Monday, March 23, 2020

Crisis, Christ, and Confidence - Psalm 3


[Boothbay Baptist Church, like many other churches around the country, has temporarily suspended public service in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. For the next couple of weeks, I will be doing my messages as an informal Bible lesson from the church office, streamed live on FaceBook. If you look me up on facebook, or go to the church's facebook page, you will be able to follow the recordings. I will have an audio recording of the message posted to the church website as well. The study below is the basis of the teaching, but not a transcript]. 

Crisis, Christ, and Confidence
Psalm 3
       For our first remote message during this challenging moment, I decided to step away from our current series in I Thessalonians for a week, and to look together at a passage I recently preached while visiting our daughter and her family down in NJ, Psalm 3. I decided to turn to this text this week, because it seems to speak to faithful living in a time of crisis. I’ve borrowed the title from the posting from Westminster Seminary on my Facebook page, “Crisis, Christ, and Confidence,” as it states well the reality of our situation, and our sure hope in Christ. The psalms are the prayers of Israel in the face of the challenges of living in a fallen world. The consequences of the Fall are all around us – God created a world that was “good,” but human sin brought death and the curse. Plagues and pandemics have hit the world in times past. The question is, how do we respond? Psalm 3 gives us a model of faith in a time of crisis.
       Psalm 3 is the first of the the biggest category of psalms in the Psalter, the laments – the songs in which the psalmist is crying out in a situation where it seems they are alone, when it may appear that the promises of God are failing. Whether it is natural disasters like a pandemic, or a personal trial that strikes us or our family, believers are not exempt from suffering…  Through the years I’ve had many people ask me, “What did I do to deserve this?” In many cases the best I can do is quote Romans 5:12… and say you were born into this fallen world. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation… The question is, how do we respond when trials come? Our prayer list tells the story, we have people who are sick, a couple who is having to transition to assisted living, all of us facing the uncertainty of how this virus is going to impact our family and our community and our world. We are reminded that we live as pilgrims in a fallen world.
       Psalm 3 addresses the question of how to find confidence in God in the midst of a life-shaking, faith-testing crisis.  Are we there yet? This Psalm will show us that abundant life doesn’t mean life without problems – rather it is a life that rises above the chaos and finds hope. Because of our position in Christ, because of the promise of victory in Jesus, we can stand firm through it all. Psalm 3 is the first psalm with a heading…
A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN HE FLED FROM ABSALOM HIS SON.
That ancient heading gives us the Historical Context: David’s world was falling apart around him and it was no doubt one of the most painful, heart-wrenching times of his life.  The heading alludes to the story we have in 2 Samuel 15:13-16…
13 And a messenger came to David, saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom."  14 Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, "Arise, and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword."  15 And the king's servants said to the king, "Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides."  16 So the king went out, and all his household after him...
To be betrayed by one of your own people would have been difficult enough, but this rebellion was fomented by David’s own son, his own flesh and blood. This is the son who, when he was finally killed at the end of this rebellion, David mourned so intensely, “Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son, would that I had died instead of you…”  What parent would not willingly lay down their life for their child? And then to be betrayed by one that you so loved, what could be worse?
       As we watch the news reports, whether it is storms, like the tornadoes that devastated some areas in Tennessee, wild fires last year in CA, or this virus that is sweeping around the planet, we see Christians suffering as well as unbelievers…  Believers are not exempt from pain and trials in this life.  What do we do when the bottom drops out?  Do we respond to disaster and suffering, to trials in life, or to our lives and our livelihood being disrupted by a spreading virus, differently than those who don’t know God?  We take the prescribed precautions, but our trust is in God.
 I. LOOK UP! Look to God, prayer is our response to crises (Psalm 3:1,2). 
O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;  2 many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. Selah   
