I picked up a book two weeks ago by Stephen Witmer which is a devotional book from the poems of George Herbert. I read the following poem on Monday morning and I’ll leave it with you this morning to read and hopefully meditate upon!

The Call

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends all strife:
Such a Life, as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light as shows a feast:
Such a Feast, as mends in length:
Such a Strength, as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joys in love.

I love the poem. The first stanza is a not too subtle reminder of Jesus’ words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” But look at what he says about each of these…such a Way, as gives us breath…there is no life outside of breath. His way is the Way, the only way to life. Such a Truth, as ends all strife. Strife with whom? It can’t be strife with our fellow man…that strife is here to stay, especially if we are following Jesus as the Way. The strife that is ended is the strife we experienced when were were at enmity with God. Such a Life as killeth death. What a Life! I’m alive, I’m breathing, my heart is beating, but death is promised for me…or is it? Jesus said, “If you believe in me you will never die.” That isn’t to say followers of the Way never physically die, but we never truly die. To die as a follower of Jesus is to take our last breath here and our next breath in Heaven.

I don’t intend to try to explain each line, but the second stanza takes us to Jesus as our Communion. He is our Light, our Feast, and our Strength. Finally, He is our our Everything. Our Joy, our Love, and our Heart…in Him we move and have our being. In Him we find true Love and true Joy…He is everything and without Him we have nothing!

Psalm 91 closes with God’s personal assurance of satisfaction.

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Look at that promise! The key here, as in verse one where we dwell and abide, is that we hold fast to Him in love. If we do that, He promises to deliver us, to protect us, to answer us, to be with us in trouble—notice, He doesn’t promise to keep us from trouble, but to be with us in trouble, to rescue us, to honor us, to satisfy us with long life, and to show us His salvation. What more could we ask of Him?

Notice verse 16—this doesn’t mean that God promises to add years to all of our lives, but it does mean He will add life to all of our years. I’d rather live a complete life full of service to God and go to Heaven at a young age than to live to 100 and look back with regret! Only one life, twill soon be past, only what is done for Christ will last.

John Paton lived to be 83—he suffered much for the kingdom. God protected him in supernatural ways, He used Him to accomplish supernatural things, but he also suffered much in the journey. At the end he wrote,

“Oh that I had my life to begin again! I would consecrate it anew to Jesus in seeking the conversion of the remaining cannibals on the New Hebrides. But since that may not be, may He help me to use every moment and every power still left in me to carry forward to the uttermost that beloved work.”

Go and read Psalm 91 and pray it. Quit asking for the safe and easy way—embrace the cross and follow Jesus. The only question we must ask of our lives and of the lives of our children is what is God calling us to do?

We must repent of the desire for safety.

We must repent of the desire for comfort.

We must repent of the selfish desire to keep everyone close and under our control and seek to live under the King’s command and if that means that we or our children will go to the Nation’s then hold your head high—we are soldiers of the Cross!

When we consider eternity—when we consider that to die is gain—when we consider that to die to self is to live in Christ, then we know that verse 16 is true—He will satisfy us with long life—eternal life, and in that eternity, He will show us His salvation and we will dwell in His shelter and abide in His shadow forever and no one will be able to snatch us out of His hand.

CS Lewis said, “Die before you die. There is no chance after.” Another said, “You cannot avoid death, but you can avoid the death after death. Paul said, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.” There is nothing to lose and everything to gain!

As we continue to look at Psalm 91, let’s go to the second stanza found in verses 3-13 where we find the Psalmist’s powerful sermon on trust. His point is simple—if you trust in God, you can find verses 1-2 to be true for you and here is how He does it.

In 3-6, we find the many ways God protects. In verse 3 and verses 5-6 there are two types of dangers—one is subtle, “He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler,” “the terror of the night,” but the other is obvious—“and from the deadly pestilence,” “arrows that fly by day,” and pestilence and destruction. The enemy attacks us from every angle, but God is able to protect us, and we can walk in confidence because we trust Him…He is able.

In verse 4 you find two ways God protects—like a bird covering her babies with her wings—this is close and personal. There are times God protects us simply by holding us near to Him, but other times He protects us with His faithfulness which is compared to a shield and buckler…this is nothing short of God’s armor.

A few years ago I read the biography of John Paton, the one who said he would just as soon as get eaten by cannibals as worms…he found himself barricaded in another couple’s home as a war like people were trying to kill them. They set fire to a part of the compound and waited for it to spread to the thatched roof of their house where they knew they would soon flee and then they would kill them. John left the house, and tore down the burning fence, and found himself surrounded—they were shouting, “kill him, kill him,” and John said, “Dare to strike me and my Jehovah God will punish you…” At that moment, they all heard a roaring sound rushing toward them…a tornado struck, swept the flames away from the house, and the rain soaked the house where it could not burn…Paton and the warriors stood in stunned silence and soon they ran away knowing God was fighting for them. That’s the protection of Almighty God.

And then he continues with examples of God’s protection. Verses 7-8 continue—a thousand may fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but if God desires your to be protected the enemy will not come near you…you will see His protection and His judgment of the enemy. Verses 9-10 state it even more emphatically and then verses 11-13 tell us that if God so chooses, “He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.”

That’s the power and authority of God—should He choose to command His angels or should He choose to do it personally…nothing will stop the child of God from doing what God calls him or her to do. But, let’s stop for a moment…how do we justify these words with Hebrews 11 where God did mighty things, but some “suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword…?”

Psalm 91 isn’t a magic charm that promises God’s children will never suffer…Jesus said in Luke 21:16-19, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” How can He say you will be put to death and not a hair of your head will perish? He is talking about death and ultimate death…He is talking about this life and the life to come.

Psalm 91 is simple—there is not one thing that will happen to you that God does not allow and if He allows it you can rest in the knowledge that He is going to use it for His glory and for your good. How can we explain the protection of John Paton and the death of Jim Elliot? The deliverance of one and the murder of another. Even on Paton’s island where he ministered, he was delivered while others were killed and even eaten.

The only explanation is the strange Providence of God. You can rest in this—you are immortal until God says otherwise. If you walk in God’s will and do what God calls you to do you will do so in His protection. In one case Paton was surrounded again by those seeking to take his life. He said the Lord gave him this assurance, as if a voice came from Heaven, “not a musket would be fired to wound us, not a club prevail to strike us, not a spear leave the hand in which it was held vibrating to be thrown, not an arrow leave the bow, or a killing stone the fingers, without the permission of Jesus Christ…”

There is a confidence that comes from knowing that. Paton buried his first wife and baby on that island…on another island he and his second wife buried two children…Judson buried wives and children and suffered in ways we cannot understand. Lottie Moon basically starved herself to death caring for the people. Elliot and four friends were murdered on a sand bar where they were attempting to bring the Gospel. And yet Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he could never lose.”

Is it worth it? Ask John Paton now, as he is in Heaven with not only those of his family he buried, but an entire Island who came to Christ…ask Elliot, ask Lottie, ask Judson and Carey…it was worth every drop of blood, every drop of sweat, and every tear. Why? Because to live is Christ but to die is gain…oh, that we would come to know that.

Yesterday we introduced Psalm 91. There are three stanzas and they are marked by pronoun changes…I and my in verses 1-2, you or your in 3-13 and then I over and over in verses 14-16.

The first stanza hold some of my favorite verses and in them we find the Psalmist’s Personal Statement of Faith.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’”

These are incredible verses…in the face of multiple dangers the Psalmist declares his trust in God and there is a laser focus on His divine charter.

Notice first the four divine names of God—Most High, Almighty, LORD, and God. In Hebrew the names are Elyon, El Shaddai, Yahweh, and Elohim.

