April 13, 2008

Our Psalm begins with the words,

Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.

As I read those words I am reminded of the time when I was 9 years old and my dad, my uncle, and I climbed a rock formation not far from our home in Toadlena, New Mexico.  We climbed up the rock with no problems, but as we began to descend, I noticed that all the color had drained from dad's face.  It had turned ashen white.  And he began to stumble around.  Dad suffered from type 1 diabetes, which was caused by his body's inability to make the hormone insulin.  Insulin is needed to help our bodies store excess sugar.  Without it, that sugar will poison us and eventually we will die.  So my dad had to inject his body with insulin from pigs or cattle to stay alive.  But, that was a tricky business: if he injected himself with more insulin than he needed or if he didn't eat at the right time, his blood would not contain enough sugar to feed his cells and he would pass out and in time he could die.  That's what was happening when we were climbing down from the rock-he didn't have enough sugar in his blood.  Usually, wherever he went my dad would bring along a jar of sugar for just for such an emergency.  This time he forgot.  Dad asked if we had food; neither of us had brought any.  We were at least ½ hour from our car and he needed to keep his balance to get down safely.  I remember with tears in my eyes I quietly prayed that the Lord would give me something for my dad to eat.   Right after I prayed I felt a lump in the pocket of my jeans.  I put in my hand and pulled out three apricots and gave them to my dad.

 I had been climbing our apricot tree the day before, but I didn't remember picking any.  I may have and forgot.  I don't know.  But, this was certainly evidence to me as a young boy that God does hear and answer prayer.  Now, I don't if those apricots provided what my dad needed or if God just used them to calm my spirit.  Dad did mange to climb down to the car safely. 

But God doesn't always work that way, does he?  In fact, I was reminded of that truth about a month later.  My parents received a telephone call that my Grandpa Dykstra was close to death.  I prayed until I fell asleep from exhaustion.  Yet in spite of my prayer Grandpa died.  He was only 66 years old.  Years later I prayed for my dad to be healed of his heart problems.  He too died.  He was only 58. 

Certainly, in relating my experiences I'm not telling you anything new.  I am certain that there are many here this morning that can attest to how God has answered your prayers in amazing ways and how at other times how he seemed to turn a deaf ear.

I bring that up to say this:  if we like Psalmist are to trust in God as our refuge, we cannot base our trust simply on our own experiences.  We must base it on truths found here in Bible, truths we believe by the power of Holy Spirit. 

In this Psalm, David points to two of those truths.  The first is found in verse 2.

                I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;

            apart from you I have no good thing."

Look at the first line of that verse: I said to the LORD, you are my Lord.  If you examine those words carefully you will notice that the first LORD is all in capital letters.  Whenever you are reading your Bible and you see the word LORD all in capital letters, it refers to the personal name of God.  Probably the Hebrew pronunciation for this name would be Yahweh.  I say probably, because the Hebrews would never pronounce the name of God.  They believed that was dishonoring to God for impure, sinful people to take his name on their lips.  So, every time a Hebrew scribe or rabbi would see the name Yahweh, he would say, "the Lord."  Even though we as Christians do not agree with their reasoning, most translations of the Bible continue that tradition. 

But notice that only the first Lord is all in capital letters.  The second Hebrew word here is Adonai.  This word is used to describe something about God.  It tells us that he is Lord or, in other words, he is the one who rules.  He is the one who exercises power and authority.  And when the Psalmist adds the word "my"-you are "my Lord," he is emphasizing the fact that he must submit to this Lord and respect his rule.

We cannot know God as our refuge unless we are willing to submit to his authority, even when we do not understand it.  That's what Job had to learn.  Often when we think of the book of Job, we are tempted see Job as some kind of hero of faith who never sinned.  The truth is he wasn't.  True he was a righteous man, but so was Noah who got drunk, so was Moses who struck the rock when God told him to speak to it, so, was the David, the man after God's own heart, who committed adultery with Bathsheba.  We often overlook the fact that at the end of the book that God rebukes Job and he repents in dust and ashes before him.  Why?  In chapter 38: 2 God says,

"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?

And again in Job 40: 2, God says,

"Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?  Let him who accuses God answer him!"

And finally, in Job 40: 8,

"Would you discredit my justice?   Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

  One of the reasons that Job could not find refuge in the Lord; one of the reasons that his spirit was so troubled, was that he did not let God be his Lord.  He kept questioning the Lord's ways.  Why, God, is this happening?  It isn't fair!  It isn't right!.  Finally, after God sought out Job and Job repented and let God be his Lord, that his spirit found rest. 

We often cannot understand the God's ways.  Remember the story of Martin and Gracia Burnham.  They were the missionaries to the Philippines who were kidnapped by a terrorist group in 2002 and held for ransom.  All around world Christians prayed for them.  I remember we prayed for them here at Faith Community.  A little over a year after they were kidnapped the Filipino government discovered where they were being held and mounted a rescue operation.  But, during the rescue, Martin was killed.  A couple of years ago Gracia wrote about what happened.  She said,

"Sometimes I wonder, ‘Why did Martin die when everyone was praying he wouldn't?' Why does Scripture lead you to believe that if you pray a certain way, you'll get what you pray for? People all over the world were praying that we'd both get out alive, but we didn't. I used to have this concept of what God is like, and how life's supposed to be because of that. But in the jungle, I learned I don't know as much about God as I thought I did. I don't have him in a theological box anymore. What I do know is that God is God-and I'm not. The world's in a mess because of sin, not God. Some awful things may happen to me, but God does what is right. And he makes good out of bad situations."

