2024-08-11 - Covenant CRC - sermon only - Joel Kok
Transcript
Psalm 34
God is our refuge
Well, I can say now that Trish and I have returned from being away, I feel grateful in all kinds of ways. And one of my most grateful things is to see you. So glad to be able to worship with you and to help us worship. We're going to ask God to give us his Holy Spirit so that we can understand what God is saying, both where you go to worship and where we stay here to worship.
So let's join in what we call a prayer of illumination. Let's pray now. Gracious God, we pray for the illumination of your Holy Spirit. Lord, you know that whether we are young or old, whatever our situation, we can't see anything unless you open our eyes through the gift of your Holy Spirit. And please open also our ears and our hearts, our whole lives to what you are saying to us this morning in order to give us life in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
The first reading that'll lead to the meditation, the sermon this morning is Psalm 34, and we already read part of Psalm 34 as a responsive reading for our beginning of worship, and now we're going to read it, for the Word of God that we'll explore through a sermon. And so we'll read the whole Psalm, and we'll also notice that above this Psalm is something that people call a superscription.
And a superscription are just some words that can connect the Psalm to some ways of music, or in this case, can connect it to some stories from the Bible, especially a story about David that we'll explore. And there are some questions in regard to this superscription. I'll deal with them as briefly as I can during the sermon, but for now we'll read the circumscription, and then we'll go into the word of God through Psalm 34.
So here's the , context that is part of the story of this Psalm. This is a Psalm of David. Again, there's some questions there, but let's listen for the word of God here in Psalm 34. We can all hear God saying and helping us to say back to God,
I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord. Let the afflicted here and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called and the Lord heard him. He saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. And he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Come my children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from speaking lies, turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers them from them all.
He protects all his bones. Not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked. The foes of the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems his servant. No one will be condemned who takes refuge in him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Well, friends, as we just heard in that last verse today, our Lord comes to us through our reading as our refuge.
God comes to us as our refuge. Now, in this Psalm and in the biblical story as a whole, for God to come to us as our refuge means that God comes to us as a protecting presence. amid the difficulties and dangers of the world.
And then, because our God is such an amazing God, God is refuge is not just protection. It's also eventually transformation as well. And to experience those biblical truths, to experience God our refuge, bringing us not just protection, but also transformation. That's where that superscription does help us a little bit, because it points us, again, to the story of David, and to the story of a time when David needed such a refuge, because he was in so much danger that he had to act insane.
We'll get to that, again, in a little while. But for now, let's just recognize that as God speaks to of himself as he reveals himself as a refuge as God does that through the story of David in some ways, even though our stories are quite different from David in some ways. Still, there's just the one story of God, the one God who is a refuge.
And so we can, expect to experience God as a refuge as we listen to and pray into his Psalm this morning.
And here I can share that as I was preparing for the message this morning, one of my sources is this amazing scholar named Robert Alter, who translates the Psalms and offers some insights into them. And one thing that Robert Alter says about this Psalm is that it helps us experience the genius, the beauty of the Psalms, because he says the Psalms have such insight into the despair, the dangers, the darkness that we can experience. Again, it'll be different from what David and others have done, but still it's this one world where that kind of darkness and despair and dangers are out there.
And what altar says is that as we read and pray, the Psalms we will experience God coming to us as a caring presence. That's one way to describe God as our refuge. He has this caring presence in which he watches out for us and he watches out for us even in the hardest times in our lives. When life is described here in Psalm 34, when we can feel brokenhearted, when we can feel crushed in spirit.
God gives us those words to bring back to God as we pray them. And that's just how God can come to us as our refuge. And to experience God as our refuge, we'll just add one more word into our opening thoughts right here. And that additional word that'll help us experience God as our refuge is if we think of David as a fugitive. A fugitive, Of course, is someone who needs to run away to, , save his life.
And again, we'll be able to explore David as a fugitive in a little while. That'll help us experience God as our refuge, even in times that can be so difficult. In David's case, he had to act as a fugitive.