These names speak of possession—the Most High possesses Heaven and earth;

They speaks of provision—El Shaddai not only possesses everything He is able to give all things for His glory.

Then we come to the name of Promise—Yahweh is the covenant name God gave to Moses, and that is followed by

Power—our God is the Creator God. He has all things, He can give all things, He makes promises through covenant that cannot be broken, and He is all powerful. That’s a pretty strong confession of faith. (alliteration from John Phillips! ?)

But the four divine names of God are accompanied by four words that speak of God’s protection. We are said to dwell in the shelter of the Most High, and to abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I love what Matthew Henry said, “They shall not only have an admittance, but a residence, under God’s protection; He will be their rest and refuge forever.”

Dwell, abide, and then in verse 2 God is our refuge and our fortress. Once again, a refuge is a place to flee for protection, and a fortress is a stronghold. It is one thing to say that you have a place to dwell and abide and that the place is a refuge and a fortress, but when you add to that the divine name…shelter of the Most High, abiding in the shadow of the Almighty, and your refuge and fortress are found in the LORD who is God…that changes everything.

I think Spurgeon was right when he bases the hope of these verses on the words dwell and abide. He said, “The blessings here promised are not for all believers, but for those who live in close fellowship with God.” When you are abiding in Him…you can trust Him…you can rest secure in Him because you know He is working in your life to conform you into the image of Jesus.

I try to read 5 psalms a day. Today is the 1st day of the month so I read Psalm 1, 31, 61, 91, and 121. It is one of my favorite days in the Psalms simply because of Psalm 1 and 91. Let’s spend the week in Psalm 91.

Verse one opens with these words, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” Maybe you recognize the title of this blog and the words from verse 1 as the title of a book by Elizabeth Elliot in which she wrote of the life and testament of Jim Elliot. On January 8, 1956, Jim and four friends were killed as they tried to make Gospel contact with a tribe in Ecuador. Years before his death, Jim Elliot prayed a prayer,

“Lord, make my life prosperous, not that I achieve high station, but that my life may be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.”

What does it mean to live our lives in the shadow of the Almighty?

Our Psalm’s author is unknown, but his relationship with God is evident through these words. As you study the Word of God you have to learn to look for certain things—in this Psalm there are clear movements throughout the text, and they are marked by pronoun changes…those changes mark the stanzas of the Psalm—they outline it for us.

Look at verses 1-2, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust,”and you’ll find the personal pronouns, “I” and “my.” I will say, my refuge, my fortress, my God, and in whom I trust.

Then in verses 3-13, you find the pronoun “you” over and over again…in fact you find you or your 19 times in these verses, but then in the last three verses you find the word I again…I will deliver, I will protect, I will answer, I will be with him, I will rescue, I will satisfy…but this I is a divine I because the speaker is God. So, with that we come to three stanzas.

We will pick up here tomorrow, but let me outline out for you:

The Psalmist’s Personal Statement of Faith (1-2)
The Psalmist’s Powerful Sermon on Trust (3-13)
The Psalmist’s Personal Assurance of Satisfaction (14-16)

Yesterday we started looking at Exodus 3. I shared the following about a theophany, almost every one is looking for an encounter with a Spiritual Reality. As we approach this we need to ask a few questions about encountering God or being encountered by God: How do we do it?, What is it?, Why is it possible?, and When do we know it has happened? To answer those questions God gives us this text.

Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday. The bush tells us how it happens, but the fire tells us what is happening. When you encounter God—you are crossing the threshold of the holy. RC Sproul said,

“The composition of the earth at this spot was no different from the earth on the rest of the desert floor. The sacred character of this spot was not intrinsic but extrinsic. That is, it was made sacred by a super-added presence. The event that occurred there loaned an extraordinary dimension to the ordinary. The common space had become uncommon by virtue of God’s appearance at that spot.”

God not only became visible, but he outwardly manifested himself as holy.

Why fire? There are many places in the Bible where God is revealed in fire—the mountain, the fire by night, the smoking pot, and the fact that God is called a consuming fire. Why fire? Think about water or clay—you can take a pot of water or a ball of clay and move it or form it or shape it, but not fire. Fire is not shaped by the one touching it—fire shapes the one touching, in fact fire is unyielding and relentless and it will consume you. Fact is, verse 6 tells us that “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

As you read through the narrative of Exodus 3 you see Moses making excuse after excuse—in verse 11 he asks, “Who am I?” and then in verse 13 he asks, “Who are you?” I don’t even know your name. God says, “I AM WHO I AM.” Did you hear that? He was not “I am who you want.” God is a Spiritual Reality because He is there and He is not made up. He doesn’t fit into our little boxes—if you have Him all figured out—your God is too small.

He is the God of fire—fire is beautiful and attractive, but at the same time it is dangerously lethal and scary. Play with fire and you’ll get…burned. Our God is not constructed by man—He is only known because He has revealed Himself. He is totally holy and at the same time He is totally loving. The gods that we construct are one of the other, but not both—either he is demanding and scary and not attractive, or he is totally attractive and not demanding. God burns with holiness. He has zero tolerance for evil, and yet He burns with love that refuses to stop until He has made us His own—even if it cost Him His life on the cross.

Now, the bush tells us how, the fire tells us why, but the Angel of the Lord, in verse 2, tells us why it is possible. When you read this you discover that there is something that the writer wants us to see. There is a bigger issue than the burning bush—it goes deeper. When Moses goes over to see the bush the angel of the Lord tells him to “Do not come near, take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” On the Mountain no one could approach God and if they did they were to be killed—even an animal that touched it was to be put to death.

God is telling Moses—you are standing in the fatal zone, but what is interesting is Moses was not consumed. He makes excuses, he whines, he complains, but is not consumed. Why wasn’t he destroyed in the fatal zone? The answer lies in the bush. Before we answer that question, let me ask you another one—how can we approach the Holy of holies and not be consumed? Why can we approach God and not be killed on the spot? We can do it because we have Someone who stands in our place—a mediator who paid the price for our sins. Jesus stood between us and appeased the wrath of God by dying for our sins. Now what you need to see is Moses was able to stand in the fatal zone for the exact same reason.

What seems to be confusing in this text is to see verse 2, “The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.” But from that time on the voice coming from that bush is the voice of God. Is it an angel or is it God speaking? Another thing we need to notice is that every time a human fell down to worship at the presence of an angel—the angel told them to stop doing that because they were not God, but this angel does not do that. Why not? This angel was no ordinary angel—He was not an angel at all—He was the Angel of the Lord and many times in Scripture, that is a reference to Christ Himself.

There in that burning bush—standing between Moses and a Holy God was the pre-incarnate Jesus—God in the flesh. Years later Jesus would say, “Before Abraham was I am.” The Jews wanted to kill Him because they knew what He was saying. Those words that dripped from Jesus’ lips had been on His lips before—they came to the ears of Moses. They simply mean—I depend on nothing for my existence—everything depends on me for its existence.

It is through Jesus that we are able to encounter a holy consuming fire and not be consumed—we are not consumed because we are transformed by His atonement provided on the cross. When you come to God through Jesus Christ you encounter a God of fire, a god of intimacy, and a God that is ravishingly beautiful.

The Call tells us how we can know that we have had this encounter.Have you obeyed His call to go? Every single time God encounters someone in the Bible—He sends them out. Abraham, Isaiah, the disciples, and in our text—Moses. God never gives you an experience with Him without also sending you out. The call to go is the reason for the encounter—here is the beauty of it. God encountered Moses at the bush, but when he sent Moses out—Moses became the bush. He demonstrated the beauty and grandeur of God. You will know that you have had a genuine encounter with God by the way it changes your life. The glory of God that was once separated by the veil is now in our lives and we will never be the same.

