|
|
| | |
| |
 
Selected Psalms June 13th, 2010 Lee Tankersley Click here for Print Friendly Version! Audio Version Psalm 56 
ow do we live when we are afraid? By that I don’t simply mean, “What should our manner of life be like?” or “What should our lives look like?” I want to ask and try to answer that question this morning, but I also want to ask this question on a very basic level. That is, by asking “How do we live when we are afraid,” I’m asking very straightforwardly, “How do we go on living?” After all, sometimes we can be gripped with fear that seems so powerful, we have trouble just moving forward, picking up and doing the day-to-day things that are demanded in life. There’s a reason why we talk about fear paralyzing someone, and it’s not because “paralyzing” just seems like a poetic way of describing fear’s function. It’s because fear really can have a paralyzing effect. There can actually be an energy-usurping function to fear so that you feel exhausted each day while ironically having done nothing.
So, how do we live when we are afraid? And, because we do not simply want to function in society but also in such a way that honors God and brings glory to his name, then we should also ask how it is that we live and live in such a way that we honor God in the midst of being in the clutches of great fear. I want to ask this question primarily because I think it’s the question this psalm answers. This psalm was written by David when he was afraid. The psalm’s title tells us that it was written when David was in Gath. So, just to jog our memory a bit, David fled to Gath when Saul was trying to kill him. And Gath was a land of the Philistines, whom David had killed his fair share. In fact, Gath was the very home of a famous Philistine whom David had killed named Goliath. And to make matters worse, David showed up armed with Goliath’s sword. This would be like Osama Bin Laden showing up in New York at the site where the World Trade Center once stood while burning an American flag. I mean, Gath is the last place you’d think David would flee. Why would you do that? Why would he go there? The answer is that David was desperate. Saul was on his heels was killing those who’d helped David, and was trying to kill David as well. So, a desperate man goes to great extremes, and for David, that meant fleeing to Gath. Sure enough, when David arrives, some servants of the king recognize David and say, “Isn’t this the one about whom they sang, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands [of Philistines]?’” That’s just the song David was hoping they’d not heard that had been sung around Jerusalem, I’m sure. So, David was afraid of the king. The text actually says, “And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath” (1 Sam 21:12). And it was in that place of fear that David wrote Psalm 56. Now, for us, we probably have not found ourselves in a position exactly like David’s. We’ve probably not found ourselves too much in places afraid that someone might kill us. But I know that many of us would characterize ourselves as being in a place where we are afraid. I never remember my dad receiving a death-threat when I was growing up, but I remember watching him gripped with fear at a point where he lost his job and pretty much all his savings in one day. And I know that his position is not unique. Some of you are afraid that you’ll not be able to have more children or any at all. Others are afraid your children will turn out much differently than you’d hoped. Others are giving no thought to children but simply wondering if your attempts at obeying the Lord have somehow left you in a place where you’ve kissed marriage goodbye. Still others aren’t thinking about your own possibilities of marriage or children but are worried about your parents, their holiness or lack thereof, or even whether or not they’ll live much longer. And I’m confident that I could go on to the point that most of us would acknowledge that we indeed find ourselves afraid of certain things, certain enemies in life, certain threats that come against us. So it is good that David writes this psalm, because in addressing his own fears, he helps us address ours as well. He points us to how it is that we go on living and to how it is that we go on living in a way that honors the Lord. And I want to point these out to us this morning. The first is clear in the text. It is this: We trust in the Lord, that is, we believe God’s Word David begins the psalm with a plea for God to be gracious, telling him about his enemies who are pursuing him. But it is in verses 3-4 that we hear of David’s antidote to fear. He writes, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” And he repeats refrain in verses 10-11. The first answer to dealing with our fears is to trust the Lord. But what do we mean by that? I mean, what does that really mean? “Trust God” can be a bumper sticker type slogan, can’t it? But what does it really mean? Well, David shows us I think. There’s a pattern in verses three and four with the words fear, trust, trust, and fear. David says when he’s afraid, he trusts the Lord, in God he trusts, and he will not be afraid. But notice what is central here. He says in verse 4 that he trusts in God, “whose word I praise.” That is, to trust God means to believe his Word, to trust the truth and certainty of what God says. This should not be surprising to us, if it is impossible to please God without faith, then we should anticipate that the way to fight temptation in our lives is by believing. And that’s what we find here in Psalm 56. We fight fear by trusting in God’s Word. This means that when we battle fear, we need to meditate on the promises of God, plant them in our hearts, and believe them. Most of us cannot address our fears by taking up a sword. Our fears are not enemies that we can physically slay. Rather, we need to remind ourselves of and meditate on God’s truths. This is what David says that he does, and it is what we must do as well. This is how the Scripture tells us to fight