Be Still, and Know That I am God - The Book of Psalms

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Be Still, and Know That I am God - The Book of Psalms

August 1, 2021 • Andrey Bulanov • Psalm 46

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Main idea:
Real faith is a collision between our experienced reality and the reality of what God tells us about himself. Our greatest need is to regain our daily perspective of God as both exalted Lord and ever present Savior.

Outline:

1. God reigns, supreme and undisturbed
2. God loves and dwells among his people
3. Hear the invitation
Scripture references:

• Psalm 46
• Psalm 2:2-4
• Psalm 93:1-2

Application questions:

1. What are the voices that are shaping your reality today? Your emotions? Your fears? You past? Your future? The world around? The news? Social media? Entertainment? Your work? Deadlines? Success? Pressure?

2. Have you ever truly considered God's transcendent character?
3. Do you see him as both transcendent AND present? Do you marvel at the beauty of the fact that God is both exalted and close?

4. Do you see faith as an active process of building your view of reality on God and his character?

Key concepts for discussion:

• The nature of real faith as an active process
• The character of God as both exalted/transcendent Lord AND ever present Savior
• The delight of God to be with his people and save them
• The collision of what we know to be true in Scripture and the messiness of our daily life
• The life changing importance of studying the character of God

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In the beginning of C. S. Lewis' "The Silver Chair", the 6th book in the Narnia series, Aslan meets with a girl named Jill on the top of a mountain just before she goes on her adventure in Narnia. He gives her a job, a mission that she must do. She and her friend Eustace has to rescue a lost prince. But for them to do this, they were given four signs that would guide them on their adventure. After he tells her the signs, this is what Aslan tells her:

Quote from Narnia the Silver Chair.
“But, first, remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the signs. And secondly, I give you a warning. Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly: I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters.”

One of the deepest struggles that we face is the issue of perspective.
Do you believe that God is good? That he is powerful? That he provides?

We say - yes.

But then the daily adventure of life hits and things are not so simple anymore.

We fear and we struggle and we stress and we just do everyday life - and to be honest the truths that we say we believe actually occupy a distant place when it comes to the rough and tumble of every day life.

We mentally believe these things, we affirm them. but when it comes to the daily grind we don't see them as essentially present or powerful in the moment. they just don't come to mind.

Faith is a tricky thing. you can believe something to be true in your mind but your heart, your emotions, your thoughts and your goals they have auto pilot patterns of thought that just kick into gear without you having to think about them.

Its like the change is in the machine but it hasn't fully dropped yet.

This Psalm is an invitation to merge the often seemingly incompatible reality of God's perfection, power and presence with the chaos, complexity and danger of the world we live in.
The chaos and danger of the world and the inexplicable peace and power of God is a paradox that must be merged in the heart of the believer.

The call here is to come and see and be still and know.

two core truths here:

1. God reigns supreme and undistributed

The confidence of the Psalmist rests on one central fact that he has anchored his heart to - God reigns supreme and undisturbed by the drama and chaos of life in our broken world.

In contrast to the raging waves and crumbling mountains - God is his sure confidence. His view of God is specifically in light of all the things happening in life - in the background, above everything, God is still God.

This is echoed in the call of God to the world - "Stop your fighting and know that I am God"

Other translations say, "Be still, and know that I am God"

What I like about the CSB is that it highlights the fact that God is not just calling us to calmly revere him as God - he is calling to the people in the midst of their fighting, their dramas and conflicts - he wants them to realize something that is critical to their perspective of reality.

So often we are consumed in our vision of our issues, our lives, our problems and our solutions.

We think that all of reality is all that is right in front of us. We fit even God into the story of our own life and our needs and conflicts.

But the way that God presents himself here is different. He is the God who makes all wars to cease. He could stomp and crush all our conflicts - he says, so much of your problems that fill this world are so foolish, self centered and little.

You fight about which one of you is God and the reality is that Its neither of you. You think your biggest issue is to win the fight right in front of you when your true need is to stop what you are doing and look up, consider yourself, consider all things only after you have considered this one central fact: I am God.

God says, "The nations rage among each other about who's in charge out of them when the reality is that I am already in charge. And I don't need your permission or your validation."

No matter what is happening in the world, God is God. God reigns supreme and undisturbed. Here we hit on an attribute of God theologians call "transcendence".

This refers to God as being above, all powerful and in control of all things in a way that is unaltered and untouched by anything that happens down here.

This does NOT mean that he is so distant and above us that he is emotionally detached, that he does not care or that we cannot know him because he is so far above us. We will see in a minute that this is not the case.

Notice these words:

Ps. 2
2 The kings of the earth take their stand,
and the rulers conspire together
against the Lord and his Anointed One:
3 “Let’s tear off their chains
and throw their ropes off of us.”
4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord ridicules them.

Ps 93
1 The Lord reigns! He is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed, enveloped in strength.
The world is firmly established;
it cannot be shaken.
2 Your throne has been established
from the beginning;
you are from eternity.

Have you ever stopped to consider the stability of God? Have you ever stopped to deeply think about this simple fact - that he reigns, he is in control - and that nothing can alter that fact.

