, and the first three are heavily, there's praise and lament, but they're mostly laments. But in books four and five, towards the end of the Psalms, you can see that the praise poems are more frequent. And these poems of joy and celebration draw attention to what's good in the world. And they retell stories of what God has done in the lives of his people, and they thank him for all his works and who he is. And so books four and five, praise poems outnumber the lament poems. And it culminates at the very end of Psalms in this five-part Hallelujah to God. And the shift from books 1 through 3 and 4 and 5 in Psalms, they show something about the nature of prayer according to what God wanted the people to go through and what they went through. So there were a lot of hard times, but in the end there should be this praise to God, and there should be this peace that God has worked, and his work is coming to a culmination of good in the world. So, hoping for the Messianic Kingdom, as the book teaches us to do, creates a lot of tension as we live in a world of tragedy, but we know that God is at work and there's a future of hope. And I'll quote this directly. This is from this video, this Bible project. They're very amazing scholars. It says, "The Psalms teach us to neither ignore pain, nor let it determine the meaning of our lives. Biblical faith and prayers is always forward-looking, anticipating the day when God will fulfill His promises and praise Him for the things that are to come. The Torah and Messiah lament and praise faith and hope. This is what the book of Psalms is all about. And so today, I know that we hold a lot of tension in our lives of things that are very hard, things that are hurtful or painful, or we're just around a lot of darkness, And yet we have Christ, who is a light and who is a hope. And there is a future that we look forward to that is hopeful. And so the Psalms really helps us to manage that tension and gives us instruction on how to walk through our day-to-day lives, holding both things as realities.

I want to go ahead and pray before we get into our Psalm. I just think we need - there's never too much prayer. I need prayer. Let's pray one more time. God, if we come before you, We come before you with all that we have, and sometimes that's not a lot. But we know that you accept us just as we are. And so I pray that in this time, through your word, God, that you would fill us up with your spirit, with your joy, your love, your compassion, your grace. And God, that you would give us what we need for this moment, for this day, and we'll just take one day at a time. We don't need to worry about the days to come and all that, all the details and chaos that may lay ahead, but just for this day, we pray that you would provide us with what we need. And in this moment, as we're gathered to hear your truth, that it would be empowering and encouraging for us. Give this time to you. in your name. Amen.

All right, there is tension. I talked about tension. There's tension of the sin in our lives, the sin in the world, and there's tension even in the voices that we hear. So when God created Adam and Eve in the garden, there was no tension. It was Adam, Eve, and God, and it was just a beautiful relationship, and it was perfect. It's what God intended. And as sin entered the world, then there there became all these sorts of tension. Tension in the human heart of what to follow. To follow sin and to follow selfishness and pride or to follow God. We can put that in another way of what voices to listen to. Do we listen to the voice of God? And when sin entered the world, now there are other voices, the enemy, and other things of the world that are vying for our attention and for our hearts. So the voices of the world, even for us today, can be very loud. things like money, success, worldly values, keeping up with appearances, social media, all these things that are speaking to us, whether we realize it or not, they want our hearts. It may not be a specific voice, as if Satan is just talking to you all the time, but really, Satan, the enemy, is content with any voice that is talking to you that is not God. Any voice that is grabbing your heart, getting your attention, He's fine with that as long as it means that you're not hearing God's voice. Whether it's something neutral or really evil, or maybe even something that in and of itself is actually good, but if we have too much of that good thing that keeps us away from God, Satan is saying, "That's fine. I don't have to work that hard. There's so much noise in your life, you're not able to hear God." In our community groups, we've been covering different spiritual practices, And in all of them, there's this focus of hearing God's voice. So whether through prayer, or silence and solitude, or fasting, or even Sabbath-ing, they are all providing more opportunity to hear the voice of God, to lessen or turn down the volume of all the noise and all the other voices in the world, so that we can hear God’s.

