A Psalm Of Orientation

Welcome Journey Church what a great time of worship we just had with our worship team. What a great day it is as this is now our second week in our new home the Lord has provided. Honestly what perfect timing God has for the series we are currently going through. For those that don't know me My name is Tyler and I am one of the Elders here at Journey. The series we are currently in is walking us through some of the Psalms and specifically last week and this week we are looking at some Psalms that help us know how to be oriented towards God. As Carlyle started us off last week we got a great look at what it was like to be Oriented towards God when things are going well in our life and how WE fit into God’s Scheme of things.

Today I want to take a look and see what its like to be oriented towards God when chaos or trouble seems to be happening all around us and to do that lets look at Psalm 11.

History of Psalm 11

Written By David

A reflection

Time of being Hunted

If you are like me i like to know a little bit about the history of whats taking place so i can apply a little context to the verse i am reading

So to set the background on this Psalm 11 was written by David and like the rest of Psalms as a reflection moment, a look back in time. Now we don’t know exactly at which point in time David is writing about but men a lot smarter than me tend to believe that it is a time when Saul is hunting him down. There are also some that believe it is when his son Absolum is trying to over throw him as well. Part of the trouble in narrowing this down is David found himself in danger a lot. but the great thing about this is it shows us how applicable this can be at different points in our life. Additionally we know that its taking place at point in David’s Life where he has an inner council of friends that he relies on.

Will you please stand if you can and read Psalm 11 with me.

Psalm 11:1-7 “To the choirmaster. Of David. In the Lord I take refuge; 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; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; 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. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.”

A Redeemed and Humbled Heart Before God

As we take a deep dive into this Psalm what I want everyone to remember is that in order to properly interpret the world around me my heart must be redeemed and humbled before God

So now lets take a deeper dive into Psalm 11 starting with verses 1-3

A Heart Oriented to God

Psalm 11:1 “In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain,”

The first part of this verse I take refuge, when we look at what that meant in Hebrew it means To flee for protection. So it means so much more than a place to go to for safety.

So we know David is getting some advice from his inner council here and in layman terms they are telling him David you need to get out of here go up into the mountains where its safe. So he says to them wait a second guys you know me how can you say this to me. So David’s response is to tell everyone, “In the Lord I flee to for protection.” By David having his heart oriented towards God he is able to respond to the holy spirit in this moment.

After this first verse we might think whats so bad about the advice his friends are giving him but as we move to verses 2- 3 they are going to double down on their advice we are going to see what the basis for the advice is. Its almost as if they in response to David they are saying how can we say this to you David while listen to this.

Fear Filled Advice Is Never Good Advice

Psalm 11:2–3 “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; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

In today's terms we might say David there is a guy with a sniper rifle waiting for you the guns loaded his finger is on the trigger

Now there is no doubt that this advice is well meant I mean these guys care about David and want whats best for him but in its contexts its bad advice because its based in fear of David being hurt. We here stories about our friends who get bad advice from a good friend or maybe its happened to you. and that doesn’t just happen to us the bible is filled with examples like this.

In fact the one that comes to my mind first is an interaction between Peter and Jesus from Matthew 16 Jesus has just finished telling his disciples about whats going to happen to him on the cross and peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him saying this will never happen to you. Matthew 16:23 “But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.””

Mind blown when i was preparing this and i come across this verse and here Jesus is telling Peter how he is not oriented to God. Is there any doubt about how peter felt about Jesus In fact this is probably where Peter lost his orientation he was so concerned about Jesus the Man he forgot about Jesus as God. Jesus Calls out Peter as being a tool of the Devil for it.

Now picture yourself on the couch and your friend has just told you about his new mission trip he is going to go on and its to Ukraine right now and your response to that is hey you know I care about you a lot and its kinda dangerous over there so how about you don’t go and your friend responds to you by saying stop being a tool of the devil.

The lesson learned here is three fold

Be Careful of the Advice You Receive and Give

First we should always filter advice through Christ by going to the word and prayer.

Second and maybe whats missed more often than not is we should be careful about the advice we give. God calls us to be prayerful in what we are doing and that we shouldn't just throw around our own ideas and advice will nilly if you will.

in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 “and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,”

That’s basically God telling me to mind my own business

Or like in 1 Timothy 5:13 “Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.”

So this doesn’t mean never give advice but it points to the importance that should be paid before we give advice. Remember when i said filter advice through the word that wasn’t just advice you receive but also give and here are two great verses for us to go to when doing this. So the advice we are about to give does it make us a gossiper or busy body does it draw us into someone elses business that we have no business being in.

