Send Out Your Light and Your Truth, O My God

Summer Psalms during Covid • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

0 ratings

· 109 views

Notes

Transcript

Psalm 43 ESV

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Introduction

Today marks our halfway point through the Psalms. Today’s Psalm, Psalm 43 is really an extension of Psalm 42— they normally should be read as a unit. David entitles these two Psalms, “For the music director. A Maskil. Belonging to the sons of Korah.”

Here we have instructions for the one who led the music for worship. David gives an instructional word, that psalm is a Maskil of the Sons of Korah. A Maskil is a psalm of deep reflection upon what is said about God. The Sons of Korah were the Levites- the “worship leaders” of Israel. Their functions included being door keepers, guardians, and musicians and singers in David’s choirs. The phrase probably indicates that these psalms (42-43) were sung by the choir.

Psalm 43 is the second half of this combination that directs us to Jesus and His suffering for us. Remember, all of the Psalms are about Jesus and not you. They apply to us only through Him, with Him, and in Him. So thank the Lord that He has chosen to give us faith and save us. Because of Jesus’ fulfillment of the Psalms we can now take our comfort in Him.

Psalm 43 is a very serious psalm. It is a Psalm where the writer longs to return to worshiping God. He has been separated from worship, and it is killing his soul. He is being taunted by those who despise his faith. In Psalm 42 the first two verses make this clear: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God for the living God.” David struggles with the fact that it appears that God has forgotten him. The refrain is included in both psalms at the end, “Why are you cast down O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall against praise Him, my salvation and my God.”

David longs to return to worship.

We can relate to this. For a time this year we were forced not to meet due to a disease that was present in the world. Fair enough. Certain political actions— which have since been ruled unjust and constitutionally overturned, prevented Christians from worshiping but allowed for large box stores to remain open and mass, unprotected protests. A Federal judge corrected this. And we are back together.

As a pastor, I can relate to the angst that David cries out in these two psalms. I still haven’t buried my mother who died in March. We missed the last two Sundays in Lent. Holy Week. The Triduum. Easter Sunday. And six Sundays that followed. It was a time of hell for me. God’s people not worshiping goes against His clear commands found in the Third Commandment, in Acts, and in Hebrews. What started out as caring for one’s neighbor quickly turned political, and turned against the Church. If you read the NY Times article this week about “Churches spreading Coronavirus” please understand that this is totally false, that there is not one shred of evidence that this is true, and be assured we will continue to do everything in our power to keep you safe when you worship the Lord. And don’t forget that you are “worshiping the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth” who protects you with His angels. Too many are leaving our deep confession of faith in Jesus out of the equation and trusting some of the shifting winds of science more than the promises of God. Nothing can separate you from His love.

Throughout the pandemic I read posts on social media that kept saying “the church is not the building, the Church is the people.” But that is not true. It’s not just the “believing people.” For church to occur, God’s people have to gather together. We don’t need a building, but we do need to come together, or its not church. This is why we couldn’t have communion. We weren’t gathered. Some churches practiced “virtual communion” which is a total misunderstanding of church and forsakes the gathering together of God’s people. As such, it was a sinful compromise practiced by many. And while we were blessed to be able to have all of our services during that time broadcast on the Internet, it wasn’t church. It allowed us to hear the Word. But it prevented us from gathering, and that is God’s command.

Evil had its day.

Evil had its day in David’s time as well. And so he pens this psalm.

Vindicate Me, O God

David cries out to the Lord for help.

An ungodly people were keeping Israel from worshiping in the sanctuary. The sanctuary was the place on earth where one could come the closest to God. Whether this distance from the sanctuary, while David was at the head of the Jordan is what David speaks about, the enemy is always attempting to separate David from his God. One does not have to be physically distant from God to feel that God is not there. When one reads the signs of evil around him, it is quite easy to feel overtaken and overthrown by it.

So David shouts out to God for help. In Psalms 42 and 43 David describes faith as desire. Those who have been given the gift of faith, the Holy Spirit kindles a fierce love and desire for God. And so in our angst, we also cry out to God for Him to vindicate us.

Take refuge in Him, beloved.

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth

Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!

My rescue does not come in me returning to God. That I cannot do. Rescue is a passive word. God does it by sending out His light and His truth. He finds me. He brings me home to Himself.

When we hear these words “light” and “truth” we are tempted to think metaphorically about God’s salvation. But there is nothing metaphorical about it. His light and truth by which He saves us are concrete.

Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.”

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.”

God sends out His light and His truth in giving us His only begotten Son. Jesus the light — the one that exposes our darkness. The one who shows us the way. Think of a lighthouse on the shoal. There was a time that when a ship was lost at sea, that the lighthouse was a sign of great hope. It oriented the ship. It warned of the rocks. It showed where land and salvation was.

Jesus is the truth. The very truth of the Father. He revealed the Father’s love to us. He showed us the only way back to the Father. And then He charted that path back to the Father.

Not in light, but in darkness. Not surrounded by truth, but by a lie, that put Him on the Cross.

On the Cross He utters:

O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Why have you forsaken me? Jesus’ soul was cast down. For you and me.

Hope in God

His soul was cast down. His body was cut down. He was buried in a tomb. But yet there was hope. Hope that was realized on the Third Day as Jesus rent the bonds of death asunder and was raised. No enemy could trample Him again.

And for those baptized into Him,

...we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. That hope for us will be realized on the Last Day, that hope which will once again cause us to praise Him, my salvation and my God.