CONFIDENCE IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE
Notes
Transcript
Christ-centered bravery is not just for missionaries two hundred years ago. We need confidence and courage ourselves today. We might be afraid to stand for Christ when we are alone on a business trip with our boss and our colleagues. We might be afraid to stand as a Christian at a family reunion. We might have to trust God with a hard situation in our marriage. We might be terrified as we stand beside a hospital bed, wondering what the future holds.
Psalm 27 is a psalm of confidence and courage. It starts with the question, “whom shall I fear?” It ends with, “Let your heart take courage.” The good news of the gospel is that we have an anchor for our souls. We can be calm and confident, courageous and brave. How? Because God gives us himself. And if we have him, we have no need to fear. David penned this Psalm to teach it readers that . . .
When God is your everything you can face anything.
The Psalms are in the Bible to keep us honest and therein lies their beauty. They present a faith that is real and deeper than any struggle we would ever face. David weaves three nouns together to form a cord of confidence in who God is . . .
Psalm 27:1 (ESV)
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When you know who God is fear fades and you can face anything.
This Psalm of trouble doesn’t begin with trouble but with theology. The Psalmist establishes a truth concerning peace that we often forget. Peace is not found in being surrounded by people who like you; its not found in being able to understand all of life, because there will always be mysteries to life; its not found in the ease of circumstances. Peace is actually found in sound Biblical theology and all theology starts with the LORD.
David’s song opens with a definitive and demonstrative declaration; the LORD is. David’s faith is rooted in the Lord’s covenant. Notice David’s personalization of His theology, MY! Theology is meant to be deeply personal because of what it teaches. His theology is not something that is ethereal but earthly. Theology is not meant to be talked about in classrooms alone; it given to us to enable us to walk out our faith in everyday life.
Theology isn’t the retention of religious information but the redefinition of our identity.
Theology tells me who God is and who I am as a child of God.
Theology is information aimed at transformation. This transformation establishes my orientation.
David’s tone is not one of arrogance but assurance. Assurance that the Lord is his security, salvation, and stronghold.
The Lord is my light (security).
Some of the dangers of darkness are real, but the light exposes them so we can deal with them. Some are imaginary—the light exposes them for what they are. The light of God’s presence is David’s security.
“The Lord is my Salvation.”
What does salvation mean? Salvation, in its broadest terms, means ‘deliverance from evil.’ No matter what our circumstantial or situational status seems to indicate the Bible declares to us evil will not win; God will win. There will be a day when all of us will be invited to the one funeral that we want to go to. It'll be the funeral of sin and death, because sin and death will die.
‘The Lord is stronghold.’
The Lord is saying to the alone, alienated, the weak and vulnerable there is a place to run. There is a place to hide. A fortified place of protection.
When the LORD is your security, salvation, and stronghold you can face anything. I thought I would get a witness, I glad I brought my own
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now notice what happens in verses 2 and 3:
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
In the course of two verses this Psalm gets very dark and very real. Biblical faith never requires you to deny reality. It never ask you to down play the trouble in your life.
Listen to Paul’s writing’s in Romans concerning Abraham.
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone,
but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
Abraham and Sarah had endured decades of bareness. The whole covenant promises rested on a boy being born. The text clearly teaches that Abraham consider his age and the deadness of Sarah’s womb but he grew strong in faith.
Don’t ever deny reality. Stop coming to church with a saccharine smile when you have wept all week. You don’t protect God’s reputation by faking it.
True and real Christian community demands honesty. Stop denying your trouble. Stop making comments such as, “The problems are many, but the Lord is faithful,” when you’ve doubted His goodness all week - that’s not biblical faith.
Let’s read verses 2-3 again
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
Now let’s read
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
If you were David’s position what “one thing” would you ask of the Lord? Be honest. Weapons? The wrath of God Old Testament style?
David says, “When my life is at stake, when everything is against me, when death is near, I know what I want to do, I want to go to church!” David is either being super spiritual and beyond our ability to relate or he is on to something.
Why, in moments of trouble, is this the only thing he wants to do? “I want to run to your temple. I want to gaze upon your beauty.” David is not being super spiritual He is responding as one who has forsaken all to follow him.
The difference between a real Christian and religious person is one finds God useful and the other finds Him beautiful.
The real and the religious share identical characteristics. They are both obedient, committed, submitting, and desperately seeking God.
Yet there is a difference; the religious see God as useful and the Christian sees him as beautiful. The religious person is desperate not for God but only for what he can give.
Religious people are those who ask God for ____________ and when he doesn’t give it to them they walk away.
Religious people commit and submit not because they find God beautiful but useful. There actions are a ploy to in-debt God to their requests.
Religious people don’t bend there knee before God’s will. They seek to bend God to their will.
Religious people are like leeches and real Christians are lovers.
David emphatically states “this one have I asked and sought . . . to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.” David is teaching us that when “God is your everything you don’t need anything”
When trouble comes, and it will, true Christians aren’t looking to get from God but to get God.
In telling us to “gaze” David is pointing us to an important Christian practice, meditation. What is the dominant focus of your meditation? For most it is there most current trouble. Stop making your troubles your meditations.
Meditation is a means of magnification.
It makes objects larger which makes all other objects smaller. Meditation is like marinade; it permeates. It permeates your heart, mind, and thoughts. No wonder we panic. No wonder we are fearful. David says “ I can’t let my mind go there. I will run into God’s temple and gaze upon his beauty.”
It’s only when we see the trouble of life through the lens of the beauty of the Lord that we will see life with accuracy. Peace in times of trouble begins with good theology rooted in the worship of God.
The remedy for all that troubles us is the worship of God. The more I let my heart consider who he is, the more I celebrate His glory and beauty. The more I contemplate the fact that I’ve been connected to this beauty and grace - the greater my faith and hope will grow.
Our “one request” would have been change my circumstances. David’s “one request” was change me.
What do you do in your times of trouble? Where do you run? Where do you hide? What do you say to you when suffering has entered your door, when trouble has come your way, when you are in those moments where you feel so weak and helpless?
If you gaze on your troubles; you will feel weak, and alone, and unable. Your troubles will loom so large; you’ll begin to wonder why a God of love would send trouble your way. You’ll begin to doubt His goodness. Or, you will worship Him. You’ll gaze upon His beauty. You’ll remember that He is awesome and beautiful in love, and wisdom, and power, and grace.
Hope and courage will not be found in your understanding your life. It won't be found in trying to figure out God's secret will. God’s secret will is called ‘His secret will’ because it’s secret. It's found in His beauty and letting that beauty define life and define who you are.
I want to give you four things to do, and then we’ll be done. If you’re taking notes, take these down; these are suitable for your refrigerator or for your morning mirror.
GAZE
Every day, take a moment to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord; it will change you. First thing in the morning, before your mind runs to trouble, gaze on the beauty of the Lord.
My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:
Most of us read Scripture in an informative manner. Meaning we examine the Scripture. For many this is the beginning and end of Scripture reading. Gazing/meditating moves our reading from the informative to the formative.
The power of gazing is seen in
For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
He is meditating on the his stated in theology from
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Gazers grow a faith that says; when God is your everything you can face anything.
In verse 1 David states his theology and when His comes to the end of His meditation he is standing on his theology
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
REMEMBER
As you’re gazing, remember - it's not just that God is these things; God is these things for you. Remember your identity as His child. Remember everything that He declares Himself to be, He declares Himself to be for you.
REST
Rest in this truth; if Jesus is your everything you can face anything.
LIVE
Live based on gazing, remembering, and resting.