Thirdly we (and this is where i really struggle) we tend to be a little to confident in knowing about what someone else is going through, thinking i have a strong grasp of what their situation is.

This might sound like man I've been there before let me tell you what I did followed by advice

I liken to the the book of Job where he has these friends who give him advice and the advice is all wrong. When we get to the end of Job we see why its wrong They make a really big assumption that God’s justice works a specific way if you are good you get good and if you are bad you get bad. but really there is an even deeper assumption and its that they, the friends believe they have a big enough perspective to even make such a claim. They think they are the main characters in the story and they’re not.

So that is what we see here in verse 2 that David’s friends have assumed that they have a big enough perspective to know whats best for David in God’s plan for him. So much so that its almost as if they are trying to scare him into running away with words like to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.

I have to wonder in this moment what its like to be David he has to be thinking what they are saying sounds like good advice but in my heart I know its wrong.

Side bar I am not saying follow your heart because last week we learned the heart can be hijacked by emotions from Carlyle last week

but there are times when it is our redeemed heart before God convicts us of a different path and we see that in David’s response to his friends now lets jump in to verse 4

Response to Fear Filled Advice

Psalm 11:4 “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.”

I just want to focus on the first couple lines here “The Lord is in his holy temple” which on earth at the time they had a representation of that, they had a temple or tent during this time to represent the temple they referred to this Tent was the tabernacle and inside was where the Lord’s Spirit dwelled, the tabernacle was a representation of what the temple looked like in heaven. So the point is that you could go and meet with the Lord here on earth. So its almost as if David is saying the Lord isn’t going anywhere I’m not going anywhere.

So really what David is saying that when we are presented with advice, advice that is filled with fear the only real response we can have is to spend time with the Lord.

When we think about our problems we can often become overwhelmed with fear but when we pray about our problems we become overwhelmed with faithfulness from God. How can David feel this way where does his confidence in this moment come from well lets dive in to the next part of this verse

Confidence of Faith

David gets confidence for this line of thinking in the second line of verse 4 “The Lord’s throne is in heaven”

So that's his source of confidence That The Lord is in his temple here on earth and on his throne in heaven when i think of this I am reminded of a quote from Charles Spurgeon

What plots can men devise which Jesus will not discover? Satan has doubtless desired to have us, that he may sift us as wheat, but Jesus is in the temple praying for us, and how can our faith fail? (Charles Spurgeon)

So Davids confidence first comes from where God is and second is going to be what God Sees as we look at the second part of verse 4 and into verse 5

Psalm 11:4–5 “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; 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.”

So this goes back to verse 3 and David answering their question what can the righteous do well the righteous can know that God sees them and testing them and know that the Lord is in control.

In your present difficulty God is not testing you like your an experiment that He wants to see how this turns out. He’s testing you so that we will know what is in us and maybe more importantly so that others will know what is in us. I can’t think of a more faith filled story of trust and love than to be in the midst of despair and to show to the world that your trust in the Lord is not broken.

Chelsea and I had a dear friend Becky if you been at journey for a while you know that she she died of cancer a few years ago... but if you knew Becky you knew she had a heart for worship and there are countless times that she got up on a stage not that dissimilar from the one i am on today and lead Journey in worship when Becky found out she had cancer she chose to worship God throughout her 18 month battle. and the day she got put on hospice Chelsea asked her whats the one thing you want to do before you die she immediately responed with worship the Lord through singing. and so thats what she did 10 days before she passed away she came to church and we had a worship night with worship team and it was recorded so that her testimony could live on. So you see when we are oriented towards God we get to experience his peace in the hardest of times and as fear stared Becky in the face she looked right through it and saw Jesus praying for her on his throne. When her greatest test came people knew who she was faithful to. God wants the world to know what is in the lives of his righteous people. When people looked at Becky they knew.

as we continue into verse 5 we see that God is not just some detached being but that he cares for his righteous when David says but his (God’s) soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. David again is reaffirming I don't need to run because the God who sees me and tests me, He also sees the wicked or sinfulness that is against me and he hates it.

So David again will provide another answer to where his confidence comes from when presented with fear filled advice from verse 3

Psalm 11:6 “Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.”

Here we see where Davids confidence comes from when he is told to flee to the mountains. David knows that God will punish the wicked and it gave him confidence to know that if a sinful man punishes the righteous how much more will God punish that sinful man. God says that he will with this verse, God tells exactly what it is they will have, fire and sulfur rain down on them and when that’s over there will be this scorching wind that comes for them and that will be their portion. God is telling us that this is their inheritance. This imagery of the cup comes into play in the new testament when we see that even Jesus doesn’t want whats inside this cup. Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane

Matthew 26:39 “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.””

