Sermon Tone Analysis

BIG IDEA: In times of turbulence, the LORD Our Refuge provides us counsel, security, and everlasting joy.

What do we have to know?

Why do we need to know it?

What do we have to do?

Why do we have to do it?

ME

This has been a pretty crazy summer.

I am not talking about the heat and the temperature going up and down, and up and down.

Last Monday I needed fall jacket while standing in line with Shannon to watch our first TIFF movie of the year.

Today, I am sweating in this long-sleeve shirt.

But I am talking about the violence we have seen.

There was the van on Yonge Street swerving into mainly women walking on Yonge street, driven by an Incel (involuntary celibate: those who want to be in a relationship but couldn’t and are therefore angry at all woman - the fact that such a classification exist should gives us pause as to how far we have gone as a society), then there was the Danforth shooting on a regular evening leaving 2 dead and many injured, some with permanent life-altering injuries.

We just had our 77th homicide yesterday, and the age of the shooters are getting younger and younger.

I don’t know about you, but all these incidents do cause you to wonder, are we safe?

Then we have larger scale disaster like Hurricane Florence and Super Typhoon Mangkhut pummelling United States and Philippines and Hong Kong respectively.

WE

And if it is not these big social and natural concerns, there is the everyday threats and decisions.

A health report you did not expect.

A white envelope or email and you may be sent packing.

A phone call from the school about your teenage son or daughter.

A relationship abruptly ended because he said maybe we should see other people.

And decisions like buying a house, switching your kids to a different school, going into retirement with a tight pension and some outstanding debt.

Paying your ever inflating hydro and gas and internet and cell phone bills.

Life is full of unexpected ups and downs.

The question is: For those of us who know God, has our trust wavered?

And for those of us who don’t yet know God, how are we handling all these demands of life?

GOD

We are beginning a new series called Transforming the Heart where we will be exploring a number of Psalms.

The Psalms are roughly in the middle of the Bible, in the Old Testament, and are seen as largely poetry or songs.

There are 150 of them altogether, and traditionally separated into five books: I. , , , , .

They represent, alongside of the prophetic words, some of the most emotional outpouring of the relationship we have with God and humankind; from praises, worship, thanksgiving, confidence to lament, petition, trouble and doubt.

It is only a general understanding Psalms is written or attributed to David, yet there are many other authors.

I am sure throughout the series both Pastor Edward and Ken will reveal more about other facts and tidbits about the Psalm.

Let us get back to at hand., which if you don’t have a bible is on page of your pew bible.

, along with 4, 5, and 11 Ultimately is about TRUST.

Notice there is this word Mikitam of David.

What is a Mikitam?

No one knows exactly what it is.

Some refer to it as a form of Psalms, others refer to the word as how the Psalm is used.

Other Mikitam are , which are all Laments.

Although David is mentioned, unlike the other Mikitams does not specify the occasion of the Psalm, such as David is fleeing Saul, etc.

There are 11 verses, which can be broken down into 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-9, 10-11.

Let us look at them in pairs.

Verse 1 and 2.

Taking Refuge in Yahweh

      1       Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

2       I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;

I have no good apart from you.”

This is almost like the title of the Psalm, the main theme for the Psalm.

David calls out to God with utmost trust.

That’s odd.

Why does an omniscient (all-knowing God) need us to tell Him we trust Him?

Because the Psalms are not for God’s benefit, though verse 7 does hint at the possibility, but it is for our benefit as we declare our trust in Him, we will recall why we trust Him and how we are to trust Him again.

David begins, Preserve or more commonly, “Watch over me, O God, for in you I take refuge.”

It is primarily about David’s relationship with God, His refuge.

God is his protection, his shelter from whatever trouble comes.

How is God his refuge?

We will find out later in verse 9-11.

He declares the reason why: You are MY Lord.

The LORD is not just some third-party deity, but David expresses intimacy by saying MY Lord.

Taken together, My LORD is MY REFUGE.

This works as a pairing, except David adds then one more line.

“I have no good apart from you.”

This is an awkward statement, which can be roughly translated as “my welfare is not beyond your grasp.”

It would be easier if it was “I am no good apart from you.”

But it’s “I have… no good.”

Perhaps the easiest way to understand this is to rephrase the negatives and say, God, who is the refuge, is MY good.

This becomes important later on in verses 5 and 3-4, our next pairing.

Contrast of Saints and Idolaters

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

4       The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; 

their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out 

      or take their names on my lips.

Here, David makes a contrast between saints and idolaters.

He obviously places himself as part of the saint, who are the excellent ones.

Are they excellent because of the moral uprightness, their integrity and their faithfulness to God? Well, verse 4, the contrast actually becomes the foil for understanding what he means by the excellent ones.

Because David says the sorrows of those who run after another god, in other words, those who worship God half-heartedly as they pursue other pagan gods, or idolaters, their sorrow would multiply or increase.

Hence the excellent ones are those who do not follow, run after the Baal and Asherah and other Canaanite gods.

To separate this category of saints (which is what the word saint or holy ones mean, to set apart), David vows not to participate in two pagan rituals: drink offerings of blood and invoking the names of pagan gods.

Well, you might say, didn’t the Bible speak of drink offering also?

But if you look carefully, Jewish drink offering offered to the LORD is never with blood, but with wine, and also accompanied by animal sacrificial offerings, whose blood may be used not for consumption, but put onto the horns of the altar, the side and the base as part of atonement.

Jews don't drink blood according to Leviticus!

As for the second act, pagan rituals involve uttering the divine name in prayer, ritual, and magical rites within the pagan cult.

But the Israelites cannot even speak the LORD’s name YWH dropping all the vowels as reverence for the one and only name for his holiness.

Having established the theme and the contrast between the saints who will find God as their refuge as oppose to the idolaters who won’t, we can now see three reasons why did David say to God, “I have no good apart from you?”

I. God gives us Himself as our True Inheritance

Verse and 5 and 6

            5       The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; 

you hold my lot.

6       The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; 

indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

What does it mean to be a portion?

First of all, the original language does not have the word “chosen” in it.

Like , where God tells the Levites unlike the rest of the tribes, they have no allotted land and possession, because God himself IS their inheritance and portion.

That is why David said You are MY LORD.

Here lies an amazing truth.

God is so immense each of us have him fully, but none of us have Him entirely.

And cup symbolizes love, comfort, strength and fellowship, or simply all the benefits God provides.

This line is paired with the next short line, “you” that is The LORD” hold my lot.

To hold my in the original language means making sure something is not altered and cared for, whereas lot is everything that happens to a person.