Look for God

I am Pastor Dave Peters or DP, I am the Pastor of Youth and Young Adults Ministries. Welcome to those who have joined us here or online.

Image: My first year at DTS

As many know we moved to CT from Texas last year in March of 2020. I would like to share with my transition from Ontario to Texas a few years ago as I went to my grad school.

My story begins with a 10-hour work shift where I built cars in a Toyota Factory in Canada, I drove to the border of US from Ontario, guess what? Wrong paperwork.

I had to turn my car around and leave my car in Canada. I start calling friends and figuring things out. I found a flight. A full day of calling, booking, and trying to figure things out I find an evening flight.

I get to airport in Detroit for flight to leave at 7PM, bear in mind I have been running around switching a day from driving to flying literally from one country to another.

And... flight is delayed from original 7PM departure to 2AM. I’m already at the airport without a ride elsewhere.

I wait, flight gets delayed until 3:15 AM departure, apparently the plane went literally to the wrong city.

Keeping in mind I haven’t slept comfortable in 24 hours; I finally arrive in Dallas and sleep for 2 hours and begin my first day in Dallas at 6AM.

That is how I arrived in Dallas. Knowing nobody, no job, no friends, in a strange city that I had never been to before.

Physical delays and physical problems face us all there was another type of pain I had. A few weeks before I left for Dallas, I was becoming committed to a girl the whole boy meets girl scenario. We had gone back and forth but I was ready to make a commitment as a relationship. She decided to let me know she wasn’t in the same place. How?

Facebook.

A direct message? No, she updated her relationship status. Not with me, but with a guy she guaranteed was ‘just a friend’.

There I was in Dallas.

An emotional wreck as I felt all the feelings of betrayal, hurt, and deception.

Physically destroyed from lack of sleep and rest.

Financially, I’m a student making a student wage at no job. A city I knew nothing about. Relationally isolated as I knew nobody or had any people of trust.

Spiritually, denying myself and purposely avoiding God because I knew I was about to fall apart in tears.

At my best in this situation for my first year, I was surviving.

Need: We can all find ourselves in the state I was in, focused upon Surviving. Maybe this last year has been largely marked by Surviving or Disorientation.

The reality is we will all have seasons of survival to face; what form they take and how intense is anybody’s guess but what we need to realize is how we orient properly in any season.

The Psalms shows us how.

Subject: A writer named Walter Bruggeman said we can look at the Psalms from two perspectives:

First, every Psalm could fit into one or more categories that are focused upon:

Surviving - a time when we don’t have to guess what state we are in, its marked by weariness

Reviving - a time when things seem to be reconnecting and life has a different flavor

Thriving - a time when clarity, growth and direction aren’t questioned, they are lived.

Other words could be Disorientation, Reorientation, and Orientation.

The second perspective in that the Bible reveals to us how God is speaking to humanity by Biblical Revelation.

But only the Psalms, unique among all the other books, shows us how we as people speak to God.

In my first year of Dallas, I thought I would learn how God speaks to man through my learning of the Bible, what I learned was how do I talk to God and have the proper perspective.

The uniqueness of our Psalm is that it fits all three categories mentioned Surviving, Reviving, and Thriving.

It is found in Psalm 4

I will give you a few moments to find your spot at Psalm 4

We will read for NASB for those following along here or live.

Psalm 4:1-8

1 Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

2 You sons of man, how long will my honor be treated as an insult? How long will you love what is worthless and strive for a lie? Selah

3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly person for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him.

4 Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed and be still. Selah

5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the Lord.

6 Many are saying, “Who will show us anything good?” Lift up the light of Your face upon us, Lord!

7 You have put joy in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine are abundant.

8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, Lord, have me dwell in safety.

The context in which this Psalm is likely written is when King David facing the rebellion of his Son Absalom as told in 2 Samuel 16

Absalom is David’s son who decided he wanted to be king, early and David to have an early retirement. Early retirement meant kill his dad. In fact, Absalom brought an entire war to Israel and in these moments is when David begins his Psalm.

As we follow David’s Psalm 4, we will see three main perspectives.

First perspective is that David was Looking FOR God amid Surviving, this is seen in v.1-2

Second, David was Looking TOWARD God which brought him into a change of Reviving as he addressed his enemies and likely his own rebellious son v.3-5

Third, David was Looking AT God which brought him into a place of Thriving v.6-8

Keep your focus upon Psalm 4 as we see David begin his first perspective of surviving by “Looking for God”

The style of Psalm 4 is called a Psalm of Lament.