We stress, we fear, we worry - this job/relationship/opportunity/problem is the biggest deal of my life! If this goes wrong thats it! All is lost!

Do you ever stop to consider - nothing ever surprises God, nothing ever stresses him, nothing ever causes fear to arise in him, nothing ever threatens him?

There is profound comfort in realizing that nothing in God, in his purposes, his plans, his victories - NOTHING is depending on me. He is who he is.

This is the ONLY thing that can anchor your experience of reality. He is an anchor-point who is infinite, who is eternal, who is unchangeable and unshakable.

2. God loves and dwells among his people

This God, who is free and above all things - what does he direct his heart and his attention to?

Obviously he is above all things, obviously he is everywhere and he is in charge of the world.

But where does his HEART lie?

"There is a river—
its streams delight the city of God,
the holy dwelling place of the Most High.
5 God is within her; she will not be toppled.
God will help her when the morning dawns.
6 Nations rage, kingdoms topple;
the earth melts when he lifts his voice.
7 The Lord of Armies is with us;
the God of Jacob is our stronghold."

Counterbalanced with his total transcendence, the thing that gives the Psalmist peace is that this God is also infinitely close to his people.

His heart is set to care for, to nurture, to redeem, to save and to protect.

The imagery here is so beautiful - "there is a river, its streams are the delight of the city of God..."

God's presence and love is presented here as a river the flows through the the city of his people. He is the source of life. A gentle quite current that is in contrast to the melting and quaking and shaking and chaotic world.

This God who cannot be altered, this God who cannot be changed, this God who cannot be defeated - is permanently and unstoppably committed to being close to and caring for his people.

I think that the vast majority of our struggles and fears and wrestlings in life boil down to two main questions that we are always asking, though we may not realize it:

1. Is God really in charge?
2. Can he be trusted?

Is the universe not just a random battle? Is life all up to me?? Is there a point?

And if there is a God, why is all this bad stuff happening? Why are so much people getting hurt? Why is my life so complicated sometimes? Does he care about me? - Can he be trusted? Is he the kind of God I can rest in even when I don't understand everything that is happening??

Our human logical thinking will always try to turn these questions in one of two extremes: God cares about you and he didn't want these bad things to happen. He is with you in the process. He loves you. He is like a faithful magic friend who cares a lot and is doing his best.

Or we say, God is sovereign, he is in charge of all things - but he doesn't care about me. He is detached. I am too broken. I am too messed up. He doesn't care about me. I feel like he is distant and that means that he IS distant.

We either lie about how close he is or about how far above he is. Because that makes sense to our logical analysis. That is a god who fits into our little minds.
But real peace in chaos is found is seeing these two characteristics of God that often feel like opposites - as one inseparable whole.

God is trustworthy only because he is transcendent, and in his transcendence - he is unshakably committed to loving and saving broken sinners.
The Bible is the only religion that presents an infinite personal God who is both transcendent and immanent.

3. Hear the invitation.

What if I don't feel like he loves me? What if I don't feel this confidence? What if I get anxious, scared, distracted - constantly. What if I agree with all these truths but I don't have any motivation to seek this God when Monday morning hits.

There are two commands in this Psalm, and the are wrapped up together into one process - a process that invites all the listeners of this Psalm to collide their daily human broken perspectives with the unchanging power and presence of God.

8 Come, see the works of the Lord,
who brings devastation on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease throughout the earth.
He shatters bows and cuts spears to pieces;
he sets wagons ablaze.
10 “Stop fighting, and know that I am God,
exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.

As I said in the beginning, one of our biggest problems is the problem of our perspective. More specifically, we build our lives around what we feel and experience inside.

Everyday life is messy. And as we try to live out the things we hear on Sunday morning, we find that it clashes with reality - with our own feelings, fears and doubts, with the chaos of the world around us.

It's easy to say I believe in God's power and protection. But it's really hard when I see nothing in the bank account and have no idea where more will come from.

It's easy to say we believe in discipleship and loving people. But when the busy week hits and we feel so awkward and people are so complicated - we retreat to the comfort of our individualism.

It's easy to say that God is my only hope. But that hope seems to slip away like sand between my fingers when my heart is full of depression or anxiety.

Here we see the power of the invitation that this Psalm gives us - "Come and see the works of the Lord... Consider who God is and what he has done...Be still - Stop fighting! And know, that he is God"

Scripture calls us to consider the facts - not the facts of our emotions and fears that swirl in our hearts. But the facts that hold the universe together, the facts that don't change no matter what we feel.

Growing in your faith often requires the active and conscious shifting of perspective. When we say that faith is a gift of God, we DO NOT mean that faith is a passive process for us. Faith is a VERY active process. It includes us stopping in the midst of our lives and questioning our perspective - and actively pulling in the truth of God and his word into the midst of it.

Its like you discover that you are in a fake room with fake windows and fake sunlight flowing in and you need to break down these walls that seem like home to let in the real sun.

At the core of everything is one simple question: who is God? what is he like?

Often times the feelings of our hearts and the dramas of our lives rise up and threaten to block out the light of the sun- to prevent us from seeing reality as it truly is.