So, first of all, we must let God be our Lord.  The second truth on which the Psalmist bases his trust is found in verse 3,

As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.

Now, who are the saints?  What did we learn last week?  Another name for saints are "holy ones?"  Who are they?  They are the people who belong to God.  The second truth on which the Psalmist based his trust was that he knew he belonged to God.  In fact, he delighted in that fact.

Now, some of the people of Israel-in fact, many of them had taken to running after false gods.  When things go wrong in our lives, that is a real temptation--  to start running after false idol gods. Sometimes in our pain we to turn to idols?  Money, drugs, alcohol, sex, entertainment-these are all idols in our time.  But, these idols will never take away our grief.  They will add to it.

.  Notice that Psalmist speaks "libations of blood."  Libations were drink offerings that were sacrificed to one's god.  It is significant to also note that these are libations of blood.  The sacrifices made to false gods were often bloody and painful.  (One of those most terrible of these was to the idol Molech.  The priests of Molech would light a fire within the statue of this false god until it glowed red hot, and then parents would throw their little babies on to its burning arms. The "worshipers" would beat on drums to mask the babies' screams).  This should remind us of the terrible sacrifices that people make to serve their false gods today- Think how families and lives have been destroyed by drugs, alcohol, sex, and greed.

Yet, as Christians we know the truth that was pictured for us so clearly in Kayleigh's baptism last week.  God doesn't demand such bloody sacrifice of our sons and daughters; instead he sacrifice his Son on the cross so that we and our children might belong to him.

Those two truths that the Psalmist accepts, that God (Yahweh) is his Lord and that he belongs to God are the basis for what he says in the rest of the Psalm.  Let's just look quickly at those verses,

Verse 5,

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.

Some people try to get God off the hook by saying some things happen by chance or accident.  But, that doesn't work.  If things happened by chance, what guarantee would we have that things will turn out right in the end.  But, as one who knows that God is always in control and that he loves me, even though I may not understand why he allows certain things to happen, I can be certain that he will eventually work out all things for my good." (Romans 8:28)  And because of that I can say in the end that "the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places" and I can be certain that I will have a delightful inheritance"

Verse 7- 8 go together.      

I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Certainly David knew this as he remembered how God guided him and kept him safe a lion and a bear, from the giant Goliath, from King Saul, and later from his own son.  As Christians, we know that the Lord who rules over all came to this earth and lived for a while among us.  And he did many might works-healed the sick, raised the dead, even calmed the stormy seas and he taught his disciples many important and comforting truths.  But before he left to go to his Father's side and rule heaven and earth, he promised his disciples that he wouldn't leave them alone.  He said this,

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

We here today can testify to how that Spirit has guided us and continues to do so.  I know that some of you have suffered so much.  Yet the fact that you here today to listen to the counsel from God's Word, is testimony to the power of Holy Spirit in your lives and how he continues to guide you.

Finally, verse 9- 11 speak of our final enemy, death.  God had not revealed much to his Old Testament people about what happens after death.  And they certainly didn't know about Jesus coming back and raising us from the dead.  Yet, the Psalmist, because he trusts that God is Lord and that he belongs to God, knows that death cannot win.  So, he says,

                Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

            my body also will rest secure,

                because you will not abandon me to the grave,

            nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

                You have made known to me the path of life;

            you will fill me with joy in your presence,

            with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

The rest of the scriptures prove that Psalmist's hope was true.  Both Peter, in Acts 2: 26- 28, and Paul, in Acts 13: 35, apply the message of these verses to wonderful truth we celebrated 3 weeks ago, the truth that Jesus arose from the dead.  And Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15: 20- 22,  explains what Jesus' resurrection means to us,

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

I know that my grandpa and my dad, and, if I die someday, that I too will be raised from the dead and will live forever with the Lord in a new heaven and earth.  And I know that many of you trust that you will be there too.  So, we already know the last chapter of our life's book.  We are just not clear on what will happen between now and then.  And God through the Psalmist David is calling us simply to trust that he will take care of that.

Several months before he died my dad wrote an article for his church newsletter about his experience undergoing by-pass surgery.  In a sermon I preached for our evening service I've read it read it to you.  I am not going to re-read the entire article now, but I would like to conclude by just sharing a small portion of what he wrote. 

"It was Thursday, May 10 (the day before surgery), when the surgeons spoke to me about the high risk factor in performing surgery to correct my condition.  To say the least, I was not overwhelmed with joy when hearing the news.  It was during the night that I talked with God silently.  I told him I was ready to go home to be with him.  This certainly would have been the most wonderful new beginning I could ever experience.  I began to understand what Paul meant by the words:  "This would be far better."  I also talked to God about my children, especially my youngest child (who was only 12 years old).  I asked, "Would it be good for her, Lord, that I leave?"  I talked to God about my darling wife.  I talked to him about the church in which he had placed me.  I remember their prayers and the prayers of thousands of others.  I fell asleep at peace with God.  The next day I went into surgery with a joy and a feeling of the presence of God that words cannot express.  By his grace, I had put my life in the will of the Lord."

People of God, that is why the Lord wanted me to bring this message to you: so that, come what may, you too might put your life in his will finding refuge in him and that you might know the peace and joy that come from making that decision.  What is your response?