Another way of thinking about this, about the voice of God and the voices of this world, or are we taking time to hear God's voice? Do you hear the voice of God? Now, this is not to guilt trip anyone, and I think it's rare to actually hear the audible voice of God in our daily lives. But if we just think about our day and our routine and our week, do we leave intentional times of quiet where we are just listening for God? Or do we kind of just believe and think that if it's important enough, God will interrupt my schedule. He'll get my attention somehow, and He'll make it clear to me. But I'm just going to go about my day. I got a lot of things to do. And so God, if it's really important, just, you know, make it amazing and make it, you know, I can't ignore it. Which, by all means, He can do, and He does. But shouldn't we, if our relationship with God is just that, a relationship where we speak with God, but we also want to hear from God, do we leave time in our day to hear His voice? Would we even recognize the voice of God in the midst of all the other voices that we hear? In the midst of all the other noise that we have in our day. You know, from getting up in the morning, to going to work, to getting kids to school, to checking emails, social media, to reading the news, keeping up with family and friends, texting, and all those conversations that happen, to getting dinner ready, to getting the kids to bed, to watching the shows that you got to keep up with. Do we leave time in all that day to just say, "I listened for God"? Or is it we look back at the end of the day and we're just kind of saying, "Good night, prayer to God, God, great time today, that was fantastic. Hope you had a good one too, good night." I'm guilty of that sometimes. I'm just like, "God, I should connect with you," but I'm literally falling asleep right now. Like I said, it may not be commonplace to hear the voice of God, but the Bible lets us know about the voice of God, of who God is, and how He speaks so that we can recognize God. We can have this relationship. We can know who we are in a relationship with. And it's so important. The Bible, God wants us to recognize Him and how He might speak to us.

And so that's our Psalm this morning. We're going to be in Psalm 29. You guys can turn there. It'll be on the screen. I'm just going to go ahead and read our entire psalm first, and then we're going to go verse by verse and break it down. So Psalm 29 says, "Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. Or the God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic. the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Syrian like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning, the voice of the Lord shakes the desert, the Lord shakes the desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare, and in his temple all cry glory. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood, The Lord is enthroned as King forever, and the Lord gives strength to His people. The Lord blesses His people with peace. This psalm is divided into three sections. In the first section is a call to praise God. This is written by David. Like I said at the beginning, there are many different authors of different psalms. David, I think, is a third of the book of Psalms is written by him. And so this is one of His. And He wants us, He wants the readers, He wants Israel to approach God with a certain heart, a proper view of the Lord, which is praise. We should come to the Lord praising Him. And again, just more questions for us today. How often do we praise God? I know we praised Him this morning. We were singing songs of praise to Him. We probably praise God when things are going well in our lives. Something great has happened. We're blessed and it's good. We should have this reaction of praising God. But how often do we praise God unrelated to the good things that happen to us? And maybe a different way of asking that is, is our praise to God transactional? "God, because you've done this, now I offer my praises to you." And again, we should be offering praise to Him when good things happen, but not only when good things happen. Do we live with the belief that God is good all the time? Unrelated to what state we may be in or how we may be feeling, do we still believe in praising God? This is a lesson that David learned over and over and over again in his life, as he had the craziest stories of hiding in a cave from someone who's trying to kill him, or being on the run from the king trying to kill him, or being in enemy territory, surrounded, completely surrounded, and just trying to survive to being king, and having very bad days in the office as king, and still having to come before God with praise, even when things were terrible. And so the point of these verses is to show us that the Lord is deserving of our praise. Even the angels owe their praise and worship to God, the Creator of all, the Lord over all. All the time. And are we able to, no matter how our day went, no matter how tired we are, or how frustrated or angry or hurt or grieving, we may feel or maybe be going through, can we still see God as Lord of all? And have a moment of praising Him? It should be one of the main starting points as we approach God in that conversation with Him. Now, He accepts us, He wants us. If we're hurting, He wants us to just express that hurt. But in there somewhere, are we still praising Him for who He is and what He does? So, in these first verses, David invites us to praise God, and then he goes on to describe just how powerful God is, reminding us of who Yahweh is. Again, the hope, His hope is spurring greater relationship with the one true God.