But even on those days HE DOES NOT CEASE TO BE WHO HE IS.

"Those who come to me, I will in no way cast out..."

"All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved..."

"To those who are called according to his purpose, all things work together for good"

We are like Jill and Eustace in the story, who get down into Narnia and our minds start to grow hazy about what is more real - the signs that we were supposed to remember, or the battles and threats right in front of us.

For many of us, our daily spiritual life is backwards. We view ourselves and of God's relationship to us based on HOW WE FEEL in the moment. We feel down. We feel discouraged. We feel frustrated. We feel confused.

And so - we consider ourselves to be weak, lost, broken, hopeless and confusing. We consider God to be distant, we view him as harsh, we view him threatening, judging.

God speaks into our chaos and says, "Who told you I was distant, harsh, uncaring? Where did you get that idea of me?"

"Be silent! And KNOW that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth."

What do you do when it all seems to melt down? "Come and SEE the works of the Lord!"

Open this book, and ask the simple question: who is God? What is he like?

Do you realize that, (assuming you are a person who acknowledges the God of the Bible and desires to live for him) - no matter how much you mess up, he still loves you? Do you realize that, no matter how many times you ask for forgiveness, he always forgives?

Of course I am not saying that means you just do whatever you want and sin, because he will forgive you anyways. If you have that mindset you are showing that you actually just want sin, you don't want God.

But for those of us who struggle wit our doubt and fear and frustrated with ourselves constantly - have you ever really RESTED in your Savior? Have you ever really drank in the peace that NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, he is still Lord, he still wins, he still loves you and he will bring you safely home?

"Be still, and know that I am God."

What voices are you listening to? Who is defining your reality today?

• Your emotions? Your fears? You past? Your future?
• The world around? The news? Social media? Entertainment?
• Your work? Deadlines? Success? Pressure?
• How are you managing the clamor?
• Do you see God as transcendent up above it all?
• Do you see him as both transcendent AND present? Do you marvel at the beauty of the fact that God is both exalted and close?