Our God was so holy that He had to become a man to die for our sins to pay the price, but He is so full of love that He willingly and gladly did it. We should burn with the holiness of God and we should burn with the love of God. When we are encountered by God the only reason we are not consumed is because of the merits and finished work of Jesus. Turn aside and worship Him and be forever changed.

Yesterday Kim and I joined some friends on the brow in Mentone, Alabama. It overlooks a valley and it is simply beautiful. As I sat and looked at the fog/mist covering the valley I was just struck with the mystery of it. As the sun rose, the mist left, and the edge of the brow, which was covered in bushes and trees, was alive with bird after bird sining praises to God.

I sat there thinking of a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and of Exodus 3. Let’s start with Exodus 3 and the Burning Bush and I’ll share the poem at the end. This is one of the most famous passages in the Bible. In it we encounter a theophany. A theophany is a visible manifestation of God. We see it when God appears to Abraham as a smoking firepot, we see it again with the two angels; we see it in Jacob’s life when he wrestles with God; we see it when God comes as fire by night and a cloud by day; the elders of Israel saw Him and fellowshipped with Him on the mountain; we see it in Isaiah’s life and we could go on and on. Moses is encountered by God in an amazing way and from this text we can see how we are encountered by God.

Almost every one is looking for an encounter with a Spiritual Reality. As we approach this we need to ask a few questions about encountering God or being encountered by God: How do we do it?, What is it?, Why is it possible?, and When do we know it has happened? To answer those questions God gives us this text.

The bush tells us how it happens. As we look at it, remember where Moses is and why he is there. He had to flee Egypt because he took matters into his own hands. His life is on one big detour—fact is when the Bible says Moses went over to look—the word means to turn aside or to detour. The only reason Moses is in the wilderness is that his whole life has become a detour—if you were to ask him, his whole life is going wrong, but in that detour Moses has another detour—one that will change his life forever. You see it was only by things going wrong that Moses gets near to God.

Notice he sees the bush and says, “I will turn aside.” Don’t lose sight of this—Moses had to make the decision to go over—he had to turn aside. God didn’t speak to him until he saw that he had gone over to look. Why does he go over? Why does he turn aside? He does it because God is drawing him with a bush—Moses called it a great sight, or some translations say, a strange sight. The word strange has a negative connotation in English, but it refers to something that is unexplainable. The bush was supposed to burn up, but it didn’t—it was outside of Moses’ mode of reality.

What can we learn from the bush? Your encounters with God will most often come when you are on what you may call a detour. Joseph didn’t intend to be in Egypt, but that is where God wanted him. Moses didn’t intend to be in the wilderness—he was groomed to be a leader, but God had other plans. You may not have planned to be where you are right now, but your detour may just be an opportunity for a God encounter. Isn’t it ironic that the most epic God encounter with a human comes as the result of a detour? When you are on a detour—you think like you would not ordinarily think, you seek like you would not ordinarily seek—when you are in the wilderness you meet God. What we call detours is really Spiritual Mainstream. When it is not going like you think it should take time to turn aside.

The next thing we can learn from the bush is that when things are going wrong—you’ll still have to turn aside. Moses had to leave the ordinary busyness of life to go over and see and then, and only then, did God speak to him. How many times do we get near to where God wants us to be and refuse to turn aside? How many opportunities have we missed because we were doing what we wanted to do rather than turning aside to meet God in the bushes?

You must turn aside or you will never meet with God and you’ll never encounter the Spiritual Reality. Notice something else—it is just a bush. It wasn’t a red oak, it wasn’t a canyon, and it wasn’t a sunset—it was just a bush. God appeared to Elijah in a gentle whisper—not in the wind, earthquake or fire. The ordinary things can become extraordinary if you will turn aside and see God in them. Here is the beginning of the poem,

“Earth’s crammed with Heaven

And every common bush afire with God.

But only he who sees takes off his shoes—the rest

Sit around and pick blackberries.”

In the failures, in the disappointments, in the heartaches—God reminds you that you were created for a world beyond this one. Seek Him in those times and you will be found. Stop and worship…don’t just pick blackberries!

In Psalm 25 we have seen David’s Trouble in verses 1-3, we saw David seeking God in verses 4-7, we saw God’s answer in verses 8-10, and then we see David’s Example. There are four things about David as he comes with all of his sin.

We find humility, “For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.” We see this in David’s life. We know as much about him as any other person in the Bible and there are moments of greatness and there are moments of great sin, but David was always humble before God…he repented.

There is also a willingness to obey--obedience, “Who is the man who fears the LORD?Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.” With the instructions there comes an expectation of obedience.

There is fear or reverence, “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear Him, and He makes known to them His covenant.” The LORD is a friend to those who fear Him. Abraham was a friend of God, David was a man after God’s heart, and we see others who walked with Him. It all centers in reverence.

And then we see expectation. “My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for He will pluck my feet out of the net.” His feet were in the net, but His eyes were on God.

You don’t have to stay in your sin, you don’t have to remain in your fear, you don’t have to live in shame—the last verse says, “Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.” Jesus came to redeem, to forgive, to remove our sin, and to make atonement. If you are in sin—call to Him and find His forgiveness. If you are confused, consider making 4-5 your daily prayer. If the enemy has you down in shame—let God lift up your head and experience the friendship of the Lord. Just don’t forget the reverence He deserves—come to our Holy God and let Him do what only He can.

We’ve been looking at David’s prayer in Psalm 25, specifically, “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”

Let me show you what God does in answer to David’s prayer. If you look at verses 8-10 you find God, point for point, answering David’s prayer. Look at the words, “He instructs sinners in the way,” “He leads the humble in what is right,” He “teaches the humble His way,” and shows the “paths of the Lord”in verse 10. God is now doing what David asked Him to do in verses 4-5 and this Psalm is a result.

Let me run through what David Learns from God. If you take the whole Psalm, you find God is:

faithful,
truthful,
He is Savior,
He is merciful and loving,
He is good,
He is good and upright,
He leads and teaches,
He is love and faithful,
He is forgiving,
He instructs,
offers relationship and confides in us as friends,
He rescues,
He is gracious,
He is a refuge,
and He is a redeemer.
All of that is here and all of that is absolutely vital information for a man or woman caught up in fear, loneliness, guilt, and shame. God is truly faithful to us.

But how can we find His guidance when we are in the midst of our sin? We will look at that tomorrow.

One of my favorite things about the Bible in general and the Psalms specifically is the absolute honesty and earthiness of the writers. What I mean is—they don’t hold back or try to paint everything as perfect and easy—the Bible speaks of real situations and real people as they live before a real God. Let’s look at Psalm 25 this week and I’ll try to show you what I mean.

In verses 1-3 we find David in Trouble.

“To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exalt over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.”

When you take these verses and then look at the rest of the Psalm you find David in dire straits.

We can sum up his trouble in four words—first, fear. We see it in verse 2, he is concerned with shame and with his enemies, he describes them in verses 3 as wantonly treacherous. We see it again in verse 19, “Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.”

Second, loneliness. Look at verse 16, “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” David feels alone. There are many who believe David is writing this at the end of his life because of the number of times he mentions his guilt and sin—possibly after his sin with Bathsheba. He feels alone and we all know that loneliness can haunt a person.

Third, guilt. Look at the number of verses that deal with David’s guilt, verse 7, “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions,” verse 11,“For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great,” and verses 17-18, “The troubles of my heart are enlarged, bring me out of my distress. Consider my affliction and my trouble and forgive all my sins.” Guilt is ravaging him and when you consider the loneliness and the enemies who would like nothing more than for him to be destroyed you see how troubled he is.