A lament is not a common word but I like how writer Mark (VOR-IE-GOP) Vroegop put it

"Lament is the honest cry of a hurting heart wrestling with the paradox of pain and the promise of God’s goodness.”

“Honest cry of a hurting heart wrestling with the paradox of pain and the promise of God’s goodness”

We may not always call it a lament but as believers we have this paradox of pain where we wrestle with the fact that we, our loved ones, our culture, our world is in pain.

Pain of betrayal. Pain of lies. Pain of death, sickness, and the list goes on and on and yet; somewhere whether clearly or deep down we know God to be good, even if it doesn’t feel that way.

In the moment between both of those suffering and goodness we find our paradox of lament.

David is starting in that moment as he cries in v.1 “Answer me when I call.” David is calling out to God from a real place of pain and honest distress. He is looking for God in his pain.

All of us at one time or another have been slandered, attacked, and find ourselves in pain.

This Psalm is not a psalm of where a David is recognizing his sin, other psalms do that, but rather it is a psalm of anguish of the innocent suffering.

And look what he says

“God of my righteousness You have relieved me in my distress.”

King David knows God does not need to answer Him, yet David’s approach is not one that demands but one that is balanced, he both recognizes God’s perfection and his own failings.

The phrase “God of my righteousness” speaks how God acts as one who is righteousness.

God acts in a way that is right, in right relationship with anyone and everyone he interacts with.

God and God alone the one who makes David righteous.

David faces pain yet he says, “God of my righteousness you have relieved my distress.”

We have a lot of voices in our world right now telling us “Listen to my voice I have the answer”

Sources like news, friends, family, social media, internet, experts, or a host of other voices.

These sources aren’t bad, some are better than others, but David makes it clear in a time of need he turns to God. We may claim this at times, but our actions, attitude or reality of prayer life may speak a different story.

David is recognizing the fact that he is not perfect.

“Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.”

Be gracious, have mercy, know that I am not perfect. Know that I don’t get it right.

David knows that he is not perfect, he cannot truly demand God to answer him, but he seeks out anyways.

Even when he is blaming God for his pain he is still crying out to God and seeking his mercy.

Spiritual maturity is not about how well we are doing or feeling, it is about going to go God despite how we are doing or feeling.

To Look for God starts with seeking after Him, we go to God first and other sources second.

He transitions in v.2

2 You sons of man,

Sons of man is a title here for people of wealth and power. Asking them questions about How Long will you love what is worthless and strive for a lie?

David changes his appeal away from God to show us the root of his pain. His enemies in this context are insulting and slandering him. David is innocent in this matter, but his enemies are continuing to attack with hatred.

Realize though David doesn’t speak in anger to them but rather he is calling them away. He is asking them to see that God made him King, and not them.

That is why their insults are worthless.

In v.3 David starts to realize something, David is making an address to those who hate him.

But as he talks, he is teaching himself. The beauty of a heartfelt address is that it’s our heart that gets encouraged.

David begins reviving by “Looking Towards God” in perspective in v.3

3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly person for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him.

David is a King who has been set apart, not by his works or own goodness but because God set him apart.

As he reminds his enemies that God loves him, he realizes He is loved.

The message of Jesus is that we are set apart.

We constantly speak of this in the youth group; and hopefully it gets through. The gospel is the good news that there is nothing we can do, no amount of good works or good actions that can save us except that by the grace and works of Jesus.

As believers were set apart, not by our own actions but the actions of our true King who died upon a cross and saved us in his death and resurrection.

In my first year at DTS. I recognized I was in pain. My enemies were not people, but my pain, confusion, and insecurity.

If that is us today, do what David did.

Remind our enemies; people or thoughts, that God takes care of his own.

God takes care of his own not by relieving pain but drawing us closer to Him.

Pain can do that. God can and does take us through suffering, so we are forced to look towards Him.

We sometimes think the solving of problems is the absence of them; this is false.

Maturity is not how well we are doing; it is going to God despite how we think, do, or feel.

Verse 4 emphasizes this perspective to Look towards God.

4 Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed and be still. Selah

I recognize this may be an odd phrase “Tremble” other translation says “Be Angry” or “Stand in awe”

To summarize, David calls his enemies to pay attention to their emotions by realizing how they ‘feel’ or ‘tremble’

We sometimes think that emotions of sadness, hurt, regret, pain, or even anger can cancel out our connection with God or show we aren’t loving him enough.

The Psalms of lament reverse that and in fact they reveal something crucial.

Emotions do not need to move us away from God, or be suppressed and ignored but rather can be used to move us towards God.