The Lord Who Reigns! - The Book of Psalms

August 29, 2021 • Andrey Bulanov • Psalm 97

Main Idea: • Real faith is rooted in seeing God for who he really is: as exalted, mighty and holy King over all things. This vision of the true God must make us both tremble and rejoice. 1. See the glory of the King a. God is all powerful and has full control b. God is holy 2. See the judgement of the King a. He Works Unstoppable Justice and Righteousness in the World 3. See the gladness of the King Scripture references: • Psalm 97 • Romans 1:21-23 • Ps. 33:10-11, 13-16 • Ps. 99:1-3 • Hebrews 12:28-29 • Rev. 6:15-17 Key Concepts: • God's glory • God's lordship and sovereignty • God's holiness • God's total justice and judgement against sin • True peace, joy and gladness only comes to those who tremble at his glory Application Questions: • What is your view of God? ○ Does your view of God bring BOTH trembling and fear AND gladness and joy? ○ Here's the thing - unless he is a God that makes you tremble, he is also not going to be a God that makes you rejoice, because he is not powerful enough. ○ But also, unless he makes you overflow with gladness and joy, then you have a wrong view of his holiness, power and justice. If all you do is tremble and fear - but have no joy in this God then you failed to see that he is the God who has USED HIS POWER to come to your rescue. • Do you worship this God? Do you view the Jesus of the gospels as also the exalted LORD of the universe? • Do you base your christian on your emotions? Or do you allow the unstoppable FACT of his power and glory to be your foundation? ○ Yes, the resurrected Jesus is not sitting physically with you at the breakfast table to have a cup of coffee - but do you realize that his Lordship and Reigning presence as your King is JUST AS PRESENT?? ○ The fact that we fail to see him as King in our daily lives does not make him less so. • Is your view of God reflected in the dangers and threats that surround you in life? ○ All the hype today is the laws, the government overreach, the fear over vaccines and COVID. Yes lets talk, let's do our homework, let's think and do our best to make decisions - but let's not allow these things to cause us to change our view of God - Jesus reigns supreme, he is holy, righteous and unstoppably in control. He comes to the rescue of his saints. He brings gladness to our hearts. ○ Learn to bring in the power of this truth into those battles, into the greatest troubles of your heart. ------- We live in a time when it is very popular to talk about self improvement. Fitness, health, therapy, diet, supplements - its popular to talk about how you can take control of your life and how your whole life flows out from the choices that you make. And this is true to an extent. But it's not the full truth. The Bible teaches us that "the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom/knowledge". In other words, our view of God, our relationship to him and our perspective of him is the beginning of all correct thinking and living. In other words, deep down at the foundation of all of your behavior is your perspective on God. Speaking of the work of sin and sinful motivation in the human heart, Paul says this in Romans 1 "21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles." Notice how the whole outflow of idolatry in the human heart flows out of a knowledge of God, and a desire to avoid giving him thinks and worshipping him. As human beings we are born with a built in awareness of God and his law - and everything that we do, every one of our actions is in some way connected to that knowledge. For example, when we say something like, "You know, of course I believe God is holy and he is King, that he is the most important one, but I just don't read my Bible or pray much because its just really hard to stay focused and honestly I just get bored with the Bible" - you are actually telling me a lot about what you think of God. You believe he is important, but not THAT important that he gets your attention. If I live my life with a very shallow intake of truth, and I have not deep alarms in my heart, I am actually showing that even though God and his truth is important, I am OK without it. You would never admit that or even agree with it verbally, but the undeniable evidence is in your daily behavior - if you are living your life and you feel OK you are proving that you actually think its OK to live without submitting to God and his truth. This is also connected to a false view of our emotions. We think that if I try to read the Bible, and if I am bored, then that is just a fact - the bible is boring, and I can't really change what I feel about it. YES YOU CAN. Your feelings only flow downhill from your convictions. Your feelings are not as permanent as you think. Here is a simple test - if Jesus appeared to you in the flesh as you are making your morning coffee and asked to join you - your feelings would get in line really quickly. You would not be bored. All of a sudden you would not think your phone is so distracting. You are confronted with a fact - and your feelings get in line with it. EVERYTHING we do is a reflection of what we think about God. We are ALL theologians - we all have a view of God that makes our lives possible. Our tendency as sinners is to make God small - to make him fit into a box that allows us to live as we want. This is why when the Bible calls us to see God for who he is, to renew of vision of God - it calls us to look up, to see his greatness, his power, his authority, his supremacy. We have a deep need to be confronted with the fact of God's exalted and holy nature. We need our perspective to be invaded with the greatness and power of God. 1. See the Glory of the King 1 The Lord reigns! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coasts and islands be glad. 2 Clouds and total darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him and burns up his foes on every side. 4 His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord— at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness; all the peoples see his glory. Notice how this whole Psalm is revolving around the proclamation of a FACT: The Lord reigns! In many ways this is the message of the whole Bible. The Bible is not trying to sell us the idea of God and his kingdom. Its trying to warn us about the unstoppable reality of it. Most of the time, God's immediate glory is not visible to us. The Psalmist is trying to give us a series of human images that give us a sense of what would it be like to come into the presence of the pure and unstoppable power of the God of the universe. Have you ever thought about what it would be like to face the power and glory of the God who created and upholds all of reality? The molecules that make up your face, your hands and your brain - are held together by SOMETHING. And that something is the God who created it all out of nothing. God is presented here as the Lord who reigns - the absolute King who sits on a throne above all creation. Clouds, darkness, fire and lightning. It's like, when you just a glimpse of who he really is, the very fabric of reality begins to be torn apart and starts to melt. Mountains turn to wax. The earth trembles. The Psalmist is emphasizing two things about God here: a. God is all powerful and has full control. Clouds and total darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him and burns up his foes on every side. 5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord— at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. when have you experienced power in your life? • a fast car • a big check • an AR-15 Imagine pure, total, infinite and unstoppable power. God's power is unstoppable. He is the true King over the world and no one and nothing can stand in the way of that. It is easy for us to think that we live in a world of choas. It is easy for us to beleive that governments have power. Its easy for us to be overwhelmed today by the various powers that surround us in the world. Nuclear weapons, billion dollar companies, artifial intelligence, terrorist groups... But on a very foundational level NONE of them really have any power. There is only One who is in charge. There is only One throne in the whole universe - and God sits on it. Ps. 33:10-11, 13-16 10 The Lord frustrates the counsel of the nations; he thwarts the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation. 13 The Lord looks down from heaven; he observes everyone. 14 He gazes on all the inhabitants of the earth from his dwelling place. 15 He forms the hearts of them all; he considers all their works. 