The last word that sums it up is shame. We see it in verse 2, we see it in verse 3, and verse 20. We often think of shame as something that embarrasses us or makes us feel foolish, but the idea here is deeper—it is the fear or feeling of being let down, of being disappointed from trusting in something or someone who fails you. David has sinned, he is guilty, he is lonely, and he is afraid, but most of all he desperately wants God to deliver him and to not let him down. He is in trouble.

What can we do when we need direction, but we are bombarded by the regrets of our sin? One verse I will share with you is verse 8, “Good and upright is the LORD, therefore He instructs sinners in the way.” If He didn’t instruct sinners—we would have no hope. If He only instructed perfect people—no one would qualify. But David, with all his sin shows us the way.

We will pick up here tomorrow!

In verses 4-7 David seeks God. If you find yourself in David’s situation—learn from him. Don’t let the enemy tell you that you have removed yourself from God’s love or care. Seek God and find His help. Look at what he prays,

“Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”

Four words to consider. Spurgeon called the first 3 pleas, “Three classes in the school of grace.”

Make Me. When David says, “Make me to know your ways, O LORD,” he is literally pleading with God to help him know by seeing. This is a plea for the Sovereign work of God. There is an incredible pattern in the Scripture of the writers asking for God to make them know His ways,

· Ex 33:13, “Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight.”

· Psalm 5:8, “Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.”

· Psalm 27:11, “Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.”

· Psalm 86:11, “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.”

· Psalm 119:27, “Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works…”

· Isaiah 2:3 and Micah 4:2, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”

Why do we have to have God to make us see His ways? Think about what the Word says about God’s ways,

· Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

· Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

We can’t know the ways of God unless He shows them to us, but I think a great clue for us to understanding them was Psalm 119:27, “Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.” God teaches us His ways through the Word. You and I must daily start by asking God, “Make me to know your ways, O LORD,” but David doesn’t stop there…he takes it up a level and with each point we see a progression.

Teach Me. “Teach me your paths.” First, he pleads for God to make me to know you by seeing your ways and then he pleads for God to teach him how to live in them. The word for path is the word for a well-trodden road. God’s ways cannot be seen unless He opens our eyes to see them, but once He opens our eyes to see them, we don’t have to re-invent the wheel. We follow God just as David did, just as Abraham did, just as those who have gone on before us. We read His Word, we hide it in our hearts, we pray, we worship, we do what is laid out for us in the Word—we do what Ezra did—we set our mind to study God’s Word, to obey God’s Word and to teach God’s Word.

We need to heed the counsel of Jeremiah 6:16, “Thus says the LORD: Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” We understand the ways of the Lord and the paths of the Lord through following Jesus Christ. We don’t need to worry about finding a new trail that promises deeper relationships and new revelations—we need to stick to the ancient paths as they are revealed in the Word of God and as God opens our eyes and shows us the path, we must follow Him.

Lead Me. “Lead me in your truth and teach me.” Do you see how God centered David is? Open my eyes, God to see your ways, teach me the ancient paths so I can know you, then he confesses, but God, I can’t even walk as I should once I see the path so be my Shepherd and lead me. David is pleading for the presence of God in every aspect of His life because he knows the value of it—he says at the end of verse 5, “For you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”

He is walking on the road of righteousness, but he knows the ancient path is not the easy path, so he pleads for God to open His eyes to His ways. He doesn’t ask God to bless David’s way—he wants to see God’s way. He asks God to teach Him the paths that lead to Him and He finally recognizes that He can’t do it alone so He says lead me and I’ll follow and until you lead me—I will wait. Wait is a word we don’t like to hear, but our failure to wait has led to many sins.

In verse 6 David asks God to remember His mercy and His steadfast love and then in verse 7 he asks God to remember not the sins of his youth according to his steadfast love and for the sake of His goodness. That’s a bold prayer, but it is within the character of God as He has revealed Himself to us in the Scriptures.

A while back I came across a Sufi Muslim Poet named Rumi. He lived from 1207 to 1273 and spent most of his life in present day Turkey. I re-read the following poem this week and it just makes my heart happy.

“The house overflows with drunkards,

drunk on Love.

More come knocking.

Crazed but still bound,

they tore off their chains.

You can’t quiet this ruckus.

The heavens are beating the drums in celebration.

Ecstatic souls,

hearts that serve the heart,

broke free from their prisons

and launched like birds.

They shattered the jugs.

No need for them.

Their bodies are barrels,

their blood is wine.

Oh God, what wine did they drink?

Oh God, what Love did they taste?”

Translated by Haley Liza Gafori

Rumi spent a lot of time with Muslims, Jews, and Christians and while I am not claiming this was a Christian poem, I can’t help but wonder how our churches might fill if we could find a way to simply get drunk on God’s love.

Can you imagine a people coming bound and tearing off their chains? People so full of God’s love that they break free from their prisons and launch like a bird in flight…can you imagine? I can! I imagine we’d have to say, “You can’t quiet this ruckus!”

Lost people were attracted to Jesus and they left everything to follow Him. I wonder what it was like to be around His love. A leper asks to be healed and Jesus does the unthinkable…He touches him.

A widow in the funeral procession, her only son is dead…Jesus does the unthinkable…He stops the funeral, touches the coffin, raises the dead, and restores him to his mother.

Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, comes to Jesus, falls at his feet and begs him to come and heal his only daughter…she was twelve years old. As Jesus goes with him, a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years touches the edge of his garment and she is healed. Jesus calls her daughter. He goes to the home, even though the servants have come and told Jairus that she is dead. He stops to heal a daughter 12 years sick, goes to a 12 year old daughter who is now dead, but He says, “Little girl, arise.” Daughter, little girl, love…such love.

Can you imagine a day with Jesus? I can…I spent one yesterday and plan to spend another one today! I just want to be drunk on His love…drunk…my speech changes, my walk changes, my thoughts change…every single thing impacted by His love. Can you imagine?!

Yesterday, I shared that David’s love came from knowledge of God as he studied God’s revelation of Himself in the Word. In verses 12-14 you find a description of God moving against the Canaanites and even the Egyptians.

“Out of the brightness before him

hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

The LORD also thundered in the heavens,

and the Most High uttered his voice,

hailstones and coals of fire.

And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;

he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.”

We have no record of God doing these specific things in David’s life, but David knew that the God who delivered Israel from their enemies at the beginning was the same God who delivered him and He is the same God who delivers us. It is true—greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. Spurgeon said David accommodates the descriptions of former displays of the divine majesty into his own hymn.

Verse 15, “Then the channels of the sea were seen,

and the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your rebuke, O LORD,

at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.”

That seems to speak of the Red Sea deliverance and then in 16-19 David moves to his own personal deliverances. I love what he says in verse 19, “He brought me out into a broad place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.” One of the greatest benefits of reading the Old Testament is that it simply builds our faith. If God did that in their life…He can move in my life. Their story becomes our story.

I have three pastor friends who are like brothers. We spend a week together every year and three of us are able to get together every six weeks or so, but it is amazing to see what 25 plus years of friendship does. We often tell the same stories and the same jokes. In fact, I have heard some of their stories so often that they seem to become my story. I wasn’t there, but I’ve heard it so many times that I feel like I was there.

The God of the Old Testament is our God and His people are our people—we can take those deliverances and build confidence and faith in our own life and know that He will deliver us. Read His Word, get to know Him, and find yourself falling in love with Him more and more.