Psalms 29:3 says, "The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty waters." I love this. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm sorry. Hold on. Keep that in mind. Keep those verses in mind. What we're about to read, what I just read, is in comparison, David, the people of Israel, He writes this this song because he knows that his people are starting to hear other voices around them, the other false gods that are in the surrounding nations, and their hearts are starting to be pulled to especially this false god named Baal, or Baal, of other surrounding countries. And Israel just has this tendency, you'll see it over and over again in the Old Testament, where they just, they're there, they're with God, they're following God, it's going great, and all of a sudden, just slowly, they just start drifting, and they're like, "God's great," but also this other God could be awesome. And they start bringing that God into their lives. And so David sees this and he writes this psalm about the voice of God so that he can tell them, "This our God, Yahweh, is greater than any of the other gods that are out there. You need to remember this voice, this voice of God." So that's why some of these descriptions of God over the thunder, we'll get to this, is trying to help the people contrast. Like, you think that God is great, that God of the sky, or that God of this land, or the God of the waters. You think that they have power, but they have nothing compared to Yahweh. All right, now I read the verse about God. "Of glory thunders over the mighty waters." And again, in Hebrew, in the Hebrew mind, all these verses, we read this in English, and it is beautiful in English, but in Hebrew, the beauty of it is more complex, and it's very deep, and it would challenge the listeners, the Israelites, to recall certain things in their history. So it may just seem very poetic, and it's like, "Oh, God is the God of nature to us. He's in control of everything.”

But in all these examples, David is recalling very specific situations that the Israelites would know and recognize. And so we hear the God over the waters, thunder, and a couple things would come to mind. First is creation. And in Hebrew, we have the Spirit hovering over the waters at the very beginning of time. And so we see that God, David wants the people to see that God has power over creation, as the Creator. Not just power over creation because He's that powerful, but because He is the Creator. He created everything. And then as thunder, the God of glory thunders, thunders over the mighty waters. This idea of thunder would bring the Israelites to God's voice in the desert with Moses. And in Exodus 19, 19, you won't turn there right now, you can go back and check out this whole scene where the Israelites were gathered at the base of Mount Sinai, and God called Moses up to the top of the mountain to give Moses the law. This whole scene in Exodus is Israel becoming a nation. They had no really law, they had no distinction to make them, besides they were all of the same family and their family was huge. But in this moment, at the base of Mount Sinai, God is giving them their identity. He says, "You are mine, here is my law, which if you follow this, it means that you are living rightly. You are living in the way that I intended you to live." And so he's hearkening back to that moment as Moses went up to the mountain, and as God was speaking to Moses, it says that the thunder grew louder and louder as God spoke. And so the people at the base, Moses is up on the top and the people are all gathered. And it's a very scary moment for Israel. They've never seen this before as God. Just the thunder on that mountain is like trumpets, loud, loud trumpets. And it's the voice of God. So as David writes this, they're recalling this. And so it's a voice that has authority. And it's a voice that demands obedience. And instead of just saying that, they're like, "Hey, God's voice demands this." He recalls this whole moment so that Israel is thinking of, "Oh yeah, God gave us a lot. God gave us, instructed us on how to live, and that was a terrifying moment. This God, Yahweh, was up on that mountain, and his voice was thunder." God's voice has authority and demands obedience.

Next, verse 4, it says, "The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic." So again, continuing to draw on God's power, but also this word "majestic" makes us think of the royalty of God. To the people of Israel who desperately wanted a king, there was a time, there in the desert, through the judges, that God was effectively Israel's king. They had no earthly... Moses was their leader, Joshua was their leader, but God was their king. And then, as we know in the Bible, the Israelites grew tired of not having a king. And they looked at all the other nations, they're like, "Hey, they have human kings, we want a human king." And God's like, "I am the king, and I'm better than any human king." They're like, "That's not good enough. We want a human king." And he's like, "Fine." And he tells them, "It's not going to be good. You are going to suffer. You're going to go through pain. These kings will not make good decisions. I am perfect. They are not." And they're like, "Yeah, we get it. We still want that human king."