16 A king is not saved by a large army; a warrior will not be rescued by great strength. Fire goes out on all sides and consumes his enemies. The mountains melt like wax. The earth sees and trembles. Of course we do not understand all his ways. Why does he allow evil leaders and governments to prevail at times? When will he execute justice? We don't know. But part of our submission to him as Lord is submitting ourselves to him even though we don't see all the answers. Our God is a God of pure and completely unstoppable unending power. We are small. God is King over all creation. He rules all things. He sees everything. There is no escape from his power and dominion. b. God is Holy This is a concept that is often foreign to us today. The biblical concept of holiness has two parts - something that is totally separate and above everything else, AND something that is totally pure and perfect. "clouds and total darkness surround him..." A lot of the images in this Psalm are directly pulling from the story of when God showed up to meet with the people of Israel in the desert - he descended onto Mount Sinai in a trembling cloud of darkness, fire and lightning. When the people saw this they fell to their faces and were sure they would die. God totally unlike us - he is totally and utterly pure and perfect in every way, and he is completely other, he is nothing like us or anything in the world - he MADE all of reality. He is totally outside of everything that is made. He is not constrained by anything in this world - and when he ENTERS into it with even a slight hint of his true self - the creation starts to fall apart. Ps. 99 "1 The Lord reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He is enthroned between the cherubim. Let the earth quake. 2 The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted above all the peoples. 3 Let them praise your great and awe-inspiring name. He is holy." “The clearest sensation that a human being has when he experiences the holy is an overpowering and overwhelming sense of creatureliness. That is, when we are in the presence of God, we are humbled and become most aware of ourselves as creatures. This is the opposite of Satan's original temptation, "You shall be as gods.”" R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God Isaiah's vision of God's holiness in Isaiah 6 reminds us of this as well. I am just a creature. I am made. I am dust. And I am dirty. He is creator. He is eternal. He is perfect. Have you ever had that moment of realization of God's holiness? 2. See the Judgement of the King a. He Works Unstoppable Justice and Righteousness in the World Because he is a King of total power and perfect holiness it is inevitable that he has a response of perfect justice and judgement upon all who stand against him. "3 Fire goes before him and burns up his foes on every side. ... 7 All who serve carved images, those who boast in worthless idols, will be put to shame. All the gods must worship him." it is the nature of God that cuts all creation into two categories: those who acknowledge him and those who do not. Blessing and judgement. Idolatry: not just actual idolatry. If you do not see God as Lord, if you do not see him as the Holy King who is over you - you will automatically be bowing down to something else, some other thing that takes control of your heart. Notice the emphasis here is not JUST that all those who worship idols will be judged. Verse 7 ends with a declaration: all gods must worship him! gods: supernatural beings - angels, spirits, demons. Notice that the emphasis here is, Just like his power and his holliness is UNSTOPPABLE - it means that ALL will come face to face with him. All WILL acknowledge him sooner or later. The massive difference is the timing and the outcome: See him today, bow to him, worship him - and live in his gladness and joy. Or you run from him - and you still meet him. But then there will be no where to run. And it will end in judgement, death and destruction. All the gods will worship him - all the spirits, all the powers, all the angels, all the rebels, all the governments, all the rulers. Hebrews 12:28-29 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. Rev. 6:15-17 15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?” There is no neutrality here folks. There is no such thing as "almost christian" or "kind of christian". You are either worshipping the king, or you are worshipping idols - your selfish desires, your pride, your plans. Kids - especially those who grew up in the church: do you understand that Jesus is not just Savior who calls us, he is also the Holy Lord who rules all things? Do you understand that you are either following Jesus or you are following sin? Do you understand that you are either worshipping Jesus or you are rebelling against him? Jesus is not just a product that we are trying to sell. He is a Lord, a King who is COMING and we are trying to warn everyone! Run to him today before its too late! One of the reasons we think that our temptations are so big and powerful, one of the reasons we think our desires are so hard to battle - is that we have forgotten the justice of our holy God. He is HOLY. He is with us always. He sees all. And he will come to judge all sin. In his presence none can stand. In his presence all our stupid and foolish desires melt away. what is your view of God? If your view of God does not make you tremble, you've got the wrong god! 3. See the Gladness of the King One of the ironic things about this Psalm is that even though it is presenting God in this terrifying and powerful sense - the response that it calls out in those who believe in him is gladness and joy. Yes we fear this God and yes we tremble - but that trembling and fear is also accompanied by the mind-blowing realization that this God, this King - is OUR King. What does God use his power, lordship and strength for?? He uses it to save. To redeem sinners to himself. To bring lost sheep home. To rescue the weak from the evil. He is OUR rescuer. He is our hope. He is our protector. "10 You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his faithful ones; he rescues them from the power of the wicked. 11 Light dawns for the righteous, gladness for the upright in heart." Yes the night is dark, yes we will face evil and difficult things. Yes we will have to endure battles. But know this - as certain as the rising sun - light dawns on the righteous. What is the meaning of a sunrise? it is to remind you that victory is coming. Your King reigns. As those who read this Psalm from the perspective of the NT and the death of Jesus we see an even richer encouragement - every sunrise reminds us of the sunrise of the third day, when Jesus rose in victory over death. His resurrection is the gaurentee of ours. The King who reigns as Lord over all creation, the Holy and untouchable one - is the King who left his throne to suffer in our place. This might Lord is the one who paid for us with his own blood. This is a King who makes us tremble. But more than that, this is the King who fills our hearts with the song of gladdness, freedom and joy!!!!! Application: • What is your view of God? ○ Does your view of God bring BOTH trembling and fear AND gladness and joy? ○ Here's the thing - unless he is a God that makes you tremble, he is also not going to be a God that makes you rejoice, because he is not powerful enough. ○ But also, unless he makes you overflow with gladness and joy, then you have a wrong view of his holiness, power and justice. If all you do is tremble and fear - but have no joy in this God then you failed to see that he is the God who has USED HIS POWER to come to your rescue. • Do you worship this God? Do you view the Jesus of the gospels as also the exalted LORD of the universe? • Do you base your christian on your emotions? Or do you allow the unstoppable FACT of his power and glory to be your foundation? ○ Yes, the resurrected Jesus is not sitting physically with you at the breakfast table to have a cup of coffee - but do you realize that his Lordship and Reigning presence as your King is JUST AS PRESENT?? ○ The fact that we fail to see him as King in our daily lives does not make him less so. • Is your view of God reflected in the dangers and threats that surround you in life? ○ All the hype today is the laws, the government overreach, the fear over vaccines and COVID. Yes lets talk, lets do our homework, lets think and do our best to make decisions - but lets not allow these things to cause us to change our view of God - Jesus reigns supreme, he is holy, righteous and unstoppably in control. He comes to the rescue of his saints. He brings gladness to our hearts. ○ Learn to bring in the power of this truth into those battles, into the greatest troubles of your heart. The key to maintaining sanity in our crazy world is to tremble and be glad before our King.