Yesterday, I shared that David’s love came from knowledge of God as he studied God’s revelation of Himself in the Word. In verses 12-14 you find a description of God moving against the Canaanites and even the Egyptians.

“Out of the brightness before him

hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

The LORD also thundered in the heavens,

and the Most High uttered his voice,

hailstones and coals of fire.

And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;

he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.”

We have no record of God doing these specific things in David’s life, but David knew that the God who delivered Israel from their enemies at the beginning was the same God who delivered him and He is the same God who delivers us. It is true—greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. Spurgeon said David accommodates the descriptions of former displays of the divine majesty into his own hymn.

Verse 15, “Then the channels of the sea were seen,

and the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your rebuke, O LORD,

at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.”

That seems to speak of the Red Sea deliverance and then in 16-19 David moves to his own personal deliverances. I love what he says in verse 19, “He brought me out into a broad place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.” One of the greatest benefits of reading the Old Testament is that it simply builds our faith. If God did that in their life…He can move in my life. Their story becomes our story.

I have three pastor friends who are like brothers. We spend a week together every year and three of us are able to get together every six weeks or so, but it is amazing to see what 25 plus years of friendship does. We often tell the same stories and the same jokes. In fact, I have heard some of their stories so often that they seem to become my story. I wasn’t there, but I’ve heard it so many times that I feel like I was there.

The God of the Old Testament is our God and His people are our people—we can take those deliverances and build confidence and faith in our own life and know that He will deliver us. Read His Word, get to know Him, and find yourself falling in love with Him more and more.

Psalm 18 starts with a statement of David’s love for God, but the second thing we see is David’s description of God’s deliverance. This is found in verses 3-19 and what David does is amazing. His love for God grew out of his experience with God, but it also grew through his knowledge of God found within the Word of God. I’ll explain that in a moment, but look at what David says in verse 3, “I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

Then he describes the difficulties of his life in 4 and 5, “The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.” David was a warrior and he knew what it was to be on the edge of death, but for the second time, in verse 6, he speaks of what happens when he called upon God, “In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears.”

In verses 7-19 David goes full throttle with the poetic, but he does it based on God’s revelation of Himself as it is found in the Word of God. What we find here are instances from the Word applied to David’s life. For example, look at verses 7-11,

“Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because He was angry. Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; glowing coals flamed from Him. He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew; He came swiftly om the wings of the wind. He made darkness His covering, His canopy around Him, think clouds dark with water.”

That’s a poetic description of God coming to Mt Sinai.

David is looking back to the way God delivered His people and applying it to his own life—the God who did that—is the same God who David described in verse 2 and the same God who moves in your life. He will continue this line of thinking, but lets close today with a call to commit to time in the Word of God. Get to know the God of the Bible and love for Him will increase. The more I know my wife the more I love her. The same is true of God.

Psalm 18 opens with “I love you, O LORD, my strength.” The word used for love is not the normal word one finds in the Old Testament for love…it implies a love of a very tender sort…Luther translated verse one like this, “I dearly love Thee.” David was a man who walked with God and for all his faults he never failed to come back to God when he sinned.

There is much that can be said about that…many start well, like King Saul, but they fail to finish. Others, like the Thief on the Cross, waste their lives, but by God’s grace finish strongly. David was one who started early and finished strong and while he made many mistakes God could say, “He was a man after my own heart.”

David said, “I love you, O LORD.” Not I loved you, but I love you. That was the depth of their relationship. That’s the key—they had a relationship. I think David could identify with our hymn, “And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own and the joy we share as we tarry there…none other has ever known.” It is my prayer that every one of us, when we come to the end of our lives, will be able to write a song that begins with these words, “I love you, O LORD…”

I love the line in that hymn, “if every I’ve loved you, my Jesus, it’s now.” David’s love grew through experienceand that experience is given to us in nine words—he said:

God is his strength,
his rock,
his fortress,
his deliverer,
his God,
his rock of refuge,
his shield,
the horn of his salvation,
and his stronghold.
When you go through David’s life you see these things…think about God as his strength—just a boy facing a giant and yet he trusts in God and God delivers Goliath into his hands.

God continues to give him strength against his enemies and King Saul tries to kill him—over and over again, he hid in caves and behind rocks and yet he knew it was God who was his foundation—it was God who was his stronghold. This is at the end of his life—look at the title, “To the LORD on the day when the LORD rescued him from the hand of all his enemies,” and there were many—Saul, the surrounding nations, his son, and others, but God delivered him. If we could train ourselves to look back and see all that God has done—our love would grow just as David’s did.

As we continue walking through the Psalms, I want to turn to Psalm 18, it is one of the longer Psalms in the Bible and the importance of the Psalm must be recognized because it is recorded for us in two places—here and in 2 Samuel 22. Many believe that this is one of the last Psalms of David’s life and in it we have a description of God’s deliverance.

I think it would be best to try to show you how the Psalm is outlined and then to focus on just the first two stanzas. It’s a hymn of thanksgiving—showing us the greatness of God and His ability to deliver us in the midst of great turmoil. There are six stanzas in these 50 verses.

First, we find David’s statement of love for God in verses 1-2, second, we find David’s description of God’s deliverance in verses 3-19, third, a statement of why God delivered him in verses 20-24, fourth, a basic principle about how God relates to us in verses 25-27, fifth, we find David retelling the story of God’s deliverance in verses 28-45, and finally a concluding note of praise in verses 46-50.

Now, that’s a lot, but let’s look at the first stanza. David’s statement of love for God. “I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” What a statement, but it all starts with this line, “I love you, O LORD.”

I want to pick up here tomorrow, but can you say those words from your heart? I love you, O LORD! The Robbie Seay band sings this psalm here. I love to hear my wife, my children, and my grandchildren say, “I love you,” and I think it would be safe to say our Father loves to hear that from us!

On a side note, I offer all of these for free and plan to keep doing so, but last week I got a message that someone wanted to contribute to the page. I am not asking, I will keep offering these for free, but I did want them to be able to obey the prompting of the Lord.

We’ve been looking at David crawling out of a hole. The ladder leading out is found in the two verse stanzas in Psalm 13. First, we find his desolation, then we find his prayer, and today we see his song.

“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

I don’t think this was overnight…four “how longs” show that it was a while, David keeps praying, and God brings him out. You’ve heard, “a little dab will do you,” but that isn’t true with prayer or worship. Paul spoke of his friend wrestling in prayer for the church…we must wrestle, fight the good fight, and like Jacob, cling to God and trust Him to deliver us!

But we must also praise Him in the midst of the storms. Think of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail…Luke says, “And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.” How would you respond? Luke tells us how they responded,

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

You are aware of the rest of the story…the rescue, the salvation, and the release, but notice they were singing in the prison not after they got out. I’ve always found it fascinating to watch the Israelites in the wilderness. They come to the Red Sea and Pharaoh is hot on their tail. What do they do? They were afraid and they cried out to the LORD, but they also complained.

God rescued them and the next chapter, Exodus 13, has the Song of Moses, but here is the problem it was the RIGHT SONG, but it was sung on the WRONG SIDE! After all they saw in Egypt the people should have begun to sing praises to God before He moved.

I know you know this, but the same is true of us…sing in the despair, sing in the heartache, sing in the sickness, and worship God. He won’t always get us out of prison, He won’t always heal us in the way we might want Him to, but He will get the glory and we will grow more and more like Him…and then we will find our lives like Paul’s when he praised God for the thorn!

Yesterday we looked at David’s desolation, but watch as he begins to climb out of that snuggle. The second stanza is found in Psalm 13:3-4,

“Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, ‘I have prevailed over him,’ lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.”