So again, we'll get to that part of his story, but to help us hear the Psalm, to help us hear God through the story of David, let's just think about his life, which begins in this amazingly promising way. Because you remember how David's story begins. He's just this fairly young fellow taking care of sheep. And then God arranges for this man named Samuel who's a prophet and also a judge and a leader. Samuel comes and is told by the Lord to anoint this young shepherd so that he can be the future king of Israel.
And so Samuel anoints Saul with some oil. That oil represents the Holy Spirit coming on David and leading him into a whole new life. And in that new life is the future king of Israel. David starts to serve the current King of Israel, King Saul, in some pretty amazing ways. And it's funny, not funny, it's interesting, revealing when we read into the Book of Samuel, how do we first see David serving King Saul?
Well, first, he's a musician. King Saul is going through some spiritual struggles. He's just going through all kinds of spiritual attacks. And David, young David, is such an amazing musician that he can come in and play music and sing in a way that brings Saul some peace during those times of struggles. So future King David serves current King Saul as a musician.
And then comes the more famous story, which is future King David serves current King Saul as a soldier, because in that famous story, young David is able to kill this gigantic enemy named Goliath. So David is already an amazing musician. An astonishing soldier and he goes on to be such a, an amazing leader in Israel that Saul's son, Jonathan, , loves David and says, come on, let's have a lifelong covenant of friendship.
So David comes into Saul's family in that way. And then David marries Saul's daughter, whose name is Michael. And so he's in the family of the current king of Israel. And then this is having such an amazing effect on the nation that we'll just add one more thing to the beginning of David's story. You remember how the women in Israel responded to this amazing young man, David.
Okay. They began to dance and sing in his honor, and they composed a song to honor them. They said, Saul has killed his thousands, and so they're saying, you know, Saul's doing okay. But David has killed his tens of thousands! David is the star! David's the most amazing man! And how do you think Saul responds to that?
Well, In the story of the human family and its brokenness, Saul takes kind of a Cain attitude towards Abel. Saul starts to feel jealous of his son in law, this future king. And then Saul becomes afraid of David because he's so successful and amazing. And therefore, what does King Saul do? He decides to try to kill David.
And that's when David becomes this fugitive. That is part of his story. And as David becomes that fugitive whose father in law, the king is trying to kill him, that leads to some of the words that we read here in Psalm 34, because in verse two of this prayer and Psalm 34, David is able to have us say, let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Because David is being afflicted and attacked by King Saul. And so David is able to come alongside us when we feel afflicted or attacked in one way or another. And then verse four, David gives us a testimony that we can seek to bring home to ourselves. David says, I sought the Lord. And he answered me. Now that didn't solve every problem immediately, but the Lord did answer him as a refuge says in verse six, David can say, this poor man cried out to God and the Lord saved him.
He saved him out of all his troubles. And then in verse 18, we get those powerful images where David is able to say from his own personal experience, the Lord is close to the broken hearted. God saves those who are crushed. And that's what's going on as David is being attacked as his father in law is trying to kill him.
He is experiencing God even as he lives with a broken heart. Even he lives with crushing attacks against his spirit. And then to see how much David needs God as a refuge when he's living as a fugitive, we can go on to the story to see David dealing with another king. And this king is a Philistine king whose name is Achish.
And this is the chapter in David's life where he needs to act insane to be able to have God as his refuge. Refuge, giving him help. Now when I mention that the king before whom David acts insane, his name is Achish, that of course is different from the name we read in the superscription, where we read that David had to pretend insanity before a man named Abimelech.
And so that's the kind of questions I mentioned earlier that we can deal with very briefly and you could certainly study more and learn more about them. But it's interesting because when you go to that story in 1 Samuel 21. You first find David dealing with an Israelite priest whose name is Ahimelech, which of course is not Abimelech, but kind of rhymes with Abimelech.
So maybe that was part of what was going on, but also my NIV study Bible tells me that when we read the name Abimelech, , we can see it as possibly a name for King Akish because Abimelech might have been a royal title sort of a name for some of the kings in other nations around Israel. So, , that's another reason why it may say David had to act insane in front of Abimelech, , because that could be a, title for a king back.