against fear. When Jesus was about to leave his disciples, and they were afraid, he told them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” You see, there it is: Do not fear . . . Believe. Now, we may think, “Well, that’s all nice and good for David. God had told him he’d be king. He knew he wasn’t going to be killed until that happened. But I’ve been told no such thing.” That’s a fine thing to say. But what have you been told? Haven’t we all been promised that God will give us what we need as we focus on advancing his kingdom? Haven’t we all be promised that God will glorify us? Haven’t we been promised that he who started a work in us will complete it? Haven’t we been promised that God will not leave us nor forsake so that we may say, “I will not fear”? Haven’t we been promised that our God will give good gifts to those who ask him? Haven’t we been promised that God will work all things in our lives together for our good? And couldn’t we go on and on with such promises? This is how we live God-honoring lives when our lives are beset with fears. We trust in God’s Word and then live in the certainty of his promises. That’s what David does in verses 12-13. As the psalm ends, David says that he will give thank offerings to God, for God has delivered him. But wait a second. Does this mean that before David finished writing the psalm that his circumstances changed? Was he is the middle of writing when one of his mighty men rushed into the room and said, “I’ve killed all your enemies with my left hand”? Of course not. But David is determined to live in light of the certainty of God’s promises. He will live, knowing that what God has promised is true. This is not David ignoring reality. It is David knowing that what is certain is not always equivalent to what is seen. We must live, trusting in the certainty of God’s promises. When we are tempted with fears, it is time for us to pause, remember the promises of God, and fight to believe them. And, let me add that though this sounds simple, it is not simplistic. That is to say, I know it’s not as if you all are going to walk out of this room and fears are all of the sudden going to fall by the wayside because you know the fight is one in which you must believe in and trust God’s Word. Don’t hear this to be simplistic. In fact, look at what David does in this psalm. By the end of verse 4, you might think the psalm is coming to a close. We’ve moved from lament to trust pretty quickly, haven’t we? But what happens in verses 5-7? What happens is that David returns to lament. Why? I think it’s to show us that sometimes the battle to trust in one we have to fight again and again, sometimes again and again in one setting. I know the battle against the temptation to covet is one in which I need to trust God that what he has for me is blessed and that if I obey him, I’ll know blessing in his kingdom far greater than anything I might covet in this life. I know that. But there have been times when I have started out mowing my yard, had a temptation to covet what another has, and have fought for the entire two hours that I’m mowing, preaching to myself what is true and right and what I must believe. Believing in and trusting God’s Word is hard. So, do not dismiss this word as something too simplistic for your struggles. It is not simplistic. Obedience to God is no doubt simple in principle, but because our flesh wages war against the Spirit, believing and trusting in God’s Word in the midst of our fears is not a simplistic answer to your problems. It is an antidote to fear that calls upon you to wage war against your unbelief. David also came to God, however, already aware of God’s disposition toward him. That is, he prayed, knowing that God was for him. And this too is a lesson for us in battling fear. We must remember God’s stance toward us As David trusted in God’s Word and turned to him in prayer, he knew that he was not praying to one who was indifferent to David or his enemies. He knew he was praying to one who was for him. He says in verse 9, “This I know, that God is for me.” And this is picked up in Romans 8 and applied to all who believe. We are told that God is for us. As we fight to trust in God, his Word, and his promises, we do not have to wonder about God’s stance toward us. God is for us. If we have faith in Jesus Christ, then we can know that we are righteous before God, redeemed by him, and we are his children whom he loves. That’s God’s position toward us. According to Romans 8, where this statement is picked up in the New Testament, God is for us not because we’ve made all kinds of good decisions in life but because before the foundation of the world he set his affection on us before we’d done anything good or bad, he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son, he called us to himself, he justified us, and he will certainly raise us from the dead. His affection was not dependent on you deserving it, for you didn’t. His affection is toward us because by faith we have been united with his Son. And because of that, we can know two things. The first one is that God will vindicate us in the end. That’s what David is focusing on in verses 6-9. He mentions that the wicked are against him, when he is attempting to honor God. But he knows that God will judge the wicked in verse 7. He knows that God will turn back his enemies in verse 9. And he knows that God is keeping count of David’s laments and keeping his tears in a bottle in verse 8. Why would God do this? I think the answer is because God will vindicate his people. I remember Paul Washer writing about a Peruvian pastor who went and preached to a people who mocked him, ridiculed him, and one even poured a bottle of urine on his head while the others laughed at him. And lest we glamorize it, I think it would be naïve of us to think that this man didn’t spend many a night with tears rolling down his face in prayer before God. Men who faithfully walk in such ways are not different from us. They hurt and cry before God. Even the Son of God made supplication with loud cries and tears. No doubt that Peruvian pastor went home and lamented, no doubt thinking, “How will I do this again tomorrow?” And to top it off, none of us knows his name. I mean, it’s a great story if someone writes a biography of him, isn’t it? It’s worth it if our names go down as that of a Christian legend, isn’t it? But that’s not real life. But you know what? It’s okay. We do not have to have praise or recognition or vindication in this life because God will vindicate us in the end. There will come a name when that Peruvian pastor’s good works are no longer secret, for God will reward him openly. Our Lord has bottled his tears so that he might vindicate him in the midst of his enemies on the final day. So, as we pray and hurt and cry in the midst of our fears and the difficulties of obeying the Lord in trying circumstances that constantly bombard us with fears, we can know that God is for us and will vindicate us in the end. But we can also know that God’s care for us is not only something we will discover on the last day. We can also remind ourselves that God loves us now. God knows the beginning from the end, but he also sees the tears you cried last night. He knows how he will work your situation together for good, but he also is keeping watch as you ache and wrestle with sleeplessness in the night. Our God is Almighty, and we need him to be that so that he might deliver us. But our Lord is also one who took on flesh and is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and struggles. When we fight against fear, we not only fight to trust God’s Word, but we also keep in mind God’s stance toward us – he is for us. Finally, we see that David doing one other thing in this psalm that is instructive for us. We must view our fears in light of eternity After David declares that he trusts in God and his Word and knows that God is for him, he says, “I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (v. 4, 11). Now the answer to that question is that man can do terrible things to us. They can physically cause us harm, kill us, or hurt our family members. They can slander us, lie about us, and cause others whom we love to turn against us. They can do things to us to make us wish we could be like a dove and fly away (as David says in Psalm 55). But ultimately, in light of eternity, they can do nothing. And David realized that. There was nothing that could alter his standing before God. There was nothing that could change the fact that God was for him. And if God was for him, what did it matter who was against him. If God is for us and the whole world is against us, then we are in a good place. This is why the early disciples could be threatened and come back asking God why the nations are silly enough to come against the church when to do so is to wage war against the Lord and against his Christ. Now, for us today, perhaps our fears are not what David’s are. But it would do us well to consider those things that cause us so much fear in light of eternity. Turn your eyes heavenward and consider the eternity that is yours in Christ. In 1553 there were five men who had been made prisoners in Lyon for preaching the gospel. They had been accused and condemned of heresy, by those who were rebellious to the gospel. And though there had been many signs that they might be freed and Calvin himself had written to them in March of 1553 with hope that they might be freed, by May it was sure that they were going to be executed. They were going to be burned at the stake. So, what do you say to such men? What do you say to someone who is doing the same thing that you’re doing only they are about to be burned alive for it? What do they need to hear? Calvin wrote to them in May of 1553, under the setting described above: “Now, at this present hour, necessity itself exhorts you more than ever to turn your whole mind heavenward. As yet, we know not what will be the event. But since it appears as though God would use your blood to sign his truth, there is nothing better than for you to prepare yourselves to that end, beseeching him so to subdue you to his good pleasure, that nothing may hinder you from following whithersoever he shall call. For you know, my brothers, that it [behooves] us to be thus mortified, in order to be offered to him in sacrifice. It cannot be but that you sustain hard conflicts, in order that what was declared to Peter may be accomplished in you, namely, that they shall carry you whither you would not. You know, however, in what strength you have to fight – a strength on which all those who trust, shall never be daunted, much less confounded. Even so, my brothers, be confident that you shall be strengthened, according to your need, by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus, so that you shall not faint under the load of temptations, however heavy it be, any more than he did who won so glorious a victory, that in the midst of our miseries it is an unfailing pledge of our triumph. Since it pleases him to employ you to the death in maintaining his quarrel, he will strengthen your hands in the fight, and will not suffer a single drop of your blood to be spent in vain.”1 He reminded them that God was for them and would vindicate them. He pointed them to the certainty of God’s promises. And he told them to consider eternity – to turn their eyes heavenward. Indeed, that is how we walk in a God-honoring way in the midst of great fears. David says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. . . . This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (vv. 3, 10-11). Let that be our prayer this morning. Amen. 1John Calvin, Selected Works of John Calvin: Tracts and Letters. Volume 5. ed, Jules Bonnett, trans. David Constable. Reprint. (Still Waters Revival Books: Edmonton, AB, Canada, 2000), 404-06. 3720 North Highland Avenue Jackson, TN 38305 731-664-3295 Contact the Webmaster
Welcome to Conerstone Community Church on the
web, we hope you enjoy your stay and come back and visit us
very soon.
| | | |