Reflecting on God’s Faithful Presence

Psalm 11 Reflecting on God’s Faithful Presence Introduction: Psalm 11 is about ambivalence. This is often the case with the psalms, he believes strongly about the faithfulness, justice and goodness of Yahweh, but these belief’s are tested again and again by what he sees and experiences in the world around him. The Psalmist is torn as to whether to stay put and trust Yahweh to be a refuge for him, or to flee to some mountain stronghold for protection. The question that’s being put forth is - Is the LORD truly a Refuge? Will he keep me safe? Are these just fluffy meaningless words? Can I really trust him with every part of my life? As we’ve seen the last few weeks through our studies in the Psalms these are very relatable questions and scenarios. The Bible isn’t an out of date religious book that has no bearing on our spiritual, personal, or social life today. It is the very word of God, his wisdom, his salvation made know to us, but that speaks on the level of everyday human experience. The word of God, relatable and applicable. As I mentioned last week the problem lies with us. we don’t sit long enough to think about our lives in any deep significant way and this is why we are doing this series. “Our habit is to talk about God, not to him. We love discussing God. The Psalms resist these discussions. They are not provided to teach us about God but to train us in responding to him. We don't learn the Psalms in until we are praying them.” Eugene Peterson, Answering God. So this is what we are doing for the next number of Sundays. We are learning to be still before God, to think on his word, to mull it over, to allow it to hit us where God intends to hit us - right in the heart. Then to respond. Our initial reactions to God’s word are not always the right reaction..sometimes we are angry with God, frustrated, afraid, bitter, flippant. But while the Psalms allow us to express our raw emotions they simultaneously seek to shape them into righteous ones. With the Psalms we can approach God with brutal honesty, seeking to be rooted in truth and ready to submit to him. But why do this? Why is prayer important? Prayer is important for so many reasons; but the reason we are taking time to meditate and pray together is because -“Prayer is the way that all the things we believe in and that Christ has won for us actually become our strength. Prayer is the way that truth is worked into your heart to create new instincts, reflexes, and dispositions.” Tim Keller Prayer is the way God works his word and the new life in the Spirit into us.. 1. The Dilemma 1. “In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” 2. Who is giving David this counsel? A well intended friend? David does not deny the true threat to his life or possibly the life of his people. There is danger, the social fabric of society is unraveling, so it seems. The counsel is that David should just get out of dodge, he should find some mountain fortress to hide in for safety. David, is saying “I’m trusting in God” but this counsel seems to make him question the validity of his confidence. The question is where can true safety be found? Can we be confident in the Lord’s care? 3. It’s strikingly similar to what we read in Psalm 121 - “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help comes. My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” 4. Here again, the Psalmist is tempted to look up at the hills for help. The hills could represent simply the power of nature, the fortresses of Israel or it could be a reference to the high places where the pagans sacrificed to the different God’s to gain their favor 5. Whatever it is exactly, it is a reference to the fact that when we are in trouble we look everywhere around us for help - any and every precaution to protect us from danger - be it ancestral amulets, to voodoo, to insurance policies, to guns, and police, to our own might or family, or money or whatever. The hills are a picture of creation and nature at it’s most powerful. But here is the truth - Nature, the creation, has no love or compassion for you, it cannot guarantee your safety. 6. Psalm 121 says in contrast, God is your guardian, shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from lunacy or moonstroke, he will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. God will Protect body and soul and mind of his people, he is their keeper) 7. Maybe your experience and perspective is similar to mine. I often see life this way, God has worked everything I need in the victory of Jesus, life, death and resurrection, and God is preparing a place for me in glory, forever. But this middle bit, "I just live by faith," meaning, Life is just really hard, and sin is still at work in this crazy world, and I shouldn’t really expect good things too happen rather I should expect bad. To expect God to show up in the here and now, to deliver me from my fears, sickness, dilemma or whatever is just unrealistic and wishful thinking…I just have to deal with life. They’re are actually a lot of Scriptures and Biblical characters we can use to support this pessimistic view. (Abraham, Jacob, David, Paul, Jesus, 1st Peter Now we have trials, we wait for salvation..) 1. The Psalmist writes in Psalm 27 - “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord. In the land of the living.” He expected goodness from God in this life! 2. This question floored me - “Do you think the way to tell the story of the christian journey is to describe its trials and tribulations? it is not. It is to name and to describe God who preserves, accompanies and rules us.” -Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction 8. David, here in Psalm 11, believes and teaches God’s present activeness to save and deliver, to judge and reward. 2. The Truth of the Lord’s present goodness and faithfulness 1. “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. 2. David’s reference to God being in Heaven is not a nod to deism. The Psalmist is actually saying God is very near, sitting on the throne of the universe, not in some remote, far off dimension. God’s palace, or temple is in the very heavens, he is watching the whole earth, he is very near; testing the righteous, judging the wicked - The Psalmist brings in an act of judgment that is very well known to many even in this day. The judgment of Sodom and Gomorra. Though they are not specifically named, the description of the the judgment of Sodom is verbatim. 3. I wouldn’t call myself a pessimist, or a skeptic, but reading through this Psalm this week I was surprised at it’s teaching about God’s present goodness & faithfulness. I realized when God answers my prayers, my groaning and dispels my fears in the present, I am surprised. 