Here we find David’s prayer…the prayer flows from his desolation. David asks God to do three things:

Consider me…that’s another way of saying, look at me. He wants God’s face to turn back…he wants God to look.

Answer me…I’m calling God…answer me.

Enlighten me…light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death…I love David’s relationship with God!

Do you remember when a child wanted your attention, they would take your face in their hands and turn it toward them…when you were looking, they knew you were listening…David seems to be reaching up toward God and he says…look at me God, answer me, and show me…enlighten me.

He isn’t being self-centered when he asks God to move so his enemies can’t rejoice…he is being God centered…God is his God and he is God’s king! His prayer is for God to consider his situation…his desolation, but what he is looking for is God’s glory. That’s always the prayer of someone who loves God as David did.

Have you ever felt alone? Have you ever felt abandoned? We often hide those feelings…especially if they are spiritual. I mean, we hide it if we think God has abandoned us. Spurgeon spoke of the Psalms and he said, when you dive into David’s psalms, you will somewhere or other see yourself. You never get into a corner, but you find David in that corner. He said, I’ve never been so low that David wasn’t lower, and I’ve never been so high that I couldn’t find David still higher. That’s what I love about David…we can see him at the top and we can see him at the bottom. Today’s psalm is one of those bottom times, but while it begins with winter it ends with summer! Let’s spend the rest of the week in Psalm 13.

The psalm only has six verses and Derek Kidner said the three pairs of verses in this psalm climb up from the depths to a fine vantage point of confidence and hope. Each set of two verses takes us up from David’s sorrow to David’s song. Let’s walk through these six verses by looking at one rung of the ladder each day.

First, we find David’s Desolation,

“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?”

Four times we see the question, “How long?” This shows us David’s problem wasn’t a bad day…this is prolonged…he is struggling.

“Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemies be exalted over me?”

David is a man who continually seeks the face of God and yet the face seems to be hidden…this is a lack of apparent blessing. He is struggling with dark days and dark thoughts…he is restless and feeling ignored.

Have you been there? What do you do when you face what the saints called the Dark Night of the Soul? David isn’t confessing sin…this isn’t a matter of sin and repentance…God’s fellowship has been withdrawn and David is suffering. But he doesn’t stay there. Tomorrow we will see the next rung of this psalm’s ladder.

As you study Psalm 11 the psalmist gives us two options. We saw the first one yesterday…we can run. But today, let’s consider the second option which is to stand strong. Notice how David opens the Psalm, “In the LORD I take refuge.” He is indignant toward those who would suggest he flee…he has taken refuge in God.

“If the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do?” They can keep on being righteous, they can keep on taking refuge in God and he tells us how to do that in verses 4-7. David looks around the enemy and he looks up to God. “The LORD is in His holy temple.”

Now David is writing this so the temple here is the Throne of God in Heaven. When the foundations crumble, know this—there is still a God in Heaven and He is still in control. Do you remember Psalm 2? The nations rage, the peoples plot, the kings set themselves against God, and David said, “He who sits in the heavens laughs.”

I’ve been privileged to go and teach Chinese students studying to be pastors several times. The man who leads that seminary took time on each of our visits to give us a long history of the persecution of the believers in China. Even now they are being persecuted. The government is placing people at the doors of the churches to make sure no one under 18 goes in and systematically trying to destroy the work. We should not be surprised when it happens—Jesus promised it. Look to God—He is on His Throne.

The Psalmist lets God be the Judge. Look at the second half of verse 4 and verse 5, it is God who examines;

“His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of man. The LORD tests the righteous, but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.”

God tests the righteous. He tests us to see if we are who we claim to be. This is often through trials and hardships, but it culminates in purity and the removal of dross. The testing of the righteous leads to sanctification.

God tests the ungodly, but this fire is not a purifying fire, it is a fire of brimstone and eternal punishment. We have a hard time with the words, “His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence” don’t we? Isn’t God a God of love? Doesn’t the Bible say God loves the world? Yes, but understand this…David is speaking from the perspective of God’s holiness—He is holy, holy, holy and He hates wickedness. The greatest display of God’s holiness and God’s judgment is the cross of Jesus.

Make no mistake the doctrine of the love of God never allows us to think that our Holy God will wink at sin. He will judge all sinners and we will either be judged in Christ or in the flesh.

If verse 5 is hard, how about verse 6? It seems as if David is calling down judgment on his enemies and he is. “Let him rain coals on the wicked, fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.” I think David is reminding himself of why he can stand strong—the enemies have bent the bow and they are ready to go to bloody measures, but he is in the hands of God and God has a way of taking care of the righteous and judging the wicked. We won’t always see it, but we can rest assured that it will happen—either here on earth or at the judgment.

I think there is a sense of Sodom and Gomorrah here—God judged wickedness and David knows He will do it again. Look to God and let Him be the Judge but know that while He will judge all of them—He will also judge us. He tests the wicked and He tests the righteous…no one is hidden from His view.

Finally, David is able to stand strong because he looks to the future,

“For the LORD is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face.”

Stand strong because this is not the end. Stand strong because you will one day see His face. Revelation 22:4 records those wonderful words, “They shall see His face!”

Stand strong—what’s the worst thing the world can do to you? They can take your stuff, but if you are in Jesus, you’ve already given it all up to Him so if they come to take your stuff—they’ll have to take that up with Him.

They can kill you—but if you are in Jesus you know His words—if you believe in me you live even though you die. We, of all people, should be the least afraid to die…we have Heaven on the other side. So if they kill us they are really rewarding us.

They can make you suffer. That is true, but Jesus said we are blessed when we are persecuted for righteousness sake so if they make us suffer, we are blessed and in that we can rejoice.

What can the world do to a person who owns nothing, is not afraid to die, and rejoices when they suffer? Church, the foundations around us are crumbling, but we are not on the world’s foundation we are on the Rock and that will never crumble! Stand for God while everyone else kneels to the enemy, kneel before God while everyone else ignores Him, and go with this promise, “The upright shall behold His face.” We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but we are of those who have faith and preserve our soulsbecause God is our refuge! Stand strong Church in the midst of trouble…stand strong because the world is watching and while some will take up hammers to crucify us—others will embrace the cross with us and we, like Jesus, may take some to eternity even in our death. Stand strong because the world is watching and while some will take up stones to kill us—there may just be a Saul holding their coats and our witness as we die may just lead him to become a Paul. Stand strong and trust in God to be your refuge!

David asked, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” I often wonder what the Founding Fathers would think about the nation they birthed 250 years ago. In many ways they would be awestruck with our progress and technology, but I wonder what they’d think about our taxation, our endless squabbles, and our moral status. As we approach the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I’m afraid that in many ways we’ve signed our own declaration of independence from God.

This morning I started my time in the Psalms with Psalm 11. In this Psalm David gives us two choices. Verse 3 is the driving question of the entire Psalm. David often writes while he is in the midst of the greatest trials. We are not sure of the exact occasion, but everything was crumbling around him…just as it seems to be crumbling around us. What can we do? The first choice is found in verse 1, we can run. Look at what he says in the second part of verse 1 and verse 2, “How can you say to my soul, ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.”

David’s so-called friends saw the foundations crumbling and said, “run!” Plummer said, “If they were friends, they were much like Job’s wife.” Remember her…the foundations crumbled for Job and she said, “Curse God and die.”

I think the temptation to run is great, but how would we describe the run? It can be escapism. If we are not careful we can let the dangers of the world so mortify us that we try to escape from the world—we build walls around us, try to protect our children from all negative influences, we try to surround ourselves with Christian people, we try to escape from the world, but if all Christian people pull out of the world—how will we ever reach it?