And so David had a beautiful heart, and this is why David is one after God's own heart. He recognized his own failures as a king, and God was perfect, and he knew his shortcomings. And so He's reminding the people of God's royalty that He is the King. And first, how awesome God is. I don't mean that in like the surfer way, like, "Oh, so awesome." Like, it makes us full of awe towards God. His voice has a reaction in us as He is King. And we don't really get this, I don't think, in our Western culture, and definitely not, I wouldn't say, in America, but think like medieval times or even before that. The king's word was law. Whatever he said was truth. And that's the language that David is using here, that when God speaks, it is truth, it is law. It is something that we are to live by, and it is good. Unlike the earthly kings who, it could have been terrible, but because it was law that you had to follow it, God's word is true, it is good. And so that's all wrapped up in this word "majestic". And 5 and 6 say, "The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. The Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Syrian like a young wild ox." Now I read this, and I'm like, I don't know what's happening. What are we talking about here? Cedars making Lebanon leap like a calf. But we dive further in. It's again just referencing God's power, His power as Creator over creation. The cedars of Lebanon are trees that maybe we can think of the redwoods that we have in California. Just known for standing the test of time. They're huge. They're strong. Cedars of Lebanon are the same thing. Whenever the Bible says it was like something was made from cedars of Lebanon, it's supposed to help us be like, "Oh, that thing is like finest quality. That is up there." And so it points to God's power as Creator that He has power over His creation. that even the strongest thing on earth that we can think of, these trees, God has power over them. It's nothing for him. Or he makes Lebanon leap like a calf, searing like a wild ox. Again, just things that humans have no control of. No human could make that happen. God could make that happen. That is how powerful he is.

In verses 7 and 9, read, "The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert. The Lord shakes the desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare, and His temple all cry holy." David, again, is thinking of that foundational moment in Israel's history, of being in the desert of Mount Sinai, in that pivotal moment of Israel getting to know God. And he's reminding the people, again, of just how much higher and more powerful Yahweh is than any of the other gods that the surrounding nations worshipped. Then he brings in this place of Kadesh. And this is the place where the report of the Promised Land came back. Moses had come to the edge of the Promised Land, and he sent spies in to say, "Hey, are we able to go in? What does it look like? Let's see this land that God has promised. Let's see what it looks like." And the report came back, and you may know 12 spies went in, and only two said that God would give them the victory. The other said it's not possible. Too much. The people are too big. The fortresses are huge and they didn't believe. And so this moment of God shakes the desert of Kadesh, I think can be interpreted in a couple different ways. But I like that it's just bringing back this moment where God's voice wasn't listened to. God spoke to two of them strongly and said, "No, tell Moses that we can do this. That God will provide whatever is needed to go and conquer the Promised Land." But ten didn't believe and kind of ignored the voice of God. And then Israel's future was changed. They had to go wander in the desert for 40 years. And so we have this contrast of it's a voice that demands authority, or demands obedience and has authority. But we also have a moment of seeing the consequence of when it's not listened to, there are consequences. If God's voice is instruction, if you don't believe in who He is and what He can do, your life is going to be worse. And it brings to mind the wandering of the desert for 40 years. It's also a voice that brings judgment. And so as they wandered the desert for 40 years, and that was a punishment, God continued to sustain them. He didn't just leave them out there to die and say, "Now you got to go wander, and if you make it great, but if not too bad." No, He sustained them. He started bringing manna and quail, and He helped them in those 40 years.

