A Psalm of Peace

Introduction

Favorite Christmas movie:

Christmas Vacation - My own delusion.

Chaos reigns! Turmoil!

Causing us to ask, “Where is the peace?” But…

Peace is not the absence of turmoil.

David, as the author of this Psalm, asks the same question.

A man well acquainted with chaos.

Saul. His son, Absalom. Constant threats and hardships and war.

When we face chaos and turmoil, how do we respond? How should we respond?

Call To God First

v. 1

How you respond to chaos is revealing.

Hardship strips the facade.

The difference between the real deal and a fake.

Fence at Versailles.

Versailles fence.

Lasts for decades without tarnish.

Contrast that with the Driller statue in Tulsa.

Driller Statue.

Gold paint that has to be repainted every couple of years.

Being fake requires constant maintenance.

Hardships come and peal all that away, and what is left?

How do you respond when all that is gone?

David sets an example: Call to God.

The imagery he uses: in distress = narrowing // relief = make wide.

Taking cans into the old cellar.

Claustrophobia and snakes.

Couldn’t wait to get out of that cellar, up those stairs, and into the open.

David knew - call to God first.

Consider the Source

vv. 2-5

Amazing how much control we give to other people!

“Living rent free in your head.”

They don’t think about you!

David was at a fork in the road - How do I respond to them / the source of my hardship.

V. 2 - Rumons and Lies being spread. The trappings of leadership. HOA to football coaches to POTUS.

1 - v. 3. See rule above. Call to God first. Our instinct is to react. Instead, KNOW. Think. Whose opinion do you value most?

2 - v. 4 -

Fight the flesh.

Our natural response - get mad and act in anger. Anger is not a sin, but can lead to sin.

Instead, close your mouth. It is not necessary for you to always comment or to defend yourself! And don’t participate in the race to be wrong first.

3 - v. 5 -

Go to church.

Do the right things to keep you righteous. Focus!

Chase the Eternal

vv. 6-8

Don’t confuse temporal good with eternal joy.

"It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

CS Lewis

Something greater for us to pursue.

Even using religious language to excuse their behavior. (v. 6b).

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Instead, have great faith. Jesus in the boat.

Luke 8:22–25 “One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?””

Faith with a temporal focus - “Live your best life now!”

But, if heaven is real, we can and should pursue the eternal.

Conclusion

1978 - President Jimmy Carter - Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty.

1991 - President George H.W. Bush - Madrid Peace Conference Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine

1993 - President Bill Clinton - Oslo Accords - Palestinian Liberation Organization - Israel.

2003 - President George W. Bush - Roadmap for Peace - Brought US, EU, Russia, and UN reps together for Israel-Palestine

2020 - President Donald Trump - Israel - United Arab Emirates; Israel-Bahrain; Sudan-Morocco.

Deals that consistently fail.

Some have provided temporary peace, but still a great deal of turmoil.

Often times, from the world’s perspective, we aren’t looking for peace, we are looking for gain.

I’ll stop going to war, stop the violence, but what are you going to give me to do it?

I’m thankful for the eternal perspective that Jesus brings.

John 14:27 ESV

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

In a world of turmoil, Jesus brings peace.