Then and then one more angle on it is that the word Abimelech is very related to the word in verse 8 of Psalm 34 where it says taste. In Hebrew, that sounds like taste and see that the Lord is good. So again, , even having questions about that name of Abimelech in the superscription can help us to be, pay more attention to some details in both the Psalm and the story.
But let's just focus then, knowing we could pursue those questions further, let's just focus a little bit more on the Psalm, and the story of David because again, it's going to help us experience God as our refuge. And one thing that comes out in this story in first Samuel 21 with God dealing with this Philistine King named refuge named, , Akish is that we see David again, experiencing more attacks, afflictions, needing God as a refuge and God, his refuge gives him yet another gift of ability.
And in this case, it's an ability as an actor. Because David, as the superscription says in his 1st Samuel 21 says, David acts insane. He makes some crazy marks on some, , doors around him. And who knows what those crazy marks are. And he lets spit and saliva just dribble down his face. And so Akish looks at this guy who has kind of escaped one king to seek refuge with another king, but that king is a Philistine, an enemy, so there's danger there.
The servants are saying, let's kill this guy. He's killed tens of thousands of others. So David acts insane. And he is such a gifted actor that when King Akish says, look at this man, he is insane. That acting ability allows David to escape. And as I thought about that, I thought, wow, that is yet another gift in this amazing future King David, because in an attempt to use some biblical imagination, I tried to put myself in the story and I thought, what would have happened if I were in danger from Akish and I tried to act insane, I could picture Akish looking at me trying to act insane and saying, That guy's an idiot. Take him away and cut off his head. I mean, David is an amazing actor. And that's after he showed himself to be an amazing musician and an amazing soldier. And then as we go on to the story, what's another great gift David has? He's a dancer when he's bringing in the Ark of the Covenant, he is so thrilled by the presence of God that he dances in a way that just gathers the attention of everyone.
And all those gifts then get expressed as he also has ability as a poet who can write prayers that are Psalms that are poems. So David is just this amazing person with these incredible gifts, and that's the kind of thing that makes Saul and other people jealous of him, wanting to kill him, so he needs God as a refuge.
But now as we continue in the story of David, David needs God as a refuge, not only protecting him from jealous, angry people around him, Saul needs God as a refuge who transforms him into not just a very gifted man. but also a man growing in godliness and in holiness. Because think about how the story of David continues, and we can relate that to, again, some further words in Psalm 34, as David, who's having God as his refuge, is able to give us a prayer.
David, after he says, taste and see that the Lord is good, he calls us to faith. Fear the Lord. And of course that biblical word means we have reverence for the Lord. We worship him as a way to grow and gain in wisdom. So David is speaking from his heart and saying, you know, to experience God as a refuge, to have the kind of life, be sure and, , fear the Lord.
And then he explains when we fear the Lord, we lack nothing because we're obeying his word. So he says, listen, when you fear the Lord, he says to us, then you keep your tongue from evil. You keep your lips from speaking lies. You seek to do truth, or do you seek peace and pursue it? That's what David in effect preaches in Psalm 34.
And at this point in the story, we can ask, did David practice everything he preached when he says, seek peace, don't speak lies, keep your tongue from evil. And there we get to the, probably the most other famous story of David. Goliath, killing Goliath is a famous one. But of course, his other famous one is his relationship with Bathsheba and her husband, , Uriah the Hittite.
And that is also given to us through another Psalm that has a superscription in which it says, this Psalm 51. came out of the time when David didn't exactly practice what he preached. Instead, David arranged for Uriah the Hittite to be killed because he had committed adultery with his wife Bathsheba, and Nathan the prophet describes that as stealing him, and then David tells all kinds of lies and bears all kinds of false testimony.
So what does David need from God as his refuge? Not only protection from attacks from the outside, But also transformation from the inside. And that's what Saul, that's what David preaches in Psalm 51. As he says, my sin is always before me. I need you to have mercy on me. He prays again, not this time for a broken heart or from a broken heart he prays, give me a pure and a new heart.