       David could perhaps imagine what his enemies were saying, maybe the reports had gotten to his ears: “Where is you God now?”  Let’s understand that David struggled against physical enemies, his own son leading an insurrection. It is important to know the enemy: our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against “principalities, against powers… against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places…” We are in the world, on a mission. And people are not our enemies. They are our mission field!  We are in a spiritual battle. Satan is liar, in times of trial he’ll tempt us to doubt either God’s goodness, or to question God’s power, his ability to help us in our time of need… Since Genesis 3 we can see the pattern established – the enemy knows us, he knows our weaknesses, and he will use his lies to cause us to begin to doubt God. It is nothing new, it started in the Garden, putting questions in Eve’s ear… “Did God really say…” 
       And if it isn’t what God’s Word that he questions, it will be to cause us to have doubts about God’s goodness. Many times I have heard people ask, “Don’t I have a right to be happy?  Or, “I know that is a general principle, but this situation is different…” Different? Really? No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man… God’s word is truth, and it is best, always. Will we take Him at His word?
        Not only in the process of temptation, but it’s sometimes when we stumble that the enemy talks the loudest… “look at what you’ve done, how could God forgive someone like you, how could he love you?” Look to the Lord, don’t listen to the enemy! Our sin is why Jesus came, and his mercies are new every morning… If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
         That is where David starts in Psalm 3, he cries out to God in the midst of his crisis, he looks in the right direction, he looks up to the Lord. N.B. the word “LORD” that begins this psalm, the very first word, “Yahweh,” Jehovah God, the Great I AM.  In fact six times in eight verses David uses the divine name to speak of God. He is the God who created us and who chose to enter into a covenant relationship with us. The God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. The God who has spoken through the prophets and revealed himself in history. The God who keeps his promises.  In another psalm we read; Psalm 121:1-2, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills -- From whence comes my help?  2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.” When crises come, and they will, believers can look up, and know that God is there, He never changes, He is faithful!  When trials come, don’t despair, rather, look to the Lord, remember His faithfulness, trust in His goodness.. We look up, and then we can…
II. Look back, and Remember all He has done (Psalm 3:3-5)!
3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.  4 I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah  5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
        Again, notice how it is that David addresses God in these verses… “But you O LORD.” written in all capital letters, “YHWH”. 6 times in 8 verses he specifically uses this name that is connected with God’s covenant promises in the OT.   One other time, when he uses “Elohim”, he specifically says “my God” and it is parallel with “LORD” (v.7).   David is addressing the God he knows, with whom he has a relationship.  The God who speaks and who acts in human history.  In the midst of his crisis David cries out to the true God in his pain.  I really believe that God wants that kind of honesty…
        But you o Lord…” This is what the world is saying, these are the charges of the enemy, this is the pain I am feeling and the questions that burden me, BUT YOU, YAHWEH…” There is already hope in David’s words as he looks back and begins to reflect on who God is and what he has done in his life…
        You are “My shield, my Glory, the Lifter of my head…” David had a history with God, he could look back and remember how God had protected him and given him victories in impossible situations.  He could remember his encounter with the Giant Goliath, “The battle is the Lord’s and he will deliver you into our hands…” That was an impossible, almost ludicrous mismatch from a human perspective… David could recall how God had preserved him from the evil intentions of Saul… How could he possibly hope to escape the king’s wrath? Yet David trusted God, and even when opportunities came, he refused to lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed king. David knew the truth the apostle Paul would later express: “If God is for us, who can stand against us?  He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32).
       With my voice I call to the Lord, and He answers me…”  David knew the reality of answered prayer.  The connection between the verbs is emphatic, in the Hebrew text they are together: “I call, and he answers me…” Our God is a God who hears and answers the prayers of His people. David in his present crisis could look back and remember how God had heard and answered his prayers. Have you experienced answered prayers?  Notice the psalm tells us God answered, “…from his holy hill…” David wasn’t writing this in Jerusalem.  Every indication is that this was his prayer in the midst of the crisis: in the wilderness, far from Jerusalem, the “city of peace,” the place that God had chosen for his name to dwell, the place where one day the temple would be built.  David knew it was not only on the holy hill that God could hear, but even in the deepest of the valleys, God is present, and He hears. And friends, we can know that it is not only in those moments of blessing and smooth sailing, even in the storms, in the deepest valleys of life, God is there, and He is good, we can trust Him.