The Lord is my Shepherd - The Book of Psalms

August 22, 2021 • Aleksey Khizhnyak • Psalm 23

Sunday Service - Aug 22nd

The Psalmist’s Prayer Habits - The Book of Psalms

August 15, 2021 • Andrey Bulanov • Psalm 62:8, Psalm 22:14–15, Psalm 139:23–24, Psalm 42:5, Psalm 6:4–5

Main idea: We must learn to look to Scripture of a living model for our spiritual life, especially our prayers. When we learn to follow the habits of the Psalmists, we invite God into a deeper walk with us and enrich our experience of his presence. Outline: Full transparency - bring to God the entire contents of your heart Internal awareness - examine your heart in the presence of God God centered orientation - pray for his glory and his kingdom in all your requests Application Questions: 1. What are your prayer habits? Have you ever examined them? 2. Are there parts of your life that you don't tell God about because you think they are insignificant? 3. Do you tell God everything? Do you act like he is your Father, who is looking over your shoulder at all that you do, with a desire to guide and lead? 4. Do you see God as the only one who can truly help you see yourself and your blindspots correctly? Do you invite him to do this regularly? 5. Do you think of God's will as something separate or detached from your everyday interests and concerns? 6. Is your greatest goal in life to live with a confidence that you are running fully in line with God's callings for you? Key Concepts for Discussion: • Our experience of God's work in our lives • Prayer habits impact our relationship with God • Developing a deeper awareness of our hearts tendencies and battles • Emptying our hearts to God • Seeing God as the only source of self knowledge and understanding • Having a correct relationship to God's will Scripture references: Ps. 62:8 Ps. 22:14-15 Ps. 55:4 Ps 57:7 Ps. 139:23-24 Ps. 19:12-13 Ps. 42:5 Ps. 6:4-5 ------------------------ Perhaps one of the biggest ways that we miss out on a deeper spiritual life is in the area of prayer. One of the typical responses that we have to various issues is: "Just pray about it." But perhaps one of the things that we don't think about as often is a lot of our prayer habits themselves may be unhealthy. We pray, but HOW do we pray and WHAT do we pray for? This is why we often have a disconnect in our knowledge ABOUT God and our daily experience OF God. We say we believe he is Lord over all things. We say we believe that the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts at all times. But our lifestyle often feels distant from him. Why? One of the answers to that is our practice of prayer. The question is not simply how much we pray, but also HOW we pray. The beauty of the psalms is that they are a massive opportunity for us to learn from many many different examples of genuine prayer and genuine people working through struggles, that are also God's revealed truth. Think about that. This is what makes the Psalms unique. I think sometimes we read out Bibles as a sterile display item. But the Psalms especially, remind us that the Bible is written by real people, in the midst of real difficulty and real joy - expressing all that to God. And at the same time as being deeply human, the Psalms are God's Word - they are the work of the Holy Spirit guiding the true experiences of men, in such a way that the result is real human words, as well as genuine Words from God. We see this very perspective in Jesus when in Matthew 22:43 he says that David wrote the Psalms under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to listen in on the prayers of Charles Spurgeon, Augustine, Calvin - the apostle Paul? That would be truly instructive and fascinating. Perhaps some of their prayer habits - exactly WHAT they pray about and how they talk to God. But in the Psalms, we have a whole book collection of prayers of saints, prayers that also inspired by God himself, prayers that are perfect because they are the work of the Holy Spirit through men. If we understand this we can have a different habit as we read the Psalms throughout our lives - we listen in more carefully on how they pray and we learn to pick up on them more specifically. Three characteristics of the prayers in the psalms: 1. Full transparency - bring to God the entire contents of your heart Ps. 62:8 "Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge." One of the most encouraging thing about the Psalms is the depth of transparency of emotions, experiences, worries, needs and joys. In this verse David is calling the nations to trust in God, but then he gives a very specific expression of that trust. He doesn't just leave it at that. He says, trust in him at all times and pour out your hearts before him. Notice the call here. Pour out your hearts before him. This is the very opposite of a set of rules or formulas. Thats one of the problems in prayer is that we get into specific formulas, specific topics or areas of our lives that we talk to God about, but the rest we just never go into. Here he is inviting us to dump out the full contents of our hearts. Is there stuff that we are or are not allowed to say? What is the stuff that we tend NOT to say to God? But does he really care about all the small stuff? Does he really care about the details? Who told you that he doesn't?? This is one of those areas that we run into a flaw in our theology that we might not realize we have. We say we believe God is sovereign and Lord over every detail of life. But when it comes to the smaller daily details or life or our inner world, we assume he has nothing to do with them. Notice how the Psalmists consistently bring a total emotional transparency to God. Ps. 22:14-15 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. Ps. 55:4 "My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me." Ps 57:7"My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!" I am not saying we sit on the side of the bed and ask God which sock we should put on first. I am talking about bringing him into every aspect of our true concerns and experiences. If we are honest, we will find that we live a lot of our lives in a functional atheism. We bring God a lot of our main concerns but we don't pray in little moments. But the issue is that most of your life is little moments! “Kingdom praying and its efficacy is entirely a matter of the innermost heart's being totally open and honest before God. It is a matter of what we are saying with our whole