And as he had been crushed in the spirit, now he's praying that he can have a willing and steadfast spirit. And for that to happen, David prays for, David needs, the Holy Spirit, whom he does receive in part. Because after praying Psalm 51, after going through that evil time, David is able to repent and be forgiven.
And even as he lives with all kinds of bad consequences, he is able to love his enemies, he's able to have the heart of God in many ways, even though he never gets to perfection. And here, we can tie Psalm 34 and Psalm 51, not only to the story of David, but here we can also tie it to the story of Jesus, who will bring this story to each of us.
In just the way we need it and to connect Psalm 34 and Psalm 51 to the story of Jesus, who brings it to us, we can see an echo of the final verse in Psalm 34 and one of the most wonderful passages in the New Testament. So remember how Psalm 34 ends in verse 22. David, who needs this kind of thing more than he realizes at the time.
David prays and he gives us the words to pray. The Lord redeems his people. No one will be condemned who takes refuge in God. And friends, when you hear those words, no one will be condemned who takes refuge in God. What comes to your mind from the new Testament? Do you think of Romans eight verse one?
Paul inspired by Christ is able to say, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so as we like David have fallen into sin, as we have not lived up to everything we read or say, we've got this amazing message from God. Our refuge, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because God, the refuge he sends his son to do what the external words of the Bible were not able to do. The word made flesh is able to die for us to take away the penalties of those sins and not only die for us, but rise and then give us this spirit that David had been praying for and received in part. Well, now in Jesus, that spirit gets poured out all the more.
And again, we can get connections to. Psalm 34, Psalm 51, Romans 8. Because as God pours out his Holy Spirit, what do we experience? We experience that a Christ who got crucified, he really can be our refuge in time of afflictions. He knows everything we've been through. That's from Psalm 34. Another thing from Psalm 34 is when we've got a broken heart, what does Christ do through his spirit?
Well, he fulfills Psalm 51 and gives us a pure heart, a new heart. And what if we are crushed in spirit as in Psalm 34? Well, again, Christ fulfills Psalm 51 by giving us a right spirit by pouring out his Holy Spirit. And when we receive that Holy Spirit, we're able to live more closely to God's Word.
That's what Paul goes on to describe in Romans 8. And also, we are able to be more So if we've been competing, if we've had jealousy and hatred going on, we can be more than conquerors. We can be more than the stars of the show. Instead, we can be people who have the kind of strength and grace and truth and love of Jesus Christ.
And we can trust God to put out that love. Because what is the love of God like? Romans eight, again, puts that out there. As we seek to live as more than conquerors in a world that can hate us in a world where we struggle, God, our refuge gives us what Paul says is a love from which nothing in all creation can separate us.
That is all the grace and truth that God gives us. Through Psalm 34, the story of David, through more of the story in Psalm 51, through its fulfillment in Christ. And here I can say, I alluded to Robert Alter just briefly earlier as testifying to the power of the Psalms. And I just could add many other testimonies to how much God can be your refuge to protect and to transform you.
That can happen through the Psalms in a powerful way. And here I've got permission to share very briefly that as I visited with Deb Himmah yesterday about her colon cancer, she was able to testify to God giving her all kinds of refuge and hope through Psalm 30. So friends, this is something we can take home in a very practical way today to experience God as our refuge, protecting and transforming us.
We can pray the Psalms, we connect them to the story of Jesus, fulfilling them, and then we receive them. As our risen Lord pours out his Holy Spirit. Let's pray for that kind of thing to happen right now. Let's join in prayer.
God, we praise you as our refuge. And we thank you for giving us that word and all kinds of words in our Psalm today that we can give back to you. And we thank you for revealing what those words can look like through the story of David. And then we thank you for fulfilling those words even more through the story of Jesus, who gives us a love from which nothing can separate us because of the mighty power of your Holy Spirit.
So, Father in Heaven, as we rejoice and have no condemnation with you as our refuge, we pray also for your transformation. So we pray for the anointing of your Spirit to make us more and more like your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen. Let's rise now for a song of response.