Sermon Tone Analysis

As one of the greatest characters in cinematic history would say, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.”

That, friends, is true.

Life is a series of ups and downs, good and bad, happy and sad.

Life is, at times, a joy; other times, it’s drudgery and sorrow and heartache.

“With a little help from John Newton, we can summarize the overall message of Psalm 31: The LORD can be trusted to preserve His servants through many ‘dangers, toils, and snares’—and disasters, troubles, fears, aggravations, and assaults.”

-DRD

“Life is like a box of chocolate...” this is true enough.

But for the believer, for the Christian, for the one who belongs to the LORD, as uncertain as this life is, we know exactly what to expect from the LORD.

We can trust Him and hide ourselves in Him, no matter what we face, whatever we might face; He is our real refuge, an ever present help in times of trouble (see Psalm 46).

If you have your Bibles (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Psalm 31.

Keep your Bibles open as we explore David’s psalm together this morning.

This is how David begins this psalm, addressing the One who is his refuge and shelter:

God is our Real Refuge (vv.

1-8)…

These opening verses are an expression of David’s confidence in the LORD.

David expresses some needs here, as I’m sure you noticed as we read.

David has some very real needs and makes some very direct appeals to the LORD.

He need deliverance and asks for deliverance.

He wants the LORD to listen to him and asks for that.

He needs rescuing and begs the LORD to come quickly to rescue him.

David believes that there is a trap set for him and is asking the LORD to keep him free from it.

Even in his need and in his appeal to the LORD, there’s a tone of confidence.

Why?

How did David get to this point of confidence in the LORD outweighing his neediness?

I believe David’s confidence comes from how the LORD has dealt with him thus far.

David knows the LORD well enough and knows enough about how the LORD operates to be confident in Him.

Four times in the NIV translation of Psalm 31, David uses the word refuge.

Three times in these first four verses, we read the word refuge.

Verse 1: In you, LORD, I have taken refuge...

Verse 2: Be my rock of refuge

Verse 4: You are my refuge

Beyond the usage of that particular word—refuge—we find the idea of “God as refuge” throughout.

Verse 2: be…a strong fortress to save me

Verse 3: Since you are my rock and my fortress

David is confident in the LORD as the one place He’s safe, the One to look to for safety.

The LORD is, I think David would say, “Our Real Refuge.”

Terrie Johnson, my mother-in-law (a very special lady), is absolutely terrified of storms.

Terrified.

Irrationally terrified.

She’ll admit it.

One of the first things she did when she moved here to Rich Hill was buy a storm shelter.

Not a bad idea if you’re afraid of storms.

For about 5 years, she lived in an apartment and felt safe from storms in her bathtub (probably the safest spot in her apartment).

But, for whatever irrational reason, the bathtub in her house won’t suffice.

Before she lived in the apartment complex, her house in Olathe had a basement where she’d hide herself during the stormy season.

That made sense.

What didn’t make any sense were the bungee-cords.

There in her basement, she felt compelled to use a series of bungee cords to secure her dog kennels to the wooden shelves (as if that somehow was going to prevent, well, anything).

But there they were.

Currently, in her house here in Rich Hill, she will sometimes sleep in the bottom bunk in her guest room, believing she’s safer there than in her own bed because she has the top bunk above her.

I don’t have the heart to tell her that I assembled those bunk beds and she’s likely less safe there than she is, well, anywhere else in her house.

Here’s the truth: Terrie’s idea of shelter from a literal storm isn’t always an actual place of shelter; most aren’t a real refuge from anything.

Now, I’m not here to poke fun at my mother-in-law.

Though I’m not not here to poke fun at my mother-in-law…

What I’m saying is this: We all place our trust in a lot of things to keep us safe that aren’t refuges in reality.

A lot of what we trust gives a sense of security, but it’s always a false sense: “As long as I have enough money, if I have my health, if I have these relationships, as long as I have my job, if I can put just one more bungee cord on this, I’ll be good.

Safe.

Secure.

Protected.”

The Bible tells us our sense of security is entirely dependent upon the source of our security.

If our sense of security is tied to/with bungee cords, or mutual funds and bank accounts, or horizontal relationships, we’re in a precarious position.

If, however, our sense of security is situated in our Savior, we’re set.

This is what David has learned to do.

He’s learned the LORD is his Real Refuge and he’s learned to trust Him.

David makes a contrast between the LORD and worthless idols.

He refers to the LORD as my faithful God (v. 5).

That is, the LORD is the God of truth.

He is Truth, and the worthless idols, the false gods are full of empty lies.

He is the God of Truth.

That is, He is the Real God; the only God in reality.

The LORD is the Real God: the Real God who has really redeemed David (a thousand times over); the Real God who has really redeemed God’s people from real trouble (a thousand times over, and then some).

He alone is our real refuge.

Verses 19-20 of this psalm say that we who take refuge in Him are sheltered in His presence; He hides us from all human schemes.

Verses 7-8 express that the Real God loves us and sees us and knows us; He protects us and stabilizes us—He sets [our] feet in a spacious place.

David is dealing with some real heavy stuff; but he has the Real God who can really deal with all of it.

The Real God, the real refuge in whom he (and we) can hide and trust.

God is our Real Refuge (vv.

1-8) in Times of Distress (vv.

9-13)

With all the confidence he can muster, and with appropriate confidence in the true and faithful God, David appeals to the LORD to be merciful.

Merciful.

The LORD has mercy to meet and exceed David’s distress.

This, David knows down deep in the depths of his soul.

He certain of the LORD’s mercy for him.

And it’s beautiful.

David is in distress: his eyes, his soul and body, his life, his years, his strength, his bones—he feels it everywhere.

He’s in distress: his enemies have isolated him from his neighbors, his closest friends seem allergic to him, passersby avoid him.

David’s been forgotten; he’s broken.

He hears people whispering about him.

People are making plans to kill him.

That’s “a horrid chunk of distress—blatant, nasty, vicious.

It doesn’t get much worse.”

David lets his distress show.

He’s real honest.

It’s raw and unfiltered.

This is part of David’s prayer.

This is what he tells to the LORD.

We get to eavesdrop on David’s prayer.

Here is David’s trouble in all its awfulness.

He’s putting it all out there to the God who is his refuge, even in times of very real, very frightening, very sad moments.

He has the freedom to give to God a full, unedited description of it all.

How privileged David is—and how privileged we are—to be able to pour out our souls before the LORD: our real refuge in times of distress.