There are two points made from this verse first have you ever found yourself having that internal monolouge where essentially you are giving yourself advice and Jesus knows exactly what to do with that…Jesus remains oriented towards God. He took that internal monologue and prayed lord not my will but your will be done.

Then Second The cup that Jesus dreaded was the cup that contained God’s wrath of sin.

David could be done right now he’s made his response he’s shown us his confidence but David doesn’t he instead chooses to end his response to fear filled advice by remembering the love and favor of God

Love and Favor of God

Psalm 11:7 “For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.”

So whatever is gong on around David, David knew that The Lord is Righteous and he loves righteous deeds. So David Knew that because he was oriented with the Lord he was keeping himself in the love of God (Jude 1: 20–21 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” )

So to be clear we are not earning our love by being righteous but our pursuit and practice of righteousness keeps us flowing in the benefit of God’s love.

So when we sin or are unrighteous we aren't losing out on God’s love but what we are losing out on is the benefit of God’s love, Let me put this another if God’s love is light its like living in the shadow. I can see the light i know its there but i never get to truly experience the light until i step out into it

So Carlyle and i met earlier this week in the morning still cold…

and that is what David is saying here By me being righteous here by following what God has for me and I will bask in the benefit of God’s love and what is that from Jude 1:21 we know it is the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and that my friends leads to eternal life

Then its as if David goes one more time for the people in the back he saying the second part of verse 7 the upright shall behold his face.

David goes all the way back to verse two with the language when they say shooting at the upright in heart. The upright will get to feel the warmth of God. So what David is continuing to say and reassuringly saying is that God pays special attention to those who seek him and will orient their life towards him

As i conclude i don't want to leave you guys hanging without a way to apply this to your life and so I want to tell you a true story

This story takes us back 21 years almost to the day where a young man is in college and somewhat floundering with what to do with his life. I would classify him as a strong Christian but he knows in his heart he is not doing what God’s wants him to do. So he spends much time in prayer and after words he comes to a cross roads in his life go to seminary or become a police officer. when he recounts this story he thinks about weight the options being a police officer with all the inherient risks that come along with that or how could he go wrong going to seminary its the Lords work after all and its probably the safe option. he was even given adivce that that’s what he should do given the dangers of police work and wanting a family But when he prays he feels, no he knows law enforcement his is calling and so he joins the police department knowing that because he is doing what God has called him to do he will experience the mercy of Christ. And a few years later that young man meets the love of his life gets married is blessed with 4 wonderful children and is now on this stage talking to you guys right now. I am not saying its been rainbows and butterflies this whole time there have been times where i failed and turned from God but there were many times where I wanted to be afraid and listen to fear but i didn't.

So when i look back knowing that in that moment one of the most crucial points in my life i was oriented towards God and the blessings that flowed out of that. I want nothing more than for you guys to be able to experience benefits that come along with being oriented towards God especially when its hard.

Maybe you are in one of those moments today and you look to David as an example and to you i say don’t flee like a bird to your mountain but instead know that the Lord is his temple and that Jesus sits on the throne praying for you and know that The Lord loves the upright and you will behold his face.

And maybe you are someone who’s in one of those moments like David but you don’t know how to orient yourself towards christ well I invite you to come and join us at the prayer table where we can talk more with you and walk along side you as you turn to Christ.

Let me pray for us as we prepare to walk into our monday oriented towards Christ.

Prayer

Thank you guys so as we leave today remember that we have scan codes for you to help support our ministries during the week or if you still desire to hand in tangiable cash or check we have drop boxes in the back for you and if you aren’t quite sure about what to do next now that you made it to church we have scan codes for you to go ahead and fill out some information and someone will reach out and help you walk through that journey lastly if you want to take communion we have a table in the back for you

All of this to say we want to connect with you so please fellowship in the back for a bit if you like

How does Psalm 11 illustrate the concept of taking refuge in the Lord during times of trouble?

In what ways can we intentionally seek God's presence to become oriented towards Him amidst fear?

Can you share a personal experience where you chose to seek God's guidance instead of following fear-based advice?

What does David's response to fear-filled advice teach us about trusting God over human counsel?

How can you apply the lesson of being oriented towards God in your daily life, especially when things get tough?

What does it mean to have a 'redeemed and humbled heart' before God according to this sermon?

How can you discern whether the advice you receive is helpful or fear-filled as David experienced?

In what practical ways can a community support one another in staying oriented towards God?

How does the understanding of God’s righteousness in Psalm 11 encourage us to live upright lives?

What steps can you take to better filter the advice you give and receive through scripture and prayer?