I know God calls people to put their children in Christian schools or to homeschool them and I am not saying that is a bad idea, but let me ask you—if all Christian teachers, Christian administrations, Christian parents, and Christian students pull out of the public schools who will be light in the midst of darkness? Kim and I have homeschooled two of our children for one year at a time, but we also felt God leading us to teach our children to be positive witnesses in their surroundings. Please hear me—I am not saying that is the only way, and I am not accusing anyone of escapism because God calls them to Christian schools or homeschooling, but we can’t do anything out of an escapist mentality. We must be salt and light.

You could apply that to any area—if we never worked out with lost people, if we never went to grocery stores with lost people, if we never lived near lost people…how will we carry on our mission mandate? How will we fulfill the Great Commission? We must be salt and light and we can’t run from the world and accomplish our mission.

Others will avoid escapism and instead embrace humanism. I found this simple definition of humanism this week, “an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters.” What I mean when I say we embrace humanism to run is we turn to our own ingenuity.

We somehow think we have what it takes in an of ourselves to face the world. We don’t need advice, we don’t need help, we have all that it takes to fight our battles…there is great danger in that because it thinks way too highly of ourselves and way to lowly of God. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

Escapism can lead us to treat the world as a monk—shutting ourselves off from everyone and everything, but humanism can lead us to act like the proverbial knight in shining armor able to do it all in our own power. Both will lead us to defeat because both ignore the power of the enemy and the call of God. Some will tell us to run, but that’s only one option. Tomorrow we will look at the second.

As we seek the Kingdom of God, we must come to see the secret to the victorious Christian life. When you think of the life that Christ has called us to live what comes to mind? Do you think of things that you are supposed to do and things that you are supposed to avoid? Is Christianity simply a list of do’s and don’ts? Do you think of being busy at the church? Has Christianity become your weekend job? Do you think of another religion? Let me free you up this morning—The Christian life is not hard to live—it is impossible! You cannot do it so you can stop trying, but the good news is that Christ can and will do it through you.

You see the Christian life is Christ—it is not just a change in lifestyle; it is not just another set of activities and acts of serve—it is summed up in three words: CHRIST IN YOU. You see, living spiritually requires something more than just not sinning or doing good works—Christianity is Christ. Period. It was never meant to be another religion. It has always been and always will be about a relationship with Jesus. That is what is at the heart of John 15:1-5. Christianity is living in Christ while He lives in you.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

When you read this passage you will discover a few things—first Jesus is the Vine. He is the source of life. There is no life outside of Jesus. Outside of a relationship with Jesus we are dead. Outside of Jesus there is absolutely no hope of anything resembling life. He is the Vine.

Second, the Father is the gardener. He is the owner. He is in control of all aspects of growth and every single bit of fruit that is produced is for His glory and for His glory alone.

Third, we are the branches. You cannot get around this—we exist for His glory and we have no life apart from Jesus Christ. We are not the source of life, we are not even the fruit—we are the branches. As you read this passage you discover that there are four types of branches.

First there are those who bear no fruit. “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.”

Second there are those that bear some fruit. “While every branch that does bear fruit he prunes…”

Third, there are branches that bear more fruit. “He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Finally, there are branches that bear much fruit. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Let me ask you a simple question—which branch are you? Are you bearing some fruit, more fruit, much fruit or are you not bearing fruit at all? In the scriptures fruit is synonymous with good works. Paul said, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” These are character issues—they are the natural byproduct of the Spirit of God indwelling you—abiding in you. Let me ask you again—are you bearing fruit?

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. With sweeping legislation, the president ended slavery in the United States of America, but regardless of the declaration—it took years for the slaves to actually enjoy the freedom that had been decreed. They were set free in terms of their position, but for many of them slavery was still their day-to-day reality. Unfortunately, there are many Christians living the same way. They have been declared to be free in Christ. Free, but they are still living defeated lives. They are free but still shackled to sin. Free, but living in bondage. They are free, but still dependant upon their former master. What is the secret to living a victorious life? What must be done, believed, practiced, or acted upon for us to live in the truth of Galatians 5:1?

Let me remind you that we must first understand the truth of God’s word. Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”…(JN 8:31-32) This comment caused the religious leaders to say, “We have never been salves of anyone.” They had forgotten their history, but we don’t have time for that. They thought their freedom came from their nationality, but Jesus teaches us that freedom starts with truth.

Do you ever think that you are free just because you are an American Citizen? Having been overseas several times and having spent time in communist countries I know that we enjoy a means of freedom that causes the world to envy, but did you know that there are people in prisons in places like China, Vietnam and Pakistan who enjoy more freedom than many of our fellow Americans who are living in the lap of luxury? Take for example Vu Thi Muoi, a Christian in prison for his faith in Vietnam. The jailers would seem to be the ones who had the freedom, but as they questioned him for hours, he demonstrated the peace of Jesus. The jailers wanted to have what He had. The authorities stopped letting him talk to just one guard because he was leading them to Christ. True freedom has nothing to do with nationality.

It has nothing to do with circumstances. You can look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the middle of the blazing furnace, or Daniel in the Lion’s Den. You can turn to Peter in a prison cell, or Paul and Silas in the dungeon singing praises to the King. Freedom has nothing to do with circumstances, and it has nothing to do with nationality, but it does have everything to do with truth.

First, the truth about who you were. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Because we are born dead in our sin we are slaves to our sin—it is just what we do by nature. We are slaves to sin—and the result of that slavery is a bondage from which we cannot free ourselves. Jesus went on to say, “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed…” I must see what I was, but in Jesus I must also see what I have become in Jesus. Romans 6,7, and 8 go into great detail about this—I was once a slave to sin, but now we can say with Paul, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Did you hear that? In Jesus I am free—talk about an Emancipation Proclamation—in Jesus I am free and not just free, I am free indeed. So let me ask the question—free to what?

You are now free in Jesus to be what you were designed to be. You are free in Jesus to do and be and live just as He planned for you to live when He created Adam and Eve in the Garden. It all starts with redemption. It all starts with Jesus’ finished work upon the cross. Listen, Salvation is liberation—it is freedom. We often think of freedom as not having any master at all and to live as you see fit, but the Bible calls that a myth. Your liberation is not finished until you are ravished by, bowed down in, astounded before the beauty and glory and presence of God. Unless you are absolutely centered in God you are not free. You cannot have personal or spiritual freedom without God. Everyone lives for something—something that brings them security, something that brings them hope, something that will bring them love, but anything that you must have, that is anything that you must have to feel good about yourself, to feel like you are significant, well you heart in chained to that thing. You are only happy as long as that thing goes well, but when God is not only the most important area of your life—when God is your life, you can walk at large and be free and unafraid regardless of what you may face.

How? How can I move from what is positionally true to seeing it practically true in every area of my life? How can I live in the freedom provided at the cross and through the resurrection of our Lord, and in the indwelling presence of the Spirit? How does that bring freedom to me here and now?

First you must see that it is God’s will for you to be free.

We have reduced Christianity to such a powerless exercise of the will that we actually think it is normal to be in bondage to sin. Look at the distance He was willing to travel to set you free—from the throne of heaven to the cross. That in and of itself should bring rest to your soul—the God who brought freedom to you will enable you to live in it. If He wanted you to work through a series of legalistic do’s and don’ts He would have told you—that is what Paul is writing against in the letter to the Galatians, but what we see is Paul writing to a group of people who had been set free, but now they were trying to yoke themselves again in slavery. Are we like that? Are we so yoked by our traditions, our personal likes and dislikes, our man made systems that we can’t live freely? I am afraid that the life of the average Christian proves that to be true. If it is God’s will for you to be free—then you must understand secondly that it is only in God that you can be free. You cannot do it!

