God Rescues those who fear Him
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Review 25:1-11
Review 25:1-11
To Trust and to Lift up his soul to God
Looking to God for everything, including our joy and fulfillment
Many “look” to God for help in trials
But look to the world for fulfillment and joy
David is certain that God will not let him down
But those who are treacherous toward god will be let down.
Those who look to the world for these things will be let down
David asks God to lead and teach him
So that he might know how he ought to live his life
David asks God to forgive his sins
David is certain that God will both lead and forgive
His confidence is not in himself
His confidence is in Who God is
And that he is good
Because God is good and upright
The one that Fears the Lord
The one that Fears the Lord
Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
Ps
To fear God is to realize who He is and live accordingly
To fear the dog behind the fence
To fear ones parents
Respect
Respect
Adoration
Reverence
Terror
God will guide him through life’s choices
God will guide him through life’s choices
This may not seem like a big deal at your age
after all, your parents do this
in fact, you may wish you could be making your own choices.
But regardless what you might think, without God’s direction you will make poor choices.
As adults, we frequently grapple with life’s choices
I frequently hear struggles to decide many things such as
Career choices
What school to put kids in
cloth diapers or disposable
Organic or the cheapest
where to live
How to respond in situations
Someone else sins against you
people are saying bad things against you
Everyone else is cheating in school or at work
We need help to make these decisions
Many people find odd ways of trying to figure out what God wants them to do.
We may put God to the test like Gideon did
Blind verse picking
coin toss
Over reliance on dreams
Be humble before God, and fear Him
God WILL instruct in the way
God will teach
Additionally, his soul will be good
Additionally, his soul will be good
His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.
PS 25:
The one who fears God
Recognizes who God is
Lives life according to that understanding
Will abide
live in
you are where you live
in well-being
A state of being well, or good
your soul will be good
Situations may be bad
but you can still be happy inside
The great example of this is Paul & Silas when they were unjustly imprisoned
his offspring will inherit the land
his offspring will inherit the land
The idea of inheriting the land calls back to God’s promise to Abraham
Those who fear God are part of God’s promises to Abraham
Friendship with God
Friendship with God
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.
The idea of friendship here is the sharing of secrets
Certain information we only share with those we are close to
God will share is understanding and secrets with those who fear him
Unbelievers do not understand God
As a result their understanding of life is also wrong
He makes them to understand his covenant
to save
His responsibility
Our responsibility
Confidence of deliverance through trials
Confidence of deliverance through trials
My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
Ps 25:
He is always looking to God
Not just in times of trial or difficulty
Looks to God for everything
provision
protection
happiness
He is certain that God will keep him out of the enemies traps
When David refers to a net it could be
Attempts against his life
Political traps
Spiritual traps by Satan
to cause him to sin
to lead him into despair and hopelessness
Though David himself is unable to withstand any of these
He is confident in God that God will deliver him and rescue him
David has recounted his confidence That God will teach and lead him
Save him from his sins
Receive the full blessings of God
His soul will be happy
God will rescue him from the difficulties of life
Confidence Tested
Confidence Tested
That is all well and good, but what does all that look like when your actually in the trial
although David KNOWS these things, we see that he is experiencing something that is going to test his belief in God’s faithfulness
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.
Ps 25:
Despite knowing all that he has in God, David experiences the heartache of trials.
David KNOWS God is good yet what he feels is pain and heartache
I love the psalms because they are written at our level
So often we are the same as David
We KNOW the truth of God yet what we FEEL does not always match up
So what is David feeling, what is he going through
Lonely
A king, with hundreds of people around him serving him
His heart feels left alone
That he has no one
The truth, as he knows, is that he has friendship with God
Yet at this moment he feels as if he has been left all alone
We can know that we have Christ, yet feel like we have no one
Afflicted
Poor and destitute, hit by hardship
David knows that he has a full inheritance in God
Yet he feels like he has nothing but hardship
Heart is troubled
Filled with sadness
Heartache, the feeling like your heart is simply going to break
Perhaps troubled by his own Sin
Distressed
Situations producing Extreme anxiety or sorrow
and he knows that God is in control of all
Yet he still experiences the extreme emotional pain
What does David do?
In verse 15 he already says that he is looking to God for deliverance
in verse 18 he asks God to look upon him and his situation
To Consider means to look and understand
Does God already know what David is going through?
YES
But he still comes to God asking for God look upon his situation
We must always be coming to God making requests for His goodness
We are not to simple say “he knows” so why bother praying
We are to ask
And he asks for his sins to be forgiven
More often than not for a believer, the feelings described by David are a result of our own sin more often than not.
our own sin separates us from enjoying the goodness of God
So when we sin it is easy to become lonely, afflicted, and distressed
Because we have temporarily departed from God’s goodness
So David asks of God to rescue him from his current state of distress and to forgive all his sins.
The enemies of the soul
The enemies of the soul
Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.
PS 25:19
David again a second time pleads with God to look upon him
This time it is to consider all the enemies of David
all those that seek David’s harm
David knows that God wants his good
So he pleads that God look upon and defeat those that want David destoryed
What are these enemies
people
nations and armies
spiritual demonic enemies
David’s own sinful flesh
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Our own desires wage war against us
These desires are our enemies
For the Christian, there is no greater enemy than the sinful desires that come from our own hearts
In VS 21 David asks that integrity and uprightness protect him
Protection from his “enemies” is to live with integrity and uprightness
If David sees protection from his enemies is to live without sinning then who does David regard as his primary enemy?
Conclusion
Conclusion
Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.
PS 25:
He ends much how he started
He looks to God to protect and keep him
He seeks God for all his goodness as he takes refuge in God
Petitions God that his hope and faith in God would not be in vain
That he not be put to shame
He asks God to preserve him or keep him safe through uprightness and integrity.
A life lived uprightly and with integrity is evidence that one is truly waiting on God and blessing from him
“Redeem Israel, o God”
The personal prayer of David is made for all
He prays that all God’s people may be rescued from their troubles
