Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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If there was ever any doubt that God knows you, loves you, cares for you, this Psalm answers with a resounding “Yes!” God knows you.
He is with you.
He created and fashioned you, exactly as you are, exactly for his plans and his purposes.
If there was ever any doubt that God knows you, loves you, cares for you, this Psalm answers with a resounding “Yes!” God knows you.
He is with you.
He created and fashioned you, exactly as you are, exactly for his plans and his purposes.
Consider for a moment, King David, the psalm’s author.
One of David’s earliest, amazing feats was when he stood up to the giant, Goliath.
We could well look at David and think, “Wow!
He was so strong.
He was so brave and courageous.”
But if you read , you’ll notice David confidence was not in himself, but in the Lord, the same confidence found in .
“The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
What is David teaching us, through his words and actions against Goliath, through the words of ?
David is teaching us that no matter what we face in life, God is with us.
God will deliver us.
How does God deliver us?
First of all, he knows all about us.
He knows us, he sees what we’re doing.
He knows our thoughts, even before we know them.
Think about that!
He knows your secret thoughts.
He knows your plans, your hopes, your dreams, your desires, your sinful thoughts and ways even before you think them.
And because he knows them, he can lead you away from them, and lead you toward right living.
God’s word promises, “No temptation has seized you except that which is common to everyone.
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” ().
God’s heart, God’s desire is that we would remain in him, trusting in him, turning our thoughts and our minds to him.
Inviting him to search our minds, our hearts, to identify any ways that would lead us away from his loving goodness, into things that will make us feel rotten and alone.
That’s what we feel after we’ve sinned.
But when we trust in God’s strength, as David did when faced by the lion, the bear, and even Goliath, we know God keeps us safe.
God is always with us, no matter what.
Even in the midst of our darkest, deepest moments, God is with us.
He will lead us out of the darkness into his light.
But sometimes, oftentimes, the darkness, the depths the heights, are not of our own making.
Sometimes they are the things that happen against us, not of our will.
People sin against us.
The consequences of original sin, conspire against us, disease, illness, suffering.
We struggle with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
What then?
Isn’t that what David is also describing in these verses?
That’s what comes to my mind.
When I am in the depths of darkness, doubt, fear, insecurity, depression, God is there with me.
In time, in his time, he has always carried me through.
He is telling you, he is carrying you through also!
For we have this great hope!
Even darkness cannot win against God! Darkness is as light to God! Darkness has no substance.
Consider this picture: see how the flame casts no shadow?
God is light!
No darkness can over come him.
When we feel we are in the deepest darkness, God, the light of the world, comes to lead us into his marvellous light.
Remember that God created you.
Because he made you, you have value, you have meaning.
God knit you together.
He put you together just the way you are, for his glory, for his purpose.
Sometimes we can forget this.
Society tells us, our minds tell us, the evil one tells us that we don’t measure up to other people.
We focus on what we’re lacking, compared to others.
This goes two ways, either we feel inferior, lesser, because we’re not as good, or as amazing as other people, or we look down on others, because they are not as amazing as we are.
Sometimes people have spiritualized this.
They try to blame their own shortcomings, or most often, other’s shortcomings on sin.
But Jesus tells us different.
One day, as they were going along, Jesus and his disciples saw a man blind from birth.
His disciples asked Jesus, “Who sinned, him or his parents.”
You see, they wanted to blame his blindness on something.
Jesus replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.
But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
Jesus then healed him, and it was the first time anyone who had been blind from birth was ever healed.
So, how then shall we think about ourselves?
How shall we think about each other?
We must think like this: you are who you are, I am who I am, your abilities, my abilities are what they are so that the work of God might be displayed in our lives!”
And God is displayed most powerfully in our weakness, our doubts, our fears, our insecurities.
For it is then that his power, his faith, is love, his security is demonstrated.
reminds us that we belong to God, and that we can trust him each moment of each day.
When we feel most far from God, God is with us, he is always close to us!
Our hope, our power, our strength is in Christ alone.
Amen.
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