1. But though Sarah was barren she bore a child in her old age. When David cried out to God he delivered him time and time again. God came to earth, Just as he said he would. Jason and Danielle have a beautiful baby boy - that they prayed to have for years and years. My Daughter survived heart surgery and is a thriving, crazy 3 year old. Christian Depola got through cancer. God is saving people, and healing their past, securing their future and working in the present.. and the list of God’s deliverances from our fears goes on and on. 4. God answers, and we’re surprised. The question that hit me as I meditated over this Psalm this week is - Why am I surprised when God delivers? Why don’t I expect great things from God? Why don’t I expect him to answer? Why do I doubt his present goodness, and faithfulness? 5. Listen to Psalm 123 - Why is my heart not like this?? 1. “To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us.” - Psalm 123:1-3 1. Listen to the Psalmist expectation! What is he expecting? How does he believe God will respond?? - With MERCY! 2. Do we expect mercy from God? Do we expect kindness, and graciousness? Do we expect God to answer when were in trouble? To deliver us from our fears? We should. As God’s beloved children we should expect mercy. 3. Conclusion: The Psalm ends, “For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.” 1. I believe that the reason we doubt or don’t expect God’s present goodness, The reason we don’t expect mercy and deliverance is because we know we don’t deserve it. “The Lord loves the righteous; the upright shall behold his face.” To behold one’s face in scripture is a picture of favor, acceptance, and deep intimacy. The Truth is that no human being deserves God’s love, and favor. 2. The Bible teaches that in the beginning of time God created mankind for fellowship - for face - but that the first humans turned their backs on God. They scorned his gifts, and blessings and sought to be autonomous, glorious and beautiful apart from him. Their turning their backs on God brought sin, evil, chaos and death into God’s good creation. They had to leave God’s presence. 3. Everyone that has ever lived has at some point and time been unrighteous, has turned their back on God, and has not given him the righteous life God deserves from us. You know what we deserve? To lose God’s love and any chance of his acceptance and favor to lose face before God. 4. Every single one of us deserves to have God turn his back on us to be dismissed from his presence for eternity. God knows this - and because of this he sent his son Jesus Christ who lived every moment of his life in perfect righteousness, uprightness and faithfulness to God, yet God turned his back on him - at the cross Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Why would God do that to his son that he loves?? Why would God do that to the only righteous man that ever lived? On the cross, Jesus was experiencing what everyone of us deserves - rejection and judgment, he did this so that we who had rebelled against God and are unrighteous can be forgiven, loved and given God’s favor and presence. He takes our judgment, we get his blessing. 5. Because of the work of the cross, (if we are Christians, followers of Christ, those who trust in his sacrifice for our sins) we can be assured that whatever trials and troubles are happening in our life they are not because God is repaying us for our sin, unrighteousness, or failure - all of that was taken care of by Jesus. We can and should only expect refining, “The Lord tests the righteous” and goodness from God. We should always, only expect mercy. 1. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.” Psalm 103:8-11 2. What is the Psalmist trying to say? That though God has worked in the past, and promises to restore all things in the future; Our God is also the God of the present. Visiting sin and wickedness with judgment, and righteousness and the upright with blessing and mercy in the here and now. The Psalms know that Yahweh is involved in life now, and they often testify to that involvement; Psalm 11 is declaring a conviction about this. God’s mercy and judgments are not only for the past or the future, they are also at work for ordinary individuals in the here and now through his radical grace in Jesus Christ. 4. Contemplation 1. Thoughts 1. “Do you think the way to tell the story of the christian journey is to describe its trials and tribulations? it is not. It is to name and to describe God who preserves, accompanies and rules us.” Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction 2. Do you expect God to answer your prayers, to deliver you from your fears, to bring mercy and goodness into your life in the here and now? Do you believe that God is good, that he is safe, and that he truly loves you?? 3. “The only serious mistake we can make when illness comes, when anxiety threatens, when conflict disturbs are relationships with others is to conclude that God has gotten bored looking after us and has shifted his attention to a more exciting christian, or that God has become disgusted with our meandering obedience and decided to let us fend for ourselves for a while, or that God has gotten too busy fulfilling prophecy in the middle east to take time to sort out the complicated mess we have gotten ourselves into.” -Peterson, A Long Obedience in the same Direction 2. Confession & Repentance 1. Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. 2. We confess that we doubt your love and care, we doubt our importance to you, we doubt your mercy that is new each day. Help us to not measure your love by our circumstances, but to measure our circumstances by your love displayed for us in the cross of Christ. 3. Scripture 1. “I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The Lord himself watches over you!The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. Psalm 121 (NLT) 2. “Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.” “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne. But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” - Isaiah 49:14-16 4. Prayer 1. Repeat this 3 times - “I am yours, save me.” - Psalm 119:94 2. Majestic God, how is it possible that we fill your mind? That you consider us, and our concerned with our well being? You greet us each morning with new mercies and songs of deliverance. You love and care for us so much you were willing to become a weak infant and vulnerable child, all in order to save us. I cannot fathom such amazing love. O God who has prepared for those that love you such good things that are beyond mankind’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love to you, that we, loving you above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen