Monday, July 30, 2018

Praise, Power and Peace in the Psalms #5: Psalms 91 Full Assurance


Full Assurance

Text: Psalms 91

Audio Link
Power Point Link

 

Introduction: How do you reconcile the two following stories?

John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands.  One night hostile natives surrounded the mission station, intent on burning out the Patons and killing them.  Paton and his wife prayed during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them.  When daylight came they were amazed to see their attackers leave.  A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ.  Remembering what had happened, Paton asked the chief what had kept him from burning down the house and killing them.  The chief replied in surprise, "Who were all those men with you there?"  Paton knew no men were present -- but the chief said he was afraid to attack because he had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the mission station.

Missionary Jupp Family Tragedy a letter written from their pastor.

Dear Friends,

As you know, Pastor Jupp was tragically killed in a car accident Tuesday morning in Arkansas.  Sister Beth Jupp was driving a blue Ford van towing a
travel trailer the family has been living in the last five months on deputation around the United States.

A semi truck passed the Jupp's van and caused turbulence as it came around.  The travel trailer started to fish tail and Beth lost control of the van.  The van rolled several times and it is believed that Pastor Jupp and David were ejected.

Pastor Jupp died a short time later of a ruptured aorta.  Pastor Jupp's boy David, age 10, also died of massive head injuries.

Beth has sustained a broken collar bone and possibly has a broken foot and some broken fingers.  Robert, age 12, is currently in intensive care with a partially collapsed lung and a head injury requiring 15 staples.  Robert also has a broken arm in two places and possibly an injury to a hip.
Catherine, age 15, has a possible broken wrist and Lauren, age 13, has an injured foot.  Jeffrey, age 8, along with the entire family sustained several cuts and bruises to his body.

Pastor Jupp and David will be buried in Prosser WA. and the funeral will be Thursday April 28 at 1:00 PM.  The Jupp family did not have life insurance or medical insurance.  Beth needs any kind of financial help you can spare.

I believe we can come to grips with the tragedies of life and the deliverances of life by a study of Ps 91. I believe you will be able to see three aspects of a strong relationship with God that gives a full assurance and confidence in every situation we may find ourselves and no matter the outcome of the crisis we can still have full assurance.   

Living In the Secret Place With God Ps 91:1-8

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth [shall be thy] shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

First Assurance: Living With God In The Secret Place.

Look at the description of the secret place.
A place of shelter. vs. 1
A place of surety vs. 2.
A place of deliverance vs. 3
A place of protection  vs. 4
A place of fearlessness vs. 5
The last place we find in the secret place is a place of bravado in vs 6.

Not be afraid of the terror by night, or the arrow that flieth by day, or pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor destruction that wasteth at noonday.

Some Rabbis in the Talmud considered these descriptions to be demons, Lilith, the night demon, Natoth, the demon of pestilence, and even a demon with one eyed demon, but no name that lays waste at noonday. When I read these descriptions, I found them bad enough that I don’t need to add demons to the mix to make them worse.

How do you find the “secret place of the most High?”


I don’t know about you but this passage scares me to death.  How can we have that level of confidence?

Having this kind of assurance only happens when we understand what it means to “dwell in the secret place with God?”
The secret place is a place of shelter and nearness in the presence of God. It is a place available to all who would cling to God in times of trial and crisis.

Psalms 31:20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

1 John 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
The Secret place is entered first through faith in His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior.

John 10:7-9  Then said Jesus to them again, Verily, verily, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.  I am the door: by me if any man shall enter, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
e) Jesus is entrance into this place of shelter, but we must choose to dwell there, to remain in that close protected contact with God.
The secret place is where only you and God are, a place where only you and He can be. All that would distract you from being with Him is removed and in that secret place there is just you with you need and God with His protection.

Look at these three people who found and stayed in the secret place.  

David- Ps 5:3  My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer to thee, and will look up.

Isaiah - Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments [are] in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Jesus - Mark 1:35 And in the morning, rising a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
I think a song we sang today captures the feeling, wonder and confidence of the secret place.

Illustration: The song Dwelling in Beulah Land was written by C. Austin Miles a pharmacist who gave up his job to follow his heart and be a hymn writer. He also wrote In the Garden and New Name Written Down In Glory and a favorite chorus of my grandfather, Wide, Wide as the Ocean.  Dwelling in Beulah Land was written in 1911.

Far away the noise of strife upon my ear is falling.
Then I know the sins of earth beset on every hand.
Doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling.
None of these shall move me from Beulah Land.

Let the stormy breezes blow, their cry cannot alarm me;
I am safely sheltered here, protected by God’s hand.
Here the sun is always shining, here there’s naught can harm me.
I am safe forever in Beulah Land.

Chorus: I’m living on the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky.
I’m drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry.
O yes! I’m feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply,
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land

That song was written by someone who had experience the secret place with God.

Transition
Seek the “secret place” in your relationship with God, remove that which keeps you from God and find His presence. It is there that you first find full assurance.
Notice in vs. 9 how that assurance grows to complete confidence.

Locked In by the Love of God  Psalm 91: 9-13 


Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.  They shall bear thee up in [their] hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Second Assurance: Locked In Safety by the Love of God


Author categorically states, that no evil shall befall the one who has made Jehovah his habitation, their dwelling place.

According to vss 9-13, The angels will protect thee (Only place in Bible that mentions personal guardian angels)
b) It says, you shall tread upon lions and poisonous snakes and dragons.
c) Because you have made the LORD your habitation, you are living in Him, no harm can befall you. 
e) Now I believe this scripture, as I believe all of God’s word. I know that God cannot lie but sometime when it comes to me and the real world dangers that can come into my life, I’m a little like …
f) Transition: The three-year-old who accidentally spilled his fruit punch on the floor one day. He decided to clean up the mess himself and dashed to the back porch to get the mop. Suddenly realizing it was dark outside, he became apprehensive about reaching out the door for the mop. His mother reminded him Jesus is everywhere--even in the dark. Mark thought for a minute. Then, putting his face to the door, he yells, "Jesus, if you're out there, will you hand me the mop, please?" - Kathy Gunter Martin, Dandridge, TN. "Small Talk," Today's Christian Woman.

Kept In Christ


So what assurance can I absolutely have from these last verses?  Some have tried to say that this is a guarantee of physical invincibility. I think any of us who are adults and have been Christians for even a short length of time know that is extremely naïve and foolish. Christians die, they get sick, they suffer pain and sorrow, the get in car wrecks, they are martyred by the enemies of God and are often attacked by the god of this world and the sin that is all around us.

Didn’t Satan tell Jesus that these verse had that meaning, when he tried using this verse to tempt the Lord into throwing himself off the temple roof and proving that he was truly the Son of God and Messiah of Israel.

If anyone could have seen the invincible interpretation of this verse as the right one it would have been Jesus.  Yet, Jesus responded to Satan by telling him, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."  IE You do not dare God.

What is this passage saying then? Actually, It is a promise of ultimate and final protection, the greatest protection the most important protection, the protection of our soul.
a) When you think about it, what part of you can dwell with God right now? It is the part of me that is really me, the part of me that never changes, ages or can be destroyed, my soul. It is my soul that is lodged in God and He absolutely and without condition protects me from anything and everything Satan and this world bring against me.

John 10:27-29 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Romans 8:31-39 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the place of total confidence in God. We have this confidence choosing to be with God through Jesus Christ and we stay in this place choosing every day to dwell in Him.

Colossians 1:6-7 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:  Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

John 15:4-5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Dwelling in Him means drawing all power for living from Jesus. He will give peace and assurance that is beyond anything in ourselves.

When we dwell in Him we fear nothing for our soul is safe in our Savior. Nothing can back us down, nothing can turn us around because we know where we are and who we are in Jesus Christ

Illustration: I’m the Chicken Lady


We should be like the story I heard of a man named Christian Herter who was running hard for reelection as governor of Massachusetts, and one day he arrived late at a barbecue. He'd had no breakfast or lunch, and he was famished. As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate and received one piece of chicken. The governor said to the serving lady, "Excuse me, do you mind if I get another piece of chicken. I'm very hungry." The woman replied, "Sorry, I'm supposed to give one piece to each person." He repeated, "But I'm starved," and again she said, "Only one to a customer." Herter was normally a modest man, but he decided this was the time to use the weight of his office and said, "Madam, do you know who I am? I am the governor of this state." She answered, "Do you know who I am? I'm the lady in charge of chicken. Move along, mister." Now that was a woman who knew her position and wasn't about to be intimidated.  --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 297.

Transition:

If you dwell in the secret place with God, when you know your soul is safe with Jesus, then you will have the confidence that will let you stand against all opposition and declare, “it shall not come near me.”

One final assurance we see in Psalm 92, it is the assurance of love.

Loving God Psalms 91:14-16


Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I [will be] with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

The Third Assurance: Our Love Is Set On God


"Set his love" in Hebrew is khaw-shak' The Hebrew word expresses the strongest attachment, and is equivalent to our expression “to fall in love.” - Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament.
 It is the same word used in Exodus 38:17, 28 when talking about the rings, the fillets that bound the tabernacle wall together.

The Psalmist is telling that because we have set our love on God, we have bound, attached our self to Him in that love, then He will deliver us, and set us on high. Because we know His name, He will come when we call. He will be with us in trouble, He will delver us, honor us and give us long life and show us His salvation.

Do you have the confidence of one whose love is set on God?


Two things must take place if it will be.

First; You must love God. We will fall in love with God through Jesus Christ when we experience and know His love for us on Calvary.

1 John 4:7-10 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Second; You must know His name and call upon Him. He has made His name know through Jesus Christ, who revealed the Father to us.

Hebrews 1:1-3  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
And then knowing, seeing God in Jesus, God the Son we must call out to Him for salvation, for deliverance.

Romans 10 8-13 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
You will never have the full assurance of God’s protecting your soul until you know Him through Jesus Christ and call out to Him for salvation.

Illustration: John Bunyan, Knew The Full Assurance of God


John Bunyan was a Baptist preacher sentenced to Jail because he refused be licensed to preach by the church of England, the Anglicans, who become the Episcopalian in the United States.  He spent 7 years in a jail used for thieves and murderers, filthy, damp and infested with vermin.  He left behind his wife and three daughters, one of which was blind. He would weep uncounted hours over his family, but he never relented. He could not pastor, he could not preach. Once they offered him his freedom if he would just not preach anymore he said, “If you let me out to-day I shall preach again to-morrow.”

Bunyan had this great confidence, this full assurance because of his relationship with God.  Even in the midst of a filthy jail cell, he was in the secret place with God. He wrote the book “Pilgrim’s Progress” for centuries the most printed book of all time except for the Bible. He also wrote the following poem about being a pilgrim.

He who would valiant be 'Ginst all disaster, Let him in constancy
Follow the Master. There's no discouragement Shall make him once relent His first avowed intent To be a pilgrim.

Who so beset him round With dismal stories, Do but themselves confound,
His strength the more is. No foes shall stay his might Though he with giants fight;
He will make good his right To be a pilgrim.

Since, Lord, Thou dost defend Us with Thy Spirit, We know we at the end
Shall life inherit. Then fancies flee away! I'll fear not what men say, I'll labor night and day
To be a pilgrim. - John Bunyan.

Conclusion: 

How is your confidence this morning? Do you stand in the full assurance of a strong relationship with God?

Are you dwelling in the shelter of God? 
It begins when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and continues as you walk daily with Him.

Have you made God your habitation?
Do you understand that it is must me completely in God and God completely in me.  Anything else will leave me weak and afraid.

Have you set your love upon God and called to Him?
Do you know the love of God through Jesus Christ who died for you? Do you know the Father, through the Son. You can’t set your love upon God until you have experienced the love of God through the forgiveness of sin in the death of Jesus, taking our place on Calvary’s cross.

Monday, July 23, 2018

Praise, Power and Peace in the Psalms #4: Ps 39 Overcoming


Overcoming

Text: Psalms 39:1-13

Audio Link

 
Introduction: One of the great things about Christians, is they can never be defeated, not really.  Because God is a God of forgiveness, because he is a God of second chances and second winds.  The most devastated Christian must do is call out and believe and God says, “Let’s take what we’ve learned and go on from here.”

            It’s a little like the story of the man who was working his first day on the job.  He was a truck driver for a glassware company.  He was pulling out of the factory with his first load, when he lost control of his truck and ran into a side-swiped a brick wall right outside the factory gate.  All the glass came loose from the truck and crashed into the street.  All the traffic stopped and because it was a busy downtown street a crowd gathered around.  The truck driver got out and looked at the mess knowing he was in trouble. 

            A well-dressed older gentleman walked out from the crowd and walked up to the driver.   “Son, are you alright?” he asked.  “Yes, sir,” the driver replied.  “What do you think is going to happen because you wrecked this truck?”  “Well, sir,” I guess I’m going to lose my job.”  

            The old man turned to the crowd, quite large by now and said, “Good people, this man is going to lose his job because of the unfortunate wreck he had today.  I wonder if all of us could put just a little in the hat to help him out.”  With that he threw in a $50 bill.  The rest of the people were so moved by the example of kindly old man that they generously gave.  When the hat was return there was over $1000 dollars for the driver.

            “Here, the man said, Give this to your supervisor, tell him what happened and you won’t get fired.”  Then he handed the money to the driver, put on his hat and walked away.

            One of the bystanders walked up to the driver and said, “That sure was a kind-hearted man.”

            “Yes, replied the driver, “And he’s a pretty smart boss, too!”
           
You know that’s the way it can be with God.  I can mess things up but He is able to “Find Victory in Defeat, Strength in Weakness and Success in Failure” We know He can yet many times, it doesn’t happen.  Why?  Not because He is not able but because I won’t let Him. Let’s go to Ps 39 and I want you to see three stages of understanding myself that are necessary before God can overcome failure in my life.

Self-Righteous

Psalm 39:1-3 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.  I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.  My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,

David Struggles and Fails

Notice the use of the first person in these opening verses.
David says, “I will take heed, I will keep my mouth.”

He had made his determinations, he had set his moral goals. His intentions were the best. He would guard his speech and his actions before the wicked. But the result of David’s reliance on himself was failure.

He winds up saying “I was dumb with silence, I held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred.”

Ultimately, in his own strength, he failed, “my heart was hot, then spoke I with my tongue.” The thing he had determined to do, “keep his mouth” he failed to do and he spoke in anger before the wicked.

Doing my best and failing.

We can often be like David
We have the best intentions and we determine that we will do better.
I can be just like David, guarding my tongue or my actions. It can be a sinful habit, one that I cannot control, instead it is controlling me. It could be a character flaw like anger, gossip, or bitterness. More dangerously it could even be my own soul’s salvation.  Either trying to obtain salvation by my works or my own morality or trying to keep my salvation through those same works and being good in my own strength and power.

We determine, just as David “I will be good, but also just like David we fail, the best we can come to is a paralysis of ourselves, unable to do anything. Finally, we just quit, and the guilt and shame of our failure overwhelms us.

Here is the first lesson we need to learn about overcoming failure, we cannot find victory in our own power or our own self-righteousness.

Illustration: Jesus dealing with the self-righteous Pharisees

Listen to what Jesus said. Matthew 23:25-28 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Transition:  David was no hypocrite and he turned to God after his own righteousness failed him. After we understand we will always fail because of our own self-righteousness the next stage of understanding is self-evaluation though God’s revelation.

Self-Evaluation 

Psalm 39:4-6  LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.  Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.  Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

David turns to God to see himself as he really is.

David prays, “Make me to know my end, the measure of my days, how frail I am.” He is not asking for the day of his death, but that God would remind him that his time on earth is very limited.
“Behold, my days are as short as the width of a hand”, nothing in comparison to the eternity of God.
Every man, all his best accomplishments, all his victories are just vain, and empty, a void.
The best we do is left behind and we do not even know who will gather them up.

Will I let God show me myself?

Most of us cannot really evaluate ourselves fully or truthfully. We need an outside arbitrator, an unbiased appraisal, we need the word of God and the Holy Spirit to show us who we really are.
When we look into God’s word, there are some things that are always true for all people.

We are sinful.  Ps 14:1-3, The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 2  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

 We are weak and short lived Ps 103:14-16 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.  For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

We are fighting a losing battle against God Ps 90: 9-12 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath

We need God Ps 61:1-4 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.

Many cannot bear to see themselves as they really are, weak, sinful, frail, and yes, fighting against the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.

Satan wants to keep us in a state of denial, we aren’t that bad, we have plenty of time, we aren’t fighting God. Maybe there really isn’t a God at all. To overcome failure I must go to God and let God show me what it wrong before I can in his power overcome failure.

Illustration: Afraid to go to the one who can tell us our condition


I knew a man, member of my first church, who came to me for prayer. He was afraid he might have cancer. We talked and prayed and then I asked him what the doctor had said about his illness. He replied, “Oh I haven’t gone to the doctor. I’m afraid he’ll tell me I really do have cancer!”

The same man asked the entire church to prayer for his eyes because he thought he was going blind. This went on for months. One day he came to church and said God had answered his prayers he could see great, turns out he needed new pair of glasses. He was so afraid of being told he was going blind he walked around for months before going to the optometrist.

We can smile at that brother but we may be doing something much worse, refusing to go to God and letting him show me what my life is really like, what my soul is really like that He may begin to make it right.

Transition: This is exactly what David and what he did next where he overcome. He called out to God and realized that in God’s mercy he could find strength and peace. We will call this last stage….

Self-Realization

Psalm 39:7-13 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.  Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.  I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.  Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.  When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.  Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.  O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

David Finds Himself In God


After David see himself in God’s eyes, he calls out to the only One who can help him overcome,

He calls in sorrow, “at my tears,” He calls in loneliness “a stranger and a sojourner. He calls in weakness “that I may recover strength.”

He calls in weakness, “What wait I for?  My hope is in Thee”

He calls to God for reconciliation, “Remove thy stroke from me.” 

Then, only after reconciliation He calls for recovery. “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my cry, that I may recover strength.” 

Find Him and You will Find Yourself


People are always talking about finding themselves, discovering who they are and finding their purpose in life. Those quest of self-realization can never be accomplished with knowing who God is and your relationship to Him.

When I find Him then I will know that I may be helpless but I am never hopeless because “My hope is in God.” My time on earth may be but a breath of air, but in Him I will live eternally. My greatest accomplishments, done in my power, will rot away to dust but glass of water given in Jesus name will bring a reward in heaven that will never fade away. Find Him and you will find yourself.

Finally, when you find Him you must call upon God to find your strength. David said, “Psalm 39:12-13 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; …. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.”

This is just realizing who you are and then just giving yourself, your weakness, your failure, your defeats, your fears to God and then trusting Him to bring victory where you could not. Knowing that God will overcome failure in my life with His grace, strength and power.
But it will not happen unless you call. We must be like…

Illustration: On the Jericho Road.

Mark 10:46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

No one had to show Bartimaeus his condition, he was a blind beggar. No one had to tell him what he needed that day, he knew he needed Jesus and most importantly no one could tell him to shut up. He called, and Jesus gave Bartimaeus what he could not find in himself, light and hope and purpose.

Conclusion:

This morning, are you standing in your own self-righteousness? Telling yourself that you are good enough, strong enough or smart enough to deal with what this world will challenge you with? Let me tell you from personal experience, you are not.

Instead of standing in your own strength you should be looking through God’s eyes at the person you really are. Not the person you pretend to be but the real person of the heart and soul, the person only God can see and reveal.

Isn’t it time to let God change that person into the one that has light, hope and purpose? Let’s quit fighting God and begin trusting God. Let’s find ourselves by finding Him and then be an overcomer.