being, moving with resolute intent and clarity of mind into the flow of God's action.” Dallas Willard What about pouring out to him moments when we feel like our hearts are not right - when we are deeply angry, or frustrated, or impatient...? The sin grows when it is isolated from his presence. but it is sanctified and transformed when brought to him in honesty. Think about the difference between your 5 year old child stomping away to their room in anger, or sitting next to you telling you about how angry they are. When we withdraw from God in our worst moments the darkness grows. But when we learn to freely be his children in his presence, his Fatherly care has a way of both convicting and restoring us in grace. Think about Jesus in the garden. In his humanity - he did not want to go to the cross. He got to the worst moment and he said, "Please if there is any way to avoid this, let's avoid this." Was that wrong for Jesus to pray? Of course not. The problem is that we often feel embarrassed to be our full selves in the presence of God. We think we offend him by bringing our messy frustrations and emotions and weaknesses. Are you angry? Hurt? Frustrated? Stressed? Joyful? tell him about it. talk to him. be angry in his fatherly presence. Don't think that you need to transform your emotions into a perfect state before you can pray. Don't be embarrassed to be a messy child in the presence of your Father. God is an infinitely more caring and present Father than we can ever be to our kids. Learn to pour out your hearts to him! 2. Internal awareness - examine your heart in the presence of God Ps. 139:23-24 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way Ps. 19:12-13 12 Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. 13 Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me. Ps. 42.5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God. One of the greatest paradoxes of being human is that we are so often a mystery to ourselves. We are very bad at diagnosing our own problems. We are very bad at interpreting our own states. We tend to be very blind to our biggest flaws. This is the danger of sin - it disrupts, not only the knowledge of God and the world - but also knowledge of self. What is the solution? Notice the psalmists consistently find clarity on self in the presence of God. They are aware that they do not fully know themselves, and they know it is only God who can clearly show them who they are. We live in an age of psychology that always promises various kinds of tests to give us clarity on ourselves. The latest trend in pop culture is psychedelics. In the 60's the hippies were advocating drugs as a means of escape. Today the rhetoric is COMPLETELY different - drugs are a way of deeper knowledge of self. The psalms consistently show us that we must learn to come to prayerful, Scripture soaked reflection of ourselves in the presence of God. The difference between this point and the previous one is that in the previous point, we were saying that we need to come to God to pour out our whole heart, to welcome him in to every struggle. The attention is God. Here we are saying that we need to come to God even to get a proper perspective on self. There are two forms here that we see. Firstly we see a prayerful invitation for God to teach us to expose to us our blind spots - for him to expose the since and problems that we are unaware of. We admit that we are our own greatest danger and we admit that we can't even figure ourselves out. We want to live in a lifestyle where one of our prayers is for the Lord to work in us, to help expose our issues and give us that ability to walk in the light. The second form here is of biblical self examination. "Oh my soul, why are you so depressed? Hope in God for I will still praise him!" Here the author is pausing, in his prayerful state, to ask himself some questions - why am I so upset? Why am I so stressed? What truths am I missing in my life?" And then he is supplying biblical truth into his self reflection - "Hope in God, for I will again praise him..." He is interrogating his own heart, in the presence of God and his truth, he is trying to get a deeper sense of why he is not living out the truth that he says he believes. This has been a very helpful habit for me to get into. Personally I am not super good at looking at my struggles. Certain aspects of my life I am constantly analuzing - my productivity and stuff. But when it comes to pressure points or weakness, I really have to stop and ask myself - why am I struggling with this? Whats going on in my heart and life? There was a season a few years ago when I was much more prone to getting frustrated at home with kids were being loud and disobedient. Just in time for that there was an assignment in seminary that made me take a closer look at one area of my life. For me this was very helpful because it helped me see that I was seeing home life as a retreat and source of comfort in way that was becoming unhealthy. Therefore, when I came home from work I wasn't coming with a mind to serve and give but to rest and receive. Its been very helpful to include in my prayer and Scripture reading a routine of regularly asking myself what my struggles are and pausing on that to invite God's truth to give me clarity. Is this going to make us fully aware of all our problems? No. We will always have blind spots! And this brings us to the first reason why it is so important to cultivate a prayerful self awareness. One of the most powerful realizations we can ever come to is how deeply broken we are - and yet that our heavenly Father is here to guide us through life. Secondly, it cultivates a deeper sense of our basic sins and struggles. We need to know our battles. We all have our own battles. We need to watch the battle zones and pray for God's healing work. We need to walk carefully in those areas of life. Thirdly it teaches us that God is the only one who can teach us who we are. The light of his Word and his Spirit - thats the only source of self knowledge. When we cultivate internal awareness in our prayers, when we routinely ask God to show us our hidden faults, when we routinely ask ourselves as we read our Bibles - whats going on in my heart this week? - this teaches us to cement the conviction that the Lord is the only source of understanding for ourselves. 