       And so, David could say, “I lay down and sleep, I awake, for the Lord sustains me…” David knew that Yahweh was his protector, even when he was asleep, even when he was most vulnerable.  Kings were considered to be mighty men, powerful warriors, but even warriors were completely vulnerable as they slept. We see that in the story of Sisera, in Judges 4:15-21…
15 And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot.  16 And Barak pursued the chariots and the army… and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.  17 But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite...  18 And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid." So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.  19 And he said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty." So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him.  20 And he said to her, "Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, 'Is anyone here?' say, 'No.'"  21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep... So he died.
A mighty man of war, slain by a woman as he lay sleeping, completely vulnerable. We know that King Saul was head and shoulders over the men of Israel… Likewise a mighty leader and warrior, but look at the scene in 1 Samuel 26:6-12,
Then David said… "Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with you."  7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him.  8 Then said Abishai to David, "God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice."  9 But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD's anointed and be guiltless?"  10 And David said, "As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.  11 The LORD forbid that I should put out my hand against the LORD's anointed..." 
Even a King as mighty as Saul, was completely vulnerable. *A child asked: Mommy, are you sure God never sleeps? That’s right dear…” Listen, When trials come, don’t despair, rather, look to the Lord, remember His faithfulness, trust in His goodness… These are uncertain times, but whatever we’re facing, God has got this!
III. LOOK AHEAD, Rest in the Promise of his Coming (3:6-8). David recognized the enemy’s lies, and he remembered how God had saved him and always been with him.  He then looks ahead in faith. Our series in 1 Thessalonians will pick up on this idea!
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.  7 Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.  8 Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! Selah
       I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me…” It is astounding to see this sudden change in attitude, yet it’s something we frequently see in the psalms of lament: confidence in God that seems to come from nowhere, a peace that passes all understanding.  What was really different? The crisis had not gone away, David was still in the wilderness, and Absalom was still leading the insurrection… What was different was David’s perspective. Look at 2 Kings 6:15-17,  
When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
 If God is for us who can stand against us?” A little perspective helps! Psalm 3:7 could be paraphrased,  Save me Lord, for you are the God who saves!  David prays to the God who had delivered him in the past to save him in this present crisis… The Big Picture…   God is in control… We have more information than even David… Jesus wins! Salvation belongs to the LORD! Your blessing be upon your people. Jesus took the curse, he drank the cup of wrath, so that we could so that we could drink the cup of blessing. So…
What is God saying to me here?  When trials come, don’t despair, rather, look to the Lord, remember His faithfulness, trust in His goodness. He is your sure hope!
What would God have me to do in response to this passage?  This COVID-19 situation has brought tension and uncertainty into our lives. Some of you may be facing other crises as well.  Be assured that God is good, he is present, and he still loves you.  God is not surprised by anything we face. This pandemic did not surprise Him. He wants us to come to Him, to express our confusion and pain, but to trust Him in the midst of it, and even grow through it. It is a chance to show our faith by our works. To love one another, and to love our neighbor. God never changes, he’s the same yesterday, today and forever.  Trust Him. He loves you, he’ll never leave you or forsake you. 
       Remember the story of Horatio Spafford, who in the face of tragedy made the ocean crossing to meet his grieving wife. He sailed near the place where his four daughters had drowned. There, in the midst of his sorrow, he wrote:
     When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll,
     Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.
     Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blessed assurance control,
     That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

     My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, Is nailed
     to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord! Praise the Lord O my soul!   
We are pilgrims in a fallen world. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring. Things may get worse before they get better. But God is still on the throne. He is bigger than COVID-19.  He is with us. And we know the end of the story: Jesus wins! And the best is yet to come! Amen.

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