The Psalms continually call us towards. Take our emotions towards God, whatever they are.

Emotions do not give an excuse to sin as mentioned in v.4

We are called to be people of control in our actions, not controlled by emotions.

But realize the verse does not tell us to ignore, downplay, or reject our emotions but rather to look towards God in any emotion which results in v.5

5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the Lord.

There is a lot of contexts around offering sacrifices but let me summarize it this way.

To offer the proper sacrifice is to come in a humble, broken, and confessing heart. We take a mindset and attitude of being broken and humble before God. To trust in the Lord is the key to looking toward God.

The reality is in the Psalmist’ enemies never understood what David was saying to them.

They missed it as we look at v.6

6 Many are saying, “Who will show us anything good?”

Who will show us anything good? I believe this is a question of our world right now.

The enemies of David are upset, angry, and they see nothing good in their circumstances. Our culture has been marked a lot by this recently in political, racial, and cultural divides “who can show us anything good?”

People are always looking to seek for the good, but they make the mistake of looking for the good in their circumstances.

We as Christians are called to address and realize our circumstances whether personal or cultural, but we are not defined by them.

Our definition is that we are those who are Looking at God and He is the true good.

Our final perspective is Thriving and look how it starts.

v.6 Lift up the light of Your face upon us, Lord! 7 You have put joy in my heart,

Lift up, look at, realize, and feel the Light of God. To see God is to thrive.

To be in God’s will is the safest place we can be.

We can find a different type of joy, a spiritual joy when we look at God.

Not something based upon our needs or desires being met.

I find it funny how David puts it this way in v.7 “More than when their grain and new wine are abundant.”

Paraphrased: We find more joy in our heart by looking at God then when others have all the food, drink, ideal circumstances, and abundance ever given. The joy we feel in the worst circumstance is greater than in other’s best circumstances.

Looking at God brings a person of God true joy.

That seems like an impossible standard, it is if we try to do it without Jesus.

Focus on v.8 For You alone, Lord, have me dwell in safety.

For you alone, Lord. King David was looking toward God in a place of covenant relationship with God and Israel. The invisible God.

Jesus is the perfect and only representation of the invisible God that is the perfect image

Col 1:15 “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God”

What King David desired and looked forward to a perfect Messiah King.

David looked forward to the coming of Jesus, we live in a time when we can look at Jesus because of what he has already done in the past

v.8 “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord make me to dwell in safety”

In peace, we can leave our problems with God, he will take them. He will enable us to rest.

How can we begin this journey today? Moving from a place of surviving, reviving, and thriving?

Here’s our challenge, not just adults but kids as well.

In our phones or on a piece of paper make two lists. Yes, I’m giving you permission to use your phone, no I am not giving you permission to check your social media.

In the first list the three things we talked about

Surviving – Looking for God

Reviving – Looking Towards God

Thriving – Looking at God

In the second list make a list of four places

1) Relationship with God – our closeness and obedience with Him

2) Family / Friends – our closeness in marriage, children, friends, and loved ones

3) Vocation / Work – our workplace, career, school, home you are called to serve in,

4) Rest / Play – how is our emotional state, when was the last time you rested well?

Two lists, surviving/ reviving/ thriving and – Relationship with God, Family Friend, Vocation, and Rest.

The next step is match them up.

Is our relationship with God in a place of thriving where we see life overflow or surviving where we are feeling like we are grasping for peace with God? How about family? Vocation? Rest?

You could find all of them in surviving or reviving but reflect and write down what would we mark each of these four as surviving, reviving, or thriving.

The final step is share it with two people: One person inside your circle or home. The second person is someone not in our home; if we aren’t sure who this is, look around. This is one of the reasons BE Free church exists, to do this together, any of us pastors would be happy to come alongside you here.

We sometimes think that that thriving is the only place God can really work, but that’s not true.

God is working in any place we find ourselves. In fact, the gospel works in all three places because when we were lost, we looked for God, when the Spirit revealed Jesus to us, we began to look toward God, and when Jesus rescued us, we could see the invisible God clearly as we looked at Jesus.

“For you alone, O lord, make me to dwell in safety beyond any circumstance whether we are surviving, reviving, or thriving.”

Our Benediction comes from a cross-reference in which Psalm 4 was quoting

Numbers 6:24–26.

The Lordbless you

and keep you;

the Lordmake his face shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

the Lordturn his face toward you

and give you peace.

Thank you for joining us today, if this is your first time whether here in person or online, we would love to hear from you!