3. God centered orientation - pray for his glory and his kingdom in all your requests We know that we need to learn to pray according to the will of God, but what does that mean? How does that look? What is the point of praying for any of our needs, if at the end of the day the only thing we pray for is the will of God? Why not just cut to the chase and pray for his will? These questions expose the fact that in our hearts, there is often an undetected flaw in our prayer - we view God's kingdom purpose and our own life purposes as two separate things. So i pray for my stuff, but then at the end i just say, "But not my will by your will be done." And in the chance that my desires intersect with Gods, lucky me! he will answer my prayer. This exposes the fact that we view God's kingdom purposes as totally separate from the things that we are genuinely interested in and the things that we care about. When we say that we need to learn to pray according to God's will we are saying that we need to reexamine OUR whole set of goals and objectives for life, and we need to realign our goals with the goals of God's kingdom. when we see the Psalmist asking God for help, they are not just saying, "your will but done.." Instead, they see God as actively working his kingdom purposes in and through their lives, in the daily battles and struggles that THEY are facing. And they are asking for God's help, because they believe that by helping them, he is working his work in the world - he is accomplishing, not just THEIR goals but also HIS goals. Ps. 6:4-5 4 Turn, Lord! Rescue me; save me because of your faithful love. 5 For there is no remembrance of you in death; who can thank you in Sheol? This kind of prayer is ALL OVER the psalms. "God, please help me! If you don't help me, then I can't glorify YOU in my life!" Notice there's two elements here. First of all, we understand that as those who are saved and redeemed by God, he is actively at work in our lives TODAY. He has put you into the life that you live , the family, the friends, the church, the interests that you have - and its all their for a unique way that he is using you and inviting you in following him daily. The second aspect here is that we are his people, are actively adjusting our daily goals and interests more and more closely to God's kingdom purposes that he has clearly revealed in his Word. Why do you want your kids to be saved? Your business to grow? Why do you want to get married? why do you want the things that you want? - is it so that God's purposes may be magnified through your life? One of the biggest misconceptions is that seeking God's will and living for his kingdom is some totally disconnected, far off thing that is completely separate from our real lives and interests today. “Many people have found prayer impossible because they thought they should only pray for wonderful but remote needs they actually had little or no interest in or even knowledge of. Prayer simply dies from efforts to pray about ‘good things’ that honestly do not matter to us. The way to get to meaningful prayer for those good things is to start by praying for what we are truly interested in. The circle of our interests will inevitably grow in the largeness of God’s love.” Dallas Willard God's will is for you to be an agent of his grace and love right where you ARE. Every daily battle we face we are either seeking our own kingdom and comfort, or God's. When you are parenting your kids and you're praying for God to make them obedient - is it just for your sake and your comfort? or is it for him to be glorified in their lives? When you are trying to get a work deadline met, are you praying for you to just have less stress and more comfort? Or are you praying for God to make you successful and fruitful so that you can be a witness in the community to his goodness? When you are for a godly husband or wife - are you praying that for your own sake and comfort? Or are you praying because you are honest with God about your desire for a family and you want to fulfill your God-given calling to glorify God and enjoy him in the beauty of family life? Praying for God's will is not just about praying for mission and evangelism in other nations or things like that - it is about learning to see your everyday life as a battlefield for his kingdom and glory versus your own. It teaches you to think about all your needs and your whole lifestyle in a new way. And it teaches you to have a habit of constantly coming to God and asking him to work HIS purposes in your life. This truly sets you free from the anxiety or stress of expecting certain results. But it also gives you boldness to keep going - to pray for guidance, to do your best and keep working. This is what gives the Psalmist the boldness to argue with God "Why would you let me die? How will I praise you when I am dead??" This exactly what Jesus did in the garden. "Father, if there is any other way - pass this cup from me. Yet, not my will but yours be done." He is actively submitting his desires in the moment to the bigger will of the Father. Only because he did that, there is such a thing as resurrection. The beauty of his victory was the product of his self conscious submission to give himself for the purposes of the Father. This is what we are called to do everyday. Do you want to see resurrection power in your life? Do you want to see God working through difficult situations and changing your life and the lives of people around you in beautiful ways that you never thought possible? Learn to align your hearts desires and interests with his. Make his passions your passions. Make his values your values. Make his dreams your dreams. Application: 1. What are your prayer habits? Have you ever examined them? 2. Are there parts of your life that you don't tell God about because you think they are insignificant? 3. Do you tell God everything? Do you act like he is your Father, who is looking over your shoulder at all that you do, with a desire to guide and lead? 4. Do you see God as the only one who can truly help you see yourself and your blindspots correctly? Do you invite him to do this regularly? 5. Do you think of God's will as something separate or detached from your everyday interests and concerns? 6. Is your greatest goal in life to live with a confidence that you are running fully in line with God's callings for you? When we learn to adjust our prayer habits (not just do this once) to what we see in Scripture, we will also experience a thicker sense of God's guiding presence and lordship in our lives.