And so it's a voice that, yes, brings judgment, but it's also a voice that sustains and provides and saves. Verse 9, there's a couple different translations here. Some say, "In the strips the forest bear, and in this temple all cry holy." And other versions that say, "The Lord makes the deer give birth." And this is a reference to Job. And God is just trying, David is trying to say that God has control, again, in ways that humanity does not have control. God has power over His creation in a way that as humans can become such experts in things, and especially today where we have a lot of control over things, and science is amazing, and does so many things. God is far beyond that. God has the Creator. This can't be stated enough, and I think Israel, this is why David just keeps harping on it. As Creator, God has control, complete control, and it's effortless. It's of such ease over all of creation. Nothing stresses Him out. Nothing gives Him like, "Oh, this was a really hard one for me." No, God has complete control. And all those who are in the temple, all those who are living in right standing with God, can recognize this, can see this, and the response is glory. Glory to God. Once you see God at work, once you see what He's doing, the response is one of praise. Glory to God. And so after describing God's power and the power that His voice has, now David describes Yahweh as King.

And in verses 10 through 11, "The Lord sits enthroned over the flood. The Lord is enthroned as King forever. The Lord gives strength to His people. The Lord blesses His people with peace. David puts in the reader's mind, in the listener's mind, Yahweh on the throne as King. And he says, "King over the flood." And now this word is only used in the Bible one other time. In the flood, back in Genesis, with Noah. And that flood experience, that flood story for the Israelites, is a mix of God's terrifying judgment and also his plan of salvation. The power that God had to flood the entire earth is scary. The fact that everyone could die and that God had control over that is, I mean rightfully so, that's a lot to take in. And at the same time, in that same story, we see God's rescue plan, his salvation plan at work by saving the family of Noah. And so He is, again in the Hebrews mind, they're saying, God has control over the most, like one of the most terrifying judgment experiences the earth has ever experienced. One of the most destructive forces, God has control over that. And yet He also works salvation through anything. And unlike earthly kings, David writes that the Lord is enthroned forever. Every earthly king has an end, has a beginning and an end. And David's writing this as a good king. He had a time of flourishing. His kingdom was a good one. And he even recognized that, well, this is going to come to an end. But God is king forever. We see David say that God gives people what they need. He gives them strength. and He gives them peace. So even though He brought up this flood, which would bring up maybe some anxiety for Israel, so like, "God, is God going to judge us? What kind of judgment are we going to face?" God also gave peace to Noah, and God gives peace to His people. It brings to our attention that God causes us to look towards God. It causes us to look heavenward, with awe. It helps us to look forward with faith, as we know that God is good and He'll give us everything that we need. And it reminds us of who God is, so that as we go about our day, hopefully we can recognize the voice of God. Whether it's through what He does, or things that are happening around us, all of that can be God speaking to us.

So I just want to remind us as we close, that Psalms is a prayer book for the people of Israel and for us today. And sometimes the point of prayer or a psalm Is simply to draw our minds back to God just to draw us closer to Him as life Really pushes us away from God and we feel that tension of I feel distant from God. I've been so busy And so the point of psalms and a prayer is just to simply bring us back to Him And so today and this week my encouragement would be for all of us to listen for God's voice For our minds to be drawn towards him and for us to praise god for who he is. So if there's a couple things It's can we approach god with praise despite how our day is gone when we've had the worst day the worst week Can we still praise god? And then are we making time to listen for god's voice? We want to be able to recognize it we may not hear an audible voice of god if you do Amen, praise god, please share. I would love to hear that Truly, that'd be amazing. But we will probably hear God's voice in other ways. Maybe through other people, through the reading of His Word, in the silence, just the nudging of the Spirit within us. We want to be attuned to that. We want to be ready for that so we can follow God with everything that we have. Let's go ahead and pray. God, thank you again for your Word that guides us, that is true, that is steadfast and faithful and never changes. And God, I pray that this week truly that you would speak to us. And really we know that it's really on us. We need to make time to listen. So I pray that you would help us to do that. That you would make that a conviction, a priority in our hearts. That there would truly be desire. And that we would make time, whether that's quiet time in the morning, or on our drive, or just a moment where we're just silent and listening. God, I pray that we would all hear how you are leading us and guiding us, calling us to live for you, to love others. Maybe it's just a voice that provides comfort as we're going through hard situations and difficult times. But God, I pray that we would feel closer to you, that we would feel in your presence, and the love and the peace that you provide in that time. Sustain us God, carry us this week. We trust you and we love you. We pray this in your name. Amen.