The result of being set free allows Paul to say, “Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” God’s desire is for us to walk in total freedom in Him, but the Deceiver will do all that he can to make it all about us rather than all about Jesus. Because of what Jesus has done—because of the Truth—we are now to respond in faith and allow the transforming power of the Spirit to make us become what He has declared us to be.

That goes against the grain of what we want to do in the flesh. The flesh says, I must work to obtain my freedom—Jesus obtained it, but I must work to keep it. Do you see how insane that is? Suddenly the Christian who is saved by Grace is now working to keep his or her salvation. You see that in verses 2-4—they fell from Grace—not in the sense of losing their salvation—they fell in the sense that they left grace and moved back to works, but Paul says, “But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.” You see the key to freedom is rebuking the idea that it comes from what we do and believing that it comes from what He has done and from what He is doing and in having faith in what He is going to do—that will bring Freedom!

The secret to our freedom is in understanding what He is doing right here and now. He is working in us to will and to act according to His purposes. We need to get out of the way and let Him work—we need to abide in Him and let the Vine produce His fruit through His branches. Our salvation is totally a matter of God’s grace and our freedom is totally a matter of His grace—our works come as a result, but they never serve as a source or a cause of freedom.

How do we walk in this freedom? Listen to Paul—first we are to live through the Spirit rather than in the flesh. So much of what is done today in the name of Christianity is fleshly—we must live through the Spirit. That means we must live controlled by the Spirit. Do you remember Galatians 2:20? “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” He lives in me by His Spirit; therefore Paul is able to say, “Live (walk) by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” You life must be under the control of the Spirit to live in freedom.

Second, we are to live “by faith.”

“Without faith is it impossible to please God.” You cannot live the live you are called to live outside of a life of faith. This means you will have to follow the Spirit’s leading when it doesn’t make sense, when you are not comfortable, and when it will cost you everything. You don’t live by sight—you don’t live by common sense—you live by faith. Faith that He did what He said He would do. Faith that He is doing what He said He is doing. And finally you are live in faith that He will do what He said He would do. Your entire life is lived by resting your entire self on Him—once again it is through abiding in Him—not working for Him.

Finally you are to live in hope.

With Jesus there is always hope. She had been bleeding for years, but just one touch---there was hope. His daughter was dead, but just one word from Jesus and there was hope. He was blind from birth, but just a word from Jesus and he could see. He was a tax collector—the bottom of society, but Jesus came by and called him—there is hope. She had been married five times and was living with a man—Jesus spoke to her about her sin, but offered her living water—there was hope. Lazarus has been dead for four days, but Jesus was there—there was hope. Jesus had been in the grave for three days—but He said that if He laid down His life He could take it up again—there was hope.

Things may look bad—the rent is due and the money is gone. Things may look terrible—the doctors have done all that they can do. Things may be really sour—your life has just been one problem after another. Things are terrible, but as the old preacher once said—it is only Friday—Sunday is coming. Paul said live free by walking in the Spirit, living by faith and knowing that there is always hope—you see He is coming again and not only is He coming again—He is working in your circumstance right now, even when you can’t see it He is working!

My favorite book in the Bible is the Psalms and I often read them along with a Proverb chapter every day. Of all the chapters, Proverbs 16 is my favorite.

“The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit.

Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.

The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.”

How do we make decisions? How do we know how to “seek first the Kingdom of God” in our day-to-day life? Robert Frost wrote of two roads dividing in the yellow wood. As we walk through this life we will come to forks in the road and we will have to make decisions. I remember going hiking with a friend. There was a small river that we would often swim in or camp on and we decided to follow its path to see where it went. As we walked, we soon found the river split into several different streams. We kept having to choose between going to the right or to the left and it wasn’t long before we were lost. Frost spoke of only choosing between two roads, but this complicated life is a lot more like our hiking trip in that it seems to offer hundreds of forks in the road.

Our lives center around the choices we make. You chose to get out of bed this morning. You chose to eat or you chose to not eat breakfast, you chose to put on the clothes you put on, you chose to get in your car and come to church. We are faced with choices almost every moment of our lives. Some have more significance than others. Should I get married to this person? Should I stay married to that person? Should I go to this college? Should I accept this job? Should I buy this house? Should I go on this mission trip? Should I spend my time doing this? Everywhere we turn there are choices to be made.

Many of the choices are good choices—they are moral, they are legal, and they are allowable, but many of them are not wise. If we are going to seek the kingdom first and foremost we will have to learn to make godly decisions. In order to do that we will need God’s guidance. How can we find it?

The Hebrew word for “guidance” is a word from which we get the word rope. Ropes were used in those days for guidance in navigation. The sailors would use the ropes to lower the sails, they would use the ropes to move the sails, they would use the ropes to raise the sails, and they would use them to tie them down during the storms. You and I need the guidance of God all of the time, but we are especially aware of our need for guidance during the storms of our life. How do we get His guidance?

I think we have to understand there is a guidance that is happening all around us…it is something that God does. God isn’t sitting idly by waiting for us to act…He is actively working, He is advancing His Kingdom, and He is working in us as His workmanship, conforming us to His image.

Choices matter…In Proverbs 21:5, the Bible says,

“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”

The word diligent could be translated strategic and the word haste could be impulsive. In other words a strategic person who plans succeeds, but the impulsive person who does not plan does not succeed. The Bible tells us that we should plan ahead instead of just letting life happen. We read that and think—our choices do matter, but then we come to 16:33.

“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

The lot being cast is like drawing straws or flipping a coin. It is the way we discover who goes first in the football game—or the way we pick someone to do a task. In the OT the High Priest had what was called the Urim and Thummim to make decisions and to seek the will of God. Here the Bible tells us that every little detail, every single coin toss comes down exactly the way God plans. In other words, not only are the big things a part of God’s plan—the smallest things are fixed by God’s plan.

We simply can’t hold both ideas in our mind…that our choices matter and that they are at the same time fixed by God. Our plans are our plans, but what happens as a result of the choices you make is fixed by God and both ideas are true.

We are not puppets on a string, but at the same time can you imagine if you got everything you wanted? Do you remember the things you wanted in your teens…aren’t you glad you didn’t get all of them! At any moment we are absolutely free and at the same time absolutely in the hands of God.

God’s guidance is happening all around us even when we can’t see it. In Acts 27 Paul was on a ship headed for Rome. A storm hit and God assured Paul that he “must stand trial before Caesar,” and He graciously promised that He would save all the lives of those sailing with Him. A while later, some of the sailors were going to jump ship, but Paul told the Captain, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” Choices matter and yet God determines the outcome!

You see it in your own life in hindsight. So, how do we receive the guidance? Verse 3 says,

“Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.”

That seems backward doesn’t it? “Commit” is a word that speaks of putting your entire weight upon Him. Unconditionally trust Him, seek Him first, and your plan will succeed. It is in the seeking that your plans are conformed into His will.

We want God to tell us—this college, this job, this person, but God is more interested in you and I becoming the kind of person who get’s guided. Do you want to make right decisions? Do you want to live every moment with the guidance of God? If that is your heart you must seek Him first—throw your entire weight upon Him—and come before Him and say “God I trust you. Do whatever you want to do in my life. Send me anywhere—just go with me. Lay any burden on me—just give me the strength to carry it. Cut off anything that keeps me from you—just use me for your glory.” When you can pray like that—when you can seek Him first and only Him you will find He is guiding you along as you live for His glory.

Most of the thoughts here came from a sermon I heard years ago by Tim Keller. You can listen to it here.